Chapter IV Of the Different Kinds of Cards and the Marks of the Suits
Having in the preceding chapters endeavoured to trace the origin of Playing Cards, and to show their progress from the time of their first introduction into Europe, I shall now proceed to give collectively some account of the different kinds of cards, of the various marks that have been employed to distinguish the suits, and of the changes that they have undergone at different periods.
Most authors who have expressly written on the subject, agree in distinguishing two kinds of cards, namely, those which they call Tarocchi, or Tarots; and those, consisting of four suits, which are in common use throughout Europe. It is a subject of dispute, among the learned in these matters, which of those two kinds are of the greatest antiquity; Court de Gebelin considers that Tarocchi cards were known to the ancient Egyptians; 220 and Mons. Duchesne is pleased to assume that certain so-called Tarocchi Cards, preserved in the Bibliothèque du Roi, belonged to one of the three packs painted for Charles VI, by Jacquemin Gringonneur, in 1393. Mons. Duchesne is also of opinion that these cards were the same as those which were formerly called Naibi in Italy; and in support of it, he alleges several authorities, which seem to him to be decisive of the fact, but which really prove nothing more than that Chartæ and Naibi were synonymous. 221 He produces no evidence to show that the series of painted and engraved figures, now usually called Tarocchi, were originally known either by that name, or by that of cards; while from a passage cited by Mons. Leber, from Raphael Volaterranus, it would appear that Tarocchi Cards, properly so called, were not invented till towards the close of the fifteenth century; and from the same author we learn that a pack of such cards consisted of the four suits of common cards, together with twenty-two symbolical figures, similar to those which are assumed by Mons. Duchesne to have been the original Tarocchi. Tarocchi cards—called Tarots by the French—are still used in several parts of France, Germany, and Italy; and an account of the manner of playing the game is to be found in the edition of the ‘Académie des Jeux,’ published by Corbet, Paris, 1814.
Mons. Duchesne calls this game Tarocchino, and distinguishes it from that played with the old series of figures, which he supposes to have been the original Tarocchi; but so far from there being any evidence to show that these figures were at their first introduction known either by the name of Tarocchi or of Cards, there seems greater reason to conclude that they have only obtained this name in comparatively recent times, in consequence of some of them being used in combination with common cards, at a game called Tarocchi, which was also the name given to the cards with which it was played. The earliest writers who mention Tarocchi as a kind of cards, always speak of them as consisting of four suits,—Swords, Cups, Batons, and Money,—together with a certain number of other cards, representing various characters and emblematical figures.
A pack of Tarots, 222 as at present used in France, corresponds in every particular with those called Tarocchi by writers of the sixteenth century. It consists of seventy-eight cards; that is, of four suits of numeral cards, and twenty-two emblematic cards, called Atous. 223 The marks of the suits are usually Swords, Cups, Batons, and Money; and each suit consists of fourteen cards, ten of which are “pips” or low cards, and the other four are coat cards,—namely, King, Queen, Chevalier, and Valet. Of the Atous, twenty-one are numbered consecutively from 1 to 21; that which is not numbered is called the Fou,—the Clown or Buffoon,—and in playing the game is usually designated “Mat.” The Fou has of itself no positive value, but augments that of any of the other Atous to which it may be joined. The other Atous are numbered and named as follows:
1. The Bateleur, or Juggler; called also Pagad. 2. Juno. 3. The Empress. 224 4. The Emperor. 5. Jupiter. 6. L’Amoureux. 7. The Chariot. 8. Justice. 9. The Capuchin, called also the Hermit. 10. The Wheel of Fortune. 11. Fortitude. 12. Le Pendu—a man suspended, head downwards, by one leg. 13. Death. 14. Temperance. 15. The Devil. 16. The Maison-Dieu, or Hospital—a tower struck by lightning. 17. The Stars. 18. The Moon. 19. The Sun. 20. The Last Judgment. 21. The End of the World.—Of these the first five are called petits atous, and the last five grands atous. Seven cards are also especially distinguished as Tarots, or Atous-tarots; these are the End of the World, the Buffoon, the Bateleur, and the four Kings. 225
According to Cicognara, 226 the inventor of the game of Tarocchino,—or Tarots, as above described,—was an Italian, who resided at Bologna, prior to the year 1419; and the account which he gives is to the following effect: “There is preserved in the Fibbia family, one of the most ancient and illustrious of that city, a portrait of Francis Fibbia, Prince of Pisa,—who sought refuge at Bologna, about the commencement of the fifteenth century,—in which he is represented holding in his right hand a parcel of cards, while others appear lying on the ground; among the latter are seen the Queen of Batons, and the Queen of Money, the one being ornamented with the arms of the Bentivoglio family, and the other with the arms of the Fibbia. An inscription at the bottom of the picture informs us that Francis Fibbia, who died in 1419, had obtained, as the inventor of Tarocchino, from the Reformers of the city, the privilege of placing his own shield of arms on the Queen of Batons, and that of his wife, who was of the Bentivoglio family, on the Queen of Money; “a distinction,” observes Mons. Duchesne, “which nevertheless does not exclude the supposition that Francis Fibbia, Commander-in-chief of the Bolognese forces, had rendered more important services to his countrymen than teaching them to play at Tarocchino.”
Supposing Cicognara’s account to be correct, it yet proves nothing with respect to the comparative antiquity of the two kinds of cards which compose the pack for the game of Tarocchino, or Tarots. Mons. Duchesne, however, having assumed that the old series of emblematic figures called Tarocchi cards were the oldest, sees no difficulty in the matter, but unhesitatingly concurs with Cicognara in ascribing the invention of Tarocchino to Francis Fibbia, without inquiring whether Fibbia had merely combined into one pack two kinds of cards already well known, or whether he was the first deviser of the four suits which constitute the most important portion of the pack, and which give to the game all its spirit. Seeing that Fibbia was honoured for his invention by the Reforming magistracy of Bologna,—where both card-playing and the manufacture of cards appear to have been pretty extensively carried on about 1423,—the most probable conclusion would be, that he had deserved well in their opinion, not from having converted by new combinations a previously innocent and amusing game into a hazardous and exciting one, but in consequence of his having shuffled a few moral Tarocchi into the old pack of numeral cards of four suits, whether of Swords, Cups, Batons, and Money, or of Bells, Hearts, Leaves, and Acorns. In support of this conclusion, it may further be observed, that though the manufacture of cards was extensively carried on both in Italy and Germany, before the year 1450, no so-called Tarocchi cards of that period have been discovered which can fairly be supposed to have been intended, either from their size or execution, for the common purposes of play; while, on the contrary, there are in existence several specimens of numeral cards of four suits, either stencilled or engraved on wood, and evidently of a cheap manufacture, for common use, of a date not later than 1450.
The kind of game for which the emblematic figures usually called Tarocchi cards were used, remains to be discovered. Mons. Duchesne has, indeed, hazarded a conjecture on the subject, which is equally incapable of refutation or of proof. “The number of players,” he says, “necessary to form a party, would scarcely be limited to two, and probably might vary from three to twelve, or rather from three to eight; and the manner of playing might simply consist in the appropriate laying down of such of the figures as, according to an order agreed upon, might belong to the suit of the card first played. The holder of certain privileged cards would have doubtless some additional advantage; and we may further suppose that each player being obliged, in turn, to lay down a card drawn at random, striking contrasts resulting from unexpected combinations would afford a subject of amusement. This supposition would seem to agree with the subject of a book entitled ‘Les Cartes Parlantes,’ 227 printed at Venice, in 1545; each card there has conferred on it an interpretation or allusion, more or less ingenious, applicable to the figure which it represents: thus the Pope represents fidelity in the game and sincerity in the player; the Emperor, the laws of the game; the Valets, the service attached to the game; the Swords, the death of despairing gamesters; the Batons, the punishment of those who cheat; Money, the sustenance of play; and the Cups, the drink over which the players settle their disputes.” Mons. Duchesne’s conjecture can scarcely be said to be supported by the conceits of Aretine; who, moreover, in the whole course of his book, speaks of cards as a hazardous, exciting game, at which both money and credit might be lost; while Mons. Duchesne asserts that the game played with Tarocchi was merely one of amusement, originally devised to instruct children under the semblance of play.
The earliest known specimens of what are called Tarocchi cards are those preserved in the Bibliothèque du Roi, at Paris, and which are supposed by Mons. Duchesne to have formed a portion of one of the three packs painted for the amusement of Charles VI, in 1393. 228 They formerly belonged to Mons. de Gaignières, who had been governor to the grandchildren of Louis XIV, and who bequeathed them, together with his entire collection of prints and drawings, to the king, in 1711. Those cards appear to have been seen in the possession of Mons. de Gaignières by the Abbé de Longuerue; 229 and also by Dr. Martin Lister, who thus mentions them in his account of his journey to Paris, in 1698: “I waited upon the Abbot Droine to visit Mons. Guanieres [de Gaignières] at his lodgings in the Hostel de Guise. One toy I took notice of, which was a collection of playing cards for 300 years. The oldest were three times bigger than what are now used, extremely well limned and illuminated with gilt borders, and the pasteboard thick and firm; but there was not a complete set of them.”
The following particulars respecting those cards are chiefly derived from Mons. Duchesne’s description of them in his ‘Observations sur les Cartes à jouer,’ published in the ‘Annuaire Historique’ for the year 1837. There are seventeen of them, and there can scarcely be a doubt of their having formed part of a set of what are called Tarocchi cards, which, when complete, consisted of fifty. They are painted on paper, in the manner of illuminations in old manuscripts, on a gold ground, which is in other parts marked with ornamental lines, formed by means of points slightly pricked into the composition upon which the gilding is laid. They are surrounded by a border of silver gilding, in which there is also seen an ornament, formed in the same manner, by means of points, representing a kind of scroll or twisted riband. Some parts of the embroidery on the vestments of the different figures are heightened with gold, while the weapons and armour are covered with silver, which, like that on the borders, has for the most part become oxydized through time. There is no inscription, letter, nor number, to indicate the manner in which they were to be arranged. Mons. Leber agrees with Mons. Duchesne in ascribing them to a French artist of the time of Charles VI, and even seems inclined to conclude that they might have been intended for the amusement of that lunatic king. Looking at those cards, however, as they appear in the fac-similes published by the Society of Bibliophiles Français, I should rather take them to be the work of an Italian artist, and be inclined to conclude, as well from the general style of the drawing as from the costume, that they were not of an earlier date than 1425.
The following is Mons. Duchesne’s enumeration of the seventeen cards which he supposes to have been executed by Gringonneur: the names in capitals are those which occur in a series of so-called Italian Tarocchi cards, with which he considers them to correspond.
1. Le Fou—the Buffoon. This figure is found in the Tarots of the present day, and is perhaps the same character as that which in the series of old Italian engraving—called Tarocchi cards—is inscribed Misero I.
2. L’Ecuyer—the Squire. Chevalier VI.
3. L’Empereur—the Emperor. Imperator VIIII.
4. Le Pape—the Pope. Papa X.
5. Les Amoureux—the Lovers. Young men and women courting, while two winged Cupids are discharging arrows at them. Mons. Duchesne gravely queries whether this subject does not represent Apollo and Diana killing the children of Niobe, and whether it ought not to be considered as corresponding with Apollo XX. It has, however, as little relation to the story of Niobe as it has to Apollo, as figured in the engraving referred to.
6. La Fortune—Fortune. This figure, standing on a circle which represents the world, holds a globe in one hand, and in the other a sceptre. Mons. Duchesne considers that it corresponds with that named Astrologia, in the series of Italian engravings, and there erroneously numbered XXXVIIII, instead of XXVIIII.—Bartsch, it seems had not observed this error.
7. La Tempérance—Temperance. Temperancia XXXIIII.
8. La Force—Fortitude. Fortezza XXXVI.
9. La Justice—Justice. Justicia XXXVII.
10. La Lune—the Moon. Luna XXXXI.
11. Le Soleil—the Sun. Sol XXXXIIII.
12. Le Char—the Chariot. The subject here is a figure in armour, standing on a kind of triumphal car, and having in his right hand a battle-axe. Mons. Duchesne says that this subject certainly corresponds with Marte XXXXV.
13. L’Ermite—the Hermit. This figure is supposed to correspond with that named Saturno XXXXVII.
The four following subjects have no corresponding figures in the series of old Italian engravings, supposed by Mons. Duchesne and others to be Tarocchi cards: they are, however, to be found among the “Atous” of the modern game of Tarots.
14. Le Pendu—A man hanging from one leg, head downwards. Court de Gebelin, speaking of this figure as it is seen in a modern pack of Tarots, conjectures, with his usual absurdity, that the card-maker had erroneously represented it upside down. On turning it the contrary way, he sees in it an emblem of Prudence,—to wit, a man standing upon one foot, and sagely deliberating where he has to place the other.—The figure of Le Pendu, even when thus viewed, is much more like a capering opera-dancer, than a prudent philosopher cautiously picking his steps; and bears not the slightest resemblance to the figure of Prudence, in the series of old engravings, called Tarocchi cards.
15. La Mort—Death.
16. La Maison-Dieu—The Hospital. A tower struck by lightning.
17. Le Jugement dernier—The last Judgment.
These seventeen subjects, engraved in lithography, and carefully coloured by hand after the original drawings, are given in the ‘Jeux de Cartes Tarots et de Cartes Numérales,’ published by the Society of Bibliophiles Français, 1844. The two annexed cuts will afford some idea of the style of the drawing, and of the manner in which the ornaments are pricked into the gold ground. They are of the same size as the originals; the one is that named Justice, No. 9, and the other that named La Lune, No. 10, in the preceding enumeration. It may be here observed that the latter is totally different from that named Luna XXXXI, in the series of old Italian engravings, with which it is supposed by Mons. Duchesne to correspond: the only figure common to both is that of a crescent moon. The drawing indeed seems to be an emblem of Astrology, which, in the Italian engravings, is represented by a winged female figure, having on her head a crown of stars, and holding in her left hand a book, and in her right a divining rod.
The complete series of old Italian engravings, known to collectors of prints by the name of Tarocchi cards, consists of fifty pieces, divided into five classes distinguished by the first five letters of the alphabet, A, B, C, D, E, but numbered consecutively from 1 to 50, commencing with the class marked E. At the foot of each subject is engraved its name; together with the letter of its class, and its number, which is given both in Roman and Arabic numerals,—the Roman being placed immediately after the name, and the Arabic on the extreme right. The distinctive letter of the class is on the left. Zani 230 has conjectured that the letters might have been intended for abbreviations of Atutto, Battoni, Coppe, Denari, and Espadone,—Atous, Batons, Cups, Money, and Swords. Spadone, however, and not Espadone, is the proper Italian name for swords; but as the names are in the Venetian dialect, Mons. Duchesne appears inclined to allow that the form Espadone might have been admitted into it at that period. That the letters, however, had no such meaning, and that they were merely used to mark the order of each class, seems to be proved by the fact that in another set of the same subjects, executed about the same period, the numeral 5 is substituted for the letter E. Even if Zani’s supposition were correct, it would only strengthen the conclusion that those so-called Tarocchi cards originated in an attempt to recombine, under new emblems, the principles of an old game which had acquired a disreputable character. Whatever the game might have been, it has long become obsolete; and the only reason for supposing it to have been cognate with that of cards, is grounded on the fact that a certain number of the characters of those so-called Tarocchi cards occur as Atous in the pack of Tarocchi or Tarots, previously described.
Of those old Italian engravings there are two series known to amateurs, agreeing in the subjects, but differing in their style of execution; though it is evident that the one has been copied from the other. 231 In one of them, which is considered by Bartsch to be the earliest, the date 1485 is inscribed on a tablet in the hands of the figure named Arithmeticha XXV. 232 In the other series, which is by much the best engraved, and is certainly the earliest, there is no date; and the figure which there represents Arithmetic, appears to be counting money. This series Mons. Duchesne thinks was executed about 1470; and some writers have supposed that the subjects were engraved by Tomaso Finiguerra. Zani, however, is inclined to believe that they were engraved at Padua; while Otley ascribes them to a Florentine artist. Seeing, however, that the names are in the Venetian dialect, and that authorities on the subject of old Italian engraving disagree with respect to them, I am inclined to suppose, without any regard to their style of execution, that they were either engraved by a Venetian artist, or for the Venetian market. It has also been supposed, but erroneously, that they were designed by Andrea Mantegna, to whom a number of other things of a similar kind have, with equal probability, been ascribed; and amongst the dealers in old engravings, at Paris, they are commonly known as Cartes de Baldini. Both the originals and the copies are of great rarity; and though several single subjects are to be found in the possession of amateurs, it is questionable if there be more than four collections in Europe, whether private or national, that have either the one series or the other complete. In the British Museum there is a complete series of the originals, and also forty-five of the copies; the five pieces wanting in the latter are: Misero I, Fameio II, Imperador VIIII, Primo Mobile XXXXVIIII, and Prima Causa XXXXX. There is also a complete series of the originals, in the ‘Bibliothèque du Roi;’ and copies of them are given in the ‘Jeux de Cartes Tarots et de Cartes Numérales,’ published by the Society of Bibliophiles Français. Fac-similes of two,—Papa X and Rhetorica XXIII,—are also given by Singer in his ‘Researches into the History of Playing Cards.’ From their size—about nine inches and three quarters high, by about four inches wide,—as well as from other circumstances, Mr. Singer considers that they were not intended for any game analogous to that of cards, properly so called. Mons. Leber considers them to have been merely “Cartes de Fantaisie,” and observes that subjects so delicately engraved on copper, when the invention of the art was still recent, could scarcely have been intended to receive the colouring required for the completion of a pack of cards. 233 It, however, may be observed that colour is not essential to a pack of playing cards; and that several packs of cards of four suits, evidently intended for play, without being coloured, were delicately engraved on copper, before the end of the fifteenth century.
