CHAPTER VIII.--VOL. I., p. 200.

"_Primero._"

This game is noticed by SHAKESPEARE, in "_The Merry Wives of Windsor_:"--

"I never prospered since I foreswore myself at primero."

And likewise in Henry VIII.:--

"And left him at primero, with the Duke of Suffolk."

In BEAUMONT and FLETCHER also, mention is made of this celebrated and once fashionable game--in vol. II. p. 185, in "_The Scornful Lady_," and likewise in "_The nice Valour_," in vol. IV. p. 273.

Primero too is noticed in STRUTT'S "_Sports and Pastimes of the People of England_," p. 291. There is a poem by the celebrated Sir John Harrington, the translator of _Ariosto_, which affords an admirable illustration of the game: it is entitled, "_The Story of Marcus' Life at Primero_." But as it amounts to upwards of forty lines, it is considered as too long for insertion here.