In all these cases it may be expedient to modify the usual play for the sake of getting the tricks you want in preference to speculating for more; for when you particularly require one trick, it would be folly to risk it (by finessing, for example) in order to have the chance of gaining two.

The state of the score may sometimes influence your whole plan. For example, if the adversaries are four, and you have a bad hand, you should lead your best trump, as explained in Chap. IV.

Consider also the effect of the lead.

It is often desirable to depart from the usual modes of play for the sake of gaining the lead, or of giving it to your partner.

And it is also sometimes worth while even to throw away a trick in order to give the lead to one of your adversaries; as, for example, to make them lead up to a tenace or guarded second.

These two latter rules afford the principal opportunities for fine play.

Do not be discouraged when sound play fails of success, which must often occur.

CHAPTER VI.

CONCLUSION.

We have now expounded the theory of the modern scientific game, and shown the mode of carrying it out in practice. Any one who has sufficiently mastered the principles here laid down to apply them fluently in his play, may be called a sound player, and will possess by far the most important qualification for proficiency in the game. He will have immense advantages over those who do not play on system: for he will know what he is about, which they never do; and his game will be intelligible to a good partner, whom he will be in no danger of thwarting, as is so often done by untaught players. Every good player knows too well the annoyance of having a partner who, through want of appreciation of what a good game means, will persist in obstructing and opposing his play, often to their mutual discomfiture.

And, it is worthy of remark how much a sys

tematic commencement facilitates the study of the game. Everybody knows how difficult it is to learn Whist in the ordinary unsystematic way: the pupil is led blindly through a course of heterogeneous rules, of the foundation of which he knows nothing, and which therefore have no meaning to him beyond mere empirical dicta. He must grope about for a long time in the dark, and can only enlighten himself by a gradual intuition of what the rules mean.

But when the mode of play is shown to be a system, easily explained and as easily comprehended, it is astonishing in how different a light the game appears. Its acquisition, instead of being laborious and repulsive, becomes easy and pleasant; the student, instead of being frightened at the difficulties, finds them vanish before him; and even those who, having formerly practised without method, take the trouble of learning the system, suddenly see the light break in upon them, and soon find themselves repaid a hundred-fold in the increased enjoyment and satisfaction the game will afford them.

It is one of the great advantages of the modern scientific game, and of this systematic mode of teaching it, that it renders Whist attractive to the young. It was formerly almost exclusively practised by those somewhat advanced in life, who

alone were supposed to have acquired sufficient experience and judgment to play it well. But now that the results of experience have been reduced to a systematic form, capable of being presented at once to the mind, and sparing the years of practice formerly necessary for their induction, we find the game taken up as an attractive occupation by young men of high intellectual character, some of whom rank as the finest players. And it is also due to the other sex to say, that the introduction of the systematic form has been found to take from the game the stigma of being 'only fit for old maids,' and to render it now as attractive to our daughters and sisters as it used to be to our aunts and grandmothers.

But, great as is the step gained by systematic or sound play, something more is necessary to make a good player; for here other qualifications enter into requisition, such as observation, memory, inference, and judgment. We must devote a few words to these.

If you aspire to become a good player, you must OBSERVE carefully. Look constantly at the board, watch every card as it falls, and notice particularly every honour. When you are practised in this, extend your special notice to the tens and nines, which, from their importance and the different ap

pearance they have from the lower cards, it has been found convenient to call semi-honours. Also let every original lead and renounce, or other sign of strength or weakness shown by each hand, impress itself upon your mind as it occurs.

A good player must also exercise some effort of MEMORY to recollect the fall of the cards, and the indications given of the state of the hands. But the importance of this is vastly overrated by untaught players. We often hear such expressions as 'Mr. So-and-so is a first-rate player, for he can recollect every card out;' or 'I shall never play well -I have no memory.' These are entirely delusions. Memory is of infinitely less importance than correct play. The best memory in the world will help a player very little if he does not understand and practise the principles of the game; if he does, a very moderate mnemonical power will suffice for every practical purpose. Let no one therefore despair on this ground. We will give a few hints, by following which the necessary power may soon be acquired.

In the first place avoid all artificial systems, such as placing the trumps in a particular place (which is perfectly childish), or any other contrivance of the kind, further than by carefully arranging and counting your cards at the beginning of the hand. Trust