Page "Whist" Paragraph 2

In its heyday a large amount of literature about how to play whist was written.

Edmond Hoyle, of " According to Hoyle " fame, wrote an early popular and definitive textbook, A Short Treatise on the Game of Whist.

It is important to note that this game, called " French ruff " by Charles Cotton, is similar to écarté.

English ruff-and-honours, also described by Cotton, is similar to whist.

If we admit that ruff and trump are convertible terms, of which there is scarcely a doubt, the game of trump was the precursor of whist.

A purely English origin may, therefore, be claimed for trump ( not la triomphe ).

No record is known to exist of the invention of this game, nor of the mode of its growth into ruff-and-honours, and finally into whist.