sounds
yet mute for ever.
63. Metagram
a riddle in which the change of the initial letter produces a series of words of different meanings; from
meta
, implying change, and
gramma
, a letter. Thus:
I cover your head; change my head, and I set you to sleep; change it again and again, and with every change comes a new idea.—Cap, Nap, Gap, Sap, Hap, Map, Lap, Pap, Rap, Tap. This kind of riddle is also known as word-capping.
Gunpowder Made By a Monk at Cologne A.D.1330.
64. Palindrome
from the Greek
palin-dromos
, running back again. This is a word, sentence, or verse that reads the same both forwards and backwards—as, madam, level, reviver; live on no evil; love your treasure and treasure your love; you provoked Harry before Harry provoked you; servants respect masters when masters respect servants. Numerous examples of Palindrome or reciprocal word-twisting exist in Latin and French; but in English it is difficult to get a sentence which will be exactly the same when read either way. The best example is the sentence which, referring to the first banishment of the Great Napoleon, makes him say, as to his power to conquer Europe:
"Able was I ere I saw Elba."
65. Puzzles
vary much. One of the simplest that we know is this:
Take away half of thirteen and let eight remain.Write XIII on a slate, or on a piece of paper—rub out the lower half of the figures, and VIII will remain.
Upon the principle of the square-words, riddlers form Diagonals, Diamonds, Pyramids, Crosses, Stars, &c These specimens will show their peculiarities:
66. Oblique Puzzle.
Malice, eight, a polemical meeting, a Scottish river, what I write with, a decided negative, the capital of Ireland. The initials downward name a celebrated musician.
(solution in
p.67
below.)
67. Diagonal Puzzle
A direction, a singer, a little bird, a lady's ring, a sharp shaver.Read from left to right and right to left, the centrals show two famous novelists.
The following are answers to these two puzzles, and afford good examples of their construction to any one who wishes to try his hand at their manufacture.
puzzle 1
68. Diamond Puzzle
The head of a mouse, what the mouse lives in, the county of calves, the city of porcelain, a German town, a Transatlantic stream, a royal county, a Yorkshire borough, Eve's temptation, our poor relation, myself. Centrals down and across, show a wide, wide, long river.
The construction of the Diamond Puzzle is exhibited in the following diagram, which is, at the same time, the answer to it.
puzzle 2
69. Rebuses
are a class of Enigma generally formed by the first, sometimes the first and last, letters of words, or of transpositions of letters, or additions to words. Dr. Johnson, however, represents Rebus to be a word represented by a picture. And putting the Doctor's definition and our own explanation together, the reader may glean a good conception of the nature of the Rebus of which the following is an example:
The father of the Grecian Jove;A little boy who's blind;The foremost land in all the world;The mother of mankind;A poet whose love-sonnets areStill very much admired;—Theinitialletters will declareA blessing to the tired.
Answer—
S
aturn;
L
ove;
E
ngland;
E
ve;
P
lutarch. The initials form
sleep.
The excellent little work mentioned in
para. 53
, entitled "Philosophy and Mirth united by Pen and Pencil," has this novelty, that many of the Enigmas are accompanied by enigmatical pictures, so that the eye is puzzled as well as the ear.
Glass First Brought to England A.D. 668.
70. Square Words
A comparatively modern sort of riddle, in which the letters of each word selected reads both across and down. With four letters the making of the riddle is easy, but with five or six the difficulty increases. We give an example of each.
puzzle 3
With seven or eight letters the riddle becomes exceedingly difficult, especially if the selected words are of like character and syllables.
71. Chess, Laws of.
The rules given below are those which are now universally accepted by English players.
[When odds are given, the player giving them moves first. White generally moves first; therefore, if black win the move, the board is turned. It is usual to play with the white and black men alternately.]
[Except the move be illegal, when the opponent can insist on the piece being moved in the proper manner, or for the opposing King to be moved.]
[It is usual, in such a case, to sayJ'adoube(I adjust); but he may not touch a piece with the intention of moving it, and then, when he discover his mistake, say,J'adoube.The phrase is simply intended to be used when a piece is displaced or overturned by accident.]
