P RE FA C E .

H E D evil s Book s was the name bestowed

“ ’

upon P laying cards by the P u ri t a n s an d

-

oth er pi ou s so u ls w ho were probably in h o pes

th at this name would alarm timid persons and
so prevent their use Whether o r not his S a
.

t a n i c Maj esty originated P laying cards we have -

,

n o means of disco v ering ; but it i s more probable

that h e only inspired their i nvention and plac ed
-
,

them i n th e h ands of mankind w h o have eagerly ,

ad o pted this simple means o f amusing themselves ,

and ha v e used i t according to th e good or evil

whi c h predominated in their own breasts Many .

learned men h ave written books o r treatises on

Pl aying cards and I am indebte d fo r a large part
-
,

of the in f ormation contained i n this histo ry to

”
“
L e s C artes a J ouer by M P aul la C roix ;
, .

”
Facts and Speculations about P laying cards by -
,

M r C hatto ; T he H istory of P laying cards by

.
-
,

the R ev E d ward T aylor ; and The H istory of

.

”
P laying card s
-
by M r S inger
, . .
 T hese books are now o u t of prin t an d som e ,

what d i ffi c ul t to obtain ; and I h ope by bringi n g ,

into a small com pass the principal f eatu res set

f orth in them I shall be able to place bef ore a
,

n umber of readers interesting f acts th at would be

otherwise u nobtainable .

H earty thanks are due to the custodians of the

Nati o n al M useum i n W ashington who h ave aided ,

me i n every way in their power an d also t o the ,

m any kind f riends who have sough t f ar and wide

f o r unique and u ncomm o n packs of cards and ,

helped m aterial l y by gath eri ng f acts rel a ting to

them f o r me .

T hat many nations have cards peculiar to their

o w n c o u ntry and almost u nknown beyond i t s bou n

d a ri e s m a y be a m atter o f surprise to s ome ; th a t

s u c h ordinary and f amiliar obj ects as P laying cards -

sh o uld hav e a histo ry will astonish others

, My .

h o pe is that the subj ect will in terest my readers

as it ha s done me A ny f acts concerning P laying
.

cards o r any commu ni c ations relati ng to rare or

curious packs will be gladly received by the author ,

who would like to add to her collection .

M
. K V AN
. RE N SSE LAE R .

N E W YO RK , 1 890 .
 P A GE

MAT ERIALS

C ARDS or D I FFE RE NT C o

E IA
P RS

ACES AND OT H ER CARD S

U SE AND ABU ES
 L I S T O F I L L U S T RA T I O N S .

P E R S I AN
TA R O T
TARO T
C HI NES E

C A S H ME RE C d o w ed by L k wood d e Fo
. ar s n t E q oc r es s
, .

I T A L I AN CA RD S S H O W I N G T H E S U I T S O F S W O RD S M A C E S
, ,

M O NEY AN D C U P S O w ed by M s J K V Re ssel
,
. n r . . . an n a er

G E R MAN C A RD S S H O W I N G T H E A C ES O F G R UN RO T H S C H E L , ,

L EN AN D H E R 'EN O w ed by Mrs J K V R el
, . n . . . an e nss aer

REMA I N S O F T H E P A C K S U P P O S E D TO H AVE B EEN U S E D BY

C H A RL E S V I I O F FR AN C E D A T E I 4 2 5
. I t he Ca bi
, t . n ne

des E ta mp P i s Fra ce
s es , ar , n

E L I'A B ET H O F YO R K
C A RD S FO U ND BY M R C H A TT O I N A BLA C K LETT E R V O L UME
.
-

FO R ME RLY I N T H E C A T H E DR A L LI BR A R Y A T P ET E R ,

B O R O U GH E N GL AN D N w i t he P i t Room of t h
, . o n r n e

Bri ti h M
s m us eu

FO UN D I N AN O D E D I T I O N O F C L AU D I AN E A RL Y E N GL I S H
L ,

C A RD S O N W H I C H I N VI T A T I O N S W E R E W R I TT EN O w ed by . n

M T E yck d M i C ow i shi eld D te 1 763

rs . en an ss r n n . a
 L i st f
o I ll u st r a t i on s .

G EO GR AP H I C A L CA RDS . O w ne d by Ri h d c ar H . D er by , E sq .
,

MD . . D at e 1 79 5

N RT H A ME R I C AN I N D IAN CA RD A A C H E T R IB E C
O S, P . u t ou t

f D o ki d p i d by h m l
eers n an N i lM a nt e t e se v es . a t ona u s eu m ,

W a s hi n gt o n , D C . .
, U S A
. . . 1 5, 1 6, 1 7

N RT H AMER I C AN I N D IAN GAM BLI N G S

O H T R IB E - TI CK S , A 1D A ,

Q UEEN C H A RL TT E I L AN D C v d OC b f W d S S . ar e on u es o oo

N i l M m W hi g D C U S A
a t o na useu , as n t on , . .
, . . .

N RT H A MER I C AN I N D I AN G AMBLI NG S T I CK ALA KA T R IB E

O -
S, S .

P i d C b f W d N i l M m W hi g
a nt e on u es o oo . a t on a us eu , as n

t on , D . C .
, U S A
. . .

J A P ANES E CA RD S EA C H O
, NE R EP R ES ENT I N G A W EE K I N T H E
Y EA R . O wn e d by M rs .
J . K V . Re el e
an 2 1 2 2 23
nss a r , , ,
24
 BOO KS
'

DE VIL
The La d i es a rm-
tu—
ur m i n cl ust ers,

A s great graci ous si sters ;

’
a nd a

l ee l ung
-
l euks ,

’
P ovr e ow e t he devi l s pi ct ured bauk s .

B U R N'
 THE DEVIL S PIC TURE BO O KS
’
-
.

T HE TA ROTS .

A yo t h
u of f li c
ro , an old a ge of c ar d s .

H O NE : E very-D a y Book , 11 . 98 .

H E origin of P laying -
cards and their inventor
IS still a subj ect of spe c u lati o n , an d w ill pro b
ably remain f o rever undis c overed . Alm o st every
c o u ntry in E urope ha s thr o u gh her s c h o lars l a id
claim to having been the first to use cards ; and
many doc u mentary an d o ther pr o o fs have been
bro u gh t f orward t o substantiate their asserti o ns ,

whi c h are based upo n an c ie n t laws common tra ,

d i t i o ns , or contempora ry ill u strations .

T hat cards were brought f r o m the East to E u

rope ab o u t th e time of the C rusades , and prob

ably by the home returning warri o rs -
,
W ho imported
m any of the newly acquire d customs and habits
 P i ct u r e Book s
’
1 2 Tu D evi l s -
.

of the O rient into their own countries seem s to ,

be a well established f act ; and it does not contra

dict the statement made by som e writers who de ,

clare that the gypsies w ho about that time began

to wander over Europe — brought with them and
introduced card s which they used as they d o at
, ,

the present day , fo r di vining the f uture . C ards

may well have become kn own by both means and ,

they spread rapidly o ve r all of what w as then con

si d e r e d the only c ivilized part of the worl d ; and
the proof s that have bee n brought f orward S how
that they were known nearly simultaneously in
I taly Spain France G ermany an d Englan d and
, , , , ,

p o i nt to a common origin not to be fo un d in any

one of these cou ntries .

T he first cards known i n Europe an d which ,

were n amed Ta m ts , Ta r occ/z z etc seem to di ff er

’

, .
,

in almost every respect from those of the fi f teenth

century although these probably inspired their
, in
v e n t on i . T he latter resemble m uch m ore those
of the prese nt day than they do the original Ta
rots . T he first packs c o nsisted Of seventy eight -

cards — that is of f ou r suits of n umeral cards ;

‘

, ,

and besides these there were twen ty t w o -

embl e

m a t ic al pictured card s which were calle d

, A t ou s,
 Tue Ta r o/s . 1 3

or A to u ts , a w o rd whi c h M . D u c hesne , a Fren ch

writer de c lares signifies
,
“
above all . T his wo rd
used in Fren c h has the same meani n g as ou r w o rd
Tr u m p . T he marks which distinguish the T aro t
s u its are usually S w or ds , C u p s, and Mon ey ;
S t i ck s ,
an d each o ne c o nsists of f o urteen cards ten o f ,

”
whi c h are “
pips and th ree or f o ur “
c o at c a rd s ,

namely King Q ueen Knight and Knave The

, , , , .

Q uee n was n o t always admitted T he se s u its seem .

to be th e o rigin of the modern pa c ks ; and the

e mblems used on them have been ad o pted in many

countries where the A t ou t part was discarded whi le
the rest of the pack with its o riginal symbol s was
retained .

Mr Singer gives a graphic description

. of these
cards and the games to be played with them and ,

says that among diff erent nati o ns the s u its [a s

“

will be hereaft er sh own 'are distinguished by m a rks

peculiar to themselves while only the general
,

f eatures of the n umbered cards headed by figures

”
or c ourt cards have been retained .

T h e se c ond division of the T aro t pack called ,

A t ou ts, are n umbere d up to twe n ty o n e each -

,
of

these having its pr o per value ; and besides all these

there is o n e, n ot n umbered and not belonging to
 P i ct u r e Book s
’
1 4 Tb e D evi l s - .

the div ision of the suit cards which , is calle d a Fou ,

an d in playing the game is designated Ma t , or it

M o tt o . T his “
J oker ,
”
as we shoul d term it has no ,

value of i ts ow n, but a u gments that of any of the

Ato uts to wh ich it m ay be j o ine d an d is sometimes ,

“
pl a yed instead of a Q ueen being then called
, her
'
Excuse .

T hese Atouts are each represented by a print

which is suppose d to resemble some C h aracter and ,

the n ame is generally placed on the card . A mong

t hem are an Emperor a , C upid , a C hariot , a Her
mit a Gallows
, j udgme nt a
, D eath ,
T he D ay of ,

P ope Fortune T emperan c e J ustice the Mo o n the

, , , , ,

S un etc T he order in which they are placed is

,
.

not always the same and is seemingly u n imp o rtant , .

T he game m ay be played by tw o o r f ou r persons .

T h e one who h olds the Fool regain s his stake ;

’
L a Force ( or Stre ngth ) takes twice as much f r o m
‘
the pool while L a M o rt ( or D eath ) most appro
,
’

p r i a t el
y sweeps the b o ard .

It is said that the distribution of the suit c ards

ha s a peculiar sign ification E ach o n e is disti n .

g u i sh ed by an emblem which represents the four

classes into which comm u nities were once divided .

First comes the Ch ur c hman represente d by the ,

 P i ct u r e Books
’
16 Tue D er/i t s -
.

means a f ault defect was a sort of fiuting

“ “
or

produced by small holes pricked i nto the sub

stance of which the cards were made an d f ancies ,

that to these T ares the T arots owe their name .

O ther writers however dispute this d erivation

, , of

the word and disc o ver new on es

,
fo r . themsel ves
which are generally quite as fanci ful an d far
f etche d .

