Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 6.djvu/611

Rh and pairing is always dangerous on account of the possibility of its being capped by a pair royal. Pairing is often declined, as it is common to open the play with a card of which a duplicate is held (except with two fives). When leading from a sequence, the middle card should not be led. If a close card is played to the one led it often happens that the adversary wishes a run of three to be made against him, he holding a card that will complete a run of four. Having the choice of pairing or of making fifteen, prefer the latter ; but if a seven or eight is led, and a fifteen is made, the adversary has the chance of a run of three. During the play, a four should not be added to a call of seven (making eleven), as if paired the opponent scores four. All similar combinations should be avoided, as twelve made with a three, twenty-seven with a four, twenty-eight with a three, and twenty-one with any card, as then a tenth card (of which there are sixteen) comes in for two. It is very desirable to win the go, as this makes a difference of at least two to the score in each deal. The best chance of winning the go with two low cards and a high one is to begin with a low card, with two high cards and a low one to begin with a high one. The dealer has the best chance of making the go. The most important guide to the play is the score. The player who is ahead in the game should endeavour to keep so by playing wide cards, declining pairs, and declining to make fifteen with close cards. This is called playing off. The one who is behind in the game should play on, i.e., score whenever he can, running the risk of a larger score being made against him. To calculate whether to play on or play off, the average points scored should be kept in mind. Each player ought to reckon slightly over six in hand and play and five in crib, or seventeen and a half in two deals to be at /tome. A player who scores more than the average and leaves his adversary six or seven points in arrear is safe at home. When at home it is best to play off ; when the adversary is safe at home it is best to play on. Near the end of the game and wanting points in play to play out, it is advisable to keep two low cards and one high one. At six-card cribbage it is not so important to baulk the crib as at five-card. The average scores are twelve for the non-dealer, seventeen for the dealer. At the end of the second deal a player is at home at twenty-nine holes. In the first deal it is an advantage to exceed the average, con sequently both players with fair hands should play on ; but with poor hands they should play off.

1em  CRICHTON, (1560-1582), commonly called &quot;the Admirable Crichton,&quot; was the son of Robert Crichton, lord-advocate of Scotland in the reign of James VI., and was born at Eliock, in Dumfriesshire. He was sent when ten years old to Saint Salvator s College, St Andrews, where he took his master s degree at fifteen. In 1577 he was still living in Scotland ; some time after that date, however, a quarrel with his father, who had become a Protestant, drove him to France. In Paris his dialectics and his sword-play are said to have gained him equal admiration ; and, according to Urquhart s very doubtful story, a contest in twelve languages resulted in an easy victory over the whole staff of the Sorbonne. His Parisian triumphs were followed by a couple of years of obscure campaigning in the French army, but in 1580 he appeared at Venice. A Latin poem addressed to Aldus Manutius laid the founda tion of a lasting friendship with the great printer, who dedicated his edition of Cicero s Paradoxa to Crichton, and, according to some, conferred on him still more substantial favours; he also became intimate with Sperone Speroni, and with Lorenzo Massa and Giovanni Donati. His first public display was the delivery of an address to the doge and senate, whom he astonished with his eloquence and oratorical grace ; and he followed this up with a series of disputations on mathematical, theological, and philosophical subjects, which so extended his fame that it was reckoned the highest honour to Mazzoni, a famous dialectician, thrice to have met and vanquished him in argument. But these exertions produced an illness which held him prostrate for four months. At Padua, the scene of his next exhibition, he astonished the assembled professors by extemporizing in succession a Latin poem, a daring onslaught on certain Aristotelian errors, and an impassioned oration in praise of ignorance. His return to Venice was signalized by the publication of the challenge preserved by Aldus Manutius, in which he undertook not only to refute innumerable errors in Aristotelians, mathematicians, and schoolmen, but to meet his opponents on any ground, and to conduct the dispute either logically, or according to the secret doctrine of numbers, or in a hundred sorts of verse ; and in the church of San Paolo and San Giovanni the young Scotsman held his own for three days against all comers. He then seems to have quitted the republic for Mantua, where he had been appointed tutor to Vincenzo Gonzaga, heir to the dukedom. There he distinguished himself, according to Urquhart, by killing a professional duellist, who had challenged and vanquished many of the best swordsmen of Italy, and by playing before the court some fifteen characters in succession, keeping the stage for five hours. His brilliance made men envious, and he is said to have sup planted the prince in the affections of his mistress. One July evening in 1582 he was attacked by three masquers in the streets of Mantua, But he fought so well that their leader to save his life was forced to discover himself. It 