Even Mons. Duchesne, while contending that those fifty old engravings were really Tarocchi cards, admits that they bear no relation to any games played with numeral cards, which, according to the number of players, and the regulations of each game, always consist of a number which is divisible by four; for instance, 20 for Bouillotte; 28 for Brelan; 32 for Piquet, and several other games; 36 for Trappola; 40 for Ombre; 48 for Reversis; 52 for Lansquenet, and several other games; 96 for Comet; 104 for Lottery; 312 for Trente-et-un; and 78 for Tarots. “The ancient Tarocchi cards,” he says, “have not then been intended for games of calculation [jeux mathématiques], but solely for an instructive game. In this game, consisting of five classes, we find the seven planets, representing the celestial system; the seven virtues which constitute the basis of all morality; the sciences, which man alone is capable of acquiring, and the knowledge of which raises him above all other animals; the Muses, whose cultivation yields so many charms to life; finally, several of the conditions of life in which man may be placed, from misery, the most painful of all, to that of the most elevated, the Sovereign Pontificate.” 234 A complete series of those old engravings consists of fifty pieces, as has been previously observed, named and numbered as follows:
[Class E.—The Conditions of Life.]
| E | Misero I | 1 |
| E | Fameio II | 2 |
| E | Artixan III | 3 |
| E | Merchadante IIII | 4 |
| E | Zintilomo V | 5 |
| E | Chavalier VI | 6 |
| E | Doxe VII | 7 |
| E | Re VIII | 8 |
| E | Imperator VIIII | 9 |
| E | Papa X | 10 |
[Class D.—The Muses.]
| D | Caliope XI | 11 |
| D | Urania XII | 12 |
| D | Terpsicore XIII | 13 |
| D | Erato XIIII | 14 |
| D | Polimnia XV | 15 |
| D | Talia XVI | 16 |
| D | Melpomene XVII | 17 |
| D | Euterpe XVIII | 18 |
| D | Clio XVIIII | 19 |
| D | Apollo XX | 20 |
[Class C.—The Sciences.]
| C | Grammatica XXI | 21 |
| C | Loica XXII | 22 |
| C | Rhetorica XXIII | 23 |
| C | Geometria XXIIII | 24 |
| C | Arithmeticha XXV | 25 |
| C | Musicha XXVI | 26 |
| C | Poesia XXVII | 27 |
| C | Philosofia XXVIII | 28 |
| C | Astrologia XXXVIIII 235 | 39 |
| C | Theologia XXX | 30 |
[Class B.—The Virtues.]
| B | Iliaco XXXI | 31 |
| B | Chronico XXXII | 32 |
| B | Cosmico XXXIII | 33 |
| B | Temperancia XXXIIII | 34 |
| B | Prvdencia XXXV | 35 |
| B | Forteza XXXVI | 36 |
| B | Justicia XXXVII | 37 |
| B | Charita XXXVIII | 38 |
| B | Speranza XXXVIIII | 39 |
| B | Fede XXXX | 40 |
[Class A.—The Celestial System.]
| A | Luna XXXXI | 41 |
| A | Mercurio XXXXII | 42 |
| A | Venus XXXXIII | 43 |
| A | Sol XXXXIIII | 44 |
| A | Marte XXXXV | 45 |
| A | Jupiter XXXXVI | 46 |
| A | Saturno XXXXVII | 47 |
| A | Octava Spera XXXXVIII | 48 |
| A | Primo Mobile XXXXVIIII | 49 |
| A | Prima Causa XXXXX | 50 |
Having now given such an account of the so-called Tarocchi cards, as may enable the reader to determine for himself, both with respect to their original use, and their relation to playing cards proper, I shall now proceed to notice some of the principal varieties of numeral cards; that is, of cards consisting of four suits, and each suit containing a certain number of coat cards, together with eight or ten lower cards, having their numeral value designated by the marks of the suit to which they belong.
The oldest specimens of undoubted playing cards are either stencilled, or engraved on wood; and of a date which, looking at the style of their execution, the drawing, and the costume of the figures, cannot fairly be supposed to be later than 1440. Amongst the earliest are the stencilled cards preserved in the print-room of the British Museum, and previously described at page 89. In these the coat cards appear to have been a King, a Chevalier, and a Fante, Footman, or Knave; without any Queen. The marks of three of the suits are Hearts, Bells, and Acorns; the mark of the fourth suit does not occur,—as the specimens preserved are far short of a complete pack,—but it is highly probable that it was Leaves, called Grün by the Germans, as in the old pack formerly belonging to Dr. Stukeley, and described by Mr. Gough, in the eighth volume of the ‘Archæologia.’
The cards formerly belonging to Dr. Stukeley were given to him by Thomas Rawlinson, Esq. 236 They were found in the cover of an old book,—supposed to be an edition of Claudian, printed before the year 1500,—and one or two leaves of an edition of the Adagia of Erasmus were interspersed between the layers of the cards, thus forming a kind of pasteboard. The marks of the suits are Hearts, Bells, Leaves, and Acorns; and the coat cards are the King, Chevalier, and Knave. The numeral value of the lower cards, from the Deuce to the Ten, is indicated by a repetition of the marks of the suits, as in modern cards. As there is no Ace, this pack, supposing it to be complete, would consist of forty-eight cards. These cards are rudely coloured, and of smaller size than those in the British Museum. On the Deuce of every suit is a shield, displaying what is supposed to be the card-maker’s arms, namely, a kind of pick-axe, with one of the ends blunt like a hammer, and a mallet, in saltire. Fac-similes of Dr. Stukeley’s cards are given in Singer’s Researches.
As the distinctive marks of the suits on the oldest cards in existence are Hearts, Bells, Leaves, and Acorns, it may reasonably be supposed that these marks were used at as early a period as any of the others which occur on cards of a later date, but yet executed before the close of the fifteenth century. Next to these in point of antiquity, and perhaps of as early a date, are Swords, Cups, Batons, and Money, which would appear to have been the most common marks on early Italian cards, and to have been almost exclusively adopted in Spain. For the sake of distinction, in future, cards with these marks will be referred to as Spanish cards, as in Spain the suits are still distinguished by Swords, Cups, Batons, and Money; while cards having Hearts, Bells, Leaves, and Acorns, will be referred to as German cards, as such appear to have been the kind most generally used in Germany. Of the marks on what were more particularly called “French cards,” in the sixteenth century,—Cœur, Trèfle, Pique, and Carreau, or as we call them, Hearts, Clubs, Spades, and Diamonds,—two of them at least, the Cœur and the Pique, are evidently derived from the Heart and the Leaf of the earlier pack, while there is good reason to believe that the form of the Trèfle was copied from that of the Acorn. 237
The mark now called the Trèfle, in France, was formerly known as the Fleur. Peignot, referring to a poem entitled “La Magdaleine au Désert de la Sainte-Baume en Provence,” printed at Lyons, in 1668, says: “We learn from this poem that, in 1668, the word Trèfle was not yet in use, as the designation of one of the suits of cards; that suit was then called Fleurs. The Valets were also then termed Fous.”
The type of the Carreau, or Diamond, is not to be found in any of the marks of the other two packs above noticed. In the time of Pietro Aretine, the suits of French cards appear to have been known in Italy by the names of Cori, Quadri, Fiori, and Cappari, 238 as we learn from his ‘Carte Parlanti,’ first printed in 1545, in which a Paduan card-maker holds a long dialogue, moral and entertaining, with his cards:
“Paduan. As French cards are used in Italy, tell me, I pray, what, amongst that people, may be the signification of Capers? [Cappari.]
Cards. Their piquancy whets the appetite of tavern-haunters.
Paduan. And the Diamonds? [Quadri.]
Cards. The firmness of the player.
Paduan. And the Hearts? [Cori.]
Cards. Inclination to cheat in play.
Paduan. And the Flowers? [Fiori.]
Cards. The pleasure of saying a good thing.” 239
The invention of cards with these marks, and having a Queen for the second coat card, instead of a male figure, as in the Spanish and German cards, has been claimed by the French; and this substitution has been considered by some French writers as peculiarly characteristic of the gallantry of their nation. The French also appear to have been the first who gave to their coat cards the names of historical personages. From those names, and the marks of the suits, Père Daniel has been enabled to discover the origin and meaning of the game of Piquet, which he supposes to have been devised about 1430, in the reign of Charles VII; admitting, however, that Playing Cards of another kind were of a much earlier date, but yet considering even these to have been of French invention.
In the time of Père Daniel, the coat cards were named as follows:
| SUIT. | KINGS. | QUEENS. | VALETS. |
|---|---|---|---|
| CŒUR. | CHARLEMAGNE. | JUDITH. | LA HIRE. |
| CARREAU. | CÆSAR. | RACHEL. | HECTOR. |
| TREFLE. | ALEXANDER. | ARGINE. | LANCELOT. 240 |
| PIQUE. | DAVID. | PALLAS. | HOGIER. |
These names, which appear to have been given to the French coat cards, at an early period, were not uniformly retained; in the time of Henry IV, the Kings were Solomon, Augustus, Clovis, and Constantine; and the Queens, Elizabeth, Dido, Clotilde, and “Pantalisea;” while the Valets had no proper names, but were merely designated from their office, and all the characters appeared in the costume of the period. In the reign of Louis XIV, however, the former names and an antique costume were restored.
According to Père Daniel’s reading of the cards, which is of the same ingenious character as that of the soldier who is said to have used his pack as a Manual of Devotions, 241 the Ace is the Latin As, a piece of money, which also signifies wealth; and as money is the sinews of war, the Ace has for this reason the precedence at Piquet. The Trèfle, or clover plant, which abounds in the meadows of France, denotes that a general ought always to encamp his army in a place where he may obtain forage for his cavalry. Piques and Carreaux signify magazines of arms, which ought always to be well stored. The Carreaux were a kind of heavy arrows which were shot from a crossbow, and which were so called from their heads being squared [carré]. Cœurs,—Hearts,—signified the courage of the commanders and the soldiers.
David, Alexander, Cæsar, and Charlemagne are at the head of the four suits at Piquet, because troops, however brave and numerous, yet require prudent and experienced leaders. The Queens are, Argine, for Trèfle; Rachel, for Carreau; Pallas, for Pique; and Judith, for Cœur. In Argine, Père Daniel finds the anagram of Regina, and having made this capital discovery, he is enabled to determine that this Queen was Mary of Anjou, wife of Charles VII. Rachel represents the fair Agnes Sorel, mistress of Charles VII; and the chaste and warlike Pallas is but an emblem of Joan of Arc. Judith is not the Jewish heroine who cut off the head of Holofernes, but the Empress Judith, wife of Louis le Debonnaire; but even this Judith is merely a representative of Isabel of Bavaria, wife of Charles VI. In David he sees a typification of Charles VII, in consequence of a conformity in their destinies: David, after having been long persecuted by Saul, his father-in-law, at length obtained the crown; but, in the midst of his prosperity, was troubled with the revolt of his son Absalom: and Charles VII, after having been disinherited and proscribed by his father Charles VI,—or rather by Isabel of Bavaria,—gloriously reconquered his kingdom; but the latter years of his life were rendered unhappy by the restless spirit and wicked character of his son, Louis XI.
In his account of the Valets, Père Daniel is not so imaginative as in the explication of the double and triple characters which he sees represented by the Kings and Queens. La Hire is the famous Stephen de Vignoles, surnamed La Hire, a devoted adherent of Charles VII; while Hector is supposed to be intended for Hector de Galard, another famous captain of the same period. Hogier and Lancelot are allowed to pass simply in their own proper characters, as heroes of romance. 242
It would appear to be the opinion of Mons. Duchesne, that the oldest French Piquet cards that have been discovered, are those formerly belonging to a Mons. Henin, who found them in the cover of an old book. Mons. Henin having disposed of them to Messrs. Colnaghi, the well-known printsellers, of London, they were purchased of the latter for the Bibliothèque du Roi. They are engraved on wood, and coloured; and in the table of contents prefixed to the ‘Jeux de Tarots et de Cartes Numérales,’ it is asserted they were executed about 1425. 243 But whatever may be their date, they are not, in my opinion, of so early a period as either the old uncoloured cards, preserved in the British Museum, previously described at page 88; or as those formerly belonging to Dr. Stukeley. I indeed question much if they be really older than the coloured French cards, the four Valets, now in the British Museum, and of which some account will be found in a subsequent page.
The old French cards in question have the outlines printed in pale ink, and the colours appear to have been applied by means of a stencil. There are ten of them, all impressed on one piece of paper; and they are placed in two rows, of five each, in the following order:
Valet, King and Queen of Trèfle.
Valet, Queen and King of Pique.
King and Queen of Carreau.
Queen and King of Cœur.
On each of those cards, except the King of Cœur, there is an inscription in Gothic letters. On the Valet of Trèfle is the name Rolan, while the King is named Faut-sou,—Penniless; and the Queen, Tromperie,—Deceit. The King of Carreau bears the name Coursube, which in old romances is the name given to a Saracen King; and on the Queen of Carreau is the inscription En toi te fie,—Trust to thyself; “that is,” says Mons. Duchesne, “ne te fie qu’en toi,—trust to thyself only. The Valet of Pique bears an inscription which Mons. Duchesne reads ctarde, and of which he says he can make nothing. On the Queen of Pique is an inscription which appears to Mons. Duchesne to be te aut dict, but the meaning of which he cannot divine. Mons. Leber, however, reads it Léauté due,—leal homage; and so gives it, in unmistakable characters, in the copy of this card, in his ‘Etudes Historiques.’ The King of Pique bears the name of Apollin, which is the name given to a Saracen idol in old romances. The inscription on the Queen of Cœur is la foy et pdu—la foi est perdue,—faith is lost.
It is supposed that there was also an inscription on the King of Cœur, but that it has been cut off, as this card is deficient in its due proportions. 244 The annexed four cards, executed in their proper colours, are copied from those given by Mons. Leber in his ‘Etudes Historiques.’ The whole ten are given in the ‘Jeux de Tarots et de Jeux Numérales,’ published by the Society of Bibliophiles Français.
Mons. Leber considers that the names Coursube and Apollin, which occur on these cards, corroborate his opinion that cards were of Eastern origin, and introduced into Europe by the Saracens, or Arabs. 245 Though agreeing with Mons. Leber, in the opinion that cards are of Eastern origin, I cannot yet see how this opinion is confirmed by two names, which, as designating a Moorish king, and a Mahometan idol, appear to have been merely the invention of a French romance writer, and to have been capriciously bestowed upon a King of Diamonds and a King of Hearts by an old French card-maker. The supposition, indeed, that figures with these names were to be found on old Arabic cards is most preposterous; there is not a shadow of evidence to show that any characters, whether real or imaginary, were ever popularly known by these names, amongst people of Arabic origin; and even if there were, the painting them upon cards would have been considered as a violation of the law of Mahomet, by whom all such representations were strictly prohibited. With equal probability, Mons. Leber might assert that cards were a Jewish invention, because the names of David, Rachel, and Judith are to be found on them; or that Piquet was invented in the time of Charlemagne, in consequence of one of the Kings bearing his name, and two of the Valets being named after two of his Paladins,—Hogier and Roland. The long note in the ‘Précis Historique sur les Cartes à jouer,’ pp. 13-17, on the subject of Coursube and Apollin, and Mons. Leber’s more lengthy comment on it, have much of the character of that kind of discussion which was compared by Demonax to one man milking a he-goat, and another holding a sieve to catch the milk.
The originals of the annexed four cards, representing the Valets, or Knaves, of the four suits known in England as Hearts, Diamonds, Clubs, and Spades, are, in my opinion, of, at least, as early a date as the cards containing the names Coursube and Apollin. Mons. Duchesne and Mons. Leber, judging from the costume of the last-named cards, agree in supposing, or, rather, confidently asserting, that they were executed about 1425, in the reign of Charles VII. Conclusions, however, drawn from the costume displayed on cards are not of much weight in the determination of a date, seeing that persons supposed to be well acquainted with the subject of costume have not been able to determine, from that alone, the date of any old drawing, even within fifty years. To whatever period the costume of the “Coursube” cards may belong, that of the four Knaves may be fairly presumed to be of as early a period; but yet, looking at the costume of the latter, and the style of their execution, I should not take them to be of an earlier date than 1480. Supposing them to be of that date, I think it will be generally admitted, by all acquainted with the subject, that, in point of drawing, as expressive of action and character, they may fairly rank with the best specimens of wood-engraving executed previously to that period.
Those four Knaves, which are now in the print-room of the British Museum, were discovered by the writer, in the covers of an old book, which he bought of Mr. Robert Crozier, bookseller, 27, Bow Street, about the latter end of December, 1841. The book, which is a small quarto, had formerly belonged to the Cathedral Library of Peterborough, 246 and its subject is the Sermons of St. Vincent de Ferrer, a Spanish friar, of great repute in his day, who died in 1419: it wanted both the title-page and the last leaf, and, consequently, had no date; but, looking at the character of the type,—old Gothic—and the rude execution of the initial letters, I should conclude that it was printed in France, within the last ten years of the fifteenth century. The other leaves forming, with the cards, the “boards” of the cover, were portions of the gloss, or commentary, of Nicholas de Lyra, on the Old Testament; which leaves, apparently, are of a date somewhat older than the volume. Seeing that old cards have so often been found in the covers of old books, it might be conjectured that certain pious persons had made it a point of conscience to thus employ them, for useful purposes; this supposition is, however, rendered untenable by the fact of those cards being intermixed with the pious lucubrations of Nicholas de Lyra. Besides the two squares of paper containing the four Knaves, there were also two other squares, consisting of “pips” of Diamonds and Hearts, which were so arranged that each square of paper might be cut into four cards: the low cards on one square were, the Nine, Four, Five, and Seven of Diamonds; and those on the other, the Ten, Four, Five, and Eight of Hearts. The “pips” on those low cards were evidently impressed by means of a stencil.
On one square of paper were the Valets of Clubs and Spades,—Lancelot and Hogier; and on another, the Valets of Diamonds and Hearts,—that of Diamonds being named Rolant, and that of Hearts containing the inscription, “Valery: f.” Though each piece of paper contained four cards, it yet displayed only two different characters,—the Valet of each suit occurring on it being repeated in the alternate compartments. The outlines of the figures and the names have evidently been engraved on wood, and are printed in a brownish colour,—something like Indian ink mixed with bistre; and the colours have been laid on by means of stencils. The names of these Valets,—Rolant, “Valery: f,” Lancelot, and Hogier,—compared with those occurring on other French cards of an early date, seem to prove that, originally, the French coat cards received their names merely at the caprice of the card-maker. Any argument, therefore, respecting the origin of cards, or the invention of Piquet, as founded on the names of the coat cards, must be utterly without foundation.
With respect to the names of those Valets, it seems to be generally agreed that Roland, spelled Rolant on the cards, was the nephew of Charlemagne, so famed in romance, and that Hogier, or Ogier, was the renowned Hogier of Denmark. According to a modern author, this hero was a grandson of Pepin of Heristal, the great-grandfather of Charlemagne; and the appellation, “of Denmark,” was conferred on him, not from his being of that kingdom, but from his being a native of Dane-marche, that is, of the district now called Ardennes. The same author also informs us, that Hogier was a descendant of St. Hubert of Ardennes; and, for a confirmation of the fact, refers to the dog seen in an old Valet of Spades, of which he gives a copy in his work: in the irregular line of the more distant ground, in the same card, he sees an indication of the uneven surface of the district of Ardennes. 247 An inspection of the four Valets in question will enable any person to decide on the value of his speculations: three of those Valets,—Rolant, Hogier, and Lancelot,—are accompanied by dogs; and the line of the more distant ground in two of the subjects is nearly level; while the slight eminence in the third—Rolant—evidently indicates a rabbit-burrow. If such stuff as Mons. Barrois drivels forth on the subject of cards pass for antiquarian knowledge in France, it would seem that an ass-load of useless book-learning constituted the grand qualification of a French antiquary.