T hese well preserved T arots are eighteen centi

metres by nin e an d are painted in water colours
,

On a thin card . T he c omposi t ion of the figures

is ingenious and artisti c . Th e drawing is correct
an d f ull of character and the colours are still
,

brilliant . A narro w border of black and white

checks surrounds ea c h one . T his border is a
piece of checkered p ape r pasted on the back of

the card and neatly f olded o ver i ts edge as if to

protect it showi ng on the f a c e
, of the card and
f orming a f ram e f o r the pi c tures . T his f ashion o f
hav ing a checkered or diapered back was C losely
f ollowed in m any of the co u ntries where cards
have been used ; and these backs are still see n
”

although this Ol d pattern ( which as will hereafter ,

be seen had probably a very interesting origi n )

,

has bee n generally discarded and each card maker ,

-
P l a t e 8 .
 T/t e Ta r ot s . 1 7

adopts a diff erent device with which to decorate

the backs of h is cards according to his ow n f an c y .

I n France the backs are generally plai n and , co l

ou r ed red pink or blue

, , . I n Spain the pattern is
d o tted on the surface in lines and circ les while ,

in other cou ntries interlaced and meaningless de

signs are empl o yed .

P acks of cards closely resembling the original

T aro ts are still to be found in some parts of

S witzerl a nd Germany an d Alsace where they are

, , ,

used by the peasantry i n th e distri c ts whi c h are

not m uch f requented by travellers ; but they are
u nknown to the rest of th e world except as curi
o si t i e s
. T hey are h o wever the s o le representatives
, ,

of the cards whi c h the C r u s a ders or the gypsies

brought into Europe and whi c h the lat ter use ,

when ever possible to divine the f uture or recall

the past . S ome writers point to the eastern
”
origin of these T aro ts , be c ause in them “
D eath

is n umbered t h irteen and the idea ,

of f atali ty or

bad lu c k attach ed to that n umber is essentially

O rien tal ; and they de c lare that the f a c t that the em
b le m a ti c a l Atouts are n umbered f ro m lo w to high ,

j ust as certain Asiatic alph abets are written fro m

le ft to righ t m ay cover a similar in terpretation
,
.
 P i ct u r e B ook s
’
22 Tue D evi l s -
.

’
amusement or sweet charity s sake eve n i n
modern ti mes ; but such c umbersome pieces must
have been di fficult to m anage and it was only ,

natural that the in genious mind which contrived

living chessmen S h o uld soon have superseded
them with figures carved in a convenie nt m aterial
such as wood or ivory and then placed the
,

mimi c armies on a mi niature battle -

fiel d which
c o uld be easily commanded by t wo or more
players .

T he Eastern origin of C hess is undisputed but ,

when and by whom it was i ntroduced i nto Eu

rope is u nkno w n . According to Hero di a s , the
L ydians suff ered f rom a long an d severe famine
in the reign of Atys and i n orde r
, t o f orget their
misery inven ted many games partic u l a rly dice
, , .

P revious writers attribute the i nventi o n of games

of chance to t he Greeks during the siege of

T roy , and C icero mentions g a m es i n th e camp ;

but it d o es not f oll o w that these games were
either chess cards , , or dice . T hey may have been
knuckle bones -
or jack stones as that game was
-
,

known in very early days and pictures represent ,

ing persons playing with them have been found

among Egyptian antiquities .
 Ck ess .
23

It has been asserte d positi vely by the oldest

t ra ditions that the cards of I ndian origi n are
only chessmen t ransf erred to paper on which the
pri ncipal pieces of the gam e are reproduced the ,

game being impro v e d by a d mitting more than

t w o players .

I n the game of C hes s there are generally only

t wo armies of pa w ns each
, o ne being commanded
by a Ki ng a , V izi r ( wh ich in the l a pse of years
h as become a Q ueen ) , a Knight an Elephant
,

( which became a fo o l an d af ter that a Bishop ) ,

an d a D rome d ary ( af terward a C astle ) ; and the

game sh o ws a striking similarity to the Indian
games of card s which have eight companies
, di s
ti n gu i sh ed by their colours and emblems and , of

which eac h one h as their K ing their Vizir and , ,

their E leph an t . Th e two games d i ff er , of c ourse ;

but su ffi c ient resemblances between them remai n
to S how their common origin which recalls the ,

terrible game of war in which each ad versary

,

m ust assault man oeu vre make combinations and

, , ,

exert eternal vigilance .

W e learn from a m ost reliable source ( Abel de

Rém u sa t J ournal asiatique S eptember 1 8 2 2 ) that
, , ,

playing card s came

-
to E urope f rom I ndia and
 P i ct u r e Boot s
’
24 Tue D evi l s -
.

C hina , and that like the game ,

of C hess , they were
known to the Arabians and the S arace ns f rom

the begin ni ng of the twel fth centu ry . A t first

these games f ound little popular f avou r m ost ,

probably because they were introduced at a period

when civil and ecclesiastical authorities most posi
t i ve ly f orbade all games of chance .

From I ndia C hess spread gradually to other

countries . The P ersians seem to have known it
about the middle of the sixth century ; and S inger ,

”
i n his H istory of P laying cards states that it
“ -
,

rea c hed C hina at nearly the same period , a nd in

the reign of the Emperor W a -
Si .

T here
are such striking resemblances between
the figures used i n C hess and those o n cards as
to le a ve very little doubt where th e inspiration
fo r the latter o rigin ated .

Beauti fu l circular car d s m ade of iv o ry have

bee n f o und , on whi c h the figures are painted as
if the artist were unable to carve the f orms that
he desired to represent and therefore was obliged
,

to paint them on a flat surf ace . T hese cards

are small disks whi ch might easily be placed
, on

the sq u ares of a board an d mo ved f ro m o ne to

the other like chessme n . The advantage of com
 Clt ess .
25

m anding a concealed army instead O f o n e spread

o u t on an ope n field pr o bably soon became a
p
parent an d the result was that s o me slight cha n ges
,

i n the shape of the pi c tured figure an d the m a

t e ri a l used were so o n made whic h with , v arious
modifications have come d o wn to us as the m od
ern playi ng card -
.

If a study is m ade of so m e of the di ff erent

packs of C hinese cards it will be seen that horses
, ,

deer and oth er animals are r e presen t ed

, on them ,

together with symb o ls w h ich seem to mark the

sui t s . I n other packs instead , of the figure Of

th e animal , C h inese c haracters are placed above

the symbol m arking the suit which characters ,

seem to have bee n put there i nstea d Of the pic

ture and whi c h it is affirmed state
, ,
“
T his is the
” ”
horse , or
“
T his on e is the deer , as the case may
b e , — as if on on e Of our c o urt cards the legend
T his is the Queen should be written on its
f ace , instead of placing there the quaintly garbed
female f orm wh ich usually represents that august
person .

W e fi n d th e principal figures from the chess

board reproduce d i n the T arots , and also in some
of the S panish and G erman pac ks . T here is th e
 P i ct u r e Book s
’

26 Tue D evi l s -
.

King the Knight or m oun te d horsem an an d the

, , ,

Knave . T he pawns or com mon soldiers are rep

resented by n umbers ; but there is this di ff ere nce
between C a rds and the game Of C hess as it is gen
e r a ll y played — i n the , fo rmer there are f our armies ,

”
or as we S ho u ld call them “
suits , and each one

is headed by the King instead of the two sides

generally seen i n C hess . No w, Mr . C hatto re

marks th a t there is an I ndian game of C hess

”
which is called Cnu t u r u ng u , or
“
T he Four Kings ,

in whi c h two allied armies play against the same

Opponents . H e also gives a few rules for this
game .
“
H avi ng marked eigh t sq u ares on all
sides , says the Sage ,
“
place the r eal army to the
east the,
g r een to the south the ,
yel l ow to the
um
”
west and the, to the north . It is worthy
of n o ti c e that these colours f orm th e ground Of

f our of the suits of o ne of the divisions of an

—
eight suit pa c k of Hi n dost a n ee cards '
and this
supp o rts the theory that the painted I vory disks
might have originally been used on the chess
board and then held i n the hand . T his strange
Indian game of C hess would also point to the
first division of the mimic warriors i n to f our
armies each , o ne distinguished by its u ni f orm of
 Cness . 27

di ff erent colours which when place d i n the cards

,

became kn own as
“
suits T his word was pr o bably
derive d f rom the French en su i t e, whi c h signifies
”
to f ollow .

T he re i s another game kn o wn i n which two

chess boards are j oined
-
.
“
It is pl a yed by t wo per
son s ou eac h S ide each , of who m is concerned to
def e nd his Own game at the same time that he
c o operates with his ally to distress by e v ery means
-

”
in his power the two armies Opp o sed to them .

Bo o k
’
Fo u r han ded -
C hess is described i n H oyle s
of Games wh ich illustrates a board wi t h
,
on e hun
d red and sixty squares . T he ga me is played
with fo u r sets o f c hessmen c o l o ured respectively , , ,

white black red and green like th o se O f the

, , , ,

I ndian game .

The Q ueen b o th i n ,
C hess and C ards , has a
E uropean if not an e ntirely Fre nch o rigin . She
takes the pla c e of the Eastern Vizir , or Ge n eral ;
and it may be particularly remarked that in the
game of C hess S he is more of an Amazon or

J oan o f Arc than the consort of a reigni n g

m on arch H e r height also is excessive f o r a w o
.

m an in proportion to th e other pieces and her

,
,

acti v e d uties of harassing th e enemy and protect

 P i ct u r e Boat s
’
28 Tb e D evi l s -
.

ing her slow m oving h u sband while lea d ing his

-

army to battle S how that although S he is called

a Q ueen S he is usurping the position of a general ,

who could more appropriately fill this important ,

active and warlike pl a ce than

,
sh e can .

I n the C ard Kingdom th e Q ueen is a m u c h

more lifelike and womanly person as in it she ,

aids and abets her sovereign lord and master and ,

is generally meekly subo rdi n ate to him .

While drawing attenti o n to the resemblances

between th e games of C hess and of C ards , we
must not f orget t o n o ti c e a S light but perhaps
important fact ; and th a t is that all the ancient
packs had c/
zecé er ea
’
bac ks , as if the little army
were loat h to leave the O ld battle fiel d but trans
-
,

ferred it to their backs and exposed that to the

,

gaze of the opponent i n stead of standing in bat

tle array upon it
-
. The o ldest existing packs or

T arots retain these c heckere d backs ; and some

authors h ave decided that Ta r ot means “
check
”
ered and th at the n ame
, is d eri v e d f rom this
C irc umstance .

T he author of P laying and O ther C ards in the

British M useum , Mr W. . H W iltshire derides
.
,

the idea that card s derive their origin f rom the

 E NG R A V I N G .

H E or d er obtaine d in 1 44 1 by the master

card makers -
of V enice from their Sen ate
which prohibite d the introduction into that city
of large quantities o f cards printed and painted
“

”
outside of V enice , should be particularly noticed ,

as printe d card s are especi a lly mentioned as well

as pain te d ones ; and this p o ints to the f act that
there was i n u se some process besides the ori gi
nal o ne of painting or ste ncilling when the cards
of that perio d were being m an u factured .

The f ragments of the French packs which S how

by many marks b ut particularly by thei r costumes
that they were executed about the time of C harles
the S e venth were p ssibly some
, o of the first eff orts
of the wood engra ver - . T hey were probably p ro
d uced betwee n th e years 1 4 20 an d I 44 0 , —that is ,

before t he greater part of the xylographies now

known .

