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at all hazards. Possibly one of the adversaries may also hold four, or even five, in which cases you might be unintentionally playing his game.

Hence with four trumps considerable discretion is required, their lead being only warranted by tolerable strength, either of yourself or your partner, in other suits, in which case, even if long trumps remain in against you, you may manage to force them out and afterwards bring in your good cards. But if you have to lead before you can ascertain what your partner's hand consists of, and if you have a good plain suit, it is generally best to lead that first.

With a short suit of trumps, i.e., with less than four, it is very seldom right to lead them, at the commencement of the hand, for the obvious reason that if the adversaries happen to be strong, you are playing their game. It can only be warranted by very strong cards in all other suits, by which you may, perhaps, be able effectively to force a strong adverse trump hand.

Many uneducated players will lead a high trump from weakness, in order, as they say, to strengthen their partner; but this is founded on imperfect reasoning. The effect of leading high or strengthening cards is to benefit the hand that is longest in the suit; and if you know this to be your partner's case, the play is right. But to do it in uncertainty is wrong,

since it is two to one that the longest hand is not with your partner, but with one of the adversaries, and therefore the chances are that you favor the oppo

nents' game.

Many unscientific players will also lead trumps, simply because their long suit is trumped, or is likely to be so. This also is a mistake; for, as before, if the adversaries are strongest in trumps, you are only playing their game.

The proper use to make of trumps when you are numerically weak in them, is to use them, if possible, for ruffing. You cannot, for want of strength, put them to their highest use, and you must, therefore, fall back upon their lower application.

Several corollaries arise out of the foregoing principles of the scientific management of trumps; for example :

It will often happen that, being second player, and having none of the suit led, you may be at a loss to know whether to trump a doubtful trick or to leave it for your partner. This difficulty is at once solved by the foregoing theory. If you are weak in trumps, holding, say, not more than three, trump without hesitation, as your trumps are of no other use, and they may probably save a commanding card of your partner's, which in the adversaries' suit will be very valuable. But if you have a long suit of trumps, holding four or more, pass the trick, as they are too

valuable to risk wasting. It may even be sometimes advisable, in the latter case, to refuse a trick which is certainly against you, as your trumps will ultimately make, and you may perhaps discard advantageously. This rule is additionally useful as an indication to your partner. If he sees you trump freely secondhand, he will know you are weak; if you abstain, he will infer you are strong, and his knowledge of either fact may be of great value to you both. In the latter case also your discard will give him very useful information.

The greatest mischief that can be done to a strorg trump hand is to force it to ruff, so depriving it of its preponderating strength. This must be borne in mind if you see your partner renounce a suit, when you must, if you know him to be strong in trumps, carefully avoid forcing him. If you have had no indication of his hand, you must form, as well as you can, a judgment by your own; if you are weak, he may probably be strong: and hence the rule that you must not force your partner when you are weak in trumps yourself, until you are satisfied that your doing so will not harm him.

These principles also teach you how best to oppose a strong adverse trump hand, and to seek to diminish the advantages it gives over you. In this case you have first carefully to avoid leading trumps, which is the adversaries' game; and, secondly, you must force

the adverse strong hand to ruff whenever you can. By this means, if persevered in, you may perhaps succeed in neutralizing the opposing strength, and so in making your own good or long cards, although the chances are generally against you. At any rate, you can endeavor to make use of your trumps for ruffing before they are drawn.

Many players, when weak in trumps, will lead through an honor turned up, without any other motive than to give their partner a supposed trifling advantage in making a trick with them. This is a delusion, and is moreover entirely at variance with the principles of the modern game, inasmuch as it debases the trumps to their lowest use. But its worst fault is that it entirely misleads your partner, who, if he plays properly, will imagine you to be strong, and by returning them probably destroy your joint game.

Again, if you have great numerical strength in trumps you should never hesitate to lead them up to an honor. It is true your partner, being obliged to play his best, may possibly lose a high card, but this will be rather to your advantage than otherwise, as it will strengthen your hand and give you earlier the entire command. If you abstain from leading them, your partner may imagine the strength to be against him, and will play accordingly, and thus the immense advantage of your strong trumps may be lost.

Such are the chief practical principles in regard to trumps, deducible from the scientific modern theory. It will be seen they are a powerful engine for the advantageous working of plain suits, and that they require to be played with great care. In fact, the way in which a player manages his trumps will always form the surest index of the extent of his knowledge of the game.

Management of Plain Suits.-Long Suit Lead.

We now go on to show the general application of the scientific theory to the play of suits not trumps, or, as they are called, plain suits.

Supposing you have first lead, not being very strong in trumps, but having a long suit in your hand. Adhering to the established mode of 'opening,' you lead from your long suit, thereby at once informing your partner what is the chief component of your hand. He will recollect this, and as it is his duty to return your lead hereafter, and your interest to persevere in your suit, you will have the opportunity of 'making' any good cards in it which the joint hands may contain, and you may probably after three rounds be left with one or two long cards of it in your own hand. These long cards will then become very valuable; if the trumps can be extracted from the adverse hands, and you can get the lead, either by a trump or a card of re-entry, they will make certain