With respect to Lancelot, the reader is left to determine whether the name were intended for one of the Paladins of the court of Charlemagne, or Lancelot du Lac, one of the Knights of King Arthur’s Round Table. The appearance of this name on the Valet of Clubs proves that Daniel was right in his conjecture, as has been previously observed; though Mons. Leber seems to argue that he either was, or ought to have been, wrong. 248
The name Valery, which occurs on the Knave of Hearts, has not been found on any one of the other old cards hitherto discovered; and from the circumstance of its having the letter f after it, which might be intended to signify “fecit” it might be supposed that it was the card-maker’s name. It is, however, to be observed that the word “fecit” is of very rare occurrence, as signifying the work of the artist whose name precedes it, on engravings, for whatever purpose executed, of the fifteenth century. It may even be asserted, with small hazard of contradiction, that f as an abbreviation of “fecit,” in its artistic application, is not to be found on a single engraving, whether on wood or copper, executed previous to the year 1500.
For whatever person the name of Valery may have been intended, it seems certain that it is not to be found as that of a distinguished character in any of the old French romances. Mons. Paulin Paris, having been consulted on this subject, thus gives his opinion, in a letter addressed to his friend, Thomas Wright, Esq., so well known for his numerous publications on Middle-Age Literature: “The name of the Valet of Hearts seems to me extremely curious, for it ought necessarily to bring to mind the name of Erart de Valeri, the famous companion of Charles of Anjou, King of Sicily, to whom his contemporaries chiefly ascribed the gain of the battle of Tagliacozza, in which Manfred [the opponent of Charles] was killed. 249 It might, therefore, be supposed that the pack [to which the four Valets in question belonged] was either of Sicilian or Italian fabrication; for the names Lancelot, Roland, Ogier, and Valeri were equally familiar to the Sicilians of the fourteenth century. I have said a few words about this Erard de Valery in the article on Charles of Anjou, in my Romancero François.” 250
Though by no means agreeing with Mons. Paulin Paris, that these cards were either of Italian devising, or manufacture, I am yet inclined to think that his conjecture about the name of Valery is correct, and that a corroboration of it is to be found in the inscription on the Valet de Pique, in the “Coursube” cards, previously noticed at page 211. This inscription is read ctarde, by Mons. Duchesne; but, to my eye, the letters, as they appear in the fac-simile given in the specimens of cards published by the Society of Bibliophiles François, appear much more like the name erarde; and if, on a careful examination of the original, it should be ascertained that this was the word intended, I should then unhesitatingly conclude that the person represented by this was Erard de Valery. The objection that one of those cards is the Valet of Hearts, and the other the Valet of Spades, is of no weight, for the old French card-makers were by no means consistent in the practice of always giving the same name to the same card. From the red rose which appears on the shield held by Valery, an Englishman might be justified in supposing that those cards, if not of English manufacture, were more especially, if not exclusively, fabricated for the English market, at a period shortly after the accession of Henry VII, 251 when the Red Rose of Lancaster had obtained the ascendency. By assuming, indeed, a small portion of French license on this subject, it might even be asserted that those cards were of English manufacture; seeing that they were discovered in the covers of a book which had formerly belonged to an English monastery, and that the features, expression, and bodily proportions of the Valets are rather characteristic of Englishmen than Frenchmen. In support of this speculation, it may further be observed that, in former times, monks were accustomed to act as their own bookbinders, and that there is reason to believe that playing cards were manufactured in England as early as 1463. 252
In the latter quarter of the fifteenth century, several packs, or sets, of cards were engraved on copper, having the suits distinguished by figures evidently introduced according to the fancy of the artist, and bearing no resemblance to those which occur on cards of an earlier date. As the art of engraving on copper was then of recent invention, and its productions comparatively scarce and high priced, it may be concluded that those cards were chiefly intended for the amusement of the wealthier classes. Though Mons. Leber is of opinion that such cards were not intended for the purpose of play, it is yet certain that they might be so employed; seeing that they consist of the same number of suits as the common cards of the period, and have also in each suit, like the latter, a certain number of coat cards, and a certain number of others which have their value determined by the number of marks impressed on them. One of Mons. Leber’s reasons for concluding that such cards were not intended for the purposes of play, is, that being delicately engraved on copper, it cannot be supposed that they were meant to receive the colouring which, in his opinion, was essential to a pack of cards. 253 It may, however, be observed that people may play very well with uncoloured cards, more especially when the suits are so strikingly distinguished as in the cards alluded to.
Perhaps the earliest specimens of the cards in question are those which have Hares, Parroquets, Pinks, and Columbines as the marks of the suits, and of which a complete pack, or set, of fifty-two pieces, is now in the Bibliothèque du Roi. 254 They are not cut up, but appear just as they came from the hands of the printer, and each separate piece of paper contains either four or six cards. The four Aces form one plate; the numeral cards from Four to Nine are contained on four plates; and the Twos and Threes appear promiscuously mixed with the coat cards on five plates more.
The form of these cards is circular, and in each suit there are four coat cards, namely, a King, a Queen, a Squire, and a Knave. 255 The distinction between the two latter is not indeed very clearly expressed in the costume; though there cannot be a doubt that the lowest character is that which in each suit is represented as running, and thus plainly corresponding with the Italian Fante. The highest of the numeral cards is the Nine, there being no Ten in this pack. The respective number of each is marked at the top in Arabic cyphers, and at the bottom in Roman numerals. At the bottom also, within the outer circle of the border, are the letters T. W., probably intended for the initials of the engraver. 256 Whoever he might be, his name is unknown; and only one other subject of his engraving is noticed by Bartsch. In the annexed specimens are shown the King, Queen, and Ace of Hares; the Squire of Columbines; the Deuce and Squire of Pinks; and the Knave and Nine of Parroquets. On each of the Aces there is an inscription on a scroll, as on the Ace of Hares; on the latter, the language is low German—“Platt Duitsch”—and the words form a rhyming couplet:
Av͞e mi drint mē vin,
Daerom mot ic en lepus sin.
The precise meaning of this it is not easy to make out; but taking the contracted word Av͞e to have been intended for Auwe, a meadow, the couplet may be thus “done into English:”
Me o’er fields men keen pursue,
Therefore I’m the Hare you view.
But supposing the word Av͞e to have been meant for Augen, the eyes, and giving a slight turn to one or two other words, the meaning would be that the hare was called Lepus—quasi Lippus—on account of its blear eyes.
Mons. Duchesne says that, on the plate containing the Aces, there is a date written in an old hand, but he omits to mention what it is. In the ‘Jeux de Cartes Tarots et de Cartes Numérales,’ where all the fifty-two pieces are given, they are said to have been engraved about 1477. These cards, though of the same form, and having the same marks of the suits as those described by Bartsch, and noticed by Singer, are yet the work of a different engraver.
In the circular cards described by Bartsch and Singer, the inscription on the Ace of Hares is in Latin, and the initials of the engraver, T. W., are wanting. From a wrapper, of which a fac-simile is given by Singer, it would appear that those cards were engraved at Cologne; and it has been supposed that they are of as early a date as 1470. They are unquestionably the work of either a German or a Flemish artist; and some amateurs of engraving have erroneously ascribed them to Martin Schön, or Schöngauer. Bartsch, in his description of them, includes a fifth suit, namely, that of Roses; and says that each suit consisted of thirteen cards, which would thus give sixty-five pieces for the complete pack. Mr. Singer, also, in his account of such of those cards as were formerly in the collection of Mr. Douce, gives it as his opinion, that the complete pack ought to consist of five suits of fourteen cards each,—in all, seventy pieces. 257 Mons. Duchesne, however, thinks that those authors are wrong, and that the complete pack consisted of only four suits of thirteen cards each, as displayed by those preserved in the Bibliothèque du Roi. But as he entirely overlooks the difficulty of accounting for a suit of Roses, engraved in the same style, he does not seem to be justified in pronouncing so decisively that Bartsch and Singer are wrong in supposing that a complete pack consisted of five suits; for it is by no means unlikely that a fifth suit might have been introduced by the artist, with a view of giving variety to the game, but which might have been subsequently discarded, as inconsistent with the old established principles of the game, and as only making it more interesting.
There is another pack, or set, of cards, also engraved on copper, and of the same period as those last described, which seems to require some notice here, not only on account of the marks employed to distinguish the suits, but also on account of the means by which those marks were repeated on the different cards. The complete pack appears to have consisted of fifty-two pieces; each of the four suits containing four coat and nine numeral cards—the place of the Ten, as in the other two packs, being supplied by a fourth coat card. The marks of the suits are: 1, Human figures; 2, Bears and Lions; 3, Deer; and 4, Birds. These cards are of large size, being about five inches and seven eighths high, by about three and a half wide. The name of the engraver is unknown; but they are believed to be the work of the German artist usually known to amateurs as “The Master of 1466.” In the coat cards the mark of the suit is impressed from a different plate; and as it sometimes occurs surrounded by the work of the coat card, it has been ascertained that in such instances a blank space had been left for its subsequent impression. The marks on the numeral cards were also printed in the same manner, by means of impressions from separate plates.
In the collection of Thomas Wilson, Esq., there were twenty-nine of those cards, together with fourteen drawings of other cards of the same pack, and eleven animals on separate plates, forming the marks of the suits. 258 Those cards were purchased of Mr. Wilson by Mr. Tiffin, printseller, West Strand, who again sold them to the Bibliothèque du Roi, where others of the same pack are also preserved. Fac-similes of thirty-seven are given in the ‘Jeux de Cartes Tarots et de Cartes Numérales,’ published by the Society of Bibliophiles François. In the Table des Matières prefixed to that work, it is indeed said that there are forty; but, on looking at their plate, No. 91, it will be perceived that the three coat cards there given do not properly belong to the pack in question; for the mark on two of them is a kind of flower something like a sweet-pea, and on the other it is a rose. 259 Mons. Duchesne, who appears to have supplied the Précis Historique prefixed to the work above named, should have distinctly mentioned that the three coat cards in question were not of the same pack or set, which has Human figures, Bears and Lions, Deer, and Birds, as the marks of the suits. If they really did belong to the same pack, it must then have consisted of at least six suits.
The annexed four cards, engraved on copper, are copied from specimens given by Breitkopf, in his ‘Enquiry into the Origin of Playing Cards;’ who there describes them as “German Piquet cards of the fifteenth century with Trappola characters.” 260 The complete pack appears to have consisted of fifty-two cards; each of the four suits containing a King, Queen, and Valet, or Knave, as we term the character; together with ten numeral cards. The marks of the suits were Swords; Clubs (proper, not Trèfles); Cups; and Pomegranates. The latter mark is substituted for that of Money; and was perhaps intended by the artist to commemorate the marriage of Philip the Fair, son of the Emperor Maximilian, with Joanna, daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella, King and Queen of Spain; who, on their subjugation of the kingdom of Grenada, in 1497, appear to have adopted the Granada, or Pomegranate, as one of their badges. 261 The cards unquestionably belong to that period; and in support of the speculation, it may be further observed that they are generally ascribed to Israel van Mecken; who, as a native of Bocholt, was a subject of Philip, who inherited the Netherlands, in right of his mother, Mary of Burgundy.
Von Murr, in the second volume of his Journal, gives a description of a nearly complete pack of those cards, which were then in the possession of a gentleman named Silberrad, residing at Nuremberg, but which are now in the British Museum. 262 He calls them old Trappola cards, and says that they are certainly of an earlier date than the time of Israel van Mecken the younger; or rather, that they were engraved by Israel the elder. “The suits,” he says, “are distinguished, after the Italian manner, by Spade; Coppe; Danari (represented by Pomegranates); and Bastoni.” 263 The cards displayed in the preceding specimens are: the Deuce of Swords; the Valet of Cups; the Ten of Pomegranates; and the Ten of Clubs. In the latter, the Club seen on the banner is rough and knotty, and not an artificially-formed Baton, as is sometimes seen on old Italian cards: it has previously been observed that the Bastoni were sometimes called Colonne, from their being something like slender pillars.
It would appear, from the testimony of contemporary authors, that the cards most commonly used in Italy in the latter part of the fifteenth century, were those which had Spade, Coppe, Bastoni, and Danari—Swords, Cups, Batons, and Money,—as the marks of the suits. These continued to be the common marks on Italian cards in the sixteenth century, and even to a much later period; and such also would appear to have been the marks of the cards used in Spain, from the period of their first introduction into that country, to the present day. The annexed woodcuts, copied from a plate in Breitkopf, 264 are the Sevens of each of the four suits in a pack of Tarots. The marks are precisely the same as in modern Tarots; and there is reason to believe that they are nearly the same, with respect to form, as those of the earliest Italian Tarocchi cards, properly so called.
The relation which the marks of the suits bear to each other in the three varieties of cards most generally known in Europe, will perhaps be best understood from the following summary, which shows, at one view, the names given to the suits of each variety in the country where such cards were chiefly used.
GERMAN CARDS.
German Names of the Suits.
Herzen, oder Roth. (Hearts, or Red).
Grün. (Green (Leaves).)
Eicheln. (Acorns.)
Schellen. (Bells.)
SPANISH AND ITALIAN CARDS.
Spanish Names.
Copas.Espadas. Bastos. Oros.
Italian Names.
Coppe. (Cups.)
Espadas. (Swords.)
Bastoni. (Clubs, or Batons.)
Danari. (Money.)
FRENCH CARDS.
French Names.
Cœur. (Hearts.)
Pique (Spades.)
Trèfle. (Clubs.)
Carreau. (Diamonds.)
In the oldest cards of the German and Spanish type there appears to have been no Queen. In the German pack, the second coat card was a kind of superior officer, distinguished as Ober,—Upper, Superior; while the third, corresponding with our Knave, was named Unter,—Inferior. 265 The Spaniards called the second coat card Caballo,—the Horseman or Knight;—and the Knave they called Sota, a word which, in the Dictionary of the Spanish Academy, is said to be derived from the Italian soto, signifying ‘under.’ 266 The Italians called their second coat card Cavallo, and the third Fante; in each of the four suits the principal coat card was the King. It would, however, appear that at an early period, the Italians occasionally substituted a Queen for the Cavallo; and if the cards formerly belonging to the Marquis Girolamo be really of so early a date as is assigned to them by Millin, 267 it would seem that the French have no just title to the “honour” of being the first to introduce a Queen as the second coat card, and that in having made “Place aux Dames,” in the pack, they had only followed the example set them by the Italians.
Millin’s notice of those cards is to the following effect: “In the collection of the Marquis Girolamo, at Venice, there are some cards of very early date,—about the beginning of the fifteenth century. They are larger than the ordinary cards of the present day; they are also very thick; and the material of which they are formed resembles the cotton paper of ancient manuscripts. The figures, which are impressed—’imprimées’—on a gold ground, consist of three Kings, two Queens, and two Valets, one of the last being on horseback. Each figure has a Baton, a Sword, or a piece of Money [as the mark of the suit]. The design is very like that of Jacobello del Fiore; but the work has the appearance of impression, and the colours seem to have been applied by means of a stencil. They are the most ancient specimens of their kind.” 268
As the names, Clubs and Spades, given to two of the suits in this country, by no means correspond with the marks by which they are distinguished,—to wit, the French Trèfle and Pique—I am inclined to consider them as the old names for the suits of Bastoni and Spade; Clubs being merely a translation of Bastoni, and Spades probably a corruption of Spade, or Espadas,—Swords. 269 From these names, indeed, it may be fairly supposed that the cards first known in England were those having Swords, Clubs, Cups, and Money, as the marks of the suits; and that two of those suits retained their names when the old cards of Spanish or Italian type were superseded by those of more recent French design. There are also other circumstances which strengthen the conclusion, that cards, on their first introduction into England, as a popular game, were brought either from Spain or Italy; the character of the third coat card, the Knave, or Jack, is more in accordance with the Spanish Sota, or the Italian Fante, than with the French Valet, which, in the earliest French cards, always bears the name of some person of note, either in romance or history. The term Valet, at the time when it was first bestowed on the third coat card by the French, did not signify a “Gentleman’s Gentleman” or a menial servant; but was more especially applied to young noblemen—the “Dilecti Regis”—holding appointments at court. The term Knave was never applied, like Valet, to signify a courtier, or person of distinction; it was used to signify a serving-man of low condition. It seems to be derived from the same root as the German Knabe, the primary meaning of which is a Boy, but which was also used, in the same way as the Latin Puer, to signify a servant. Subsequently the term Knave became obsolete in the sense of servant, and was exclusively applied to designate a dishonest person. The term Jack, another name for the Knave of cards, was in former times very frequently applied to a “serving-man of low degree,” without any regard to the name which might have been given to him by his godfathers and godmothers.
Though Dr. Johnson, and most other English lexicographers, derive the term Jackanapes from Jack and Ape, and though this derivation seems to be supported by the meaning attached to the term by one of the earliest writers who makes use of it, yet “Jack-a-Naipes,” that is, Jack of Cards, is at least as probable an etymology; and much more so than that of “Jack Cnapa,” suggested by Sharon Turner, in his ‘History of England,’ from which the following passage is extracted.
“In the British Museum, Vesp. B, 16, is a ballad written at this time on the catastrophes of the Duke of Suffolk and his friends. (Temp. Henr. VI, May, 1450.) It treats these horrors with an exulting levity, which shows the barbarous unfeelingness of political rancour; but it is curious for giving the names of those friends of the government who were most hated by the people. They are the clerical statesmen who were employed either in the offices of government or on its embassies, and it shows how much the dominant church had, by these employments, become identified with the crown. It designates the Duke of Suffolk by the cant term of ‘Jac Napes,’ and is perhaps the earliest instance we have of the abusive application of the word Jackanapes. Our lexicographers derive this word from Jack and Ape; but the ballad shows, that Napes was a term of derision signifying a Knave; and must therefore be the Saxon Cnapa, which bore also this meaning. This will explain the reason why our third figured card is called Jack, and also Knave. The word Jackanapes therefore seems to be Jack Cnapa, and to mean Jack the Knave. In this sense it is applied to Suffolk; and as the Knave is next in power at cards to the King and Queen, the nickname may be used in the ballad with an allusion to Suffolk’s being the prime minister of Henry and Margaret.” 270
The following are two of the stanzas of the ballad in which the term occurs:
“In the moneth of May, when grass grows grene,
Fragrant in her flowres with swete savour,
Jac Napes wold on the see, a maryner to ben,
With his clogi and his cheyn to seke more tresour.
