Some writers are of the opinion that trump was originally played without honors; but as no description of trump without honors is known to exist, their view must be taken as conjectural. It appears that a clergyman was recommended to the Archbishop for preferment, when His Grace said, "he had heard that the clergyman used to play at Whist and swobbers; that as to 51 playing now and then a sober game at Whist, it might be pardoned; but he could not digest those wicked swobbers." Johnson defines swobbers as ‘four privileged cards used incidentally in betting at Whist." It has been conjectured by later writers that swabbers were identical with the honors; but this is an error. Hoyle is also spoken of in his professional capacity in the "Rambler" of May 8, 1750. A lady writes, "As for play, I do think I may indulge in that, now I am my own mistress. The laws adopted by these Clubs in 1864, which have by this time (1874) found their way into all Whist circles, deposed Hoyle, and are now the standard by which disputed points are determined.
Hoyle also comes in for notice in the following passage in the same work: ‘I happened to come home several hours before my usual time, when I found four gentlemen of the cloth at Whist by my fire; - and my Hoyle, sir, - my best Hoyle, which cost me a guinea, lying open on the table, with a quantity of porter spilled on one of the most material leaves of the whole book. The fact is, the name Edmund or Edmond is common in both the Yorkshire and Irish families of Hoyle; and probably one Hoyle has been mistaken for another. If either side are at Eight Groats he hath the benefit of calling Can-ye, if he hath two Honors in his hand, and if the other answers one, the game is up, which is nine in all, but if he hath more than two he shows them, and then it is all 48 one and the same thing; but if he forgets to call after playing a trick, he loseth the advantage of Can-ye for that deal. The game of ruff-and-honors, if not the same as trump or ruff, was probably the same game, with the 47 addition of certain advantages to the four highest cards of the trump suit.
Douce ("Illustrations") pointed out its real meaning, and also ridiculed Ben Jonson’s derivation of the word trump from tromper. The derivation of the word ruff or ruffe has caused much speculation, and has never been satisfactorily settled. Ruffe seems to have been used as a synonym for trump early in the seventeenth century, as appears from the extract from Cotgrave’s "Dictionary." Nares, in his "Glossary," says - "Ruff meant a trump card, charta dominatrix;" even at the present day, many Whist players speak of ruffing, i.e. trumping; and, in the expression a cross-ruff, What is a billiards club the word ruff is preserved to the exclusion of the word trump. Twelve a-piece, and the Trump is the bottom Card. After the swabbers were dropped (and it is probable that they were not in general use in the eighteenth century), our national card game became known simply as Whist, though still occasionally spelt whisk. At this period (early part of the eighteenth century) there was a mania for card playing in all parts of Europe, and in all classes of society, but Whist had not as yet found favor in the highest circles. That the game had not yet become fashionable is evident from the disparaging way in which it is referred to by writers of the period.
Long Whist had long been known in France, but it was not a popular game in that country. Who spent near half an Age in studying Whist? In Captain Francis Grose’s "Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue" (1785), swabbers are said to be "The ace of hearts, knave of clubs, ace and deuce of trumps at Whist." The Hon. Daines Barrington (writing in 1787), says, that at the beginning of the century, whisk was "played with what were called swabbers, which were possibly so termed, because they who had certain cards in their hand were entitled to take up a share of the stake, independent of the general event of the game." This was probably the true office of the swabbers. It is remarkable that the "finest Whist player" who ever lived should have been, according to Mr. Clay, a Frenchman, M. Deschapelles (born 1780, died 1847). He published in 1839 a fragment of a "Traité du Whiste," which treats mainly of the laws, and is of but little value to the Whist player. The introduction of the name whist whisk would appear to have taken place early in the seventeenth century. While Whist was undergoing these changes of name and of character, there was for a time associated with it another title, viz., swabbers or swobbers.