Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 8.djvu/29

 n s. vii. JAN. 11, 1913.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

FRIMERO.

(See ante, p. 1.)

SIR JOHN HARRINGTON, in his ' Epigrams ' (1615), has the following :

Fond Marcus ever at Primero playes

Long winter nights, and as long summer da yes :

And I heard once, to idle talk attending,

The story of his times, and coines mis-spending.

At first, he thought himselfe halfe way to heaven,

If in his hand he had but got a seven.

His father's death set him so high on note,

All rests went up upon a seven, and coat.

But while he drawes for these gray* coates and

gownes,

The gamesters from his purse drew all his crownes. And he ne're ceast to venter all in prime, Till of his age, quite consum'd the prime, Then he more warily his rest regards, And sets with certainties upon the cards, On six -and thirty, or on seven and nine,f If any set his rest, and faith, and mine : But seld with this he either gaines or saves, For either Faustus prime is with three knaves, Or Marcus never can encounter right, Yet drew two aces, and for further spight, Had colour for it with a hopefull draught, But not encountred it avail'd him naught. Well, sith encountring, he so faire doth misse, He sets not till he nine and forty is. { And thinking now his rest would sure be doubled, He lost it by the hand, with which sore troubled, He joynes now all his stock, unto his stake, That of his fortune he full proof may make. At last both eldest hand and five and fifty, He thinketh now or never (thrive unthrifty) Now for the greatest rest he hath the push : But Crassus stopt a club, and so was flush : And thus what with the stop, and with the pack, Poore Marcus and his rest goes still to wrack. I heard one make a pretty observation, How games have in the court turn'd with the

fashion.

The first game was the best, when free from crime, The courtly gamesters all were in their Prime.

The ' Compleat Gamesters ' of 1721, 1725, and 1726 purport to describe Primero. But beyond stating that it is a Spanish game something like Hombre, presumedly played with the same pack (forty cards) 1 by hands of six cards instead of nine, they give little information. The account even so far, however, is misleading, as the methods of Primero and Hombre are entirely different.

The Hon. Daines Barrington, in describing (1785) a painting by Zuccaro depicting Lord Burlelgh (1520-98) and three others play- ing a game of cards (supposed to be Primero), states that the game was Spanish, and


 * Query " gay."

t This, with the eighth line, would indicate that the game was played with the full pack.

t Probably the Seven, Six, and a Court card of the same suit.

surmises that it was introduced into England' by Philip of Spain when he came over to marry Queen Mary in 1554. He was aware from the ' Sydney Papers ' that the game was played by Queen Elizabeth with Lord North and others;* and that Shakespeare made Henry VIII. a 1 so a player; but he was puzzled as to where Shakespeare got his authority. He informs us that Primero continued to be played by the gentry up to the time of the Restoration (1660),. when Hombre succeeded it.f

The Rev. John Bowie, in a supplementary paper to Barrington's papers in Archceologia, vol. viii., quotes from the ' Dictionary of Madrid ' (no edition or date given )J that Primero

" is played by dealing four cards to every one : the Seven is worth 21 points, the Six 18, the Ace 16, the Deuce 12, the Trey 13, the Four 14, the Five 15, and the Figures 10. The best chance, and which wins everything, is the Flush, which is fair || cards of one sort, after the fifty-and- five, which is composed precisely of Seven, Six, and Ace of one suit, after the Quinola or Primera, which are four cards of each sort. If there are two which have a Flush, he gains it who holds the largest ; and the same happens with him that has the Primera, but if there is nothing of this, he wins who has most Points in two or three cards of one suit."

This demonstrates that Primero, at the time, was played in Spain with the Hombre pack.

Joseph Strutt, in ' Sports and Pastimes of the People of England ' (1801), gives the same particulars as Barrington, evidently quoting from him, as he reproduces two of his errors. Barrington, in quoting Duchat, translated " seize " (sixteen) as " the same," and " carreau " (diamonds) as "hearts." No doubt the usual Quinola was the Knave of Hearts, but Duchat wrote the Knave of Diamonds.

of Roger, second Lord North, in 1575, of " Lost at Primero xxxvi li," apparently to Queen Eliza- beth.
 * There is an entry in the ' Household-Book '

t Arcliceologia, vol. viii. In describing Zuccaro 's picture, Barrington says : " The cards are marked as at present, and differ from those of more modern times only by being narrower and longer ; eight of these lye upon the table, with the blank side uppermost, while four remain in each of their hands." This agrees with the six-card game, played with the Hombre pack.

J Chatto, in his ' Facts and Speculations ' (1848), 'p. 23, has an extract from an edition of 1734. The earliest date in Brunet's ' Manuel ' is 1726.

That is, the Court cards King, Queen, and Knave.


 * Sic, misprint for " four."