BEZIQUE. 



BIBLE SOCIETIES. 



the table until the end of the hand including the last 

 eight tricks. A player can declare after winning a 

 trick and before drawing again when the trick won 

 contains one or more cards which, added to his open 

 cards, complete any combination that scores. Every 

 declaration must include a card played to the last 

 trick won. Aces and tens must be scored as soon as 

 won, and not at the end of the hand. The seven of 

 trumps can be exchanged by the winner of the trick 

 containing it ; and if the turn-up card is one that can 

 be used in declaring, it becomes an open card when 

 exchanged. The seven of trumps, when not ex- 

 changed, is scored for by the player winning the trick 

 containing it. 



" Compound declarations " are allowed, that is, 

 cards added to the open cards can be used at once 

 (without waiting to win another trick), in as many 

 combinations of diiferent classes as they will form 

 with the winner's open cards. Thus, suppose A has 

 three open kings and wins a trick containing a king ; 

 before drawing again he places the fourth king with 

 the other three and scores 80 for kings. This is a 

 simple declaration. But if the card led was the open 

 queen of trumps and A won it with the king, and he 

 has the following named open cards : three kings 

 three queens, and ace, ten, and knave of trumps, he 

 at once declares royal marriage (40) ; four kings (80) ; 

 four queens (60) ; and sequence (250), and he scores 

 altogether 430. 



Or, if ace of spades is turned up, and ace of hearts 

 is led, the second player has two open aces and wins 

 the ace of hearts with the seven of trumps, and ex- 

 changes. He scores 10 for the exchange, 10 for the 

 ace of hearts, 10 for the ace of spades, adds the aces 

 to his open cards, and scores 100 for aces 130 in all. 

 If a declaration or part of a declaration is omitted, 

 and the winner of the trick draws again, he can not 

 amend his score. 



A second declaration can not be made of a card al- 

 ready declared in the same class. For instance, a 

 queen once married can not be married again, and a 

 fifth king added to four already declared, does not 

 entitle to another score for kings. 



It must be kept in mind that no declaration can be 

 effected by means of cards in hand. Thus B, having 

 three open queens and a queen in hand, can not add 

 his open cards to his hand. He must win another 

 trick containing a queen when he can declare queens. 



Declarations continue during the play of the last 

 eight tricks exactly as during the play of the other 

 cards. 



The game is 2,000 up. It is desirable after each 

 deal to shuffle thoroughly ; otherwise, a number of 

 small cards will run together in the stock and detract 

 from the interest of the game. It is also well to fol- 

 low the rules for ordinary be'zique respecting changes 

 of cards ; otherwise, the scores of one may run very 

 high and the other very low, thus impairing the in- 

 terest of the game. The lead is even more disadvan- 

 tageous than in common be'zique. It is important not 

 to lead anything that can be won by ordinary be'zique 

 cards. It is often desirable to win with a high card, 

 though able to win with a low one ; thus, having king 

 and nine of a suit of which the eight is led, if you 

 win the trick you should take it with the king. It 

 is not so important to win aces and tens, especially 

 the latter, as in ordinary bezique. A difficult point 

 in the game is to decide whether to win tricks with 

 sequence cards, on the chance of eventually scoring 

 sequence, or to reserve trumps for the last eight tricks. 

 As a rule, if the hand is well advanced, and you are 

 badly off for trumps, win tricks with sequence cards, 

 and especially if you have duplicate sequence cards 

 make them both. If badly off in trumps toward the 

 end of the hand, and your adversary may win double 

 be"zique ? keep in hand an ace or ten of the bezique 

 suits, since when it comes to the last eight tricks, 

 where suit must be followed, you may prevent the 

 score of double bezique. 



Grand or Chinese Be~zi<nie. This is played like ordi- 



nary be'zique, except that four packs are shuffled to- 

 gether and used as one, and nine cards are dealt to 

 the players, three at a time to each. When a combina- 

 tion is declared and one of the cards composing it is 

 played away, another declaration may be completed 

 (after winning a trick) with the same cards. For in- 

 stance, C declares four aces, and uses one to win a 

 trick, or throws one away. He has a fifth ace in his 

 handj and wins a trick ; he can add to it the three re- 

 maining declared aces and score four aces again, and 

 so on. Marriages can be declared over and over 

 again ; thus king and queen of hearts are declared, 

 and the player draws another king of hearts. He 

 plays the declared king and wins the trick. He can 

 then marry the queen again. This is sometimes ob- 

 jected to, on the ground of alleged bigamy, but if per- 

 mitted only after the declared king is played that is 

 to say, removed from the sphere of active life his 

 queen may properly be regarded as a widow, free to 

 marry again. 



Bezique follows the same rule, if, for instance, a 

 knave is played away, another knave makes another 

 bezique, and so with double and triple be'zique, if the 

 former declared cards which remain unplayed can be 

 matched from cards in hand to make the required 

 combinations. Sequence can be declared over and 

 over again, and compound declarations made among 

 the declared cards are now generally allowed. The 

 sevens of trumps do not count, nor does the last trick, 

 unless by special agreement among the players. The 

 game is 3,000 up. The points for the players to aim at 

 are to declare four aces or sequence, whicli can then 

 be declared over and over again, if fresh aces or se- 

 quence cards are taken into the hand (the duplicate 

 sequence cards being first played away). With fair 

 probability of sequence, everything else, including 

 even aces or chance of doub'le bezique, should be 

 sacrificed. 



BIBLE SOCIETIES. American. The seventy- 

 second annual meeting of the American Bible 

 Society was held May 10. The Hon. E. L. 

 Fancher presided. The cash receipts of the 

 society for the year for general purposes had 

 been $557,340, in addition to which $4,971 

 had been received to be permanently invested. 

 The cash disbursements for general purposes 

 had been $506,453. The funds held in trust, of 

 which only the income is available, amounted 

 to $347,721, and had yielded during the year 

 $13,662. The investments for general purposes 

 amounted to $204,561, and had returned an 

 income of $10,282. More than two hundred 

 volumes had been added to the library, two 

 thirds of the number being copies of the Script- 

 ures in various languages, some of them repre- 

 senting work done in ancient times. Progress 

 was reported on translations of the Scriptures 

 into Spanish, Modern Syriac, popular Japanese, 

 and Telugu. Preparatory to printing an edi- 

 tion in ancient Armenian, a committee of 

 scholars in Constantinople had been invited to 

 give counsel in respect to doubtful readings. 

 The Muskokee version was under examination 

 with reference to corrections for a new edition. 

 Translations into the Indian languages of Mexi- 

 co were desired, but could not be undertaken 

 for the want of a competent translator. Prog- 

 ress had been made with the version for the 

 Laos people. The question of a version into 

 the easy Wenli of China was under advisement. 

 Versions in other Chinese dialects were un- 

 dergoing revision. The whole number of issues 



