Weldon, alluding to
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 trial,
the king being at the game of Maw, said, "To-morrow comes Thomas
Monson to his trial." "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 the
next night.
'It is evident that Maw differed very slightly from Five Cards,
the most popular game in Ireland at the present day. As early as
1674 this game was popular in Ireland, as we learn from Cotton's
Compleat Gamester, which says: "Five Cards is an Irish game, and
is much played in that kingdom for considerable sums of money, as
All-fours is played in Kent, and Post-and-pair in the west of
England."
'Noddy was one of the old English court games. This has been
supposed to have been a children's game, and it was certainly
nothing of the kind. Its nature is thus fully described in a
curious satirical poem, entitled Batt upon Batt, published in
1694.
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