“Swych a payn prikked him, he asked a confessour;
Nicholas said, I am redi the confessour to be;
He was holden so, that he ne passed that hour:
For Jac Napes saule, ‘placebo et dirige.’”
Mr. Turner’s remark, that “the ballad shows that Napes was a term of derision, signifying a Knave, and must therefore be the Saxon Cnapa,” does not appear to be well founded; for if it were derived from Cnapa, and merely signified a Knave, or Cheat, it is difficult to conceive why it should be written Napes, and not Knave, or Knape, as required, according to Mr. Turner’s etymology; besides, it is evident from the context, that, in the mind of the writer, the idea of a Jac Napes was associated with that of a monkey, or an ape, with his clog and his chain. That this was not the primary signification of the term, may be confidently asserted; and no writer who has derived it from Jack and Ape, has produced any authority to show that it originally meant a man who travelled about with apes or monkeys. In the following passage, from a tract printed about 1540, 271 the term “Yack an napes” evidently refers to a mummer or buffoon in a particoloured dress, like that of a knave of cards. The writer, after having noticed the assembling of the poor on holidays, at the “personis barne,” 272 and there committing “ydolatre in mayntenynge his ambision, pride, and bestly lyvinge,” thus proceeds: “Nobyl statis were better to hunte the bull, here, hert, or ony othere thynge lyke to suckure the powre with the mette, then to here Sir Jhon Singyl Sowle stombel a payer of mattens in laten, slynge holy water, curse holy brede, and to play a caste lyke yack an napes in a foles cotte.” When John Bale, in his work entitled, ‘Yet a Course at the Romish Foxe,’ speaks of Jack-a-Naipes “swearing by his ten bones,” it would seem that he in some manner or other associated the term with the Jack-a-Naipes, or Jack of Cards; for his ten bones can only be supposed to relate to the numerical value of the Jack of Naipes, as a coat card. In Bale’s time a “card of ten” would appear to have been a general expression for a coat card, as well as for a card distinguished by that number of pips.
Fyrste pycke a quarell, and fall out with hym then,
And soo outface hym with a carde of ten.
Skelton’s Bowghe of Court.
From the following passage in Pulci’s ‘Morgante Maggiore,’ it would seem that, in Italy, in the fifteenth century, the King of cards was occasionally referred to as the type of a presumptuous person:
“E com’ e’ giunse, gridava il gigante;
Tu se’ quì, Re di Naibi, o di Scacchi,
Col mio bataglio convien ch’io t’ammachi.”
“And when the two together came, the giant shouted out,
And here you are, my King of Cards, or e’en of Chess, pardie!
My club then with your shoulders must without delay make free.”
In Scotland, about 1508, the Knave of cards was the representative of a forward impertinent person,—a very Jack-a-Naipes,—as is evident from the “Flyting of Dunbar and Kennedy,” where the latter, among other bad names, calls the former “Valet of cards”:
“Waik walidrag, and verlot of the cairtis.” 273
Even in modern times the Knave of Hearts has been referred to as the ideal of a presumptuous, thickset little man, as appears from the following passage which occurs in the second edition of Brockett’s Glossary, 1829, under the word Purdy.
“Purdy, a little thickset fellow.—I owe this word,” says Mr. Brockett, “to the communication of a clerical friend in the county of Durham, who first heard it at Barnard Castle. On ascertaining the meaning, the following dialogue took place.
Q. What does Purdy mean?
A. A little throstan-up thing like a Jack at Warts. [Jack o’ ‘Arts,—Jack of Hearts.]
Q. What’s that?
A. Something like a lime-burner.
Q. What is a lime-burner?
A. Oh, nobbut a Kendal stockener.
Q. What is that?
A. A little thickset fellow.”
If cards were actually known in Italy and Spain in the latter part of the fourteenth century, it is not unlikely that the game, as a common amusement, was introduced into this country by some of the English soldiers who had served under the banners of Hawkwood, and other Free Captains, in the wars of Italy and Spain, about the period in question. But, however this may be, it seems at least certain that the earliest cards commonly used in this country, were of the same kind, with respect to the marks of the suits, as those used in Italy and Spain.
The German cards of the fifteenth century, and even of a much later period, display more of fanciful embellishment than the cards of other countries; more especially in the numeral, or low cards; which, in addition to the “pips,” or marks of the suits, frequently contain figures of men and women, quadrupeds, birds, foliage, and such like, introduced by way of ornament, at the caprice of the designer. These ornamental appendages are frequently of a grotesque character, and sometimes indecent. The two annexed figures are the second coat cards of the suits of Grün and Eicheln,—Leaves, and Acorns,—in a pack of German cards engraved on wood, of the date 1511. The figures are drawn with great freedom, and are much in the style of Lucas Cranach. On the Two of Acorns are the letters F.C.Z.; the F and the C being probably the initials of the designer, and the Z signifying that he made the drawings,—zeichnet. On the Two of Leaves are two shields suspended from a tree; the one displays two strait swords, in saltire; and the other the arms of the house of Saxony, the same as are frequently seen in wood engravings designed by Lucas Cranach. In a third shield at the bottom of the same card, are a pic-kaxe and mallet, in saltire, the same as in Dr. Stukeley’s cards, and probably the mark of the card maker. Thirty-six cards of this pack, which appears to have originally consisted of fifty-two, are preserved in the Bibliothèque du Roi; and fac-similes of them are given in the ‘Jeux de Cartes Tarots et de Cartes Numérales,’ published by the Society of Bibliophiles Français, planches 92-95.
Specimens of a pack of cards designed by Erhard Schön, and engraved on wood, are given by Singer in his Researches. In this pack, the marks of the suits are Flowers, Pomegranates, Leaves, and Roses. 274 These cards are very inferior, both in design and execution, to those just described, of the date 1511. Erhard Schön flourished about 1530. About 1550, Virgil Solis engraved a pack of cards on copper, with Lions, Apes, Peacocks, and Parrots as the marks of the suits: they are noticed by Bartsch, in his ‘Peintre-Graveur’; and six of the pack were recently in the possession of Messrs. Smith, of Lisle street.
The best of all the fanciful cards that appeared in Germany during the sixteenth century, are those engraved on wood from the designs of Jost Amman. They were published at Nuremberg in 1588, in a quarto volume, with illustrative verses, in Latin and German, composed by J. H. Schroter, the imperial poet-laureate. 275 From the following verses,—‘Liber de Seipso,’—it would seem that those cards were not designed for the purposes of play:
“Charta mihi titulum tribuit Lusoria; lusus
Et chartæ in pretio munera vulgus habet.
Sed nec ego laudes moror aut convicia vulgi;
Sit mihi sat claris posse placere viris.
“Hos rogo, ut a rerum quondam graviore vacantes
Cura, si chartis ludere forte velint,
Colludent nostris: sine rixis, vulnere, morte,
Ludenti quoniam lucra benigna dabunt.”
In this set of cards, the marks of the suits are Books; Printers’ inking balls; Wine-cups, of metal “formed by the skill of the goldsmith;” and Goblets, with bosses of glass or earthenware. Correct and beautifully executed specimens of those cards are given in Singer’s ‘Researches,’ pp. 180-96.
The four annexed German cards, are the Sevens of the four suits: Schellen; Herzen, oder Roth; Grün; Eicheln,—Bells; Hearts, or Red; Green, or Leaves; and Acorns. They are copied from Breitkopf, and are of the seventeenth century. The four small ones given below are of the same period, and were probably intended for the amusement of children,—like the “pretty little cards for pretty little fingers,” manufactured at the present day. The subjects are, the second Coat card and the Three of Leaves; the Four of Acorns; and the Six of Hearts.
As small bells were worn as ornaments by the emperors of Germany and the higher classes in the 12th and 13th centuries, Breitkopf is inclined to think that bells might have been introduced on cards as a distinctive mark of the class of kings and nobles; and that cards might even have been known in Germany at the period referred to. In corroboration of his opinion, he gives a plate, entitled “Alte Deutsche Furst Schellen-tracht,”—that is to say, Ancient German Princely Bell-costume,—containing four figures, all adorned with small bells. The first figure is that of the Princess Wulphilde, who was living in 1138; the second and third represent the Emperor Henry VI, who died in 1197; and the fourth is that of the Emperor Otho IV, who died in 1218. 276 —Breitkopf’s conjecture is undeserving of remark: had he asserted that his old German emperors and princes were adorned with bells to indicate their rank and precedence, in the manner of leading packhorses, he would perhaps have been as near the truth.
The tinkle of the bell rouses the questing spirit of Mons. Leber, who pursues the inquiry with singular ardour and perseverance, though not with success. His researches, however, on the subject of bells, though throwing not a glimmer of light on the history of cards, are yet so amusing, that they are here given entire, notes and all. They also furnish an additional proof of the wide field afforded for speculation by the history of cards.
“After the Fou of European Tarots, the Bells on Indian cards are another proof of the Oriental origin of the game. The use of bells in India, whether as a mark of distinction and greatness, or as a means of diversion, is of remote antiquity; while everything shows that they were not known to the ancient nations of Europe. The Baladins and female dancers of India have their legs decked with small bells, which they shake when dancing; and certain idols are decorated with the same ornament; girdles formed of bells are also worn by infants, without any other clothing; and sometimes a single bell supplies the place of the girdle. Herbert relates that ’as this bell contains a viper’s tongue, it might be supposed to be annoying and disgraceful. It is, however, neither the one nor the other, for it is made an ornament, and it is esteemed one of their most superb, when given by the king to a person whom he wishes to honour.’ 277 —We have already said that the use of bells for various purposes is of great antiquity; and a proof of this is furnished by the Pentateuch. 278 Bells appear to have passed from the Hebrews to the Arabs, and to have been with these two nations the same as we see them to have been in India, a sign of distinction and power, when not prostituted to the use of the Baladins. An English author, who has not been unmindful of the remarks of Calmet, 279 mentions, in the following terms, a kind of devotion paid to the bell among the Arabians: ‘The Arabian courtesans, like the Indian women, have little golden bells fastened round their legs, neck, and elbows, to the sound of which they dance before the king.—The Arabian princesses wear golden rings on their fingers, to which little bells are suspended, as in the flowing tresses of their hair, that their superior rank may be known, and they themselves receive in passing the homage due to them.’ 280—Such are bells in the East: let us now see what they have been in Europe at different periods.
“The Emperor Henry IV, who died in 1197, and Wulphilde, the wife of Count Rodolph, living in 1138, are represented in ancient monuments in habits ornamented with bells similar to those which are seen on Tarots. It would seem that this singular ornament, which subsequently became the attribute of the buffoon, or professional jester, was then a mark of dignity in the West as well as in the East, and that it held a conspicuous place amongst the distinctive ornaments of the princes and nobles of Germany, from the eleventh to the thirteenth century. 281 Some English critics, however, have supposed that the bell indicated falconry, 282 a sport which the high nobility only had the privilege of indulging in; and it is certain that small bells were attached to the feet of trained falcons. 283 But the question is, did the bells stand for the falcon, and was the falcon, indeed, a mark of high nobility?
“What renders this conjecture probable is, that we find the use of the small bell [grelot] established in the West before the introduction of heraldic signs, and that we have no evidence of its having been known to the ancient Greeks and Romans. 284 As the bell was used in falconry by princes and nobles of the first class, it might thus become the emblem of the falcon, and, subsequently, that of the nobility to whom it was confined. The falcon, and things pertaining to falconry, were certainly among the marks of grandeur with which the sovereigns and barons of the middle ages loved to surround themselves in their formal displays, and which alone were sufficient, in the same manner as armorial bearings, to indicate the rank of the persons to whom they belonged. In the tapestry ascribed to Queen Matilda, Harold is seen travelling with his falcon on his fist; and the Count Guy de Ponthieu, who conducts him prisoner to Beaurain, carries also his bird in the same manner, although he, doubtless, had no thought of the chase. 285 Besides, sceptres are surmounted with three-branched fleurons, like those which form the ornament on the top of a falcon’s hood. 286 We also see hawks and falcons on ancient tombs; and it is not unlikely that they were there placed as indications of rank before the introduction of armorial bearings. The same conventional distinctions were still in existence in much more recent times; for Anne de Montmorency made his entry into London as ambassador of Francis I, preceded by twenty-six gentlemen of the best houses of France, each bearing a falcon on his fist; 287 and even our kings themselves, on occasions of grand display, were preceded by their falconers fully equipped. Falconry was not known to the ancients; but it is certain that it was in use among the nations of the North before the conquest of the Gauls by the Franks. Sidonius Apollinaris commemorates the skill of a person named Vectius in the art of training dogs, horses, and birds of prey: “In equis, canibus, accipitribus instituendis, spectandis, circumferendis, nulli secundus.” 288
“The question, however, would still be, ‘if bells were used in falconry at so early a period?’ and it may be presumed that they were not so used until long afterwards. German princes, as referred to by Breitkopf, are decorated with them as marks of high birth, on monuments from the eleventh to the thirteenth century. Now, it was just towards the close of the eleventh century, that the intercourse between Europeans and Orientals became more extended by means of the crusades; and the invention of heraldry is of the same period. Armorial bearings, which originated in over-sea expeditions and in tournaments, are not of higher antiquity than the eleventh century; their use became more frequent in the twelfth; and, in the thirteenth, we find them generally established. 289 From the concurrence of these circumstances, it may be concluded that bells of this kind were brought into Europe from the East, towards the end of the eleventh century; and, that on their first introduction, the German nobility adopted them as marks of distinction, either from the idea of grandeur attached to them by the people from whom they had them, or on account of the noble bird to whose use they had dedicated them; and that this mark of nobility fell into disuse when heraldry could supply its place by signs better adapted to gratify the pride of the great, on account of their indicating, at the same time, both rank and personal distinction. The Bayeux tapestry, already referred to as the work of Queen Matilda, seems to confirm this opinion. The conquest of England by William Duke of Normandy was achieved in 1066; and the tapestry representing it is supposed to be of the same century: and of this there could be no doubt, if it were true that the work was executed by the wife of William, and her attendants. 290 It may thus have been worked about twenty or thirty years before the first crusade, which was determined on at the council of Clermont, held by Urban II, in 1095. Now, the birds of chase which some of the persons in this tapestry carry on their fist, have no bells at their feet. We perceive there only the jesses, or leathern strings with tassels at the ends, which serve to retain the bird. 291 These jesses, without any appearance of bells, are easily to be distinguished in the compartment which contains the inscription, Dux Willelm: Cum Haraldo: Venit: Ad Palatin. If this be not evidence that bells of this kind were not then common in Europe, it is at least a proof that they were not then used in falconry, although this sport had been practised for several centuries.” 292
Mons. Leber calls both Spanish and German cards Tarots, even though they may contain no Atous; which yet appear to have been the very pieces which were more especially distinguished as Tarocchi or Tarots; and from the use of which, in combination with other cards, a particular kind of game was called Tarocchino, or Tarocchio. Thus, in consequence of his not sufficiently distinguishing between Spanish and German cards, he speaks of the marks which occur on them indiscriminately; and explains Swords and Money as if they belonged to the same pack which has one of its suits distinguished by Bells. His account of the marks on the French cards is to the following effect. “The Cœur explains itself; it is a symbol of the most noble and generous sentiments, and more especially indicates courage, valour, and intrepidity, qualities the most brilliant in princes. The Trèfle has its name from its resemblance to the plant so-called; though properly it is a Flower, or rather a Fleuron with three branches, symbolical of the mysterious number Three, which, in ancient times, was regarded with religious veneration. This number being the first which contained in itself the principal characteristics of numbers,—namely, Unity and Plurality, Odd and Even,—became the symbol of a union of the most excellent virtues, such as Power, Wisdom, Love; and, by analogy, Sovereignty, Wisdom, Justice. It is this three-branched Fleuron which appears on the monuments of the French kings of the first and second race; but, in consequence of its being badly designed and worse understood, it became confounded with the heraldic Fleur-de-Lis, and is in fact now displaced by it. The Carreau seems to have been better understood by the French than their neighbours, with whom this figure is a jewel, a precious stone, an ornamental article. The English take it for a diamond, and the Spaniards, for a jewel worn by ladies, or for the decoration of the toilet. Their error has doubtless arisen from the comparison which they made between the Carreaux of cards and the figures of precious stones which they had before their eyes. 293 The diamonds and precious stones forming the ornaments of royal vestments, and of dresses of court ladies, have usually the form of carreaux, and are painted in vermilion, or in carmine in the manuscripts of the middle age; and this conventional form, having been adopted by heralds, was introduced into armorial bearings as the macle and lozenge. The Carreaux of cards, however, have no connexion with diamonds and precious stones, any more than they have with the quarrells or square-headed arrows of a crossbow. The Carreau, as well as each of the other marks of the suits, is a symbol, and not a rebus. All iconographers represent Fortune as standing, upon one foot, on a wheel or a ball, to signify her instability. The contrary idea was necessarily attached to the figure of a square or a cube, considered as a firm and immoveable base. It was for this reason that the ancients placed the figure of Wisdom and Firmness on a cube; and Aristotle speaks in the same sense when he informs us that a true philosopher ought to be square,—carré—that is to say, immoveable in courage and virtue. Heraldry has also admitted the square, placed lozenge-wise, as an emblem of Constancy and Firmness; and the Squares of cards, called Carreaux, can only be supposed to have the same signification. As to the Pique, there can be no doubt with respect to its meaning. It represents the head of a lance, and is thus an emblem of military force. The Germans, however, seem to have misconceived the character of this figure, which they converted into a Leaf,—Grün; 294 —but this mistake, or rather this difference, may be ascribed to the imperfection of the painting in ancient cards; and more especially to the coarseness of the first essays of wood-engraving, in which it was almost impossible to distinguish the figure of a leaf from that of a pike-head. On comparing the earliest German cards with shields of arms, of the same period, and with old wood-engravings which contain trees, it will be immediately seen how easy it was to confound the two forms. There is no difference between the Piques of cards and the leaves of the tree on the right of the woodcut of St. Christopher of the date 1423; and the Crequier 295 of heraldry is precisely the same as the seven of Pique 296 in German cards of the fifteenth century. But whatever may have been the cause of this anomaly, it is generally admitted that the Pique in French cards is the figure of a weapon; and it can scarcely be doubted that it was the equivalent of the Sword in the Tarots. In this respect the Spanish and Italian nomenclature is in perfect accordance with our own. In the southern parts of Europe the French Pique is La Picca or La Spada.”
