'From these lines, there can be no doubt that the ancient Noddy
was the modern cribbage--the Nod of to-day, rejoicing in the name
of Noddy, and the modern Crib, being termed the Stock.

'Ombre was most probably introduced into this country by
Catherine of Portugal, the queen of Charles II.; Waller, the
court poet, has a poem on a card torn at Ombre by the queen.
This royal lady also introduced to the English court the
reprehensible practice of playing cards on Sunday. Pepys, in
1667, writes: "This evening, going to the queen's side to see
the ladies, I did find the queen, the Duchess of York, and
another at cards, with the room full of ladies and great men;
which I was amazed at to see on a Sunday, having not believed,
but contrarily flatly denied the same, a little while since, to
my cousin."[61]

[61] Hombre, or rather El Hombre, or 'The Man,' was so named as
requiring thought and reflection, which are qualities peculiar to
man; or rather, alluding to him who undertakes to play the game
against the rest of the gamesters, emphatically called The Man.
It requires very great application to play it well: and let a man
be ever so expert, he will be apt to fall into mistakes if he
thinks of anything else, or is disturbed by the conversation of
those that look on. It is a game of three, with 40 cards, that
is, rejecting the eights, nines, and tens of all the suits.


'In a passage from Evelyn's Memoirs, the writer impressively
describes another Sunday-evening scene at Whitehall, a few days