Page:EB1911 - Volume 21.djvu/666

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PIQUA—PIQUET
637

square erections, like a shrine or small temple, surmounted by a canopy called from its shape a T. They were then more than a third of the height of the dome itself. The total height of this Sākiya tope will therefore have been approximately a little under 50 ft. It was probably surrounded by a carved wooden railing, but this has long since disappeared.

All such monuments hitherto discovered in India were put up in honour of some religious teacher, not in memory of royal persons, generous benefactors, politicans, or soldiers or private persons however distinguished. And we need have no hesitation in accepting this as a monument put up over a portion of the ashes from the funeral pyre of Gotama the Buddha. The account of the death and cremation of the Buddha, preserved in the Buddhist canon, states that one-eighth portion of the ashes was presented to the Sākiya clan, and that they built a thūpa or memorial mound, over it.[1]

Mr Peppé presented the coffer and vases with specimens of the jewelry to the museum at Calcutta where they still are. He also gave specimens of the trinkets to the Asiatic Society in London.

Peppé's original article is in the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society for 1898, pp. 573 sqq. Comments upon it, one or two of them sceptical, are in the same journal 1898, pp. 579, 588, 387, 868; 1899, p. 425; 1901, p. 398; 1905, p. 679; 1906, pp. 149 sqq. See also A. Barth, Comptes rendues de l'academie des inscriptions (1898), xxvi., 147, 233; Sylvain Levy, Journal des savants (1905) pp. 540 sqq.; and R. Pischel and Rhys Davids as quoted above.  (T. W. R. D.) 

PIQUA, a city of Miami county Ohio, U.S.A., on the Miami River and the Miami & Erie Canal, 73 m. W. by N. of Columbus. Pop. (1890), 9090, (1900), 12,172, of whom 901 were foreign-born and 487 were negroes, (1910 census), 13,388. It is served by the Pittsburg, Cincinnati, Chicago & St Louis, and the Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton railways, and by inter-urban electric lines to Lima, Dayton and Covington. It has a park, a public library and a public hospital. There are quarries of blue limestone in the vicinity. The city has various manufactures the factory products being valued in 1905 at $4,035,706. The municipality owns and operates its waterworks. On or near the site of Piqua was one of the principal villages of the Chillicothe division of the Shawnee tribe, the village also was called Chillicothe. It was destroyed by George Rogers Clark in 1782. A town was laid out here in 1809 under the name of Washington, and the present name, that of another division of the Shawnee tribe, was substituted in 1823. Piqua was chartered as a city in 1846 During the French and Indian War, in 1763 a battle was fought in this vicinity chiefly between the Miamis, Wyandots, Ottawas and other Indian allies of the French and the Delawares, Shawnees, Cherokees, Catawbas and other Indian allies of the English, the English allies making an unsuccessful attempt to drive the French allies from their fortified position, Fort Piqua.

See Henry Howe, Historical Collections of Ohio (Columbus, 1891).

PIQUET, a game at cards, probably a development of ronfa, a game mentioned by Berni in 1526; la ronfle (included in Rabelais's list, c. 1530) may be regarded as the same game. The point at piquet was ancietly called ronfle. The Spanish name of the game was cientos (centum, a hundred). Piquet was played in England under the name of cent, or sant, probably as early as 1550 (contemporaneously with the marriage of Mary to Philip of Spain). About the middle of the 17th century (shortly after the marriage of Charles I. to Henrietta Maria of France) the name cent was dropped in England, and the French equivalent, piquet, adopted. It is played by two persons, with a pack of thirty-two cards—the sixes, fives, fours, threes and twos being thrown out from a complete pack. At one time the partie was the best of five games of a hundred up (a player not obtaining fifty losing a double game). But now the partie is generally determined in six hands, the player making the largest aggregate score being the winner. The number of points won is the difference between the two scores, with a hundred added for the game. If, however, the loser fails to make a hundred in six hands, the number of points won is the sum of the two scores, with a hundred for the game. Piquet played in this way is called Rubicon Piquet.