Thus, according to Mons. Leber, the four suits of French cards have the following signification: Cœur, valour, greatness of soul; Trèfle, wisdom and justice united with power; Carreau, firmness, stability, constancy; Pique, physical force, or the power of the military. The suits, again, may be considered as representing four monarchies, or political societies; namely, Cœurs, governed by a generous and courageous prince; Trèfles, by a sovereign just, wise, and powerful; Carreaux, by a king consistent in principle, and decided in action; and Piques, by a warlike prince, who owes his power to his arms.
Though Mons. Leber has freely censured Daniel for writing on the subject of cards chiefly from books, without referring to cards themselves, he is yet exceedingly prone to follow Daniel’s example; and though his explanation of the symbolical meaning of cards be less extravagant than the latter’s account of the origin and signification of the game of Piquet, it can scarcely be called more reasonable; since both writers interpret the marks on the cards according to their own conceit. The one informs us that the Trèfle signifies that a general ought only to encamp in a place which affords plenty of fodder for his cavalry; and the other says that the Carreau, which, as it stands, in the cards, seems the very emblem of instability, signifies firmness, stability, constancy; an interpretation which seems to rest chiefly on the ingenious hypothesis of the Carreau being an emblem of the cube.
The variations which occur on cards from the commencement of the sixteenth century, either as regards the marks of the suits or the names of the coat cards, throw no light on their origin; as such variations have evidently been introduced merely at the caprice of the card-maker in accordance with the prevalent taste of the period. In a pack of French cards, engraved by Vincent Goyraud, in the time of Henry IV, all the coat cards appear in the costume of the period; though the Kings and Valets still display in their dress that variety of colour which is to be seen on cards of an earlier period, but which, at that time, appears to have been out of fashion. Such cards would appear to have been in common use in England in the early part of the reign of James I. In Rowland’s ‘Knave of Hearts,’ first printed in 1612, the Knave, in his supplication to the card-makers, complains of the pie-bald suits which he and his fellows are compelled to wear. 297 In the pack referred to the names and designations of the Coat cards are as follows:
| SUIT. | Cœur. | Carreau. | Trèfle. | Pique. |
| Kings. | Salomon. | Auguste. | Clovis. | Constantine. |
| Queens. | Elizabeth. | Dido. | Clotilde. | Pantalisee. |
| Valets. | Valet de Court. | Valet de Chasse. | Valet d’Eté. | Valet de Noblesse. |
The Valet de Court has his hat under his arm; the Valet de Chasse holds a dog in a leash; the Valet d’Eté carries a large flower; and the Valet de Noblesse bears a hawk on his fist. The mark of the card-maker appears on two of the Valets, namely, on the Valet of Cœur, and on the Valet of Pique. A pack of those cards is preserved in the Bibliothèque du Roi; and fac-similes of the Kings, Queens, and Valets, in their proper colours, are given in the ‘Jeux de Cartes Tarots et de Cartes Numérales,’ published by the Society of Bibliophiles Français. From those fac-similes the outlines of the four Valets here given have been copied.
In the same work are given fac-similes of coat cards executed in the reign of Louis XIII, and displaying the costume of that period. The names given to the Kings, Queens and Valets on those cards are: Cœur, Alexandre, Pentasilee [Penthesilea], Roland. Carreau, Cirus Major, Roxane, Renault. Trèfle, Ninus, Semiramis; the name of the Valet wanting. 298 Pique, Jule Cæsar, Pompeia, Roger. Each of the Aces is surrounded with an ornamental bordering; and at the foot is an inscription, which, when read consecutively, through all the four, is as follows: “Vive le Roy | Vive la Reyne | J’ayme l’Amour | Et la Court.”
Some of the specimens of Portuguese cards given in the ‘Jeux de Cartes Tarots et de Cartes Numérales’ have very much the appearance of having been originally suggested by, if not copied from, an Oriental type; more especially in the suits of Danari and Bastoni,—Money and Clubs. In those cards the circular figure, generally understood as representing Danari, or Money, is certainly much more like the Chakra, or quoit of Vichnou, as seen in Hindostanee drawings, than a piece of coin; while on the top of the Club there is a diamond proper, which is another of the attributes of the same deity. The dragon seen on each of the Aces is perfectly Oriental in character; and the shields which appear on the Kings and Queens are very much like those which are to be seen in Hindostanee drawings. The coat cards in this pack are King, Queen, and Horseman; and the suits are Coppe, Danari, Bastoni, and Spade—Cups, Money, Clubs proper, and Swords. The Queen, which here appears as the second coat card, is of unusual occurrence in cards of this kind, and more especially in such as are of Spanish or Portuguese manufacture. 299 In two of the suits,—Clubs and Swords,—the Queen appears in the act of encountering a dragon. The coat cards and aces have letters both at top and bottom, indicating the suit, and the rank or name of the card. Specimens of those cards, which appear to have been executed in 1693, are preserved in the Bibliothèque du Roi. The four annexed cuts show the outlines of the four Valets. The letters CC, CD, CB, CS, signify respectively the Caballo, or Chevalier of Coppe, Danari, Bastoni, and Spade.
The most remarkable changes that cards have undergone, with respect to the characters displayed on them, are to be found in certain packs manufactured at Paris in the time of the Revolution. Specimens of the coat cards of two of those packs engraved by Chossonnerie and Gayant, in 1793-4, are given in the ‘Jeux de Cartes Tarots et de Cartes Numérales.’ In one of them the places of the Kings are occupied by four Philosophers, namely, Molière, La Fontaine, Voltaire, and J. J. Rousseau; the Queens are substituted by the four Virtues, Prudence, Justice, Temperance, and Fortitude; while the Valets are superseded by four Republicans, one of whom is a grim-looking ruffian, with a red cap on, and his shirt-sleeves turned up, brandishing a pike; the second is a soldier armed with a musket; the third an artilleryman; and the fourth a young man, in fancy costume, armed with a musket. In the other pack, four Sages, Solon, M. P. Cato, J. J. Rousseau, and J. J. Brutus, serve instead of Kings; four Virtues, as in the other pack, represent the Queens; though with this difference, that Temperance is displaced by Union; while four “Braves,”—Annibal, Horatius, P. Decius Mus, and M. Scævola, supply the place of Valets.
Another pack of Republican cards of the same period is thus described by Peignot, in his ‘Analyse de Recherches sur les Cartes à jouer.’
“For Kings we have Genii; for Queens, Liberties; and for Valets, Equalities. In place of the King of Hearts there is the Genius of War,—‘Génie de la Guerre.’ This Genius, which is winged, is seated on the breech of a cannon; he holds in the right hand a sword and a wreath of laurel, and in the left, a shield, round which is the inscription, ‘Pour la République Française.’ On the right, read vertically from the top, is the word ‘Force.’ At the feet of the Genius are a bomb, a lighted match, and a heap of bullets. At the bottom of the card is the inscription, ‘Par brevet d’invention. Naume et Dugouec, au Génie de la Rép. franç.’
“For the Queen of Hearts: ‘Liberté des Cultes,’—Religious Liberty. This is a female seated, very badly draped, and with her legs bare. She holds a pike surmounted with a red cap; and on a bannerol attached to the pike are the words ‘Dieu seul.’ Towards her feet are seen three volumes, inscribed ‘Thalmud,’ ‘Coran,’ and ‘Evangile.’ The vertical inscription is, ‘Fraternité.’
“Knave of Hearts: ‘Égalité des Devoirs,’—Equality of Duties. This is a soldier seated on a drum, with his musket between his knees. In his left hand he holds a paper containing the words, ‘Pour la patrie.’ The vertical inscription is ‘Sécurité.’
“King of Spades: ‘Génie des Arts,’—the Genius of Arts. The figure of Apollo with a red cap on his head; in one hand he holds the Belvedere statue of himself, and in the other a lyre. The vertical inscription: ‘Goût.’ At the bottom, emblems of painting, sculpture, and such like.
“Queen of Spades: ‘Liberté de la Presse,’—Liberty of the Press. A female figure with a pen in one hand, and with the other sustaining a desk, on which lies a roll of paper partly unfolded, and displaying the words ‘Morale, Religion, Philosophie, Physique, Politique, Histoire.’ At the bottom, masks, rolls of manuscript, and such like.
“Knave of Spades: ‘Egalité de Rangs,’—Equality of Ranks. The figure of a man whose costume accords rather with that of a ‘Septembriseur’ than with that of a mere ‘Sans-culotte’ of the period. He wears sabots, and has a red cap on his head. He has no coat on, and his shirt-sleeves are tucked up to the elbows. His small-clothes are loose at the knees, and his legs are bare. He is seated on a large stone, on which is inscribed: ‘Démolition de la Bastille. 10 Août, 1792.’ Under his feet is a scroll inscribed ‘Noblesse,’ and displaying shields of arms. The vertical inscription is ‘Puissance.’
“King of Clubs: ‘Génie de la Paix,’—Genius of Peace. In his right hand he holds the ‘Fasces’ and an olive branch, and in the left a scroll containing the word ‘Lois.’ The vertical inscription is ‘Prospérité.’
“Queen of Clubs: ‘Liberté du Mariage,’—Liberty of Marriage. The figure of a female holding a pike surmounted with the red cap; and on a scroll attached to the pike is the word ‘Divorce.’ The vertical inscription is ‘Pudeur.’ On a pedestal is a statue of the crouching Venus entirely naked,—without doubt intended for the emblem of Modesty.
“Knave of Clubs: ‘Egalité de Droits,’—Equality of Rights. A judge in tricolor costume, holding in one hand a pair of scales, and in the other a scroll containing the inscription ‘La loi pour tous.’ He is trampling on a serpent or dragon, the tortuous folds of which represent legal chicanery. The vertical inscription is ‘Justice.’
“King of Diamonds: ‘Génie du Commerce,’—the Genius of Commerce. He is seated on a large bale, which contains the inscription ‘P. B. d’inv. J. D. à Paris.’ In one hand he holds a purse, and in the other a caduceus and an olive-branch. The vertical inscription is ‘Richesse.’ At the bottom are an anchor, the prow of a ship, a portfolio, and such like.
“Queen of Diamonds: ‘Liberté des Professions,’—Liberty of Professions and Trades. A female figure who, in the same manner as the other three Liberties, holds a pike surmounted with the red cap. With the other hand she holds a cornucopiæ and a scroll containing the word ‘Patentes.’ The vertical inscription is ‘Industrie.’
“Knave of Diamonds: ‘Egalité de Couleurs,’—Equality of Colours. The figure of a Negro, seated, and leaning upon a musket. Below is the word ‘Café.’ Near to him are a sugar-loaf, a broken yoke, fetters, iron collars for the neck, and such like. The vertical inscription is ‘Courage.’
“Such are the coat cards of this Republican pack. The numeral cards are the same as the old ones, with the exception of the Aces, which are surrounded by four fasces placed lozenge-wise, with these words: ‘La Loi. Rép. Franç.;’ the whole coloured blue. It is scarcely necessary to say that those ridiculous cards had not even a momentary vogue.” 300
The coat cards of a Republican pack, of recent American manufacture, have been forwarded to me by a friend, resident at New York. From the name of the maker,—R. Sauzade,—which occurs on the Ace of Spades, I am inclined to think that their invention is to be ascribed rather to a Frenchman than to an American. For the Kings we have: Hearts, Washington; Diamonds, John Adams, the second President of the United States; Clubs, Franklin; Spades, La Fayette. For the Queens: Hearts, Venus,—modestly concealing her charms with a mantle, in accordance with American notions of delicacy. Diamonds, Fortune; Clubs, Ceres; Spades, Minerva. The Knaves are represented by Four Indian chiefs. The figures appear to be engraved on copper, and are coloured. The marks of the suits are the same as those on the cards in common use in England. Those cards, I am informed, are held in no estimation by the card-players of America, who continue to prefer those of the old pattern.—The chief town in America for the manufacture of cards is Boston; whose discreet, meeting-going people seem to have no objection to make a profit by supplying the profane with the instruments of perdition.
No cards of an “instructive” character have ever obtained popularity amongst regular card-players; for when people sit down to play at cards they do not like to have their attention withdrawn from the game by the historical or biographical reminiscences suggested by Coat cards, either containing portraits of distinguished characters, or commemorating remarkable events; and least of all can they bear that the heads of a sermon or moral lecture should be presented to them in the shape of the four cardinal virtues; which are just as appropriate in a pack of cards as they would be on the proscenium of her Majesty’s Theatre.
The best of the costume cards that I have seen are those designed by Armand Houbigant, a French artist, who named them “Cartes Royales,” and obtained from Louis XVIII, a license to manufacture them for general use, in 1818. They did not, however, acquire any vogue, and are now seldom to be met with, except in the collections of amateurs of prints. The coat cards, which are etched, and delicately coloured by hand, display the costume of the French Court at four different periods. The characters represented are as follows.
Spades. King, Charlemagne, “Carolus Magnus;” crowned, and seated on a throne, with a globe in the right hand, and a long sceptre in the left.—Queen, Hildegarde, second wife of Charlemagne; erect, crowned, and holding a book in her hands.—Knave, Roland, described in romances as the nephew of Charlemagne; and said to have been killed at the battle of Roncevalles in 778; holding a spear and shield, and clothed in armour, which appears rather to belong to the sixteenth century than to the time of Charlemagne.
Diamonds. King, Louis IX, “Sainct Loys;” crowned, seated on a throne, wearing a blue robe powdered with fleurs-de-lis, and having a sceptre in his left hand.—Queen, Blanche de Castille, wife of Louis VIII, and mother of St. Louis; erect, crowned, and holding a rosary in her right hand.—Knave, Sire de Joinville, the biographer of Louis IX, and one of the nobles of his court; clothed in chain-mail, over which is a surcoat of arms.
Clubs. King, Francis I; seated, wearing the broad bonnet in which he is usually represented, and holding a sceptre.—Queen, Marguerite de Valois, Queen of Navarre, sister of Francis I; erect, holding a rose in her right hand.—Knave, Bayard; in plate-armour, leaning on a kind of pedestal on which is inscribed “Sans peur, sans reproche.”
Hearts. King, Henry IV; seated, holding a sceptre, and wearing the characteristic hat and feather which, in modern times, are designated by his name.—Queen, Jeanne d’Albret, mother of Henry IV; erect, holding a fan in her right hand.—Knave, Sully; bald and bearded, as he is usually represented in engravings, holding in his right hand a paper inscribed “Economie Roy. 301...”
A set of Picture Cards, published by Cotta, the bookseller of Tubingen, in one of his Card Almanacs—‘Karten Almanach’—is noticed by Mons. Peignot. The designer has chosen for the coat cards the principal characters in Schiller’s Joan of Arc, and has clothed them, as well as he could, in the costume of the period. The King of Hearts is Charles VII; the Queen, Isabella of Bavaria; the Knave, La Hire.—The King of Clubs is the English commander, Talbot, dying; the Queen, Joan of Arc; the Knave, Lionel, taking away the sword of Joan of Arc.—The King of Diamonds is Philip, Duke of Burgundy; the Queen, Agnes Sorel; the Knave, Raimond, a villager.—The King of Clubs is Réné of Anjou, with the crown of Sicily at his feet; the Queen, Louise, sister of Joan of Arc; and the Knave, Montgomery, on his knees, and weeping. The low cards from 1 to 10 also contain fanciful designs; but with the subjects so arranged that the numbers and marks of the suits can be readily distinguished. The subject of the Four of Clubs is an illustration of Burger’s ballad of Leonore—Death armed, and mounted on horseback, appears to be threatening with his dart a young woman who rides behind him; the scene is laid in a churchyard, and a skeleton appears crawling towards an open grave. The mark of the suit is seen on four crosses in the churchyard. Cotta’s Card Almanack first appeared in 1806, and was continued for several years. It was published as a small pocket volume of a square form; and the illustrations consisted entirely of fanciful cards,—the mark of the suit being always introduced into each subject, either by hook or by crook. The designs for the cards in the first four volumes, from 1806 to 1809 inclusive, are said to have been made by a lady.—Numerous packs of fancy cards have appeared in Germany since the commencement of the present century; some displaying costume, ancient and modern; some representing eminent characters, and others devoted to the illustration of trades and professions. In one of them, published at Frankfort-on-the-Maine, in 1815, in memory of the principal military events of 1813-14, the Duke of Wellington figures as the Knave of Diamonds, and Marshal Blucher as the Knave of Clubs.
In 1811 two different packs of caricature cards, imitated, or rather adapted, from the picture-cards in Cotta’s Almanack, appeared in England. The one was published by S. and J. Fuller, Rathbone place, London; and the other, by Jones, at the Repository of Arts, Market hill, Cambridge. Neither of those packs was intended for the purposes of play. They have very much the appearance of having been designed by the same artist. On the wrapper of both packs the inscription is the same: “Metastasis. Transformation of Playing-cards.”—A set of costume cards was published by Ackermann, in the ‘Repository of Arts,’ in 1806: a particular description of them would be just as interesting as a description of the plates in ‘La Belle Assemblée’ of the same period.
A pack of cards published by Baker and Co., in 1813, requires more particular notice. On the wrapper they are entitled “Eclectic Cards;” and in a pamphlet giving an account of them, they are announced as “Complete, Grand, Historical, Eclectic Cards, for England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales; being a Selection or an Eclectic Company of Twelve of the most eminent Personages, that ever distinguished themselves in those respective Countries, for Heroic deeds, Wisdom, &c. And the other Forty Cards descriptive of the Local and National Emblems of the Four Nations.
“Historian, Poet, Painter, all combine,
To charm the eye, the taste and mind refine;
Fancy and sentiment their aid impart,
To raise the genius, and to mend the heart.”
These cards, which are considerably larger than those in common use, display considerable skill and fancy in the designs, and are beautifully coloured. Hearts and Diamonds are retained as marks of two of the suits; but Acorns are substituted for Clubs; and instead of Spades there is a “true representation of the real Spata, which is not a coal-heaver’s spade, but a two-edged heavy sword, without a point, as used by the ancient Britons to fight with; cut, hew, and slash down, either enemy or tree. So says our ancient history.” A fac-simile of this formidable weapon is here subjoined, in order that the reader may judge for himself of its peculiar fitness for cutting, hewing, or slashing down. It has very much the appearance of a heavy cast-metal article, new from the Carron foundry, and of modern Gothic design. In the descriptive pamphlet, the coat cards are thus explained:
“FOR ENGLAND.
King of Clubs.—Arthur, the Great and Victorious Hero, King of Britain.
Queen of Clubs.—Elizabeth, the Wise and Virtuous Queen of England.
Knight of Clubs.—Sir John Falstaff, the Facetious Knight, and companion of Henry V, Knight of England.
