Gleek is described in Cotton’s “Complete Gamester,” where it is called “a noble and delightful game or recreation.” It is also mentioned by Villon, who wrote in 1461, and other contemporary authors. M. le Duchat, the editor of Rabelais, declares that the name is derived from the German word Glück, meaning chance or luck. It is played by three persons only, each of whom is dealt twelve cards, eight being left in the widow, that is called the “stock.” The Deuces and Treys are taken from the pack. If the Four is turned up as trump, it is called “Tiddy,” and each player pays four counters to the dealer. A Mourival is a hand holding all the Kings, Queens, Knaves, or Aces. The players bid for the stock, as is done in Nonsuch Euchre. The eldest hand says, “I’ll vie the Ruff”; the next, “I’ll see it”; the third, “I’ll see it and revie it,” or, “I’ll not meddle with it,” which terms are closely copied in modern games. The Ruff is the highest flush, or else four Aces. The game of Ruff seems to have succeeded Gleek, and many games have been evolved from it, including Bridge, Poker, and Euchre, each one of which has adopted certain rules to the exclusion of others, in this way making such different games that few people can trace them to the originals. To ruff is a term still used by provincials, by which they mean to revoke.
The steps from Ruff to Bridge are called by different names, such as Trump or Triumpo by the Italians and Spaniards. “Ruff and Honours, Alias Slam, was once a favourite in England,” says Cotton in 1680.
In 1737 Richard Seymour published some rules, in which he says: “Whist, or the silent game, vulgarly called Whisk, is said to be very ancient among us, and the foundation of all the English games upon the cards.” Dean Swift declares that in his time “Whisk was a favourite among the clergy.”
“His pride is in Piquet,” says Lord Godolphin in Pope’s “Moral Essays,” showing the position that this game occupied in England in 1733, about three hundred years after its introduction to the English court. It is still played at the clubs to-day, showing what a strong hold it has upon the affections of card players, and its original rules are hardly altered, while the cards remain practically the same as when invented by La Hire, Etienne Chevalier, and Jacques Cœur.
It is supposed that the first reference to Piquet in print is in the works of Rabelais, already quoted from (1533). Probably the earliest book of rules is the one published at Rome in 1647, and translated into English in 1652. The rules were very much the same as those laid down afterwards by Cavendish in 1882. The “point” was called the “ruffe,” or, in French, Ronflé.
In “Les Facheux,” by Molière (1661), there is an interesting Piquet hand described by Alcippe, one of the players. In 1646 a Ballet du Jeu de Piquet was produced, in which the dancers were ranged according to their colours, the blacks opposite to the reds and both sides headed by the court cards. This ballet became a great favourite and was often produced, as it interested the audiences, who appreciated the various movements of the dance that reproduced and corresponded with the play of the game.
English and French plays frequently refer to the card games of their day, and Piquet is often mentioned. In the Epilogue to “Sir Harry Wildair” (1701) is the following:
Vat have you got of grand plasir in dis town?
’Tis said Vidont is come from France, dat vil go down.
Piquet, Basset, your vin, your dress, your dance,
’Tis all you see tout a la mode de France.
John Hall was one of the early writers in England who referred to Piquet, originally called Cent in that country. He says, in 1646, “a man’s fancy (or character) would be summed up at Cribbage; Gleek requires a vigilant memory, Mawe a pregnant agility, Picket a various invention, Primero a dexterous kind of rashness.”
