ACCOUNT OF BOOKS. 



961 



articles elsewhere. Their cards arc 

 much more numerous than ours, and 

 their games much more complicated. 

 Nor are they at any loss, even if 

 none of the party should liappen to 

 befurnislicd with cards or dice ; on 

 such an emergency, their fingers are 

 employed to answer the purpose, 

 which are all t'latis required to play 

 tlic game of T-soimoi, a game of 

 which the lower class of people is 

 particularly fond. Two persons, 

 sitting direflly opposite to each 

 other, raise their hands at the same 

 moment, when each calls out the 

 number he guesses io be the sum of 

 the fingers expanded by himself and 

 his adversary. The closed fist is 

 none, the thumb one, tlie thumb 

 and fore-finger two, &c. so that the 

 chances lie between and 5, as 

 each must know the number held 

 out by himself. The middling class 

 of people likewise play at this game 

 when they give entertainments m here 

 wine is served, and the loser is al- 

 ways obliged to drink off a cup of 

 wine. At this childish game two 

 persons will play to a very late hour, 

 till he who has had the worst of the 

 game, has been obliged to drink so 

 much wine, that he can no longer 

 ace cither to count his own or his 

 adversary's fingers. I hare thus 

 particularly noticed the Chinese 

 7\o/nioi, on account of the extra- 

 ordinary coincidence between it and 

 a 5ume in use among the Romans, 

 1') which frequent allusion is made 

 l)\ Cicero. In a note by Mclanc- 

 (iion, on Cicero's Ofilces, it is thus 

 (I' scribed: — ^^ Mica re di^iti?, Indi 

 '• gciius est ; sic Indent es, siiiitd dl- 

 ** gUos edterius munus qttot ■coUnit 

 ** ciiissime erigutil, et siimd umbo 

 ' divlnafU quot simid erccli i'inl ; 



" ijiiod qui di-Jinivit, hicralus est: 

 " uncle acri tvvK opus, ei mulla fide 

 " i(t cum (diquo in tenebris niiccs.'^ 

 " Micure digilif!^ is a kind of game. 

 " Those who play at it stretch out, 

 " with great quickness, as many 

 " fingers of one hand each, as they 

 " please, and at the same instant 

 " both guess how many are held up 

 " by the two together ; and he who 

 " guesses right wins the game : 

 " hence a sharp sight is necessary, 

 " and also great confidence when it 

 " is played in the dark." 



" The Chinese have certainly thtj 

 acer visas, but I doubt much whe, 

 ther they have faith enough in each 

 other's integrity to play at the game 

 of fingers in the dark ; which, in 

 the opinion of Cicero, was a strong 

 test of a truly honest man. The 

 same game is said to be still played 

 in Italy,undcr the name of 3Iona*. 

 " The officers about Yucn-min-. 

 yuan used to play a kind of chess, 

 which appeared to me to be essen- 

 tially different from that game as 

 played by the Persians, the Indians, 

 and other oriental nations, both 

 with regard to the lines drawn oii 

 the board, the form of the chess- 

 men, and the moves, from which I 

 should rather conclude it to be a 

 game of their own invention, than 

 an introdu(Stioti cither from India, 

 or by the army of (jengis-f^lian, as 

 some authors have conjectured. 



" The sj)irit of gaming is so uni- 

 versal in most of (he towns and ci- 

 ties, that in almost every bye-cor- 

 ner, groups are to be found play- 

 ing at cards or throwing dice. 'J'liey 

 are accused even of frequ( iidy slak- 

 ing the wires and children into sla-. 

 very; there can be lidl.' remorse h\ 

 the breast of a jamester reduced tft 



\oL. XLVI. 



* Ad;im's Roman Antiijuitics, 

 3Q 