FOR IRELAND.
King of Hearts.—Gathelus, the Grecian Prince, King of Ireland.
Queen of Hearts.—Scotia, his Wife, the Egyptian Princess, Queen of Ireland.
Knight of Hearts.—Ossian, the Warrior and Poet, Son of Fingal, Knight of Ireland.
FOR SCOTLAND.
King of Diamonds.—Achaius, the fortunate Contemporary, and in alliance with Charlemagne, King of Scots.
Queen of Diamonds.—Mary Stuart, the unfortunate Dowager Queen of France, and Queen of Scots.
Knight of Diamonds.—Merlin, the Magic Prophet, Cabinet Counsellor to Vortigern, Aurelius Ambrosius, Uter Pendragon, the Father of King Arthur, and to King Arthur, who was his Pupil, Knight of Scotland.
FOR WALES.
King of Spata.—Camber, the third Son of Brute, King of Cambria.
Queen of Spata.—Elfrida, the beautiful Queen of Mona, and of the Mountains.
Knight of Spata.—Thaliessin, the Welch Bard and Poet, dressed like a Herald or King at Arms of the Divine and Ancient Druids, as he sang to King Henry II of the great deeds of Arthur, the justly termed hero of the British Isle, Knight of Cambria.”
“In the selection which we have made,” say the proprietors, “to form our set of court cards, we have chosen them from among those characters who have rendered themselves most conspicuous in the history of the United Kingdom. In this particular, we have had recourse not only to historical truth, which we have rigidly observed, but we have taken care to fix upon personages, who lived at different periods, and which are calculated in colour, variety of dress, and characteristic features, to form an agreeable and elegant contrast, and to avoid that unpleasant monotony which must have taken place if they had all been selected from the same period of time; and it will be a peculiar gratification to us, in our attempts to form a set of cards, should we contribute in the smallest degree, to augment the elegant and rational amusements of taste and fashion.
“Nor have we been inattentive to minor objects in our anxiety to complete the plan. We believe it has never been attempted to be explained why the coarse and vulgar appellation of knave, was originally given to the card next in degree to the queen. Perhaps the following demonstration is the most plausible way in which it can be accounted for. It was usual with kings in ancient times to choose some ludicrous person, with whose ridiculous and comical tricks they might be diverted in their hours of relaxation, from the cares and formalities of royalty. This person was generally chosen from among men of low condition, but not wholly destitute of talent, particularly in that species of low cunning and humour calculated to excite mirth and laughter, and the tricks of knavery (in which he was allowed free indulgence in the presence of the king), gave him the appellation of the king’s fool, or knave.
“Whether this explanation be really the origin from whence the knave in the old cards is derived, may still remain undetermined, but it appears to us the most rational way of accounting for it. Nor is it indeed essential to our present purpose; the name of knave in our opinion is vulgar, unmeaning, and inconsistent, and being moreover absolutely incompatible with the dignity of our characters, and the uniformity of our plan, we have entirely rejected it, and substituted a knight in its stead. This being a title of honour, not only in immediate succession to that of king and queen, but is ever considered as an honorable appendage to royalty itself.”
About 1819, a set of cleverly drawn satirical cards, with the marks of the suits introduced in the same manner as in Cotta’s cards, appeared at Paris. Their satire is directed against the political party then in the ascendant; and in the Nine of Hearts, portraits of Chateaubriand and other persons, both lay and clerical, are introduced as advocates of the old order of things; in the background are the ruins of the Bastille, and at the foot is the inscription, “Les Immobiles.” The coat cards of the suit of Hearts consist of figures representing three popular journals: King, “Constitutionnel,”—a figure in Roman costume, with sword and shield, defending a column inscribed: “Charte constitutionnel. Liberté de la Presse. Liberté Individuelle. Loi des Elections. Tolérance.” Queen, “Minerve,”—Minerva putting to flight certain evil spirits of the “Partie Prêtre.”—Knave, “Figaro,”—the character in proper costume. The coat cards of Spades are: King, “Conservateur,”—a Jesuit with a sword in one hand, and a torch in the other. Queen, “Quotidienne,”—an old woman holding in her left hand a book inscribed, “Pensée Chrétienne quotidienne;” and in her right an extinguisher, which she is about to clap upon a figure of Truth seen emerging from a well. Knave, “Bazile,”—figure of Chateaubriand, in clerical costume, but concealing a Jesuit’s cap under his robe; beside him is a braying ass, on its knees. Clubs: King, “Débats,”—the Editor endeavouring to carry two large bags, the one inscribed, “Débats” and the other “Empire:” in the distance, two asses mutually caressing each other. Queen, “Gazette,”—a hard-featured old lady, with a pen in her hand, at a writing table: near to her a magpie in a cage. Knave, “Clopineau,”—the figure of Talleyrand; towards the top are the signs of the political zodiac which he had already passed through. In the only pack which I have had an opportunity of examining, the Queen of Diamonds is wanting. The representative of the King is the “Moniteur,”—a brazen head on a kind of pedestal, round which are stuck flags of various colours, indicative of the different parties whose cause the paper had advocated. Knave, “Don Quichotte,”—the Don, with shield and lance, attacking a windmill: the person intended by this figure I have not been able to discover. 302
With respect to the common names of the first three numeral cards,—Ace, Deuce, and Tray,—it may be observed that the term Ace or As is common in almost every country in Europe as the designation of the One at cards; 303 and that the terms Deuce and Tray, signifying Two and Three, may have been derived either from the Spanish Dos and Tres, or from the French Deux and Trois. The Deuce of cards, it may be observed, has no connexion with the term Deuce as used in the familiar expression “to play the Deuce;” in which it is synonymous with the Devil, or an evil spirit, and is of Northern origin. In some parts of the country, the Deuce, though lower in value, is considered to be a more fortunate card than the Tray; and “There’s luck in the Deuce, but none in the Tray,” is a frequent expression amongst old card-players, who like to enliven the game with an occasional remark as they lay down a card. In Northumberland, the Four of Hearts at Whist is sometimes called “Hob Collingwood,” 304 and is considered by old ladies an unlucky card. As far as memory can trace, according to Captain Chamier, in his novel entitled the ‘Arethusa,’ the Four of Clubs has been called by sailors the “devil’s bedpost.” In Northamptonshire, according to a writer in the ‘Gentleman’s Magazine,’ 1791 (p. 141), the Queen of Clubs is called “Queen Bess,” and the Four of Spades, “Ned Stokes.” 305
In various parts of Ireland, but more particularly in the county of Kilkenny, the Six of Hearts is known by the name of “Grace’s card;” and it is said to have acquired that name from the following circumstance. A gentleman of the name of Grace, being solicited, with promises of royal favour, to espouse the cause of William III, gave the following answer, written on the back of the Six of Hearts, to an emissary of Marshal Schomberg’s, who had been commissioned to make the proposal to him:—“Tell your master I despise his offer; and that honour and conscience are dearer to a gentleman than all the wealth and titles a prince can bestow.”
The Nine of Diamonds is frequently called the “Curse of Scotland;” and the common tradition is that it obtained this name in consequence of the Duke of Cumberland having written his sanguinary orders for military execution, after the battle of Culloden, on the back of a Nine of Diamonds. This card, however, appears to have been known in the North as the “Curse of Scotland” many years before the battle of Culloden; for Dr. Houstoun, speaking of the state of parties in Scotland shortly after the rebellion of 1715, says that the Lord Justice-Clerk Ormistone, who had been very zealous in suppressing the rebellion, and oppressing the rebels, “became universally hated in Scotland, where they called him the Curse of Scotland; and when the ladies were at cards playing the Nine of Diamonds, (commonly called the Curse of Scotland) they called it the Justice Clerk.” 306
In the ‘Gentleman’s Magazine’ for 1786, a correspondent offers the following heraldic conjecture on the subject. “There is a common expression made use of at cards, which I have never heard any explanation of. I mean the Nine of Diamonds being called the Curse of Scotland. Looking lately over a book of heraldry, I found nine diamonds, or lozenges, conjoined,—or, in the heraldic language, Gules, a cross of lozenges,—to be the arms of Packer. Colonel Packer appears to have been one of the persons who was on the scaffold when Charles the First was beheaded, and afterwards commanded in Scotland, and is recorded to have acted in his command with considerable severity. It is possible that his arms might, by a very easy metonymy, be called the Curse of Scotland; and the Nine of Diamonds, at cards, being very similar, in figure, to them, might have ever since retained the appellation.” Another correspondent says that he has always understood that the application of the expression, “the Curse of Scotland,” to the nine of diamonds was not earlier than the year 1707; and that he thinks it more probable that the nine lozenges in the arms of the Earl of Stair, who made the Union, should have given rise to the phrase, than the arms of Packer. In the same Magazine, for 1788, we have “One more conjecture concerning the Nine of Diamonds.” It is syllogistic in form, and appears to have been intended as a clinch to the controversy. 307 “The Curse of Scotland must be something which that nation hate and detest; but the Scots hold in the utmost detestation the Pope; at the game of Pope Joan, the Nine of Diamonds is Pope; therefore the Nine of Diamonds is the Curse of Scotland. Q. E. D.”
In the ‘Oracle, or Resolver of Questions,’ a duodecimo volume, printed about 1770, the following solution is given, which is perhaps as near the truth as any of the preceding conjectures. “Q. Pray why is the Nine of Diamonds called the Curse of Scotland? A. Because the crown of Scotland had but nine diamonds in it, and they were never able to get a tenth.”
The word Trump, signifying a card of the suit which has the superiority at certain games, such superiority being determined by hazard, is derived either from the French Triomphe, or the Spanish Triunfo: at cards, these words have precisely the same meaning as the English Trump. 308 With the French, Triomphe is also the name of a game at cards; and in England the old game of Ruff seems also to have been called Trump or Triumph. 309 At Gleek, the Ace was called Tib; the Knave, Tom; and the Four, Tiddy. The Five and Six appear to have been respectively called Towser and Tumbler, and to have counted double when turned up. At All-Fours, the Knave appears in his proper character of Jack,—a serving-man, not a cheat, or rogue.
At certain games the Knave of Clubs is called Pam. A few years ago the name was applied to the celebrated public character whom Byron is supposed to have designated as “a moral chimney-sweep,” in one of the cantos of Don Juan. 310 Most of the terms in the game of Ombre are Spanish.
Formerly a pack of cards was usually called a “Pair of cards;” and it appears deserving of remark, that the Italians use the word Pajo, which properly signifies a pair, in precisely the same sense when applied to a pack of cards,—Pajo di carte. In the time of Queen Elizabeth a pack of cards appears to have been sometimes called a bunch. In the time of Charles II the term “Pair of Cards” fell into disuse; and perhaps one of the latest instances of its employment, is to be found in Poor Robin’s Almanac for 1684, under the month December, where the writer, in his introductory verses, laments the decline of good housekeeping in the houses of the rich:
“The kitchen that a-cold may be,
For little fire you in it may see.
Perhaps a pair of cards is going,
And that’s the chiefest matter doing.”
The French call a pack of cards “Un Jeu de cartes,”—a game, or play of cards; and the German name, “Ein Spiel Karten” has the same literal meaning as the French.
As the object of this work is not to teach people how to play at cards, those who wish for information, with respect to the different games, are referred to Cotton’s ‘Complete Gamester,’ Seymour, Hoyle, and the Académie des Jeux,—taking with them this piece of advice:
“He who hopes at Cards to win,
Must never think that cheating’s sin;
To make a trick whene’er he can,
No matter how, should be his plan.
No case of conscience must he make,
Except how he may save his stake;
The only object of his prayers,—
Not to be caught, and kicked down stairs.”311
With respect to the manufacture of cards, it would appear to have been a regular business, both in Germany and Italy, about 1420; but, though it has generally been asserted that the earliest cards for common use were engraved on wood, there is yet reason to believe that they were at first executed by means of a stencil; and that the method of engraving the outlines on wood was of subsequent introduction. However this may be, it is certain that the art of wood-engraving was at an early period applied to the manufacture of cards, and that in Germany, in the latter quarter of the fifteenth century, the term Briefdrucker, or Briefmaler,—card-printer, or card-painter—was commonly used to signify a wood-engraver. From the importation of playing cards into England being prohibited by an act of parliament in 1463, as injurious to the interests of native tradesmen and manufacturers, it might be concluded that at that time the manufacture of cards was established in this country. No cards, however, of undoubted English manufacture of so early a date have yet been discovered. In the sixteenth century, there is reason to believe that most of the cards used in England were imported either from France, or the Netherlands. In the reign of Elizabeth the importation of cards was a monopoly; 312 but from the time of her successor James I, it would appear that most of the cards used in this country were of home manufacture. From the reign of Charles II to the present time, cards have, either directly or indirectly, been subject to a duty.
In France, by an ordonnance dated 21st February, 1581, a tax of “un ecu sou” was ordered to be paid upon each bale of cards of two hundred pounds weight intended for exportation; and, by an ordonnance of the 22d May, 1583, a tax of “un sou parisis” was laid upon each pack of cards intended for home use. By an ordonnance of the 14th January, 1605, the exportation of cards was prohibited; but, as a compensation to the manufacturers, the duty on cards for home consumption was reduced. As the collection of the duties was rendered difficult in consequence of the manufacturers residing in so many different places, it was, at the same time, determined that the only places where the manufacture of cards might be carried on, should be Paris, Rouen, Lyons, Toulouse, Troyes, Limoges, and Thiers in Auvergne. Shortly afterwards, the same privilege was accorded to Orleans, Angers, Romans, and Marseilles; and, by way of recompense to other places, it was determined that the tax should be expended in the encouragement of manufactures. Louis XV, having established the Ecole Militaire, in 1751, ordered that the money raised by the tax on cards, should be applied to its support. The company, or guild, of card-makers of Paris was suppressed in 1776, but re-established a few months afterwards. The period of their first establishment appears to be unknown. In their statutes of the year 1594, they call themselves Tarotiers. 313 In Russia, at the present day, the manufacture of cards is a royal monopoly. A few months ago a paragraph appeared in the Literary Gazette, stating that though 14,400 packs were manufactured daily, yet the supply was unequal to the demand, and that a petition had been presented to the emperor praying for a more liberal issue. In Mexico a considerable revenue was derived from a tax on cards; and it would appear to be still productive, notwithstanding the unsettled state of the country, as it is one of those which have been appropriated, ad interim, by the American commander-in-chief.
Most of the cards engraved on copper are merely “cartes de fantaisie,” designed rather for the entertainment of the more wealthy classes, than for the ordinary purposes of play. Until a comparatively recent period the coat cards, after having been printed in outline from wood blocks, were coloured by means of stencils; but at present, in this country, the colours are all applied by means of the press. The following account of the manner of making cards at the manufactory of Messrs. De La Rue and Company, of London, is extracted from Bradshaw’s Journal, No. 24, 16th April, 1842.
“The first object that engages our attention, is the preparation of the paper intended to be formed into cards. It is found that ordinary paper, when submitted to pressure, acquires a certain degree of polish, but not sufficient for playing-cards of the finest quality. In order therefore that it may admit of the high finish which is afterwards imparted, the paper is prepared by a white enamel colour, consisting of animal size and other compounds. This substance, which renders the paper impermeable to the atmosphere, is laid on by a large brush, and left to dry by exposure to the atmosphere.
“The paper being ready for use, we proceed to explain the printing of the fronts of the cards, which are technically distinguished as pips and têtes.
“To commence with the simpler, the pips (i.e. the hearts, diamonds, spades, and clubs:)—sets of blocks are produced, each containing forty engravings of one card; and as the ordinary method of letterpress printing is employed, forty impressions of one card are obtained at the same moment. As the pips bear but one colour, black or red, they are worked together at the hand-press, or at one of Cowper’s steam printing machines.
“For the têtes, however (i.e. the court cards), which, with the outline, contain five colours—dark blue, light blue, black, red, and yellow,—a somewhat different contrivance is employed. The colours are printed separately, and are made to fit into each other with great nicety, in the same manner as in printing silks or paper-hangings. For this purpose a series of blocks are provided, which, if united, would form the figure intended to be produced. By printing successively from these blocks, the different colours fall into their proper places, until the whole process is completed. Great care is of course necessary in causing each coloured impression to fit in its proper place, so that it may neither overlap another, nor leave any part imprinted upon; but as the hand-press is employed, the workman is enabled to keep each colour in register by means of points in the tympan of the press or on the engraving.
“The whole operation of printing at the press being completed, the sheets are next carried to drying-rooms, heated to about 80° Fahrenheit, and are allowed to remain there three or four days, in order to fix the colours.
“The successful printing of playing-cards greatly depends upon the quality of the inks which are employed. The common printing ink, even after the lapse of years, is liable to slur or smutch. In the manufacture of playing-cards, such inks only must be used as will bear the friction to which the cards are subjected in the process of polishing, as well as in passing between the fingers of the players. The colours employed by the Messrs. De La Rue are prepared from the best French lamp-black, or Chinese vermilion, ground in oil;—this is effected by a machine, consisting of cylinders revolving at regulated speeds, by which any defects from the inattention of the workman, in grinding by hand, are avoided. These colours are now brought to such perfection, that the card itself is not more durable than the impression on its surface.
“The paper intended for the backs, being previously prepared with the colour desired, in the same manner as the fronts, is printed in various devices at the hand-press or steam-machine. The plaid or tartan backs are produced from a block engraved with straight lines, and printed in one colour, which is afterwards crossed with the same or any other colour, by again laying the sheet on the block, so that the first lines cross the second printing at any required angle. A variety of other devices are obtained from appropriate blocks; and some, like the court cards, and by the same process, are printed in a number of colours.
“In printing gold backs, size is substituted for ink; the face of the card is then powdered over with bronze dust, and rubbed over with a soft cotton or woollen dabber, by which the bronze is made to adhere to those parts only which have received the size. The printing of gold backs is usually executed after the card is pasted, but we have described the process here for the sake of convenience.
“As connected with the printing of backs, we may mention that the Messrs. De La Rue have lately taken out a patent for printing from woven wire, from which some highly beautiful patterns are obtained, bearing, of course, a perfect resemblance to the woven fabric. The wire when prepared for printing, is merely fastened at the ends by two pieces of wood, and stretched over a cast-iron block, on which it is fixed by means of screws passing through the wood into the iron. The variety of these patterns is very great; the printing is effected in the ordinary manner.
“Hitherto we have been referring to printed sheets of paper, which are either the size of double or single foolscap; the next object, therefore, is the conversion of these sheets into card-boards of the usual thickness. In France the card generally consists of two sheets of paper; but in England a more substantial article is demanded; it is generally four sheets thick, that is, the foreside and the back, and two inside leaves of an inferior description.
