A little practice will soon enable the player to select the right card without any previous arrangement.
And now, after giving all these rules and instructions with regard to Whist playing, we must not omit to add a few words as to the spirit in which the game should be played. Voltaire says that "in war we ought to do that which the enemy most dreads." So we should also in Whist, remembering, however, that we are trying to conquer, not our enemies, but our friends; therefore, if we win we have cause for congratulating ourselves, if we lose let us be quite as ready to congratulate our opponents.
There is, perhaps, no game where the temper may be more tried than in Whist. Knowing this, it would perhaps be better for the irritable and peevish in disposition to keep altogether aloof from the game, simply because they would not only be a source of annoyance to others, but they would derive no pleasure themselves from the pursuit.
Patience and forbearance must be exercised. In spite of all that has been said against the practice of card-playing, we none of us can tell how much good has resulted from it. Not only good temper, but many other virtues, may be cultivated at the whist table.
Honour and integrity must be maintained; for though cheating and underhand playing have in some cases for a time been successful, they are methods that never, in the long run, have been adopted with satisfaction.
Idleness is a quality that must be wholly dispensed with. A player needs to be always on the alert; without casting any sly glances at the cards held in the hands of the others, he may, by his own observation and diligence, know exactly the strength or weakness of each player.
"My son," once said a keen, shrewd business man, "don't attempt to play cards unless you have four eyes;" and certainly the player who cannot with his mind's eye see what cards the other players have, as well as those in his own hand, will never be much more than an indifferent player.
No silly trifling conversation should be carried on during the game. To play well, nothing should be allowed to divert the interest from the subject in hand. Indeed, we cannot conclude better than quote what Charles Lamb says in one of his Essays about the famous Mrs. Battle, although, at the same time, we should scarcely advise any of our readers to estimate either Whist or any other game quite so seriously as she did.
MRS. BATTLE'S OPINION ON WHIST.