T he first pictures produce d by printing with

blocks of woo d were probably use d as playing
3
 P i ct u r e Book s
’

34 Tue D evi l s -
.

cards ; and this is an inve ntion which is very

much O lder than that of printing with movable
types .

By the m iddle of the fif teenth century cards

had spread a ll o ver Europe and ne c essity called,

for an e c o n o mical process by wh i c h they might

be rapidly as well as cheaply produced .

I n 1 3 9 2 three packs o f T aro ts we re painted fo r

the King Fran c e by J acquemin G ri n go n n e u r

of ,

fo r whi c h h e receive d fi fty six s o ls parisis — that -

,

is to sa y, ab o ut one h u ndred and seventy f rancs ,

or thirty f o u r d o llars
-
.

A single pa c k of T ar o ts , whi c h were charmingly

painted about 1 415 by M a rziano Se c retary to ,

the D uc de Milan cost fi fteen thousand é cus d o r

’
,

( about five h und red dollars ) ; and in 1 4 5 4 a pack

o f cards intended f o r a dauphin O f Fran c e cost

onl y f o urteen or fif teen f rancs , or three d o llars .

I n the thirty years which had elapsed it is evi

dent that a c heap process of manu f acturing c ards
had bee n disc overed .

C ards had als o become m erchandise ,

and were
sold at the same time as coun ters , or p
é i ng l es ; and
f ro m the latter is derive d the French expression
“
tirer s on épingle de j eu .
 E ng r a w ng .
35

I t has generally been conceded that the C hinese

u nderstood the art of wood engraving l o ng before
-

it was practised i n E urope . Marc o P olo, who

visited C hina about the middle of the thirteenth
cen t u ry describes in his interesting b o ok o f travels
, , ,

a m o de of printing o r stamping with coloured ink ;

and it is probable that printing f ro m a bl o ck was
als o known to the C hinese at that time .

A uth o rities do n ot agree about wh ich are the first

Specimens of
wood engraving but it is more than
-
,

probable that a rude pi c ture o f S aint C hristopher

carrying th e in f ant J esus which is dated , 1 425, is
one of the earliest spe c imens of the art . T his
cu rious and interesting print was discovered
pasted i n the c o ver of a man u script in the library
of th e C hartreuse at Buxhei m in S ua bi a . Mr .

S i nger gives a description of the i n f ancy of the

xylographic art and says th at the demand
,
fo r play
ing cards in c reased
- so rapidly a fte r their i n t rod u c
tion i nto the European countries that it became
imperative to man u facture them at a moderate
price ; and th us woo d engrav ing became -
of c o n se

que n c e, and i ts productions soon became a most

important article of commerce .

I t is probable that at first th e wood engravers -

 P i ct u r e Book s
’

36 Tbe D evi l s -
.

pro d uce d only small pictures of saints influence d

,

no d oubt by their priestly surroun d ings as nearly ,

all of the early wood c uts which hav e been f oun d

-

are of pious subjects ; and they were probably exe

by the i nh abitan ts o f the religious houses
c u t ed ,

who were at the time the educate d me n o f the day .

T hese early engrav ings are printe d aper of the

on
p
shape size an d style
, , of the earliest kn own playing
’
cards . T he saints pi c tures always bore a small
streamer or ribbon , on which the n ame of the holy
person represente d was written . O n the e arly
S pecimens of playing cards -
n ames are al ways
place d beside the heads of the court card s ; and
this may have bee n necessary i n ord er to disti n
guish the saint f rom the king as it is possible that ,

the engraver may have use d th e sam e figures to

represent n ot only the holy pe rsonages but also ,

the members of the royal car d f amily, an d they

could be distinguishe d only by the names written
beside them .

A n old ch ronicler of the city of Ulm , of about

the year 1 39 7 , states that playing card s hav e bee n -

sent i n bundles to It a ly Sicily an d other southern , ,

countries in exchange f or groceries an d other mer

c ha n di se a nd it m a
; y hav e been this exportation
 P i ct u r e Book s
’

38 Tne D evi l s -
.

of cards and they m ust h ave bee n a somewhat

,

influential guild even at that early date to require

and receive this protection f rom the G overnm ent ;
but no cards hav e been di scovered that were un

doubtedly of English manu facture of that period .

 M A T E R I A LS .

H E process of man u f ac turing P laying -

cards
n ow deserves attention It seems that the .

first pa c ks o f T arots which h a ve been preserved

were made of two pieces of c a rd board and were
-

af terward pasted to gether . Th e bac ks had a

checkered p a ttern designed on them and were
,

placed so as to o verlap the fa c e ; and the diapered

edge was caref u lly pasted d o wn and fo rmed a pro
t ec t i o n and a f ram e to the pictured side .

It may be as well to q u ote here the graphic

a cc o unt give n by Mr . C hatt o i n his “
Facts and
”
Speculati o ns on P laying -
cards . H e says
Th e f o llowing a c count of the man ner of mak
“

ing cards at the manu facto ry of Messrs de la R ue

.

f ro m Bradshaw
’
8: Co .
~
Of L o nd o n is extracted s
J o ur n a l April, 1 6, 1 842 :

“ ‘
T he first o bject th at engages our attenti o n is
the preparation of the paper inte n ded to be fo rmed

into cards . I t is f ound that o rdinary paper when

 P i ct u r e Boot s
’

42 Tb e D evi l s -
.

submitted to pressure acquires a certain degree of

p o lish but
,
not su fficient fo r playing cards -
of the
fin est quality . I n order theref ore that it may
, ,

admit of the high finish which is af ter w ards im

parted the paper is prepared by a white enamel
,

colour c o nsisting of animal size and oth er com

pounds . T his substance which renders the paper
,

impermeable to the atmosphe re is laid , on with a

large brush and le f t to dry .

T he paper being ready fo r use we proceed

,

to explain the printing of the fronts of the cards ,

which are techn i c ally distinguished as pf i s and

com mence with the S impler the pip ( that

To ,

is the Hearts D i a monds Spades and C lubs ) sets

, , , , ,

of blo c ks are pro duced each con tai ning f orty , en

gravings of one card ; and as the ordinary method

of letterpress printing is employed , f o rty impres
si o ns of one c ard 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 steam
printing machine .

For the t etes however ( or court cards ) which

‘
, ,

with the outline contain five colours — dark blue , ,

light blue black re d an d yello w — a somewhat

, , , ,
 M a t er a s. i l 43

d i fferent contri vance is employed . T he colours are

printe d separately and are made , to fit into eac h
other with great n icety i n the same manner as in ,

printing silks or paper hangings-

. For this pu r
pose a series of blocks are prov ide d which if united
would f orm the figure i ntended to be produced .

By printing successively from these blocks the ,

di ff erent col o urs fall into their prope r places until

the whole pro c ess is completed . A fter the printing
is d o ne the sheets are carried into a drying room -

°
heated t o 8 0 Fahrenheit and are allowed t o re ,

main there three or f our days in

, o rder to fix the
colours .
’

I n France the card generally consists of two

pieces of paper but in England a m o re subst a ntial
,

article is require d . I t is generally four sheets

thick ,
that is the , f oreside and the back and ,

two insi d e layers of an in f erior description . T he

pasting of these sheets together requires care and

cleve r manipulation . A fter the S heets are pasted
together ,
they are thoroughly dried enamelled , ,

and then cut into cards which are sorte d by being

laid o ut on a table about two hundred at a time ,

u ntil all the cards that constitute a pack are spread

out ; so that by this Operation two hun d re d packs
 P i ct u r e Boot s
’

44 Tli e D evi l s -
.

are completed almost sim ultaneously . The best

cards are called Moguls ; the others H arrys and ,

H ighlanders .

P aper was almost a necessity in card making ; -

and England could not have provided it when

cards were first made there as the art , of paper
making w as u nknown be fore the reign of H enry
the Seventh , w ho lived f ro m 1 48 5 to 1 50 9 . Even
as l a te as the days of Q ueen A n ne paper was ,

imp o rted f rom Germ any fo r th e purpose .

M any o ther materials have been used in m anu

fa c t u ri n g cards be s ides paper . As has been men

t i o n ed , beauti f u l pa c ks h a ve been p a inted on ivory
or m o ther of pearl . P arch ment and leather have
been of ten used ; th in tablets of w o o d and large
leaves have been pressed into servi c e as well as ,

stout p a per whi c h was neither card nor pasteboard .

T he C hi nese and H indo o s s o m etimes used a

cotton paper so st o ut and sm oo th as to make it
m o st s u it a ble fo r the purpose ; an d the curious
wo o den s t icks c arved with distinguish ing figures
used by th e H aida I ndians S how perhaps the
m ost peculiar materials used i n the m an u facture
of ga mes .

Mr . Chatto mentions a pack Of Hi n dost a n ee

 P i ct u r e Book s
’

46 The D evi l s -
.

serve d in the S outh Kensington M useum in

L ondon , which was embroidered on silk .

S uch materials as gold S ilver and tortoise S hell

, ,
-
,

and even small tiles have been used in the m an u

fa c ture of cards ; but whe n made f rom these m a
t e ri a l s they have been di fficult to handle and have ,

bee n regarded only as curiosities ; and at the pres

ent day thick pasteboard either h ighly enamelled
,

or quite with o ut glaze Of any kind is in general

,

u se all over the world .

 NA M E .

H E first positive mention of P laying -

cards is
i n a m anuscript by Nich o las de C o v el l ez z o ,

which is preserved among the Arc hives of V iterbo .

In I says the C hroni c ler ,

playing cards were
-

introduced in Viterbo . T hese came f rom the

country of the S aracens and were called N a zo
''

, .

T he I talians have fo r centuries called their cards

N a i oi , and i n Spain they are still n amed N ayp es .

M la . C ro ix remarks that in A rabic the word

Naio signifies “
captain and declares that this
’

nam e proves the m ilitary origin of C ards , and

points to thei r con nection with C hess .

Mr . T ayl o r , in h is work on P laying cards -

,

quotes f rom the above mentioned manuscript by -

Nicholas de C ov ell e z z o , which records the intro

duction of cards into I taly and says : ,
“
T he use
of the term N aio in Italy fo r cards is o n e of the
’

strongest proof s of their introduction into Euro pe

by the gypsies . To this day they are calle d in
 P i ct u r e Book s
’

50 Tfi e D evi l s -
.

S pain N ay/fi es, which is clearly a corruption Of

’
‘
the Arabic N a oi , a proph et ; an d we have there
f ore the significant f act that cards hav e been and
are still called i n Spai n by a titl e which fortune
tellers (gypsies in f act) might easily be supposed
,

”
to claim .

M r S inger quotes from va rious authorities t o

.

S how the derivation of the word N a ipes, an d says

‘ ’ ‘ ”
that “
it may mean flat or e v en , which woul d
describe a card ; and a lso that th e H ebrew word
N a i oes d enotes “
sorcery , f ort u ne -
telli ng , pre d ic
”
tion , etc .

