money which he lent to the king to play at Cross and Pile, five
shillings. Item, paid to Pires Bernard, usher of the king's
chamber, money which he lent the king, and which he lost at Cross
and Pile; to Monsieur Robert Wartewille, eight- pence.'

A half-penny is now generally used in playing this game; but any
other coin with a head impressed will answer the purpose. One
person tosses the half-penny up and the other cries at pleasure
HEAD or TAIL, and loses according to the result.

Cross and Pile is evidently derived from the Greek pastime called
Ostra Kinda, played by the boys of ancient Greece. Having
procured a shell, they smeared it over with pitch on one side and
left the other side white. A boy tossed up this shell, and his
antagonist called white or black,[68] as he thought proper, and
his success was determined by the white or black part of the
shell being uppermost.

[68] In the Greek, nux kai hmera, that is, 'night and day.'


It is the favourite game of the boys of London and the vicinity,
now, however, considerably, if not entirely, discontinued through
the vigilance of the police and the severity of the magistrates.
Not long ago, however, I witnessed a sad and striking scene of it
at Twickenham. It was on a Sunday morning. Several boys
surrounded two players, one of the latter being about 14 years of
age, well dressed, and the other of about 10 years, all in
tatters and shoeless. The younger urchin had a long run of good
luck, whereat his antagonist exhibited much annoyance, swearing