[In the latter case it is liable to be takenen passant, with a pawn that could have taken it had it been played only one square.]
[You cannot castle to get out of check.]
[If one player persist in giving perpetual check, or repeating the same move, his opponent may count the moves for the draw; in which case touching a piece if reckoned a move.]
[It is usual to change the pawn for a Queen, but it may be replaced by a Rook, Bishop, or Knight, without reference to the pieces already on the board. In practice it would be changed for a Queen or a Knight, seeing that the Queen's moves include those of the Rook and Bishop. Thus you may have two or more Queens, three or more Rooks, Bishops, or Knights on the board at the end of the game.]
For information as to the best modes of play, the Openings and Endings of Games, &c, read
The Book of Chess
, by G.H. Selkirk, published by Messrs. Houlston and Sons.
72. Draughts, Rules of the Game.
The accepted laws for regulating the game are as follows:
[By this it is meant that a player may not move first to one square and then to another. Once moved on to a square, the man must remain there.]
["Standing the huff" is when a player refuses to take an offered piece, but either intentionally or accidentally makes another move. His adversary then removes the man that should have taken the piece, and makes his own move—huff and move, as it is called.]
73. Whist
Great silence and attention should be observed by the players. Four persons cut for partners; the two highest are against the two lowest. The partners sit opposite to each other, and he who cuts the lowest card is entitled to the deal. The ace is the lowest in cutting.
74. Terms used in Whist.
puzzle 4For Short Whist there are regular markers.
Children and Chickens Must Always be Picking.
75. Maxims for Whist.
There are None So Wicked as Represented.
76. Laws of Whist
as accepted at the best Clubs.
[Less than three cards, above or below, is not a cut. Ace is lowest. Ties cut again. Lowest deals. Each player may shuffle, the dealer last. The right-hand adversary cuts to dealer.]
[In cases of a misdeal, the deal passes to the next player.]
[If the first player hold fewer than thirteen cards, the other hands being right, the deal stands.]
[The dealer must not touch the cards after they have left his hands; but he may count those remaining in the pack if he suspect a misdeal, or he may ask the players to count their cards. One partner may not deal for another without the consent of opponents.]
[After this, no one has a right to ask what was the trump-card, but he may ask "What are Trumps?"]
[Calling a card is the insisting of its being played when the suit comes round, or when it may be played.]
[Onlyonetrick is to be shown; not more, as is sometimes erroneously believed.]
[Revokes forfeit three tricks from the hand or score: or opponents may add three to their score; partner may ask and correct a trick if not turned; the revoking side cannot score out in that deal.]
[The wilful mixing up of the cards in such case loses the game.]
[No omission to score honours can be rectified after the cards are packed; but an overscore, if proved, must be deducted.]
[In some Clubs, eight, with the deal, cannot call against nine.]
77. Short Whist
is the above game cut in half. Honours are not
called
at any part of the game; but, as in Long Whist, they are counted by their holders and scored—except at the score of four. All the maxims and Rules belonging to the parent game apply to Short Whist.
78. Points at Short Whist.
The Game consists of Five Points. One for a Single—5 to 3 or 4; Two for a Double—5 to 1 or 2; Three for a Triple—5 to love. A Rubber—two Games successively won, or the two best Games out of three—counts for Two Points. Thus, if the first Game be won by 5 to 4, the Points are 1 to love; the second Game won by the opposite side by 5 to 1, the Points are then 1 to 2; the third Game won by the side which won the first, by 5 to love. The Points are then 6 to 2—a balance of 4. This is arrived at thus: the Single in the first Game, 1; the Triple in the third Game, 3; the Rubber (two Games of three), 2; together, 6. From this deduct 2, for the Double gained by the opponents in the second Game, which leaves 4, as above. Short Whist is usually played for points—say, a shilling, or a penny, for each point; two for the Game, and two for the Rubber.
None are so Good as they Should Be.
79. Advice to all Players.