Mr . C hatto d eri ves the same wor d “

fro m o ne

foun d i n Hi n dost a n ee , Na eeo o r

-
N a i o, which S ig
n ifi es a V iceroy lieutenant
, , or d eputy an d says ,

“
A s the game of C hess was kno w n i n Hi ndo
of
‘ ’
Stan by the nam e T he Four Kings if cards ,

were suggeste d by C hess and in v ente d i n the

same country the supp o sition that they might
,

have been called Ck a t i er N a w a n o, -

T he Four
V iceroys as th e cognate gam e o f C hess was called
,
’

T he
’
Four Kings and that th is n am e subsequently
,

became ch an ged into C na r t a t i N a i o , -

is at least
as probable as the derivation of N a ifi es f rom
N . P .
, the initials of Nicolas P epin , their s uppose d
 N a me .
5I

in ventor ; which d erivatio n is grav ely given by

another author .

I t is only i n Italy that the ol d name of N a ipes

or N a i bi is retained . In P ortugal the word has
become c orrupte d into N ai pe ; i n Spain , N ayp es
or N ai pes
. I n France card s are called Ca r i es a

jou er ; an d a pack i s named 3 f eet I n G ermany . .

they are termed Br i ef e and K a r t en and Sp i elé a r ten .

In H ollan d the name is K a a r ten o r Sp eel/éa a rt en

i n D enmark K or t o r Sp elé or t ; an d in R ussia
, ,

K a r tu . The term A lea which w a s f requently

,

employe d i n ancient ordinances and laws seems ,

to cover all games of chance and is not used ,

to signi f y playing cards alone Th e d eri v ation of

-
.

the English word ca rd f rom the French ca r t e is

t oo plai n to require f urther comment .
 T HE C L AS S I F I C A T I O N OF P A C KS OF
CA R D S I N TO S U I TS .

VE R
E
since the fi fteenth century evidences
of the existence and popularity of cards
have been f ound in I taly Spain Germany and
, , ,

France .

T he n ames colours emblems n umber and form

, , , ,

change wi t h the countries or capri c es of the card

m akers ; but what are termed Ca r tes Ta r ot s or
Ca r t es Fr a n ca i ses are always th e o r i gi n a l cards
which came f rom the East and which are in a
,

greater or less degree f aith f ul imitations of the

still more ancient game of C hess .

It is related that on the st h of March , 142 3,

S aint Bernardin , of S ienna , ad d ressed a crowd
wh ich had assembled be fo re a church in that
p l ace , an d inveighed with such energy and elo
against all games of chance that his hear
q u e nce
e rs rushed to search fo r their dice their chess , ,

an d their card s and lighting a large bonfire

, , im

m ol a t e d them on the spot .

 P i ct u r e Books
’

56 T/ie D evi l s -
.

O ne man stood by who watche d m ourn f ully

the mo v ements of the f rantic c row d an d then
,

b u rsting into tears c ried out to the preacher :

Fa ther ,
quoth he ,
“
I make cards . I h a ve no
o ther work by which I can m ake a li velihood ; by
stopping my profession , you con d em n me to
'
starve .

“
If pai nting is th e only thing you can do f o r
”
a living , replied the preacher ,
“
take this picture
[sh o wing him the sacred monogram surrounded
by brilliant rays 'and c o py it .
”

Th e workman f ollowed this advice and became ,

wealthy by reproducing it .

T his tale shows h o w well established the use of

cards w as in the fi fteenth c entury ; and S p ecimens

o f the card s o f that peri o d are still i n existence ,

and at once strike the observing student with

the fact that the f o ur great di v isions or suits
exist ( although with di ff erent symbols ) in almost
all the known packs .

I t is probable th at i n France th e T arots were

used fo r many years exactly as they were when
fi rst introduced into that country u ntil the , re

arrangement Of the pack by the Fre n ch courtiers

f or the con venience of their d emente d sovereign .
 Cla ssifi ca ti on
’
f
o Ca r a s i n to S u i ts .
57

When this ingenious c o ndensation of th e original “

pa c k took place the symbols , of the O rient were

discarded an d the adapter chose
, t wo colours to

represent th e di ff erent suits and placed , l es Coeu r s

( H earts) , l es Ca r r ea ux ( D iamonds ) les P i gu es ,

( Spades ) , l es Tr ifles ( C lubs ) as the symbols that

,

m arked them instead of th o se on the T arots , whi c h

were ( Money ) Spa de ( Swords ) Coppe
D en a r i , ,

( C ups ) and
,
B a st on i
( M aces ) T hese devices were .

not distinguished by particular col o u rs ; and it is

o nly whe n the French cards have bee n copied
and adapted th at we fi nd the disti n c tive colo u rs
an d ota ce m arking the d ivisions of the suits
’
r ea .

P laying
c a rds without doubt rea c hed Germ a ny
-

thro ugh I ta ly b ut during their j ou rney toward

,

the north they lost their E a stern c hara c ter a n d

their S aracen i c name almost at once T hey never .

seem to have bee n called N a i o, or by any nam e

resembling th at word . T he first m ention of cards
i n Germany calls them Br i ef e ; th at is t o say lett er s ,
.

B a l er
T he first card makers were n
- ame d ricf m - .

T he G e rmans composed symbols t o mark the

suits fo r themselves and rejecte d the Eastern ones
,
,

and were probably unconscious that such de v i c es

as H earts D iamon d s etc existed o n the card s of
, ,
.
,
 P i ct ur e Book s
’

58 l e D ev i l s -
.

th e n eighbouring country ; for intercourse i n those

days was no t rapid and eac h kingd om was as
, in
dependent of its fell o w as if oceans divi d ed them .

“
M la . C roix says that the G erman s with thei r
love Of symbolism discovered a vegetable as well
as a military signification in the original game of

”
cards . W hile making imp o rtant changes they ,

retained a little of their warlike character in their

symbols and fig u res and placed am ong them some ,

d esigns inspired by the vegeta ble world . The de

v ices with them signified the t riu mphs and the
honours of war and they discarded the weapons
, of

the East the S words and the S taves and disdained

, ,

the sordid money and the priestly chalice and ,

adopted sprays O f o ak and of ivy as if intended fo r

’
victors wreaths and chose tiny bell s o r g r el ots as
, , ,

distinc tive marks as these were among the most

,

important signs of German n obility and borne by

,

them among the other heraldic marks and , c o n si d

ered most h onourable emblems . T hese symbols

gave a more peacef ul aspect to the ancient warlike
game .

T he names of the German suits are S c/t ellen

( Bells ) H er teen ( H earts ) Gr itn ( Green ) and E i cnel n

, , ,

( Acorns) I t is not now known at what period

.
 Cla ssifica t i on qf Ca r ds i n t o S u i ts .
59

these symbols which have become a disting u i shing

character of the G erm an cards were adopted but ,

duri ng part of the fif teent h cen tury other o bjects

were a lso represented on their cards ; and th e d if

fe re n t m arks quarrelled with the others and strove

to be generally adopted but without success as , ,

those n amed above have bee n the only ones in use

f o r m any generations although they are now being
,

gra d ually superseded by the French designs which ,

among E nglish speaking nations are kn o wn as

-

H earts D iam on d s C lubs and Spades

, , , .

S ome ancient German packs which h a ve been

preserved are no t only very remarkable fo r the
beauti f ul workmansh ip l a vished on their pr o duc
’
tion and as handsome specimens of the engraver s
art but are also curious because they contain five
,

suits instead of the ordinary f our . T hese were di

v ide d i nto H a r es P a r r ots P i n t s Roses a n d Col u m
, , , ,

o i n es ,
wi t h the usual King Q ueen Knight and , , ,

Kn ave in each suit . T hese card s were exe c uted

in the fi fteenth century i n the city of C o logne .

O ther packs of engrav ed card s m ad e about the

latter e nd of the fi f teenth centu ry in G ermany had
their suits m arked by animals flowers and bird s , , ,

an d were not coloured the symbols marking the ,

 P i ct u r e Book s
’
60 T/i e D evi l s -
.

suits W ithout other aid . T he mark of the G r a n,

or L eaf , in the German card resembles in S hape the

H earts and Spades of the French .
-
Th e shape of

all t hese pips is closely analog o u s ; and the Heart

provided wi t h a sh o rt handle and called a Spade
or give n a long stem an d n amed a Le af must origi
nally have had a common origi n all knowledge , of

whi c h is l ost in th e m ists of the Middle Ages .

T h e P ique may have received its na m e of Spad e

i n its English h om e , not, as s o me au t h ors f ancy ,

because the word w as a corrupti o n of the Spanish

E sp a da s, b u t be c ause it resembled i n shape the
spade or sh o vel which was in use in E n gland when
cards first made their appearance there . M la
.

C r o ix f ancies the shape of the H ea r t resembles a

S hield and points to this
, as s u pporting his c laim
that the designs on the cards had a military origin .

Among the miners i n S om e parts of Engl a nd

D i a m onds are frequently c alled Fi ces owing to their ,

resemblance to the head of that tool . M la

. C roix

also declares that l es Cce u r s were the symbols placed

on the cards by the Fren c h adapter i n orde r to do ,

hon o ur to his f rien d J acques Coeur, a merchant of

the day whose trade with th e E ast might have

been the means of intro d ucing the card s into
 P i ct u r e Book s
’
62 Tue D evi l s -
.

S w or ds . T hese c ards closely resemble the T arots ,

and may have originated in a co m m o n source . In
some of the H indoo packs the suits are disti n
u i sh ed by a col o ur as well as by the for m of the
g
symb o l .

Although parts of packs which f rom the de v ices

they bear may h ave been importe d f rom G erma n y
or Spain and which seem to have bee n well used
, ,

are preserved in the British Muse um having been,

f ound in England only cards , of French origin have

bee n universally used there and they have held ,

u ndisputed S way f ro m the middle of the fifteen t h

century when the distinctive c ol o urs
, Of red and
black and the emblems
, of Hearts , D iam o n ds ,

Spades an d , C lubs were generally adopted and ,

h ave remained nearly un c hanged f rom that time

to the present . T here w a s no a tte m pt to shade the
pips or the figures a nd f ac es of the court cards at
any time in England and the , o utlines were simply
c o loured and laid on i n solid blocks . T he French
have changed their figures and shaded their f aces , ,

and made their pips S lightly more sym metrical in

shape ; but they are very nearly the same as when
Originally d esigned by the cleve r fi n ge red French -

courtier .
C ARDS O F DIFFE RE NT C O UNTRIE S .
 CA RDS OF D I FFE RE N T CO U N T R I E S .

C H I NA .

S has been already mentioned the in vention ,

of P laying
cards has been clai m ed at many
-

places ; each writer setting f o rth the pretensions o f

his own cou nt ry to this h o nou r to the best of

his ability and e ach, on e with seemingly good au

t h o r i t y fo r h is statements .

I t is certain that the C hi nese p o int in triumph

to the longest pedigree f or their game and they ,

quote extensively f rom their ow n authors as proo f

of this f act ; and until some European well versed
i n their language can dispute this c laim it may be ,

as well to allow it .

Mr . C hatt o says that cards appear to h ave been

known f rom an early perio d i n C hina . T here i s a
”
C hinese dictionary entitled
, C hing t sz e
- -
tung , c om

piled by E u l Ko w n g,
-
and first published A . D . 1 6 78 ;

wh ich says that the cards now known in C hin a as

Teen tsee¢a e,
- or
“
d otted card s , were in v ented in
 P i ct u r e Books
’
66 Tne D evi l s -
.

the reign of
and that they began L eun h o , -
1 1 20,

to be common i n the reign o f Ka o w—

tsung who ,

ascended the throne i n 1 1 31 . According to tra

di t i o n they were dev ised
,
fo r the am usement of
’
L eun -
ho s wives .

