"THE CURSE OF SCOTLAND."

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 668, 19 November 1909, Page 3

"THE CURSE OF SCOTLAND."

Sir,—l notice, inyour ; issuo ofNovembcr 9, in v; reply to a correspondent you quoto. tlio "Die- . tionary of Phraso and .Fable" regarding tho v derivation of-'. the' phrase, , "the : curse _of-'Scot>.; $ land." as. applied to the: nine' of, diamonds,' ;, ■ ahd the most, plausible.' -itsL V,( origin (1) The nine- of diamonds in the game/ of Pope Joan is called the Pope, the antichrist" of the Scotch. Reformers. ;.(2) In. the game 0fL..4 Comctto, introduced ,l>y Queen -Mary, it is tho\ great Avinnihg. card,': and the. game was thej. ' curse of Scotland,because it was the ruin ot!:' so many families. But the authority quoted you.omits any reference to; the most common' acceptation of' the' term, ' which. is.isaid, to b& this: The night before the battle.of Cullodcm : the "bloody Duke of Cumberland" was. en-1 : gaged in his tent with d''numbec : of officer? ; a, playing oards. lie was .waited on by Colonel CampiMll. for his final , orders. The. duko, nothaving, any writing material .handy,', hurriedl^. ; wrote a, dispatch, on tlic nine of diamonds, can-' . - eluding with. the.definite instruction ,that n»i- ' quarter was to bo given to the Scots. , 1 ' the expression —I am, etc., ■ JV A., WALSH. ( Pahiatua, November 13, 1 1009. , .j;-' , . 1 i [The" ''Dictionary of-Phfaso T and'P.'ible"; dis«, ; counts our correspondent's., suggestion as to th« origin of the expression .on the ground that the . • term, must have;been, in;vognp 'at,the period. 'as the ladies nicknamed !'J\irf,iW! Cli^k, stone. "The Nino of Diamonds!"] V ;