who wins
applause in the drawing-room is often thought but little of in places
where the rigour of the game is observed; and the 'good, steady player'
of the University Clubs is not a star of the first magnitude at the
Portland. The best players used to be men of mature years; they are now
the middle-aged, who, with sufficient practical experience, have
derived their skill in early life from the best books. 'It is difficult
to teach an old dog new tricks,' and for the most part the old dogs
despise them. When I hear my partner boast that he is 'none of your
book-players,' I smile courteously, and tremble. I know what will
become of him and me if fortune does not give him his 'fair chance,'
and I seek comfort from the calculation which tells me it is two to one
against my cutting with him again. How marvellous it is, when one comes
to consider the matter, that a man should decline to receive
instruction on a technical subject from those who have eminently
distinguished themselves in it, and have systematised for the benefit
of others the results of the experience of a lifetime! With books or no
books, it is quite true, however, that some men, otherwise of great
intelligence, can never be taught whist; they may have had every
opportunity of learning it--have been born, as it were, with the ace of
spades in their mouth instead of a silver spoon--but the gift of
understanding is denied them; and though it is ungallant to say so, I
have never known a lady to play whist well.

In the case of the fair sex, however, it may be urged that they have
not the same chances; they have no whist clubs, and the majority of
them entertain the extraordinary delusion that it is wrong to play at
whist in the afternoon. One may talk scandal over kettle-drums, and go
to morning performances at the theatre, but one may not play at cards
till after dinner. There is even quite a large set of male persons who,
'on principle,' do not play at whist in the afternoon. In seasons of
great adversity, when fortune has not given me my 'fair chance' for
many days, I have sometimes 'gone on strike,' as it is termed, and
joined them; but anything more deplorable than such a state of affairs
it is impossible to imagine. After their day's work is over, these good
people can't conceive what to do with themselves, and, between
ourselves, it is my experience, drawn from these occasional 'intervals
of business,' that this practice of not playing whist in the after