T he general name fo r cards i n C hina i s Cnep a e -

,

”
or paper tickets -
. A t first they were called Ya
p a e, or
“
bone tickets
-
, f rom the m aterial of which
they were made . S everal v arieties of cards seem
to be in use in C hina . O ne pack that is described
by M r . C hatto is said to be composed Of th irty two -

cards covered with small circular dots of red and

black with c o urt cards
, of o n e man and one wom an .

The cards most com monly used are called Tseen

w a n cuep a e
- -
( a thousand times ten thousand card s) .

T here are thirty in a pack divided into th ree suits ,

of n ine cards each and three S ingle cards which , ,

are s u perior to all others . The name of one of

the suits is K ew—

éo w -
an ; that is ,
“
Th e nine ten
” ”
thousands (or myriads of Kwan which are “
,

strings o f beads shells o r money) T h e name o f , ,

.

the o ther s u it is K ew é o pi ng ( nine units O f cakes ) ; - -

and that Of the third ,

K ew é o so ( nine
- -
units of

C hains) . T he n ames of the three single cards

a re Tseen w a n -
( a th o usand times ten thousand) ,
 P i ctur e Boot s
’
68 Tue D evi l s -
.

and bottom and at the upper e nd a small porti o n

,

is lef t blank as ,
if to h o ld them c o nveniently and al

low Oi their being spread or fanned out sh o wing

,

the whole of the pictured surface the blank space ,

being held under the t humb and finge rs . S t rangely

enough this blank S pace being at the top instead
,

of at the b o ttom of the card it w o uld seem that

,

they sh o uld be held by the t op and spread ou t in

exactly the reverse way cust o mary am o ng Euro
peans . T he tiny cards are SO narrow and so small
that they might well be held c on c ealed by the palm
of the hand whi c h c o uld e ff ectu a lly c o ver them
,

and prevent the shape of the pips being seen

thr o u gh the thin cardb o ard or the n umber of the
cards being c o unted by the o pponent .

T h e C hinese have an o ther name fo r their c ards ,

and this is Wa t p i ; but it seems to be the name

-

given to di fferent games as they a l so call q u eer ,

lo oking tablets on which round d o ts are pl a c ed in

regular order and which resemble our dominos by ,

the same na m e .

M r Singer gives an account

.
of some C hinese
cards an in c h and a hal f long and a little more
than t wo inches broad . Each suit c o nsists of

nine card s with black backs . T hey are printed

 Ca r ds o
f D ifnr en t Cou n t r i es . 69

with C hinese characters and not with emblems like

,

those i n other pa c ks .

S o me auth o rs state that cards are pl a yed by the

lower orders o nly and that pe o ple
, of distin c tion
play at C hess ; and that am o ng the C hi n ese it is
u n di
considered gn i fi e d t o pl a y cards and many , of

them pretend they have no ide a of t heir u se or the

mean ing or value Of the charac ters on them
It is also asserted that a game an a l o go us to the
o ld one Of T ar o ts has been fo und in China , whi c h
con tains seventy seven tablets -
.

T here is a t radi t ion that a Venetian carried cards

f ro m C hina to his native city whi c h was the first ,

pla c e in E urope where they were kn o wn . T his

traveller was pro bably Ni cc olo Po lo , who with his
brother Matte o returned f ro m C hina about 1 2 69 ;

or it m ay have been the celebrated Marco P olo ,

so n of t he above Niccolo who accompanie d,

hi s

f ather and uncle on their secon d voyage to that

great empire .

E GY PT .

AN attempt has been m ade to prove that a kind

of card was i n use among the Egyptians in the
seventh centu ry bef ore ou r prese nt era ; but this
 P i ct u r e Book s
’

70 Tne D evi l s -
.

has been hotly disputed if not d ispro ve d . T hat

there were games whi c h were kn own to the early

Egyptians has been shown by the inscriptions on

their m o numents and the representations ,

of fig
ures playing jack stones -
or kn u ckle bones and dice
-
.

S ome kind of game resembling C hess m ay also

hav e been played but upon this s ubject , a u t ho ri

ties do not agree .

I ND IA .

IF I ndia w as not the birthplace of Card s , as it

probably was of C hess , it is certai n that they were
kn own i n that cou ntry at a v ery early d ate ; an d
beautif ul specimens of ancient as well as m odern
packs are prized in m any Euro pean collections .

A pack of H indo o cards is f ully describe d

in M r S inger s book
.
’

, and many of the m are

handsomely reproduced . T hey are painted on

ivory the backs are gilded and they n umber the

, ,

same as the T aro t c ards . T his pack contains

se ven suits , which are S u n s, Moon s , Cr ow n s,
Cu s/i i on s, H a r p s, L etter s , and S w or ds . Of each
of these suits there are ten n umeral an d two
court card s which appear to represent a S o vereign
,
 Ca r ds f
o D if er en t Cou n t r i es .

71

and a Gene ral . Besides these there are twelve

cards apparently of n o suit , on which are groups
of figu res s o m e male and some female
, .

Mr . C hatto describes several packs of H i nd os

t a n ee c ards am o ng o t hers s o me
, own ed by th e
R o yal Asiati c Society and preserved i n their
M useu m . O ne of these packs consists of ten and
others of eigh t suits .
“
I n each s u it when com ,

p l e te , the n umber of c ards is twelve ; t h a t is two ,

coat cards , or h o n o urs an d ten , ot hers wh o se nu

merical value is expressed by the n umbe r of marks
up o n them . T he cards Of all the pa c ks are Ci r

c u la r ; the diameter of the largest is two and three

quarter i nches and , of the sm allest ab o u t t wo and
”
an eighth in c hes . T he material of wh i c h they are
f ormed is supposed to be canvas and indeed it ,

is expressly stated i n a mem o rand u m that a cc o m

p a n i es them that such is the case but t hey appear

,

to be made of thin veneers of w o od . O ne of

these packs fo rmerly belonged to C apt . D C rom

.

line S mith , to whom they were presented about

18 15 by a high caste Brahmin who c o n sidered-
,

the m a great curiosity an d supposed that they ,

were a thousand years old . T hese cards resemble

a. pack n ow owned by Mr de Fo rest that . he
 P i ct u r e Book s
’

72 Tne D evi l s -
.

bought in C ashmere within a fe w years an d that ,

T h e Brahmin
’
h ave been reproduced f or this work . s
pack says M r , . C hatt o , “
c o nsists of eight suits each ,

suit contain ing two honours and ten com m o n cards ,

i n all n inety six cards -

. In a ll the suits the King
is m ounted on an eleph an t and in , si x the Vizir,

or sec o nd hon our , is on h o rseba c k ; but i n the blue

sui t the emble m or mark
, of whi c h is a red spot
with a yellow centre he rides a tiger ; ,
an d in
the white suit the mark , Of whi c h appears like a
grotesque or fiendish head he is m o unted on a ,

bull . T he backs of all the cards are green . T he

following are the colours of the which

g r ou n d on

the figures are painte d in the several suits t ogether ,

w ith the diff erent marks by whi c h the suits and the
respective v alue of the common cards were also
distinguishe d
C O LO U R S . MA R KS .

1 . FAW N . So m et hi ng lik e a p i e a pp l e i n a sh a ll ow c up n .

2 . BLAC K . A re d S p ot w i t h a W h i t e cen tre .

BR O WN t u l war
”
3 . . A o r swor d ,
.

4 . W H ITE . A g ot esq u e k i d of h ea d
r n .

5 . G R EEN . S o m et hi n g li k e a p ara so l w i t h ou t a h a n d l e a nd ,

w i t h t wo b ro k e n rib s st i ck i g t h ro g h t h e t op n u .

LUE A re d spot w i t h a ye ll o w c e t re
\
O B . n .

7 . RE D . A p a a ll e l ogram w i t h d o t s on i t a s i f t o r ep re sen t
r

wr iti g n .

8 . YELLO W . An ova l .
 P i ct u r e Boot s
’

74 Tue D evi l s - .

CA S H ME RE .

T HE cards f ro m C ashmere w hi c h , bel o ng to Mr .

de F o rest an d are repro du c ed f o r t his w o rk di ff er ,

but slig htly f ro m th o se des c ribed by Mr . C hatto .

T he C a shmere c ards are C ir c ul a r in sh a pe as well ,

as the H i n do st a n e e and are , of a b o u t the same size ,

being two inches i n diameter . T he emblems on

th e C ashmere cards di ff er c o n sidera bly f r o m th ose
described by M r . C hat t o , an d o nly the c o urt or

fi g u re cards be a r a general rese m bl a n c e to th o se

that f ormerly bel o nged t o C a pt D . . C r o m li n e S mi th .

T h e C ash mere cards seem to be m a de o f thin

S li c es of wood overlaid with a c o mp o siti o n
, of s o me
sort and
, so thic kly c o vered wi t h p a int and var
nish that th e o rigi n al m a teri a l is entirely c o n c ealed .

T his pac k c o n t a ins thirty six c ards -

of three s u its ;
n amely , te n pip a n d two c o urt cards in e a c h suit . A
large p u rple fl o wer on a red gro u nd pl a c ed within ,

c irc les of yell o w ornaments the bac ks whi c h are

, ,

pr o bably i ntended to be pre c isely th e same ; but

to an experien c ed gamester there w o u ld be no

di fficulty in distinguish ing o ne card f ro m a n o ther ,
 Ca r ds D ij
’
o
f er en t Cou n t r i es .
75

even wit h the f a c e of it c oncealed , as th e design ,

tho u gh uni f orm di ff ers slightly

, on eac h c ard .

T he th ree s u its are n o t only marked by the em

ble m s of pips b u t like the H i n d o st a n ee cards
, , ,

th e backgro u nds are vividly painted in s o me uni

f o rm c o l o u r up o n which t h e design is di splayed ,

and this c o l o u r marks the sui t s distin c tly even

when the emblem is o mit t ed whi c h i n some cases ,

is d o ne ei ther by de sign o r a cc ident T he w hite .

suit is he a ded by a King m o un ted on an e lephant ,

and a Vizir on a bull . T here are no embl e ms on

these t wo cards by w hi c h to disti n gui sh the suit .

