While, without meaning any evil,
Some may prefer to play the Devil.
[2] This game was invented by a monk to amuse the monastic orders, who are forbidden to play at cards.
HIDE-AND-SEEK.
It is still a question among the players of this game in France, whether one should say hide, hide, Mitoubat, or hide, hide, Nicholas? The frolicksome group whose plays we are describing, did not care a jot which was most proper; in fact, they seldom gave themselves the trouble to reason either upon the names or the choice of their diversions. They were induced to engage in this, from a circumstance which we are about to mention. The amusements which were practised at the castle of D’Hernilly, were very much talked of in the neighbourhood, and the fame of their sports drew a number of youthful visitors to the family. We have before observed, that young ladies alone were admitted; among those who presented themselves were several new-married ladies, who did not blush to join again in the innocent diversions of their childhood. The young ladies and their visitors passed a whole day in juvenile sports, without feeling a moment’s uneasiness, except when the hour came which by summoning them to partake of a repast, interrupted their games.
There are several ways of playing at Hide-and-Seek: sometimes one of the children went and hid herself in a dark corner, as far as she could from the others, but always within a certain distance; the others then ran about in every direction within this space to find her, and the one who succeeded in doing so, concealed herself in her turn in the best hiding-place she could find. The ladies’-maids, and some of the other female domestics, exerted their skill to aid those who wished to hide, in discovering the most secret corners; but care was always taken to avoid all dangerous places, as, for example, steep stairs, from whence they might have been precipitated at the moment when they were on the point of being seized.
Another way of playing at hide-and-seek, is to form a circle, and to set a person to seek through it for a particular object, which each of the others contrives to conceal from her view; a pocket-handkerchief, a snuff-box, or, in short, any toy or trinket, will serve for this purpose. Formerly they used to make use of a slipper, but always upon the express condition, that it should be very clean: this is, however, a shabby sort of expedient, and ought to be proscribed in good company: when it is adopted the game is called Hunt-the-Slipper.
Our readers will readily conceive, that the Misses D’Hernilly and their companions,