SCOTLAND'S CURSE.
THE NINE OF DIAMONDS. Among card players the nine of diamonds is known as the Curse of Scotland; but if you were to ask a hundred of them why this is so, it is probable that not one could tell you. All sorts of queer reasons have been given. It is said, for example, that the Duke of Cumberland, who was playing cards at the time, wrote the order for the massacre of Glencoe on a card which happened to be the nine of diamonds. Another suggested reason is that in one old card game the nine of diamonds was a kind of joker which beat any other card. The game ruined many Scottish families when introduced by Mary Queen of Scots. The real reason is curious and interesting. A Scotsman, John Dalrymple, Earl of Stair, was mainly responsible, as Secretary of State, for bringing about the massacre of Glencoe, and for this reason he earned, the hatred of his countrymen. The arms of the Dalrymple family had nine "lozenges," or diamond shapes arranged as they are on the playing card. Owing to the resemblance the custom grew up of touching the card whenever it appeared and saying: "The curse of Scotland be on you."
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Bibliographic details
King Country Chronicle, Volume XXVI, Issue 3449, 24 November 1932, Page 7
Word Count
207SCOTLAND'S CURSE. King Country Chronicle, Volume XXVI, Issue 3449, 24 November 1932, Page 7
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