The ten pip c ards S h o w ti n y fig u res of men c l o thed

i n l o o sely fi t ting red garme n t s an d wearing red tur
bans on their heads . T hese figures are represented
kneeling with their hands clasped i n the
,
a tti t ude
of prayer . T hey are d o tted o ver the sur fa c e of t he

cards and gr o uped as the c orresp o ndi n g pips are in

the o t her sui t s and genera lly fa c e e a c h
,
o ther ex
,

cept in n u m ber eight in whi c h all the fig u res l oo k

,

the same way and to the left S ide . A nother suit

is disti n guished by a dark bl u e gro und -
, on which
small yellow disks surro unded by c ircles
,
of red ,

are painted . T his suit may correspond with a

C hatto
”
“
mo o n suit mentioned by Mr . am o ng the
 P i ct u r e Boot s
’

76 Tli e D evi l s -
.

H i n dost a n ee cards and it is also noticeable

, as it
”
closely resembles the m oney used as an emblem
on I talian and Spanish cards . T he court cards of

this suit S how a man mounted on a tiger and bear

i ng th e distinctive emblem uplif ted in his right
han d . T he position of this man is c losely copied
on the Spanish cards although in them he is rep
,

resented on horseback . The se c o nd hon o ur shows

two tigers seated on a cross legged bench gazing -

over their shoulders at t wo attendants , w ho wave

what appear to be staves or f an s . Bet w een these
”
tigers is a large moon f ace -

, which seems to mark

the suit . If this be the case it would p o i n t , to the
origin of the m oney emblem . T he pips on the rest
of the sui t are carelessly executed circles and the ,

f eatures , which would sho w it to he intended f or

the m oo n are omitted

,
. T he o utline of this mark
may have been fo ll o wed on the cards that w ere

first introduced into Eu rope , and may readily

have become changed during the lapse of years .

T he moon ”
mark on the H i n dost a n ee cards has
gradually extended b o th East and West , o ne that
C losely resembles it being f ound on the C hinese
cards and partly followe d on the woo d en cubes
,

o f the Alaska I ndians .

 C a r ds f
o D ifnr en t Cou n t r i es .
77

The gree n suit bears emblems which recall the

ca r r ea u x o f the French cards , an d are even more
like one of the m arks used by the Apa c he tribe
of N o rth A meri c an I ndians by whi c h to dis t in
guish o ne of their s u its . Th e diamond S haped pip
-

on the C ashmere cards is p a i n ted red and orna

m e nt ed with stripes and d o ts of pink . The c o u rt
cards S h o w a Vizir on a wh i t e h o rse beari n g ,

the pip i n his right hand , an d a S u l tan at

tended by two slaves who also c arries the emble m

,

of t he suit .

T h ese c ards show little m arks of use , and t heir

surf a c e is slightly sticky S O th at they c o u ld n o t
,

be conveniently either shu ffled o r de a lt It is .

probable that the p a c k is n ot c o mplete and t h a t ,

there sho u ld be m o re than the three s u its that

now c o mpose

PE R S IA .

S I' tablets brought f ro m P ersia by a rece n t

traveller f o rm an interesting addi t ion to the cards
used by di ff erent nations . T hese tiny cards ap

pear to be the three hon o u rs of two di ff erent

packs . T hey are made of layers of p a steboard ,
 P i ct u r e B oat s
’

78 T/z e D ev i l s -
.

som e of them as thi c k as t wo o rdin a ry pl a yi n g

c ards . The o t hers are nearly d o uble th a t thi c k
ness ; a nd a lth o u gh they a re a ll of the s a me size
( namely a n i n c h a n d an eighth wide by two
,

i n c h e s l o n g ) there are m a ny marks o n them t o

,

S h o w th a t they n ever all bel o nged to the s a me

pa ck . Alth o u gh made of pasteb o a rd they are ,

c o vere d so thi c kly wi t h p a int and v a rnish tha t

they might easily be s u pp osed to have been c ut
ou t Of wood . T he ba c ks of t hese c ards are all
alike , a nd a re pai n ted blac k . T hey are remark
a ble f o r t he f em a le figu re that they bear as a
c o urt c a rd ,
as in this re spe c t th e y a re n ot o n ly un
-

like a ll o ther Eastern c a rds , bu t i n it di ff er f r o m

t h o se of every We stern n a ti o n with the ex c eption ,

of the Fren c h and th o se ot her c o u n tries w here

the Fre n c h c a rds h a ve be e n ad o pted . T his fe

m ale figure is by s o me c alled a C o urtesan b u t , it

co u ld as well be n a med a Q ueen She is se a ted .

on a c h a ir o f sta t e that is o rn a me n ted w ith a

,

desig n w hi c h c l o se ly resembles o ne of the em

hl e m s u sed on a H i n d o st a n ee pa c k of c a rds and ,

wh i c h is c a lled a c ro w n by Mr . C h a tt o . T his

m a y, h o wever be a purely , ac c ide n t a l resemblan c e .

A y o ung c h ild is pla c ed i n the lap of t his Q u een ,

 P i ct u r e Boot s
’
80 Tne D evi l s
-
.

and fruit . T he King which belongs to th is se t

is accompanied by a f emale figure and they are ,

placed on a yellow backgr o und but they bear no ,

emblem by which they might be distinguished .

The third card has a ve ry richly ornamented

golden background and shows two figures
, , o n e of

them carrying wh at appears to be a drum . All

these cards have beauti f ully ornamented corners ,

and are painted like a miniature .

I T AL Y .

T HE first European document kn own that men

tions cards is the m anu script already ref erre d to ,

writte n by Nic o las de C o ve l l e z z o , about the end

Of the thirteenth centu ry is preserved am ong ,

the archives of Viterbo and contain s the earliest

,

written a c count yet disco v ered of cards , n ot only

among the Ita lians but also i n E urope , if we ex
cept the m uch disputed passage in the W ardrobe
R olls of Edwa rd the First King , of E ngland which ,

will hereaf t er be mentioned . T his document re

fers t o cards by the n ame of Ca r te , as well as by

that of N a to i
'

“
M r S inger says that
. the first game playe d in
 Ca r ds o
f D gfler en t C ou n t r i es . 81

I taly was without question T rappola . T his h ad

been i ntroduced f rom Arabia and is m e n tioned
,

by m any early Italian auth o rs , o n e of whom writ

ing in c alls c ards N a to i and speaks
'

1 39 3 , co n

t e m p t u o u sl y o f them as a c hildish game . A n o ther

writer , T en a n z a , declares that i n 1 44 1 the Venetian
Mai tre cartiers who
-
, fo rmed a large g u ild rem o n ,

st ra t e d with the Senate of that city on the inj ury

d o ne to thei r trade by the imp o rtati o n of large
q u anti t ies of pl a ying c ards with printed
-
as w e ll as
painted figures within their gates whi c h had been ,

manu fa c tured elsewhere ; and this remonstrance

S hows th a t the card makers -
of the day were a l
rea dy n u mero us and seems ,
to poi nt to the f act
that the use of cards was well established and ,

that c o nsiderable n umbers were called fo r and

”
man u fa ct u red .

L o renzo de Medici menti o ns th e games of

’
La

Il Fr u sso
”
Bassetta and in s o m e of his C anzoni
“
,

printed be fo re 1 49 2 ; and there are Italian writers

wh o p o int to him as the i nventor of some games
of cards .

I n I taly the suits were called Coppe ( C ups ) , Sp a di

( S w ords ) D en
, a r i ( Money ) B a st on i
( Maces) ,
. T hese

contin ued to be the commonly use d marks on the

6
 P i ct u r e Book s
’
82 Tb e D evi l s -
.

I talian card s f rom the sixteenth cen tury to a m uch

later period ; and the same suits and pips have
been used in Spain f rom the tim e of their first hi s

tory to the present day . A n I talian writer claims

that a native of Bol o gn a invented T arots or T aroc
c hin o befo re the year 1 4 19 , and says that “
th ere is
preserv ed in the Fibbia family which was , o n e of

the m ost illustri o us and an c ient of that city a por ,

trait of Francis Fibbia , P rince of P isa , who sought

re fuge at Bo l ogna about th e c o mmencement of the
fi fteenth century in wh ich he is represented hold
,

ing i n his right h and a parcel of cards while others

,

appear lying at his f eet . Am ong the latter are

seen the Q ueen of Ba t on s and the Q ueen of De

na ri ; the o ne bearing the arms of the Bentivoglio

f amily ,
and the other the arms of the Fibbia . An
inscripti o n at the bottom of the pi c ture states that
Fran c is Fibbia , who died in 141 9, had Obtained as
the inventor of T a ro c c hin o , f ro mthe Ref or m er s
of the city the privilege
,
of placing his o w n arms
on the Q u een o f Ba ton s and th at of his wi fe who , ,

was o n e o f the Bentivoglio f amily o n the Q uee n of ,

D en a r iWriters disagree as to whether Fibbia

.

invented the emblems o f the cards or joined two

packs of cards whi c h already had their appropriate
 Ca r ds f D ifi er en t
o Cou n t r i es . 83

emblems i nto o n e o r whether he invented a n ew ,

game to be playe d with the already well known

T a rocchi no card s .

Noti c e shoul d be taken of the f act that printed

as well as painted cards are mentioned in the peti
tion of the c a rd make rs -
of V enice , as it was f rom
this date th a t each village i n I taly manu f actu red
its ow n c ards . A fter the invention of wood e n-

graving Ge rmany and H olland exp o rted cards in

,

large quantities and this may have c alled, for th e

protective de c ree . T here was als o a diff erence ,

which was mentioned i n the d o c ume n ts of the

period bet w een the pri m itive N a i oi and cards
'

proper . As these d o cuments do not define the

di ffere nce between the packs we can form , no idea
of wh at it was .

GE R MA NY .

IN a German bo o k printed at Augsburg in

”
1 4 72, called “
Gulden Spiel , or “
The G o lden
Game ,
written by a D omini c an friar of the name
of I ngold it is stated that cards had been known
,

i n Germany since 1 300 . A s this is by no means

contemp o raneous testimony it is probable that ,
 P i ct u r e Book s
’
84 Tfie D evi l s -
.

the German v anity which C laims the honor of

inventing the art of printing wishes with no ,

'

m ore reas o n on its side , to appropriate to itself

the inve ntion of playing c a rds which i n plai n
-
,

words is layi ng claim to the invention of wood

engraving as m any , of the early German pac ks
are engraved and n ot ste ncilled or p a inted . T his

rather suspicious assertion may there fo re well be

ignored and we may only credit the
, one made by
the Italian author of V iterbo which is apparently
,

more authentic . U n f ortunately , the latter gives

no d etails about the kind of cards which he men
tions . H e only states that cards m ade their ap

p ea ra n ce in 1 379 i n Europe and came from Arabi a

,

under their o riginal na m e .

’ ”
I n the “
L ivre d O r of Ulm whi c h is a manu
,

s c ript preserved in that city there is an ordinance

, ,

dated 1 39 7 , f orbidding all card playing -

.

T hese are the only authentic witnesses that can

be bro ught f o rward by which the appro ximate time
of the intro duction of playing cards into Europe-

m ay be fixed .

A German auth or by the n ame of He n i k en

claims for his country the birthplace of card s and
,

brings f orward many ingenious but hardly sa t i sfac

 Ca r ds f
o D ifnr en t Co u n t r i es . 85

tory deductions in supp o rt of his pretensi o ns .

He
says th at B r i ef e , whi c h is the name that c ards bear
in his c o u ntry means ,
“
letters ,
and that the com

mon people do not sa

y,
“
Give me a p a c k of

cards , but “
Give m e a p
S i el or i ef -
”

( a pac k of
e

letters) and they do not

, sa y,
“
I want a ca r d b u t ,
”

B r i ef
“
I wan t a ( letter ) We sh o uld at least “
.