The dealer deals twelve cards to his adversary and twelve to himself, two at a time, or three at a time. He then places the eight undealt cards, called the “stock,” face downwards on the table, the top five being for the elder hand (non-dealer) to take from first in exchange for his own. The players now look at their hands, and carte blanche (see later) having been declared, if there is one, put out (without showing them) such cards as they deem advisable in order to improve their hands, and take in an equivalent number from the stock. Each player must discard at least one card. If the elder hand discards less than the five he is entitled to, he must state how many he leaves. He is entitled to look at the cards he leaves, replacing them face downwards on the top of the stock. The younger hand then makes the exchange from the remainder of the stock. If the elder hand leaves any of the top five, the younger may exchange as many as remain in the stock, discarding an equal number. If the younger hand leaves any cards, he announces the number left. He may look at the cards he leaves. If he looks at them he must show them to the elder hand, after the elder has named the suit he will lead first, or has led a card.

If the younger hand elects not to look at the cards left the elder cannot see them. The younger hand must make his election before he plays to the card first led, or, if so required, after the dealer has named the suit he will first lead. Each player may examine his own discard at any time during the hand, but he must keep it separate from his other cards.

The elder hand next makes a declaration of what he has in his hand.

The “point” must be called first or the right to call it is lost. It is scored by the player who announces the suit of greatest strength, valued thus: ace 11, court cards, 10 each; other cards, the number of pips on each. Thus if the elder hand's best suit is ace, king, knave, nine, eight, he calls “five cards.” If the younger hand has no suit of five cards, he says “good.” The elder hand then says “in spades,” or whatever the suit may be, or shows his point face upwards if the younger hand has a suit of more than five cards, he says “not good.” If the younger hand has also five cards, he says “equal” or “what do they make?” when the elder calls “forty-eight” (or “making eight,” short for forty-eight). The younger must not inquire what the point makes unless he has an equal number of cards. If the younger hand's five cards make less than forty-eight he says “good”, if exactly forty-eight, he says “equal”; if more than forty-eight he says “not good.” The player whose point is good reckons one for each card of it; if the points are equal neither player scores for point.

“Sequences” are usually called next, the elder hand stating what h1s best sequence is, and the younger saying, “good,” “equal,” or “not good,” as in the case of the point. Any three or more consecutive cards of the same suit held in hand constitute a sequence. The order of the cards is as follows: ace (highest), king, queen, knave, ten, nine, eight, seven (lowest). A sequence of three cards is called a “tierce”; of four, a “quart”; of five, a “quint”, of six, a “sixième”; of seven, a “septième ”, of eight, a “ huitième.” A tierce of ace, king, queen is called a “tierce major”; a tierce of king, queen, knave is called a “tierce to a king” (and so on for other intermediate sequences according to the card which heads them); a tierce of nine, eight, seven is called a “tierce minor.” Sequences of four or more cards follow the same nomenclature; e.g. ace, king, queen, knave is a quart major; knave, ten, nine, eight, is a quart to a knave; and so on. A sequence of a greater number of cards is good against a sequence of a smaller number; thus, a quart minor is good against a tierce major. As between sequences containing the same number of cards, the one headed by the highest card is good; thus, a quart to a queen is good against a quart to a knave. Only identical sequences can be equal. The player whose sequence is good reckons one for each card of it, and ten in addition for quints or higher sequences. Thus a tierce counts three; a quart, four; a quint, fifteen; a sixième, sixteen; and so on. If the elder hand's sequence is good, he names the suit, or shows it face upwards. If the highest sequence (or the sequence first called) is good, all lower sequences can be reckoned, notwithstanding that the adversary has a sequence of intermediate value. For example, A has a quart to a queen (good,) and a tierce minor. He calls and reckons seven, notwithstanding that B has a quart to a knave. B's quart counts nothing. If the highest sequence is equal, neither player scores anything for sequence, even though one player may hold a second sequence of equal or inferior value.

“Quatorzes” and “trios” are the next calls. “Quatorzes” are composed of four aces, four kings, four queens, four knaves, or four tens, in order of value; “trios” of three of any of these. A quatorze, if good, reckons fourteen; a trio, if good, reckons three; one that is good establishes any smaller quatorzes or trios in his hand.

When the elder hand has done calling he leads a card. Before


  1. Translated in Rhys Davids' Buddhist Suttas (Oxford, 1881).