Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 1.djvu/399

 n s. i. MAY H, IMG.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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of 97, Leadenhall Street, both net-makers and ropers.

In 1406 mention is made of persons called " peters, " who brought fresh fish to the City for sale. They were ordered to stand in Chepe with their fish and nowhere else (Riley's 'Memorials of London,' 1868, p. xlvii).

" Peter-boat " is, I believe, still a term applied to the boat used by Thames fisher- men further up the river past Putney. In the 'Epicure's Almanack l of 1815 " The White Lion," Putney, is described as being the place for a good dinner of stewed eels or fried flounder, " the people of the village having a live stock of them in the wells of the peterboats moored off the village."

In 1798 the peterboat-men had apparently not been driven yet to follow their industry so high up the river, for as late as that year they were placed in the same category with "scuffle-hunters," long-shore thieves, river pirates, " light-horsemen," and last, but not least, the captains and mates of the vessels, and even the revenue officers themselves, whose combined depredations from the merchant vessels were estimated by Dr. Colquhoun ('Police of the Thames,* 1800) to amount to 506,500Z. a year. This gigantic system of plunder received its first deadly blow from the opening of the West India Docks with their high walls.

J. HOLDEN MACMlCHAEL.

There is a plate of " Peter Boats 1J and fishermen dredging off Millwall, by Clarkson Stanfeld (I believe), in Cooke's ' Views of London and Vicinity, 1 published in 1834.

A. RHODES.

EIGHT KINGS: NINE LADIES (11 S. i. 328). This is not the name of any card game, but furnishes a memorial sentence for executing a particular trick with the cards, which is described in Cassell's ' Book of Sports,* p. 903, as " To tell all the cards without seeing them.' 1 You prepare the pack by putting all the cards in a definite order, according to their values. Any order, if definite, will do. That given in Cassell is : 6, 4, 1, 7, 5, king, 8, 10, 3, knave, 9, 2, queen ; with a sentence to remember it by. The sentence now quoted is quite different. The interpretation is, I suppose : " Eight (8) kings (king) threa- (3) ten (10) to (2) save (7) Nine (9) fine (5) ladies (queen) for (4) one (1) sick (6) knave." This gives all the cards of a suit without repeating any. You can further arrange them definitely according

to suits, as, e.g., clubs, diamonds, hearts, spades, where those four words are in alpha- betical order. Thus your top card should be the 8 of clubs, the next the king of diamonds, the third the 3 of hearts ; and so on. The pack will have all the appearance of being in disorder, but it is easy to reel off the names of the cards in succession, even if they be cut, if you can get to see the bottom card. But they must not be shuffled !

WALTER W. SKEAT.

This is a mnemonic jingle to remember the order in which a series of playing cards should be arranged in order to spell them separately in numerical order. It is an amusing exercise even to " children of a larger growth " ; and though I fail to work it by the formula given by MB. RATCLIFFE, if the Editor thinks our columns are open to a little recreation, I will explain the game.

Place thirteen cards in numerical order from the ace to the king ; they need not be all one suit, or ranged from left. Pick them up anyhow (apparently), keeping the first card picked up face upwards, and placing each one at the bottom. Pick them up in the following order : knave, 4, ace, 8, queen, 2, 7, 5, 10, king, 3, 6, 9. When seated at one side of the table, the audience facing, with the top card towards the audience, take the first card from the front, saying " O," and place it at the back ; then the next, saying " N," and doing as before; then say " E one," which will be the ace, and lay it face upwards on the table. Go on in the same manner, saying, " T," " W," " O two," and place it along- side the 2. Proceed as before, spelling " knave " at the tenth turn. After passing the king and queen the requisite number of times and placing the lady in her proper place, say, "I can't spell king," &c., so place it at the end of the series. If they are picked up in a slightly different order queen, 4, ace, 8, king, 2, 7, 5, 10, Jack, 3, g f 9 j ac k will be spelt instead of knave.

A. RHODES.

This is a card trick, and the words signify thirteen cards as follows :

Eight 8

kings

threaten 3 10

to 2

save

7

Nine fine ladies for one sick knave. 9 5 queen 416 knave.

The order of the suits may be, alternately, the 8 of diamonds, king of spades, 3 of hearts, 10 of clubs, and so on ; or simply run on one suit. When the cards are thus arranged