Roger Ascham Toxophilus 1545

0f gTjafltmg. 55

drinke and departe : Naye wyl an other faye,asfalfe
as he, you can not leAue whan you begyn, and ther-
fore I wyll not playe : but yet yf you wyll gage, that
euery man as he hath loft hi.s. xii. d. fhall fit downe, I
am content, for furely I woulde wmne no mannes
money here, but euen as much as wolde paye for mye
fupper. Than fpeketh the thyrde, to the honeft man
that thought not to playe, what wylle you playe your,
xii. pence if he excufe hym, turn man wyll the other
faye, fticke not in honeft company for. xii. d. I wyll
beare your halfe, and here is my money.

Nowe al this is to make him to beginne, for they
knowe if he be ones in, and be a loofer, yat he wyl
not fticke at his. xii. d. but hopeth euer to gette it
agayne, whiles perhaps, he loofe all. Than euery one
of them fetteth his fhiftes abroche, fome with falfe
dife, fome with fettynge of dyfe, fome with hauinge
outelandifhe fyluer coynes guylded, to put away at a
tyme for good gold. Than if ther come a thing in
controuerfie, mufte you be iudged by the table, and
than farewell the honeft man hys parte, for he is borne
downe on euerye fyde.

Nowe fir, befyde all thefe thinges they haue certayne
termes, as a man woulde faye, appropriate to theyr
playing: wherby they wyl drawe a- mannes money,
but paye none, whiche they cal barres, that furely he
that knoweth them not, maye foone be debarred of
all that euer he hath, afore he lerne them. Yf a
playne man lofe, as he fhall do euer, or els it is a
wonder, than the game is fo deuilyfh, that he can
neuer leaue: For vayn hope (which hope fayth Euri-
pides, deflroyeth many a man and Citie) ^ H
dryueth hym on fo farre, that he can neuer n ^^1-
retourne backe, vntyl he be fo lyght, that he nede feare
no theues by the waye. Nowe if a fimple man happen
onfe in his lyfe, to win of fuche players, than will they
e'yther entreate him to kepe them company whyles he
hath loft all agayne, or els they will vfe the mofte
dyuellyme fafhion of all. For one of the players that