a celebrated game at cards, borrowed from the Spaniards, and played by two, by three, or by five persons, but generally by three. When three play at this game, nine cards are dealt to each party; the whole ombre pack being only 40; because the eights, nines, and tens are thrown out of the pack. There are two sorts of counters for stakes, the greater and the lesser; the last having the same proportion to the other as a penny to a shilling: of the greater counters each man takes one for the game; and one of the lesser for passing for the hand, when eldest, and for every card taken in. As to the order and value of the cards, the ace of spades, called spadillo, is always the highest trump, in whatsoever suit the trump be; the manille, or black duce, is the second; and the bafla, or ace of clubs, is always the third: the next in order is the king, the queen, the knave, the seven, the six, the five, four, and three. Of the black there are 11 trumps; of the red, 12. The least small cards of the red are always the best, and the most of the black; except the duce and red seven, both of which are called the manilles, and are always second when the red is a trump. The red ace, when a trump, enters into the fourth place, and is called punto, otherwise it is only called an ace. The three principal cards are called matadores; which have this privilege, that they are not obliged to attend an inferior trump when it leads; but for want of a small trump, the person may renounce trumps, and play any other card; and when these are all in the same hand, the others pay three of the greater counters a-piece; and with these three for a foundation, he may count as many matadores as he has cards in an uninterrupted series of trumps; for all which the others are to pay one counter a-piece. He who hath the first hand is called ombre, and has his choice of playing the game, of naming the trump, and of taking in as many and as few cards as he pleases; and after him the second, &c. But if he does not name the trump before he looks on the cards he has taken in, any other may prevent him, by naming what trump he pleases. He that has the first hand should neither take in, nor play, unless he has at least three sure tricks in his hand: for, as he wins the game who wins most tricks, he that can win five of the nine has a sure game; which is also the case if he wins four, and can so divide the tricks as that one person may win two, and the other three.

If a person plays without discarding or changing any cards, this is called playing sans prendre; and if another wins more tricks than he, he is said to win co-dille. The over-fights in the course of the game are called And if the ombre wins all the nine tricks, it is called winning the vole.

In ombre by five, which many, on account of its not requiring so close an attention, prefer to that by three, only eight cards a-piece are dealt; and five tricks must be won, otherwise the ombre is beasted. Here the person who undertakes the game, after naming the trump, calls a king to his affiance; upon which the person in whose hand the king is, without discovering himself, is to affit him as a partner, and to share his fate. If, between both, they can make five tricks, the ombre wins two counters, and the auxiliary king only one; but when the counters are even, they divide them equally. If the ombre venture the game without calling in any king, this too is called playing sans prendre; in which case the other four are all against him, and he must win five tricks alone, or be beasted. The rest is much the same as by three.

**OMBRE de soleil**, "Shadow of the sun," in heraldry, is when the sun is borne in armory, so as that the eyes, nose, and mouth, which at other times are represented, do not appear; and the colouring is thin, so that the field can appear through it.

**OMBRIA,** the ancient name of a province of Italy, in the territory of the pope, now called Spoleto and Perugia.

**OMBRO,** or **Lombro,** a town of Italy, in the duchy of Tuscany, and territory of the Siennois, situated near the Tuscan sea, a little south of the lake of Cafliglione, 45 miles south-west of Sienna.

**OMBROMETER,** a machine to measure the quantity of rain that falls. We have the description and sign of one in Phil. Trans. n° 473, p. 12. It consists of a tin-funnel, whose surface is an inch square, with a flat board, and a glass-tube set into the middle of it in a groove. The rise of the water in the tube, whose capacity at different times must be measured and marked, shows the quantity of rain that has fallen.

**OMELET,** or **Amlet,** a kind of pancake or fri-caille of eggs, with other ingredients, very usual in Spain and France. It may be made as follows: The eggs being beaten, are to be seasoned with salt and pepper, and then fried in butter made boiling hot; this done, gravy is to be poured on, and the whole stewed with chives and parsley shred small: when one side is fried enough, it is to be turned on the other.

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**(A)** Instead of translating these short quotations, we shall here give Dryden's version of the whole of this portentous adventure, as we are persuaded that the mere English reader, who alone can wish for a translation, will be glad to have the fullest account of the bleeding myrtle, together with its effects on the mind of the hero. It is as follows:

Not far, a rising hillock stood in view; Sharp myrtles on the sides and corners grew. There, while I went to creep the sylvan scenes, And shade our altar with their leafy greens, I pull'd a plant (with horror I relate A prodigy so strange, and full of fate): The rooted fibres rose; and from the wound Black bloody drops distill'd upon the ground. Mute and amaz'd, my hair with terror stood; Fear shrunk my sinews, and congeal'd my blood. Mann'd once again, another plant I try; That other gust'd with the same sanguine dye. Then, fearing guilt for some offence unknown, With prayers and vows the Dryads I atone, With all the filters of the woods, and most The God of arms, who rules the Thracian coast: That they, or he, these omens would avert, Relieve our fears, and better signs impart.