Hearts (1886)

[Fred Shapiro]

I don't know if this is the same game, or a different game, or merely a
general metaphor, but here is a possible earlier citation for the game of
"hearts":

1880 Frances H. Burnett in _Frank Leslie's Popular Monthly_ Feb. 245  He
was amiably following her rather sharp lead in the game of hearts, but he
was not showing his hand.



Fred R. Shapiro                             Coeditor (with Jane Garry)
Associate Librarian for Public Services     TRIAL AND ERROR: AN OXFORD
  and Lecturer in Legal Research            ANTHOLOGY OF LEGAL STORIES
Yale Law School                             Oxford University Press, 1998
e-mail: fred.shapiro at yale.edu               ISBN 0-19-509547-2