Enquire within upon everything by Robert Kemp Philp

i. This game is played by any number of persons, from three, but five or seven make the best game. ii. The cards are cut for deal, the holder of the lowest card being dealer; after which the deal goes round, from left to right. In case of a tie, the players cut again. Ace is lowest, and the court-cards and tens are reckoned of the same value,--namely, ten. iii. The left-hand adversary shuffles or makes the pack, and the player to the right of the dealer cuts previous to the deal. iv. The cards take their usual value, ace highest; then king, queen, knave, ten, and so on, down to deuce. The dealer then gives three cards, one at a time, face downwards, to each player; and also dealing an extra hand, or "miss," which may be thrown on the table either as the first or last card of each round. v. A card too many or too few is a misdeal. vi. The stakes being settled beforehand, the dealer puts into the pool his three halfpence, pence, or sixpences, and the game proceeds: vii. The first player on the left of the dealer looks at his hand, and declares whether he will play or take the miss. If he decide to play, he says, "I play," or "I take the miss;" but he may elect to do neither; in which case he places his cards on the pack, and has nothing further to do with that round. The next player looks at his hand, and says whether he will play or not; and so on, till the turn comes to the dealer, who, if only one player stand the chance of the loo, may either play or give up the stakes. viii. In the first round it is usual either to deal a _single_; that is, a round without a _miss_, when all the players must play; or each player puts into the pool a sum equal to that staked by the dealer in which latter case a miss is dealt. [NEVER OPEN THE DOOR TO A LITTLE VICE.]