tcher (ii. 1), the
Chaplain complains that the Butler had broken his head, and being asked
the reason, says, for

"Reproving him at tra-trip, sir, for swearing."

Some are of opinion that it resembled the game of hopscotch, or
Scotch-hop; but this, says Nares,[821] "seems to rest merely upon
unauthorized conjecture."

[821] "Glossary," vol. ii. p. 896.

_Troll-my-dame._ The game of Troll-madam, still familiar as Bagatelle,
was borrowed from the French (_Trou-madame_). One of its names was
Pigeon-holes, because played on a board, at one end of which were a
number of arches, like pigeon-holes, into which small balls had to be
bowled. In "Winter's Tale" (iv. 2), it is mentioned by Autolycus, who,
in answer to the Clown, says that the manner of fellow that robbed him
was one that he had "known to go about with troll-my-dames." Cotgrave
declares it as "the game called Trunkes, or the Hole."

_Trump._ This was probably the _triumfo_ of the Italians, and the
_triomphe_ of the French--being perhaps of equal antiquity in England
with _primero_. At the latter end of the sixteenth century it was very
common among the inferior classes. There is, no doubt, a particular
allusion to this game in "Antony and Cleopatra" (iv. 14), where Antony
says:

"the queen--
Whose heart I thought I had, for she had mine;
Which, whilst it was mine, had annex'd unto't
A million more, now lost--she, Eros, has
Pack'd cards with Caesar, and false-play'd my glory
Unto an enemy's triumph."

The poet meant to say, that Cleopatra, by collusion, played the great
game they were engaged in falsely, so as to sacrifice Antony's fame to
that of his enemy. There is an equivoque between _trump_ and _triumph_.
The game in question bore a very strong resemblance to our modern
whist--the only points of dissimilarity being that more or less than four
persons might play at trump; that all the cards were not dealt out; and
that the dealer had the privilege of discarding some, and taking others
in from the stock. In Eliot's "Fruits for the French," 1593, it is
called "a very common ale-house game in England."

_Wrestling._ Of the many allusions that are given by Shakespeare to this
pastime, we may quote the phrase "to catch on the hip," made use of by
Shylock in the "Merchant of Venice" (i. 3), who, speaking of Antonio,
says,

"If I can catch him once upon the hip,
I will feed fat the ancient gru