”
have preserved the name ca r te he sa ys i f they , ,
“

h ad come to us f rom Fran c e ; for th e c o mmon

people always prese rve the n ames of all games
that c o me to them f rom other c o untries .

U n fo rt u nately fo r this argu m ent it h as bee n ,

discovered that cards were c alled K a r ten i n Ger

many bef o re they were called B r i ef e . I t may be
claimed that cards were c a rried into Germany by
the C rusaders , who had learned their use during
the wars with the S aracens . T hey might a l so

h ave made an ingenious use Of the c ards during

the ir l o ng absen c es in the East and diverted ,

them f rom their origi nal purpose s wri t ing letters ,

to mothers wives or sweethearts

, ,
on them , or

C hosen them to send to the young folk at h o me

to se rve fo r their amuseme nt as the pi c tures ,
of

the Kings K nights etc

, ,
.
, rude though they pro b
ably were would hav e u ndoubtedly pr o ve d both
,
 P i ct u r e Boat s
’
86 Tne D evi l s - .

n o vel and entertaining ; and f rom thi s fact the

name of Br i ef e may have been given the N a i oi
’

to

of the O rient . T he Eastern o rI gI n of the cards

is plai n ly p o i nted to as there are n o Q ueens in
,

ancient pa c ks of German cards .

In m any parts of Germany th e court and pip

c ards whi c h are usually used resemble most closely
those whi c h are represented in t he packs of the
early p a rt of the fi fteenth century . T he cards
w hi c h a re pres e nt time ( 1 8 9 0 ) man uf ac tured
at t he

at Frankfo r t in Germ a ny are c o pies o f the French

packs of the fi ftee nth c entury with th e , m o difi ca

tions whi c h have crept in d uring the l a pse of over

three hu n dred years ; and they displ a y the modern
H earts , D i a m o nds , C lubs , and Spades and these ,

cards are generally used i n the German Empire .

Bu t the s a me f acto ry turns o ut card s whi c h are

suited to the m o re c o nservative porti o ns of the
c o untry where the ancient
, S ck el l en ( Bells ) H er t,

z en( He a rts) Gr ii n ( G ree n ) and

, , E i cnel n ( Ac o rns )
are still pre ferred .

I n the m odern German cards ea c h Ace bears

the attributes Of the wine cellar or the -
bi erg a r t en .

I n the an c ient cards the Ace was always drape d

with a flag . Th e m o dern [f ea r ts are surro u nded
 P i ct u r e—
Book s
’
88 Tue D evi l s .

their u nappreciative eyes . Th e nam e of this in

ge n i o us inventor w as T homas Murer a Fran c is

,

can f riar ,
w ho in 1 50 7 arranged a game in which
vari o us bran c hes of education were taugh t . E aCh
card was covered with so many symb o ls th at M .

la C ro ix declares that “
their des c ription alone re

sembles the most gloomy rebus ; but the German

u niversities u ndau nted by di fficulties e njoyed the
, ,

study of logic and other sciences u nder the guise

of am usement and Mu r er s game was imitated and
,
’

contin ues to be so to the present time .

S PA I N .

T HE Span iard s b ase their claim of havi ng been

the first to use , if they were not the i nventors of ,

playing cards to the f act th at N a i oi , the name

'

by wh i c h cards were known am ong the Italians

about the year 1 39 3 , i s v ery nearly similar to the
n ame by which they are known in Spain to day -
.

As it was about that tim e that Italy was in v aded by

the Spaniards they declare th at they
, , as the con
q u ero rs, imp o sed cards upon that coun try and
taught their use u nder the name they bore in
,

their own homes .

 Ca r d s f
o De
fe r en t Cou n t r i es . 89

Spanish word N a ipes as we h ave already

T he ,

menti o ned seems to be derived f ro m o n e whi c h

,

“
mean s flat o r eve n ; but an ancient Spanish
dicti o nary states that it comes f ro m the initial let
ters o f the nam e o f the Span ish invento r of cards ,

N P . Nicolas P epi n . T his etym o logy seems fa n

c i fu l and as unsatisf a c tory as the cl a im t o the i n
v e n t i o n O f the cards ; but the Span i a rds c an p o int

to a statute made by J o h n the First Ki ng , of

C astile , in 1 38 7 , whi c h pro hibits “

games of di c e ,

N a yp es,
’
of and of C hess ; and this pr o ve s beyo nd
dispute that at that date they were at least w ell

kn own in that pla c e .

A Flemi sh traveller named E c k e l oo , wh o lived

about 1 5 40 , des c ribes the Spaniards of his time as

“
most p a ssi o nately fo nd of gambling , and says
that he “
travelled many leagues in Spain wi t h o ut
being able to procure the necessaries of lif e , n ot

even bread or wine but th a t in every miserable

,

”
village c ards were to be bought . T ravellers of

the present day des c ribe the tradespeople ,

fi sh e r

men and beggars

,
of every wretch ed town playing
e v en at the street corners and using bl o c ks -
,
of stone
or the steps of the churches on which to throw
their cards .
 P i ct u r e Boot s
’

90 Tfie D evi l s - .

I t was th e Spaniards with o u t d o u bt who carried

c ards i nt o M exi c o when they c o nquered that c o un
,

try in 1 519 ; a nd hist o ry menti o ns th at M o ntezuma

t o o k great pleasu re in watching the Spanish so l

diers at their games .

M r Singer says that th e Spanish pac k consists

.
,

like the German , of o nly fo rty -

eight cards as they ,

contain no ten s . T heir f o u r suits a re n amed

E s p ( Spades )
a da s , Co p ( M o ney )
as ( C u ps ) , O r os ,

and Ba stos ( Ma c es ) O r os me a n s litera lly go lden

.

money ; and th is suit is a lso c alled D i n er os —that ,

”
i s, “
m o n ey in general . L ike the Italian and Ger
m an pac ks they have , no O u e en , her p l ace being
taken by the usual Knight , or M o unted horseman .

Th e c o u rt c a rds are called [l Rey ( Ki n g) Ca oa l l o

,

( Knigh t ) a n d S ota ( K n ave)

, T here are s o me .

pac ks i n which a Q u een is permitted the suits ,

then having f o u r c o urt c a rds instead Of three .

FR A N CE .

A MONG the archives prese rved in the Chambre

des C o mptes in P aris there was at one time an

ac c o unt dated , 1 39 2 , whi c h said ,

“
P aid t o J acque
mi n G ri n go n n e u r P ainter, fo r , th ree packs of cards
 ‘

Ca r ds f
o D ifier en t Cou n t r i es .
9 1

of gold and di ff erent colours ornamented with , d if

f e re n t devi c es fo r the King [C harles the S ixth ' ,

fo r his am usement 5 0 s o ls parisis , .

”

T he
game whi c h was invented merely as an
,

amusement fo r the deranged King spre a d with ,

su c h rapidity am o ng the pe ople that the P r e vOt

de P aris , in an
rdinan c e dated J a n 2 2 1 39 7
o .
, ,

w as o bliged to fo rbid working pe o ple f ro m pl a y

“

ing ten nis b a ll ca r ds or n inepins excepti n g only

, , ,

’
on h o lid a ys Especial notice S h o u ld be taken of
.

t h e f act that in a celebrated and o ft qu o t ed o rdi -

n ance made only t w enty eight years previ o u sly by -

C harles the Fi ft h in whi c h all games

, of hazard
were e n umerated n o allusi o n whatever was made
,

to ca r ds, while in the fi fteenth century they are

always care fully menti o ned when games of ch a n ce
are en umerated . By this we can pl a ce a p p ro xi

mately th e date of their in v ention or intro d ucti o n

into Fra nce .

A lthough packs of T arots have survived since

the fi f teenth century and one in partic u l a r will be ,

described there are n o existing specimens

,
of the
original T arots ar cchi T a r o cc hi n i ) ; but there is
( T o ,

a pack whi c h was engraved by a burin ( or graving

tool ) that probably was execute d about the year
,
 P i ct u r e Boat s
’

92 Tue D evi l s -
.

1 4 60 , which is known to be an exact copy of the

first T ar o ts .

R afa el Ma ffi e wh o live d at the end ,

of the fif
”
t ee n t h c entury left in h is ,
“
C ommentaries a d e sc r i p
ti o n of T aro ts, which were then said he , ,
“
a new
”
invention ; but he probably was S peaking rela
t i v e ly o f the origin of cards . From his desc r ip

ti o n and the d o cuments of others it is c l ea r that

the pack of T aro ts was comp o sed of fo u r or five
suits eac h
, one of the ten cards being n umbered
in sequen c e , a nd di splaying as their symb ols the
D enari , the Bastoni , the C o ppe , and the Spade ;
and these s u its were headed by the c o urt cards
of King Knight and Knave to whi c h
, , , was some
times added a Q ueen . Besides these cards which ,

were en su i t e, there were o thers wh i c h bore f anci f ul

figures and whi c h were n a med A to uts
,
. T he

T a rot s have bee n so fully described i n another

place th a t it is not necessary to repeat the de
s c ripti o n here .

A very slight knowledge of the hist o ry of play

ing cards reveals the fact that
-
T arots were kn o wn
i n Fran c e long befo re the inventi o n of the game
of P iquet , whi c h is undoubtedly of French o rigin ;
and besides this the cards which are said , to have
 P i ct u r e Boot s
’

94 T/i e D evi l s -
.

T he Q uee n Of his suit is dressed i n skins like her

c o ns o rt and i n, o ne hand she carries a tor c h . It
would seem n at u ral that the K n ave of H earts
sh o uld be dressed to correspond with the royal
pers o n a ges bel o n ging to hi s suit ; but instead it
is t he K n ave of C lubs wh o is represented as
c overed wi t h h a ir or dressed i n skins and he ,

c arries a knotty sti c k o ver o ne sh o u lder . A

part of an o ther card has been f ound am o ng th o se
’
that t he book binder s kn i fe h as separ a ted
-
f ro m

t he pro pe r b o dy ( fo r these cards like so many , of

their kind o nce f o r m ed part o f the binding

, Of

a book) ; and this one sho w s the legs o nly of a

fo u rth hairy person . T he upper part has u n fo r t u

n a tel
y never been f ound .

Wi th the exception of these savages all the ,

o ther figures of the pack are dressed af ter the

fa shi o n of th e c o urt of C harles the S eventh of

France . T he costume of the Q ueen of D iam o nds

resembles th a t of M a rie d A njo u , h i s

’
consort . T he

fig u res of th e Kings with the exception

, of the
hairy o n e, are dressed pre c isely like the pictures
of C harles the S eventh or the lords of his court .

T hey wear a velvet hat s u rmounted by a crown

f ormed of fle u rs -
de lis with a coat Opened i n f ront
-
,
 Ca r ds o f D if er en t Cou n t r i es .
95

an d b o rdered with ermine . T he do u blet is tight

fitting and the boots extremely high
, . T he dresses
of th e K naves are copies of t hose w o rn by the
’
pages and the sergent d armes -
of the period .

