﻿16-t 



TXDIAXA UXIVERSITY 



be strange if it were new; but it isn't. Both the name and thr 

 game are cribbed : the name from the ' ' Groats-worth of AVit ; ' ' the 

 game in detail from "The Defence." The three definitions of this 

 "newe debased arte" will be given. 



Greenes Ghost: 



First aucl foremost yon must note, that leaving an Ale-wife in the 

 lurch, is termed making her carie stones, which stones be those great Oes 

 in chalke that stand behind the doore : the weight of everie one of which 

 is so great that as many shillings as there be, so inany times shee cries O. 

 as groaning under the waiglit thereof. Now sir, of these Oes twenty shill- 

 ings make a just loade. and tenne pound a bargeful.'-' 



Groafs-wortli of Wit: 



If he [Roberto] could any ^^'ay get credit on scores, he would then brag 

 his creditors carried stones, comparing everie round circle to a groning O, 

 procured by a painful burden." 



The Defence: 



These Souhlados, for under that profession most of them wander, have 

 a pollicie to scourge Alehouses, for where they light in. they never leape 

 out, till they have shewed theyr Arithmatike with chalke on every post in 

 the house, figured in Cyphers like round Os. till they make the goodman 

 cry O. O, O, as if hee should cal an O yes at the Size or Sessions.*^ 



It will be noticed that Rowlands gives these O 's what might be 

 called a spatial value. This, aside from Ms explanation of the ori- 

 gin of the expression "carrying stones ""'^^ is practically his only 

 original contribution. His dependence upon "The Defence" for 

 the details of the game is worth noting. 



Greenes Ghost: 



First this is a generall precept amongst them, that he must be some 

 odde drunken companion that they deale upon, and his wife a good wench 

 that so she may bee fallen in with, and wipe off her guests scores, if so he 

 have no monie to discharge it: . . . Yet if this cannot conveniently be 

 brought to passe, .... then will they be sure their goodman hoast must 

 be a certaine kind of bawd, or a receiver of cutpurses, pickpockets, or such 



S3 Worl-s, I. 22-24. 

 3* Works, XII. 135. 

 35 Worl-s, XI, 76-77. 



06 pi-ofessor Chandler pomts out that the trick upon which his explanation is 

 based harks hack to the Cid. 