“In order to make a firm and smooth card, it is first necessary to obtain a paste of an equable well-mixed substance. A paste of this quality is produced from flour and water, mixed together, and heated to the boiling point, in a forty-gallon copper, by steam; which is made to pass into the interstices between the copper and an external casing of cast-iron, of the same shape as the boiler. By employing steam, instead of fire, the paste is not liable to burn, or adhere to the sides of the copper, and thus become deteriorated in its colour and quality.
“Previous to the commencement of pasting, it is necessary that the sheets be arranged in the order in which they are to be pasted. This operation is termed mingling. The insides, which are merely two sheets of paper pasted together, are placed between the foresides and backs, so that the paste may take them up without the possibility of error. A heap of paper so pasted will therefore uniformly consist of the foreside and back, between which, the inside, pasted on each side, is placed.
“The paste is laid on by means of a large brush, resembling the head of a hair-broom, with which the workman, by a series of systematic circular movements, distributes a thin coat. And by way of illustration of the long practice and manual dexterity which are necessary for perfection in even the simplest departments of art or labour, it may be worthy of notice that card-pasting is in itself a branch of labour, and that three or four years’ practice is necessary to render the operator complete master of his business.
“These newly-pasted cards are then, in quantities of four or five reams at a time, subjected to the gradual but powerful pressure of a hydraulic press of one hundred tons, worked by a steam-engine. By this means the water in the paste exudes, and the air between the leaves is expelled, which would otherwise remain, and give the card a blistered appearance.
“After remaining a short time in the press, they are hung up on lines to dry; and to prevent, as much as possible, their warping while in this limpid state, small pins or wires are passed through the corners, and are then dexterously bent over the lines in the drying-room.
“The card-boards, after thus drying, are subjected to the pressure and friction of a brush-cylinder,—the face of which is covered with short thickset bristles, which not merely polish the surface, but even penetrate into the interstices. At this stage of the manufacture, cards of a superior description are waterproofed on the back with a varnish prepared for the purpose, so that they may not be marked by the fingers in dealing. When so prepared, they will keep perfectly clean, and may even be washed, without injuring the impression or softening the card.
“In continuation of the process of polishing, the card-boards are passed between revolving rollers of moderate warmth, one being of iron, the other of paper cut edge-ways; they are next subjected to two bright iron-faced rollers; and finally, to the number of ten or fifteen at a time, they are interleaved with thin sheets of copper, and effectually milled by being passed about a dozen times between two large and powerful cylinders. After being thus thoroughly polished, for the purpose of being flattened they are subjected to the pressure of a hydrostatic press of eight hundred tons, worked by steam.
“It may appear surprising that so much labour and machinery, and such circuitous means—requiring the operation of four distinct cylindrical machines, as well as a hydraulic press, all worked by steam,—should be required for effecting an object apparently so simple as that of polishing and flattening a card-board. It is, however, found that this end cannot be attained in a more expeditious manner, but that the means adopted must be gradual, though increasingly powerful in their different stages.
“The boards being printed and pasted, polished and flattened, are next cut up into single cards. The apparatus by which this is effected, and by which perfect exactness in the size of the cards is preserved, may be briefly described as a pair of scissors from two to three feet long, one blade of which is permanently fixed on the table. The card-board, being placed upon the bench, is slipped between the blades of the scissors, and pushed up to a screw-gauge adjusted to the requisite width; the moveable blade, by being then closed, cuts the card-board into eight narrow slips, called traverses, each containing five cards. These traverses then undergo a similar operation at a smaller pair of gauge-scissors, where they are cut up into single cards, to the amount of thirty thousand daily.
“All that now remains is the making-up into packs. After assorting the cards, the workman begins by laying out on a long table a given number (say two hundred) at one time; he then covers these with another suit, and so on consecutively until he has laid out all the cards that constitute a pack; so that by this operation two hundred packs are completed almost simultaneously. The best cards are called Moguls, the others Harrys, and Highlanders,—the inferior cards consist of those which have any imperfection in the impression, or any marks or specks on the surface.
“It may be necessary to remark that the Aces of Spades are printed at the Stamp Office, whether the cards be for exportation or for the home market,—the paper for printing being sent to the Stamp Office by the maker; and an account of the number of aces furnished by the Stamp Office is kept by the authorities. Before cards are delivered by the manufacturer an officer is sent to seal them, and a duty of a shilling per pack is paid monthly for those that are sold for home consumption. But as they are not liable to duty when intended for exportation, the card-maker enters into a bond that they shall be duly shipped, and an officer is sent to see them put into the case, and to seal it up.”
Footnotes
220 He says that the name is pure Egyptian, and that it is composed of the word Tar, signifying road, way; and the word Ro, Ros, Rog, which means royal: thus we have Tarog—Tarocchi—the Royal Road. By such a road as this Mons. Court de Gebelin seems to have arrived at much of his “recondite knowledge of things unknown.”—See his Monde Primitif, huitième livraison, Dissertations mêlées: “Du jeu de tarots, où l’on traite de son origine, où l’on explique ses allégories, et où l’on fait voir qu’il est la source de nos cartes modernes à jouer.”—Tome i, pp. 365-94. 4to, Paris, 1781.
221 “Une dernière citation achevra de démontrer que les cartes et les naibi sont bien la même chose; le Traité de Théologie de Saint Antoine, évêque de Florence en 1457, porte: Et idem videtur de chartis vel naibis; et encore dans un autre endroit du même ouvrage: De factoribus et venditoribus alearum et taxillarum et chartarum et naiborum.”—Précis Historique et Explicatif sur les Cartes à jouer, prefixed to the specimens of cards published under the title of ‘Jeux de Cartes Tarots et de Cartes Numérales, du XIVme au XVIIIme Siècle,’ by the Society of Bibliophiles Français. Imperial 4to, Paris, 1844.
222 The word Tarot has been supposed to be a corruption of Tarocchi. Cards marked on the back with lines crossing lozenge-wise, and with little spots, are called Cartes Tarotées; and in France card-makers appear to have been formerly called Tarcotiers. Menestrier conceives that it was from these “lignes frettées en forme de rezeuil” cards were named Tarcuits, and Cartes Tarautées. He says that Tare,—defaut, déchet, tache,—signifies properly a hole, un trou; and he derives it from the Greek τερειν, to bore. From Tare he also derives Tariff, a ruled book for entering the duties on goods. Mons. Duchesne says that Tarot “vient en effet de l’Italien tarrochio, dont à la vérité nous ignorons encore la signification.”
223 Mons. Duchesne thus accounts for those cards being called Atous: “Ces cartes sont dites a tutti, à tous, c’est-à-dire supérieures à toute autre, et n’appartenant à aucune couleur.” In other games at cards, the French Atout has the same meaning as the English Trump.
224 The Empress is supposed to have been substituted for the Pope, who occurs in the old series of figures assumed by M. Duchesne to have been the original Tarocchi. In a similar manner, L’Amoureux is supposed to have been substituted for Apollo; the Chariot for Mars; the Capuchin or Hermit for Saturn; the Wheel of Fortune for Astrology; and Le Pendu for Prudence.
225 The figures of two or three of the Atous are sometimes differently represented. In a pack now before me, inscribed “Cartes des Suisses,” manufactured at Brussels, in No. 2, instead of Juno, there is a figure inscribed “Le ‘Spagnol, Capitano Eracasse;” in No. 5, Bacchus supplies the place of Jupiter; and No. 16, which is inscribed “La Foudre,” shows a tree struck by lightning, instead of a tower. In this set, the Fou is numbered 22. Tarots are generally about a fourth longer, and a little wider than English cards, and are usually coarsely coloured.
226 Memorie spettanti alla storià della Calcografia, dal conte Leopold Cicognara. 8vo, Prata, 1831.—Cited in Duchesne’s Précis Historique sur les Cartes à jouer, prefixed to the specimens of playing cards published by the Société des Bibliophiles Français.
227 This book was written by the notorious Pietro Aretine. A second edition was published in 1589, and a third in 1651. The title of the last is ‘Le Carte Parlanti; Dialogo di Partenio Etiro; [the anagram of Pietro Aretine] nel quale si tratta del Giuoco con moralità piacevole.’
228 Though Mons. Duchesne generally speaks of those cards as if it had been positively ascertained that they were painted by Jacquemin Gringonneur, we yet find the following salvo, in the Précis Historique: “Mais le fait de leur haute destination à l’usage d’un roi, ne repose que sur des conjectures incertaines; espérons qu’un jour quelque antiquaire favorisé par un heureux hasard aura peut-être le bonheur de changer nos doutes en certitude.”
229 The Abbé’s notice of those cards is by no means precise; and when he speaks of the four monarchies contending with each other, it is evident that he had either an imperfect recollection of them, or that he supposed some old numeral cards, of four suits, to have belonged to the same series.—“J’ai vu chez M. de Ganières un jeu de cartes (je ne sais s’il étoit complet) telles qu’elles étoient dans leur origine. Il y avoit un pape, des empereurs, les quatre monarchies, qui combattoient les uns contre les autres: ce qui a donné naissance à nos quatre couleurs. Elles étoient longues de 7 à 8 pouces. C’est en Italie que cette belle invention a pris naissance dans le XIVe siècle.”—Longueruana, tom, i, page 107.
230 Materiali per servire alla storià dell’ origine e de’ progressi dell’ incisione in rame e in legno, col. da Pietro Zani. 8vo, Parma, 1802. The author’s observations relating to cards are to be found at pp. 78-84, and pp. 149-93.
231 There was also a series of the same subjects engraved in the sixteenth century.
232 Bartsch, Peintre-Graveur, 8vo, Vienna, 1812.—His notices of old cards are to be found in vol. x, pp. 70-120; and vol. xiii, pp. 120-38.
233 “Singer fait remarquer, avec raison, qu’on n’a pas d’exemple de cartes à jouer d’aussi grandes dimensions, qu’il n’y a ici des figures sans pièces numérales, et que, d’ailleurs, les sujets ne sont pas ceux des tarots ordinaires. Il aurait pu ajouter que des gravures exécutées avec tant de soins, que les chefs-d’œuvre d’un art nouveau dont le premier mérite s’appréciait par la beauté de l’empreinte, n’ont pu être destinés à recevoir l’enluminure qui entre essentiellement dans la confection du jeu de cartes.”—Etudes Historiques sur les Cartes à jouer, p. 18.
234 Observations sur les Cartes à jouer.
235 This subject is erroneously numbered, both in the Roman characters and in the cyphers, as has been previously observed.
236 These cards were exhibited to the Antiquarian Society by Dr. Stukeley, in 1763. They were purchased in 1776, by Mr. Tutet, and on his decease, they were bought by Mr. Gough. In 1816 they were in the possession of Mr. Triphook, the bookseller.
237 Mons. Duchesne expresses himself on this subject, as follows: “Les enseignes employées pour les couleurs out éprouvé beaucoup de variations: cœur, carreau, trèfle et pique sont les plus répandues; mais, en Italie et en Espagne, elles sont encore désignées par coupes, deniers, bâtons, épées. En Allemagne on dit rouge, grelots, glands et cert. Quelquefois, en conservant les cœurs, les deniers ont été remplacés par des grelots; puis des glands tiennent lieu des trèfles, et des feuilles de lierre remplacent les piques, dont elles ont la forme.”—Observations sur les Cartes à jouer.
238 Mons. Duchesne says that the mark which the French call Pique was called Capprel in Italy, from its resemblance to the fruit of the Caper.—Précis Historique, prefixed to Jeux de Cartes Tarots et Numérales, p. 11.
239 Carte Parlanti, p. 57, edit. 1651.
240 The name of Lancelot did not really appear on the Valet of Trèfle, in the time of Père Daniel; but from a passage in Daneau’s ‘Liber de Alea, ou Breve remontrance sur les jeux de Cartes et de Dez,’ printed in 1579, he concluded,—and, in this instance, correctly,—that Lancelot was the old name. By a royal ordinance of 1619, the card-makers of France were required to put their names and devices upon the Valet of Trèfle; and, from this circumstance, he considers that the name of Lancelot was omitted.
241 ‘The Perpetual Almanac, or a Gentleman Soldier’s Prayer-book, shewing how one Richard Middleton was taken before the Mayor of the city he was in for using cards in church, during Divine Service.’
242 Daniel, ‘Mémoire sur l’Origine du jeu de Piquet, trouvé dans l’histoire de France, sous le règne de Charles VII,’ printed in the Journal de Trévoux, for May, 1720. A summary of this memoir is given by Peignot, who questions the correctness of Daniel’s explanations, but yet does not venture to say what they really are—mere gratuitous conceits. It would seem that the French consider the invention of Piquet as a point of national honour, and that the native author who should call it in question, would render himself liable to a “suspicion of incivism.”
243 “Ces cartes rarissimes faisaient partie d’un jeu de cartes numérales gravées sur bois sous notre roi Charles VII, vers 1425.”
244 Duchesne, ‘Observations sur les Cartes à jouer,’ in the Annuaire Historique, pp. 204-7, 1837; and Leber, ‘Etudes Historiques sur les Cartes à jouer,’ pp. 6-8, and p. 72, 1842.
245 Mons. Leber insists that these names confirm the testimony of Covelluzzo—previously quoted at page 23—that the game of cards was brought into Viterbo, in 1379, and that it came from the country of the Saracens. Mons. Leber even calls the figures “Gallo-Sarrazines,” evidently wishing it to be supposed that they had been copied from a Saracen or Arabic type.—The following is a summary of his notions of the changes made in the characters, when cards were first introduced amongst Christian nations: “Le roi de Carreau de notre jeu de Charles VII porte le nom de Coursube, prétendu héros sarrazin dont parlent les vieux romanciers; et le nom d’Apollin, inscrit à côté du roi de Pique, est celui d’une idole imaginaire également attribuée aux Sarrazins.
“... On a dû d’abord, à quelques exceptions près, remplacer les idoles par des figures compatibles avec les dogmes et la morale du christianisme. Le pape, chef de l’Eglise chrétienne, a pu être substitué à Vichnou; l’ermite à un dervis; la maison Dieu à une pagode; et, quant aux symboles généraux, tels que le soleil, la mort, le jugement, auxquels sont associés le bâteleur et le bouffon ou fou, il a suffi d’y attacher un nouveau sens mystique sans rien changer aux images. Les mêmes substitutions s’opèrent dans les portraits des princes et des héros, figures d’un autre ordre qui sont passées exclusivement, avec leur suite, dans l’économie du jeu Français.”—Etudes Historiques sur les Cartes à jouer, p. 72.—Mons. Leber appears here to narrate a dream which he had after rocking himself asleep on his Arabian hobby-horse.
246 This book was sold, together with others from the Cathedral Library of Peterborough, by Mr. Hodgson, 192 Fleet street, Dec. 13-18, 1841. In his catalogue, No. 1492, it is thus described: “Sermones M. Vincentii (wants end).”
247 “L’image du valet de pique porte avec elle une preuve de la nationalité ardennoise; Ogier, comme tous les descendants de Saint Hubert d’Ardennes, avait le privilège de guérir l’hydrophobie et d’en préserver.... L’action est réciproque: le chien ne suit pas, il s’élance pour implorer protection et assistance, et le neveu de Saint Hubert accorde son intervention.... Il est à remarquer que le corps du chien est en partie caché par l’escarpement du terrain, caractéristique du pays des Ardennes.”—Eléméns Carlovingiens linguistiques et littéraires (par J. Barrois), p. 265, 4to, Paris, 1846.
248 “Le P. Daniel pose en fait que ‘le nom du quatrième valet (le valet de trèfle) est inconnu, parce qu’il n’y a pas longtemps que les faiseurs de jeux de cartes l’ont aboli, en mettant leur nom à la place de celui de ce valet.’ Il croit pourtant l’avoir trouvé dans le traité de Daneau, d’où il résultérait, selon lui, que c’était Lancelot. Si Daniel avait pu consulter les pièces du XVIe siècle, il n’aurait pas hasardé ce jugement conjectural; il aurait craint que sa conjecture ne fût pas exacte, parce que les noms des cartes ayant beaucoup varié, Lancelot pouvait n’être point celui du valet de trèfle du temps de l’auteur dont il s’appuie. Il n’aurait pas dit que les faiseurs de cartes ont aboli ce valet pour mettre leur nom à la place du sien, parce qu’il aurait appris que cette substitution de nom leur fût imposée par une ordonnance de Louis XIII, à laquelle ils ont dû se soumettre.”—Etudes Historiques sur les Cartes à jouer, p. 32.
249 Charles of Anjou, brother of St. Louis, received the investiture of the kingdom of Naples and Sicily, in 1265.
250 “Le nom du valet de cœur me paroit extrèmement curieux; car il doit nécessairement rappeler le nom d’Erart de Valeri, le fameux compagnon de Charles d’Anjou, roi de Sicile, celui auquel les contemporains attribuoient en grande partie le gain de la bataille de Tagliacozza, dans laquelle périt Manfred. Nous pouvons donc croire que le jeu aura été fait en Sicile ou en Italie; car les quatre noms Lancelot, Roland, Ogier, et Valeri étoient également familiers aux souvenirs des Siciliens du XIVe siècle. J’ai dit un mot de cet Erard de Valery à l’article de Charles d’Anjou, dans mon Romancero François.”
251 Henry VII ascended the throne in 1485.—Mons. Duchesne observes that, of all the old cards preserved in the Bibliothèque du Roi, only one displays a rose,—namely, a king. There is an old coat card, engraved on copper, in the print-room of the British Museum, which, like that alluded to by Mons. Duchesne, has a rose as the mark of the suit.
252 See the prohibition against the importation of playing cards, in 1463; enacted by Parliament, in consequence of the complaints of the manufacturers and tradesmen of London and other parts of England, against the importation of foreign manufactured wares, which greatly obstructed their own employment, previously referred to at page 96.
253 Mons. Leber, after having noticed Singer’s objection to the so-called Tarocchi cards, from their size and want of numeral cards, thus proceeds: “Il aurait pu ajouter que des gravures exécutées avec tant de soins, que les chefs-d’œuvre d’un art nouveau, dont le premier mérite s’appréciait par la beauté de l’empreinte, n’ont pu être destinés à recevoir l’enluminure qui entre essentiellement dans la confection du jeu de cartes; et cette observation s’applique à plusieurs suites d’estampes du même genre et du même siècle, dont quelques-unes sont conservées au cabinet royal. Là, comme dans les collections de Londres et d’Allemagne, elles sont toutes en feuilles et en noir. Non-seulement l’étrangeté des signes distinctifs des couleurs, mais la forme même de ces gravures, repousserait l’idée d’une destination semblable à celle du jeu de cartes européen. Les unes arrondies en médaillons, rappellent le champ circulaire des cartes indiennes: d’autres couvrent un carré d’in-4o; les plus communes sont des carrés longs; mais au lieu des couleurs propres aux cartes à jouer, on n’y voit que des images d’oiseaux, de quadrupèdes, de fleurs, de fruits; ce sont des perroquets et des paons, des lièvres et des ours, des singes et des lions, des grenades, des roses, et tous autres objets dont le choix devait être purement arbitraire, quand il n’était pas l’expression d’un jeu nouveau.”—Etudes Historiques sur les Cartes à jouer, p. 18.
