She won, and Cupid blind doth rise.
O Love, has she done this to thee?
What shall, alas, become of me!"
Before taking leave of the reign of Elizabeth, it seems proper to insert here what Philip Stubbes says about Cards, Dice, Tables, Tennis, and other games, in his 'Anatomie of Abuses.' [150] "As for Cardes, Dice, Tables, Boules, Tennisse, and such like," says the moral dissector, speaking in the person of Philoponus, "thei are Furta officiosa, a certaine kind of smothe, deceiptfull, and sleightie thefte, whereby many a one is spoiled of all that ever he hath, sometimes of his life withall, yea, of bodie and soule for ever: and yet (more is the pitie) these be the only exercises used in every mans house, al the yere through. But especially in Christmas time there is nothyng els used but Cardes, Dice, Tables, Maskyng, Mummyng, Bowling, and such like fooleries. And the reason is, thei think thei have a commission and prerogative that tyme to doe what thei list, and to followe what vanitie they will. But (alas) doe thei thinke that thei are privileged at that time to doe evill? the holier the time is (if one time were holier then another, as it is not) the holier ought their exercises to bee."
He, however, thinks that at some games, under certain circumstances, Christian men may play for the sake of recreation; for, in answer to the question of Spudeus, "Is it not lawfull for one Christian man to plaie with an other at any kinde of game, or to winne his money, if he can?" Philoponus thus replies: "To plaie at Tables, Cardes, Dice, Bowles, or the like, (though a good Christian man will not so idely and vainely spende his golden daies), one Christian with an other, for their private recreations, after some oppression of studie, to drive awaie fantasies, and suche like, I doubt not but thei may, using it moderately, with intermission, and in the feare of God. But for to plaie for lucre of gaine, and for desire onely of his brothers substance, rather then for any other cause, it is at no hande lawfull, or to be suffered. For as it is not lawfull to robbe, steale, and purloine by deceite or sleight, so is it not lawfull to get thy brothers goodes from hym by Cardyng, Dicyng, Tablyng, Boulyng, or any other kind of theft, for these games are no better, nay worser than open theft, for open theft every man can beware of; but this beying a craftie polliticke theft, and commonly doen under pretence of freendship, fewe, or none at all, can beware of it. The commaundement saieth, Thou shall not covet nor desire any thing that belongeth to thy neighbour. Now, it is manifest, that those that plaie for money, not onely covet their brothers money, but also use craft, falshood, and deceite to winne the same."—There are doubtless many card-players, who, conscious of their want of craft, can safely deny the truth of Stubbes's sweeping conclusion; but it is to be feared that most crafty players will not lose if they can avoid it, either by hook or by crook.
In the reign of James I, the game "went bonnily on." His son, Henry, Prince of Wales, who died in 1612, aged nineteen, used occasionally to amuse himself at cards, but so nobly and like himself, as showed that he played only for recreation, and not for the sake of gain. [151] James himself was a card-player; and his favorite game was Maw, which appears to have been the fashionable game in his reign, as Primero was in the reign of Elizabeth. His Majesty appears to have played at cards just as he played with affairs of State—in an indolent manner, requiring in both cases some one to hold his cards, if not to prompt him what to play. Weldon, speaking of the poisoning of Sir Thomas Overbury, in his 'Court and Character of King James,' says: "The next that came on the stage, was Sir Thomas Monson; but the night before he was to come to his tryal, the King being at the game of Maw, said, 'to-morrow comes Thomas Monson to his tryal.' 'Yea;' said the King's card-holder, 'where if he do not play his master's prize, your Majesty shall never trust me.' This so ran in the King's mind, that at the next game he said he was sleepy, and would play out that set next night." From the following passage in a pamphlet, entitled 'Tom Tell-troath,' supposed to have been printed about 1622, [152] it would seem that the writer was well acquainted both with his majesty's mode of playing at cards, and with the manner in which he was tricked in his dawdling with state affairs: "In your Majestie's owne tavernes, for one healthe that is begun to your-selfe, there are ten drunke to the Princes your forraygn children. And, when the wine is in their heads, Lord have mercie on their tonges! Ever, in the very gaming ordinaries, where men have scarce leisure to say grace, yet they take a time to censure your Majestie's actions, and that in their oulde schoole terms. They say, you have lost the fairest game at Maw that ever King had, for want of making the best advantage of the five finger, and playing the other helpes in time. That your owne card-holders play bootie, and give the signe out of your owne hand. That hee you played withall hath ever been knowne for the greatest cheater in Christendome. [153] In fine, there is noe way to recover your losses, and vindicate your honour, but with fighting with him that hath cozened you. At which honest downe righte play, you will be hard enough for him with all his trickes."
The following verses, which might have been written by Tom Tell-troath himself, form part of an inscription beneath a caricature engraving of the same period, representing the Kings of England, Denmark, and Sweden, with Bethlem Gabor, engaged in playing at cards, dice, and tables with the Pope and his Monks. [154]
"Denmarke, not sitting farr, and seeing what hand
Great Brittayne had, and how Rome's loss did stand,
Hopes to win something too: Maw is the game