254 Those cards formerly belonged to a Mons. Volpato, and were purchased of him, for the Bibliothèque du Roi, in 1833. He received in exchange some cards of the same pack; and the set, completed with fac-simile drawings of such as were wanting, were recently in the possession of Messrs. Smith, of Lisle-street, Leicester-square, to whom they were sent by Mons. Volpato for sale.
255 The third character in those coat cards cannot properly be called a Cavalier, and has indeed very little pretensions to the designation of Squire. The Knaves are evidently common foot-soldiers, such as were known in Italy by the name of Fanti.
256 From the difficulty of giving in a wood-engraving those small letters with sufficient clearness, they are omitted in the annexed specimens. The numerals are also omitted, except in the Two of Pinks.
257 Bartsch, Peintre-graveur, tom. x, pp. 70-6.—Singer, Researches into the History of Playing Cards, p. 45-6, also pp. 205-8.
258 In the ‘Catalogue Raisonné of the select Collection of Engravings of an Amateur’ [Mr. Wilson] a full description is given of those cards, pp. 87-91. 4to, 1828.
259 One of these cards, a Queen, is evidently copied from the Queen of Deer, but having a kind of flower as the mark of the suit, instead of a Deer. Those two Queens, so precisely the same in form, attitude, and costume, most certainly did not belong to the same pack.
260 ‘Deutsche Piquet-Karten aus den XV Iahrhunderte mit Trappola Blattern.’ The use of the word Trappola by writers on the history of playing cards, without clearly explaining the sense in which they employ it, leads to much confusion. It properly signifies a game; which may be played with any kind of numeral cards consisting of four suits, whatever the marks may be. Breitkopf seems here to apply the term “Trappola Blattern” to cards which have Swords, Batons, Cups, and Money as the marks of the suits; in the same manner as the cards now in common use in this country are called by writers on the subject, French Piquet cards. It is never, however, supposed that the game depends in the least on the marks of the suits.
261 From the time of the marriage of Joanna’s sister, Catherine of Arragon, with Arthur, Prince of Wales, till about the time of her separation from his brother, Henry VIII, the pomegranate was frequently introduced as an ornament in the royal decorations and furniture of the English court.
262 Those cards were purchased of Messrs. Smith, of Lisle street, who also supplied the Museum with the two sets of old Italian engravings, usually called Tarocchi cards.
263 “Die Karte ist nach Wälscher Art in Spade, Coppe, Danari, (die aber hier als Granatäpfel vorgestellt sind,) und Bastoni getheilet.”—Von Murr, Journal zur Kunstgeschicht, iier. Theil, s. 200.
264 Breitkopf improperly calls those cards “Trappolier-Karte,”—Trappola cards. Aretine, in his ‘Carte Parlanti,’ makes a distinction between the game of Trappola, and that played with Tarocchi cards.
265 “Il y a dans chaque couleur un roi, un officier supérieur ou capitaine nommé Ober, et un bas-officier, appelé Unter. On appelle encore de nos jours dans l’empire, où les mots français ne sont pas si en vogue, les officiers supérieurs oberleute, et les bas-officiers unterleute. Les Français ont substitué à la place de l’officier une dame, et à la place des bas-officiers des valets, ou des braves, comme Bullet les nomme. Le bas-officier des glands est nommé en Allemagne, der grosze mentzel, et celui de vert, der kleine mentzel; enfin, l’as porte le nom de daus.”—Heineken, Idée générale d’une Collection complète d’Estampes, p. 239.
266 “Sota. La tercera figura, que tiènen los naipes, la qual representa el infante, ò soldado. Dixose de la voz Italiana soto, que vale debaxo, porque vá despues de las figuras de Rey, y Caballo, que le son superiores.”—In a superficial paper on old playing-cards, by the baron de Reiffenberg, printed in the ‘Bulletins de l’Académie Royale des Sciences, des Lettres, et des Beaux-Arts de Belgique,’ No. 10, 1847, the Sota is transformed into a female: “Dans les jeux de cartes espagnols, la dame et le valet étaient remplacés par le cavallo et la sota, le cavalier et la fille.”
267 Mons. Duchesne, is of opinion that the Marquis Girolamo’s cards belonged to the same pack or set as the so-called Gringonneur cards preserved in the Bibliothèque du Roi. If Millin’s description, however, be correct, Mons. Duchesne is unquestionably wrong.
268 Millin, Dictionnaire des Beaux Arts, tom. i, p. 201. Paris, 1806. Quoted by Peignot.—Jacobello del Fiore flourished about 1420.—A set of cards, “containing figures of the gods, with their emblematic animals, and figures of birds also,” were painted for Philip Visconti, Duke of Milan, who died in 1447. Decembrio, in his life of this prince, in the 20th volume of the ‘Rerum Italicarum Scriptores,’ says that they cost fifteen hundred pieces of gold, and were chiefly executed by the prince’s secretary, Martianus Terdonensis. From the context, it appears that they were not mere pictures, but were intended for some kind of game.—Aretine, in his ‘Carte Parlanti,’ speaks with admiration of a pack of cards painted by Jacopo del Giallo, a Florentine artist who flourished about 1540.
269 It is but fair to observe here that the Dutch name for the suit which we call Spades, is Scop, a Shovel, or Spade; and that as this name has been evidently given to the suit from the mark bearing some resemblance to a spade, the same suit might have been called Spades by the English for the same reason. This objection, however, does not affect the conjecture with respect to Clubs. In the Nugæ Venales, printed in Holland, 1648, we meet with the following: “Query. Why are the Four Kings of cards, Diamonds, Trefoil, Hearts, and Spades—Rhombuli, Trifolii, Cordis, et Ligonis—always poor?—Answer. Because they are always at play; and play, according to the proverb, is man’s perdition. Their state is also in other respects most miserable; for when through them much money is lost, they are condemned to the flames, and burnt like wizards.” The modern Dutch names for the suits of French cards are Hart,—Heart; Ruyt, a lozenge-shaped figure, a diamond-shaped pane of glass,—Diamonds; Klaver, Clover, Trefoil,—Clubs; Scop, a Spade, Shovel, or Scoop,—Spades.
270 Sharon Turner’s History of England, vol. iii, p. 80.
271 “Here begynneth a traetys callyde the Lordis flayle handlyde by the Bushoppes powre theresshere Thomas Solme.”—Without date. At the end: “Prynted at Basyl by me Theophyll Emlos, undere the sygne of Sente Peters Kay.”—16mo. In one passage Henry VIII is appealed to as then living.
272 To the barn or grange of monasteries a chapel was frequently attached, which used to be attended on holidays by country people who lived at a distance from the parish church.
273 ‘The Poems of William Dunbar, now first collected, with notes and a memoir of his life, by David Laing,’ vol. ii, p. 67, 1834.—In the notes to this edition, there are several references to the card-playing of James IV of Scotland. His majesty, it would seem, was accustomed to play with the “French Leich,” John Damian, whom he afterwards promoted to the abbacy of Tungland. Damian, who broke his thigh in an attempt to fly from the top of Stirling castle, is the person ridiculed by Dunbar as the “Fenyet Friar of Tungland.”
274 A few single cards, apparently belonging to this pack, preserved in the British Museum, are ascribed to Hans Sebald Behaim.
275 Those cards are the rarest of all Jost Amman’s numerous works. The first title of the volume is “Jodoci Ammanni, civis Noribergensis Charta Lusoria, Tetrastichis illustrata per Janum Heinrichum Scroterum de Gustrou.” Then follows a long explanatory title in German, and the imprint, “Gedruct zu Nüurnberg, durch Leonhardt Heussler, Anno, 1588.” There is a copy of the work in the British Museum.
276 Breitkopf, Ursprung der Spielkarten, s. 33.
277 “Voy. les Voyages de Samuel Purchas; ceux de Thomas Herbert en Perse et dans plusieurs parties de l’Orient; le Suppl. t. ii, des Cérémonies relig., avec les figures de B. Picart, et la Pl. de la fête de Huly, t. i, 2e part. des mêmes Cérémonies, p. 138.”
278 “Notamment Exode, c. xxxix, v. 25.”
279 “Voy. D. Calmet, Dictionn. de la Bible, au mot Clochette.”
280 “Lalla Rookh, an oriental romance, by T. Moore.”
281 “Voy. Breitkopf, Ursprung der Spielkarten, p. 33, et la Pl. de Henri VI et de Wulphilde (d’après l’Archéologie, sauf erreur). Les mêmes figures, copiées par Jansen, se retrouvent t. i, de son Essai sur l’Origine de la Gravure en Bois et en Taille-douce. Paris, 1808, 2 vol. in-8. Le costume en a été évidemment rajeuni, mais il est hors de toute vraisemblance qu’on y ait supposé une parure de grelots étrangère au monument original.”—Mons. Leber, in citing Breitkopf, spells his name with uniform inaccuracy.
282 “Gough, d’après Stukeley, Archæologia, t. viii, p. 152; et Singer, p. 73.”
283 “La Fauconnerie de Guillaume Tardif, ch. x, p. 61; et les Oiseaux de Proie, par G. B., p. 122 du recueil de J. du Fouilloux, édit. de Paris, 1614, in-4, fig.”
284 “Quoiqu’on ait souvent traduit les mots crotalum et crusma,—κροταλον, κρωσμα,—par grelot, et réciproquement, on croit que les instruments ainsi nommés par les Grecs et les Romains n’étaient pas ce que nous appelons des grelots; et, en effet, la figure du grelot ne se retrouve dans aucun monument d’une antiquité bien établie. Voy. F. A. Lampe, De Cymbalis veterum, lib. i, cap. 4, 7, 8, et fig., pp. 26 et 44, Holl., pet. in-12.”
285 “Voy. les comp. 2 et 8 de la pl. 56 des Monuments de la Monarchie française, par Montfaucon.”
286 “Ibid. pl. 55, d’après une miniature d’un manusc. angl. du Xe siècle.”
287 “Hist. de la Maison de Montmorency.—Le Grand, Vie privée des Franç. tom. ii.”
288 “Sidonius Apollinaris, Epist. 9, p. 245 de l’édit. in-4 de Savaron. Ce commentateur allègue un passage de Prosper, lib. iii, cap. 17, de Vita contemplativa, où il est aussi question d’oiseaux et de chiens de chasse: ‘Utuntur accipitribus ac saginatis canibus ad venatum.’”
289 “Suivant l’opinion la plus généralement adoptée, et que partagèrent Velser, Duchesne, Fauchet, Du Tillet, Blondel, les frères de Sainte-Marthe, Spelman, le P. Menestrier et autres. Voy. le Traité de l’Origine des Armoiries, de ce dernier. Paris, 1679, in-12, pp. 53 et suiv.”
290 “Sentiment adopté par le président Hénault: ‘Mathilde... broda en laine un monument qu’on voit dans l’église de Bayeux, de l’expédition de son mari en Angleterre; la mort ne lui permit pas de l’achever.’ (Hist. de Fr. sous les ann. 1067-74.)”
291 “Voy. Fauconnerie de G. Tardif.”
292 Leber, Etudes Historiques sur les Cartes à jouer, pp. 80-4.
293 There is every reason to believe that the suit of cards which we call Diamonds was not so named in consequence of the mark being mistaken for the symbol of a precious stone, but merely on account of its form. The Dutch call the same suit Ruyt, in consequence of its form being like a lozenge-shaped pane of glass. The Diamonds on cards are, in Northumberland, more especially amongst the colliers, frequently termed Picks, in consequence of the acute angular points being something like the Picks used in hewing coals. The Spanish name Oros appears to have been originally applied to the suit called by the Italians Denari or Danari, without the least reference to the French Carreaux.—The mistakes on this subject appear to be exclusively Mons. Leber’s own.
294 The probability is on the other side, namely, that the German Grün, or Leaf, was the original of the French Pique. No French cards hitherto discovered are of so early a date as those which have Bells, Hearts, Leaves, and Acorns as the marks of the suits.
295 The Crequier is a kind of wild plum-tree, and its leaves are borne as the family arms of the house of Crequi. Armorial bearings of this kind are called “armoiries parlantes” by French heralds.
296 Mons. Leber should have said “Sept de Grün;” but then this would have destroyed the anomaly which he was desirous of illustrating; for there is nothing anomalous in the Leaves on German cards having a resemblance to the leaves of a particular tree.
297 See the passage at length, p. 135.
298 On this card the name of the manufacturer appears—P. De Lestre—together with his mark.
299 In a pack of modern Portuguese cards now before me there is no Queen; and the suits are Hearts, Bells, Leaves, and Acorns. The figures of the coat cards are half-lengths and double—“de duas Cabeças;” so that a head is always uppermost whichever way the card may be held. In a pack of modern Spanish cards,—“Naypes Refinos”—also without a Queen, the figures are also double; but the suits are Copas, Oros, Spadas, and Bastos,—Cups, Money, Swords, and Clubs proper.—On modern German cards the figures are frequently represented double in the same manner.
300 Peignot, Analyse de Recherches sur les Cartes à jouer, pp. 288-90. Paris, 1826. The following passage relative to the change of manners which succeeded the Revolution is quoted by Mons. Peignot from a periodical entitled ‘Le Corsaire:’—“Les cartes en vogue jusqu’à la révolution furent totalement abandonnées pendant les terribles années de notre bouleversement politique. Le boston, le grave wisth, le sémillant reversis, n’étoient plus conservés que chez quelques bons bourgeois, dont ils n’avoient jamais sans doute enflammé les passions, ou dans quelques vieilles maisons du Marais et du faubourg Saint-Germain. La bouillotte n’étoit guère connue que de quelques marchands; et même l’opinion publique flétrissait ceux dont une ignoble avidité compromettoit la fortune. La mode avoit mis en faveur la conversation, les soirées musicales, les soirées dansantes. L’écarté a paru, et ce jeu niais et insipide a fait revivre parmi nous toutes les fureurs du gothique lansquenet. Plus de conversation, plus de danses; la sonate ou la romance du jour sont interrompues par le cri des joueurs; le bal est désert, ou n’est plus peuplé que de vieux amateurs; tandis que la jeunesse s’empresse autour des tables d’écarté.”
301 A description of the same cards by Mons. Amanton, member of the Academy of Dijon, is given in Peignot’s Analyse, p. 291: “Dans ce jeu,” says Mons. Amanton, “les portraits des rois sont très ressemblans, les costumes du temps bien observés; et même les noms des personnages sont écrits en caractères de l’écriture en usage dans le siècle où ils ont vécu. Malgré la perfection du travail, ces jolis dessins n’ont pu l’emporter sur les anciennes images informes, qui rappellent l’enfance de l’art; tant la force de l’habitude est tyrannique.”
302 Mons. Peignot, in his ‘Analyse de Recherches sur les Cartes à Jouer,’ 1826, after noticing Cotta’s cards, thus speaks of the satirical cards above described: “C’est sans doute ce recueil qui a donné lieu à un jeu de cartes très-malin, publié à Paris il y a sept à huit ans, sous le titre de Cartes à rire; ce doit être, autant que je puis me le rappeler, sous le ministère de M.D.C.... On attribue ce jeu à M.A.... C.A.D.C.D.D.O. Toutes les cartes, soit à personnages, soit numériques, présentent des dessins charmans, des figures ingénieusement groupées, des attitudes très-plaisantes. Mais l’esprit satyrique y est poussé à l’excès; et ce n’est point avec de pareilles caricatures qu’on parviendra à rétablir l’union parmi les Français.” p.297.
303 According to Père Daniel, the Ace or As is the Latin As,—a piece of money, coin, riches; while Bullet derives it from the Celtic, and says that it means origin, source, beginning, the first. A French writer of the sixteenth century, supposed to be Charles Stephens, in a work entitled ‘Paradoxes,’ printed at Paris in 1553, says that the Ace, or “Az ought to be called Nars, a word which, in German, signifies a fool.” The German word which he alludes to is Narr, which is just as likely to have been the origin of Deuce as of Ace. It has also been supposed that the term Ace has been derived from the Greek word ὁνος, which, according to Julius Pollux, signified One in the Ionic dialect; but as the word ὁνος also signified an Ass, it has been conjectured that the Ace of cards and dice was so called, not as a designation of unity, but as signifying an Ass or a Fool. Those who entertained the latter opinion are said by Hyde to be Asses themselves: “Qui unitatem asinum dicunt errant, et ipsi sunt asini.” (De Ludis Orient. lib. ii.)—Leber, Etudes Historiques, pp. 39, 86.
304 Brockett’s Glossary of North Country Words.
305 Singer’s Researches, p. 271.
306 Dr. Houstoun’s Memoirs of his own Lifetime, p. 92. Edit. 1747.
307 A writer of the age of Queen Elizabeth would appear to have foreseen the great “Card Controversy,” which within the last 150 years has occupied so many “learned pens:” “It shall be lawful for coney-catchers to fall together by the ears, about the four Knaves of Cards, which of them may claim superiority; and whether false dice or true be of the most antiquity.”—The Pennyless Parliament of Thread-bare Poets.
308 The French also call the Trump Atou,—“Coupez: Cœur est Atou.” Cut: Hearts are Trumps.
309 “Triomphe: the card-game called Ruff, or Trump; also, the Ruff, or Trump at it.”—Cotgrave’s French and English Dictionary.
310 In ‘The Toast,’ a satirical poem written about 1730, by Dr. William King, Principal of St. Mary’s Hall, Oxford, Dr. Hort, Archbishop of Tuam, is called Lord Pam. He is also called Pam by Swift.
311 “Discincta tunica fugiendum est;
Ne nummi pereant.
Deprendi miserum est.”
—Horat.
312 Pascasius Justus mentions in his Alca, first published in 1560, that a certain merchant, having obtained from Charles V a monopoly for ten years of the sale of cards in Spain, became extremely rich in consequence of the great demand for them.
313 Encyclopédie Méthodique, mot, Cartier. An account of the subsequent legislation in France, with respect to cards, is to be found in the ‘Manuel du Cartonnier, et du Fabricant de Cartonnages,’ pp. 224-37. Paris, 1830.