O ne of them wears a plumed cap and a long coat

with flowing sleeves . T he othe r Kn a ve is in
court dress and is the complete oppo site
, of his
f ello w , as he wears a closely fitti ng d o ublet . The
latter c arries a banner on which is displayed the
name of the manu fa ct u rer , F . C lerc . I t seems
therefo re saf e to con c l u de that these cards are of

French o rigin . A nd now occurs an interesting

question which is h ow
, , it is possible to explain the
prese nce of the savage King Queen , , and Knave
among the o ther court card s which are all dressed
in the h eight of the f ash i on of the period of

C harles the S e v enth ; bu t if the hist o ry of the

preceding reign is re ferred to th e pro b a ble solu ,

tion of this e nigm a will be f ou nd .

O n the 2 9 t h o f February 1 39 2 a grand , ,

fete

was held in the palace of Queen Bl an c h e , given

i n honour of the marriage of the Chevalier Verman
dois to o n e of her Majesty s mai d s of hono u r Th e ’
.

King C harles the S ixth who h ad been fo r some

, ,

time i n a melancholy state of mi nd whi c h some

 Tti e D evi l P i ct u r e Book s
’

96
-
s .

times amounted to madness , was fo r the time be

ing enjoying a lucid interval an d , w as induced to

enter into a f rolic whi c h was propose d by o n e of

his favourite cou rtiers by the name of Hugo n i n

de J a n z a y I t was arranged that in this m asquer
.

ade the King and five o f his lords shoul d take

”
part .
“
I t was , says J uvenal des U rsi ns, “
a mo

m er i e of savage men heavily chained and dressed

,

i n j u stes o u corps made O f lin en which had

been greased and covered with hairs an d which ,

w as made to fit close to th e bod y . Froissart who ,

was an eyewitness of this fete , says that the six

a c tors i n the dance rushed into the ball room h o wl -

”
i ng and shaking their clattering chains . As no
o ne was able to rec o gnize the hairy monsters , so

’
w ell were they disguised the , D u c d O rl ea n s , the
King s brother seized a lighte d torch f rom the
’

hands of an attendant and pressed it

, so closely
agai n st one of these strange people that the light
set fire to the linen c oat wh ich blaze d , Up i m m e di
at e ly . By great good f ortune the K ing had be
c o me separated f rom his c o mpan io n s all , of whom
wi t h o nly on e excepti o n were roasted alive . T his

lu c ky C hevalier rushed f ro m the room and flung ,

himsel f head first int o a va t f ull of wate r and thus

 P i ct u r e-Books
’

98 Tne D evi l s .

the wi fe of C harles th e S ixth had agree d to this

,

fatal m asquerad e an d had encourage d it by her

,

presence an d that this f rolic came v ery near

, r eli ev

ing her o f her insane consort H er accompli c e i n .

this scheme wa s the D uc d O rl ea ns her brother ’

i h la w ,
-
who m ay have i ntentionally se t fire to
the inflammable clothes of these savages among ,

wh o m w as the K ing . Th e gossip Of the day

c ertai n ly accused these t wo persons with having
designed th e masquerade with the hope of rid
ding themselves of the King whose li fe inter ,

f e re d greatl y wi t h their in famous projects .

H aving d escribed what is perhaps the oldest

pa ck of cards wh ich h ave been preserved atten ,

ti o n must be drawn to another or rather a

fra gmen t of a pack — which is v ery little , if any ,

yo unger th an the se t already studied . T hese

c ards can be traced back to the sam e peri o d as

the first an d are identified by the cost umes
, of

the c o urt . T hey bear great similarities to the

m o dern cards , and are s u pposed to have been
the A d ams and Eves of the card world . T hese

are absolutely the first specimens of the French

s u it cards ; the marks of the pips , C lubs , H earts ,

Spades ,
an d D iamon d s are here d isplayed f or
 Ca r d s f
o D ifwr en t Cou n t r i es .
99

the first time ; and if not the pa c k rearranged by

the French c o u rtier they m ust have bee n man u ,

fa c t u r e d at the sam e time . In these the Kings ,

Q ueens an d K n aves bear attributes as well as

,

s ymbols T he fi rst named carry spears and the

.
-
,

Q ueens flowers and everything in the pi c tures

,

reflects the f ashions o f t h e period ; and i n them

can be disc o vered n o vi o lati o n o f the laws Of

herald ry o r the c ustoms O f c h ival ry .

T ra di t i o n points to this pa c k as that first used

in P iq u et . I t de t hro n ed t he I t ali a n T a ro ts and
-

the c ards of C h a rles the S ix t h , a nd w as the an

c es t o r o f the present c ards . It is b e lieved that

they were the i nven tion of E t ienne Vign o les ,

or La H ire , o ne of the bravest an d m o st ac tive

warri o rs of the day . M . la C r o ix de c lares
that this tradition S h o u ld receive respect fu l at

tenti o n be c a u se even a c u rsory examin ation

, of

the game o f P iquet sh o ws that it could only

have been th e w o rk of an a c c o mplished knigh t ,

or have at least originated in a mind inti

m ately acquainted with ch ivalro us manners a nd

customs . Bu t this charming Fren c h author points

to an o ther c o urtier a contemporary and ,
f riend

of V ignoles , wh o might h ave m ade the ingenious

 ’
1 00 Tne D evi l s P i ct u r e Book s
-
.

disco very or invention which resulted in the over

thr o w of the ancient T arots and this was
E tienne C hevalier , secretary and treasurer to the
King and ,
f amous f o r h is tale nt fo r designing ,

w ho was o ne of the cleve rest draughtsme n of his

day and who was perf ectly capable
, of r e a r ra n
g
ing the pack introducing a Queen in place of
,

the Vizi r o r Knight and adopting symb o li c c o lours

,

and disti n guishing devices t o mark the suits .

T h e o rigin a l c ards m ay perhaps have been im

ported into France and i ntroduced at court by
o ne J ac q u es C oeur , wh ose c o mmerc i a l relations
with the E ast were so extensive that he was even
acc used of supplying the Sar a c ens with arms . In
I ndia the cards represented the game of the Vizir
and of War but under the hands
,
of the royal
secretary it became the game of t he Knight and
of C hivalry . H e placed on the c ards t he u ni c o rn
whi c h is of ten f o u nd in o ld pac ks ; nor did he
fo rget t o d o h o nour to J a cques C oeur in su b s t i

t u ting l es cw u r s f o r l es coup es. H e c h a nged the

den i er s ( money ) ( arrow heads)
to diam o nds or -
,

and spears to spades H e m ay h ave adapted .

his designs f rom those on the German cards as ,

they bear hearts like the French packs ; and a

 Tue D evi l P i ct u r e Boot s
’
102 s -
.

ing n ations where the pack , is divi d ed and lai d

on a flat surfa c e and the edges , of the cards are
li fted and all o wed to pass quickly one over the
other in this way distributing
, or shu ffling the m
v e ry rapidly . T he Fren c h cards are di vided but ,

held up and the S i d es

, of the two parts presse d
together , whi c h shu ffles them e ff ectually ,
but
which it is impossible to d o i f the card s are not

cu rved .

E N G LA N D .

S O ME of the most interesting c o llections of old

playi n g cards -
ca n be seen i n the Bo dleian L ibrary

at O x fo rd the S o uth Kensington Museum and the

, ,

Bri t ish M useu m i n L ond o n . T he latter collection

has a historian of its own ; and the v ariety num ,

ber , a nd bea u ty of the packs in this place are

min u tely recorded and , fo rm an i nteresting study
by themselves . By their aid it is possible to note
the va rious c h anges and m odificati o ns whi c h ha ve
crept in among the costumes of th e cour t and the ,

pips of the s u it cards . The early packs seem to

h ave been imp o rted f rom Spain as they bear the ,

old symbols o f coi n , m a ces, sw or ds ,

and cu ps O ther
.
I 04 Tb e D evi l
’
s P i ct u r e Boot s
-
.

the d ay it was natural that the obsolete costumes

,

S h oul d d isappear with them an d that when the ,

royalties of card land returne d to their thrones

-
,

the card maker sh ould adopt the costumes then in

-

f ashion i n whi c h to c loth e the royal family . There

hav in g been no such disaster in Englan d the K ings ,

of the cards have peacef ully ruled fo r several hun

d re d years clad in the garments
, of their ancestors ,

which h av e only become quainte r an d more p ec u

liar with the lapse of years , so th at n ow they are
of te n merely lines and dots an d are hard ly to be ,

recognize d as ermine tri m med garments which were

-

originally cov ered with correct h eral d ic d evices .

T he first intro d uction of card s into E nglan d

( for it h as ne ver been claimed that they were in

vente d there ) is a matter o f dispute ; but it is prob

able th at they were kn own i n that country soon
af ter th e S econ d C rusa d e , at the latter en d of the
thirteenth century . A passage .
has been f oun d in
the W ard robe R olls of Edward the First ( 1 2 78 )
which is pointed to by some writers who wish to
prov e that cards were ad o pted in E ngland before
they were known i n other cou ntries ; an d they
clai m that this is the earliest mention of a game
of cards in any authe nticate d register . I n thi s
 ’
106 Tne D evi l s P i ct u r e Boot s
-
.

seem s to have become attached to the French

p i q u e af ter the cards of the latter nation became
d o miciled i n the Bri tish I sles .

M r S inger quoting f rom an o t her author says

.
, ,

“
that there is little d o ubt but that the cards used
d u ring the reign of P hilip and M ary and pro bably
th e m o re early part of Elizabeth s were Spanish ’

th o ugh they were afterwards C hanged f or the

Fren c h being
, of a more simple figure and more
”
easily imported . T he wars between England and
France during which the army
, of the fo rmer

nati o n were i n their sister coun try may h ave led ,

to the ad o pti o n of the French c ard ; but it is

strange t h a t the c ostumes on the E n glish cards
sh o uld date f ro m an earlier peri o d th a n the reig n
of M ary or Elizabe t h .

Q ueen Eliz a beth as well as her sister Mary ,

says Mr . C hatt o , “
was a card player and lost her
-
,

temper o ver the game i n which she did not ,

re

semble Q ueen A nne o f A ustria o f wh o m o n e o f ,

her ladies i n waiting Madame de M o tteville says

- -
, ,

She played like a queen without passi o n , of greed

” ’
or gain . D uring Elizabeth s reign in , 1 58 2 , the
Master of the R evels was c o mmanded to S how
“

’
on S t Stephe n s day at night bef ore her Majesty
.
 Ca r ds of D ifnr en t Cou n t r i es . 107

at W yn deso re a C o m o di e or Morral devised on a

”
game of the cardes , to be perf orme d by the chil
of
’
d ren h er M aj esty s C hapel . I n the comedy
”
Alexan d er and C ampaspe , whi c h was S hown by
the same children at Windsor be fore the Q ueen ,

was the f ollo w ing pretty little song quoted by ,

Mr . C hatto

Cu pi d a nd m y Ca m p p pl y d
as e a e

At car s d fo r ki sse s . C pi d p i d
u a .

He ke hi q iv b w d
st a s s w u er , o , an a rr o s,

H i m th
s dv
o d t m f p
er s
’
w o es, a n ea o s arr o s

L e th e m t
os s th d w h t h ws oo en o n e ro

Th c e l f hi lip t h
ora o s , e ro s e

G wi g h k (b t k w how)
’
ro n on s c ee u non e no s

W i th t h e t h h y t l
es hi b w e C r s a on s ro

A d th
n t h d i m pl
en f hi hi e e o s c n

A ll t h di d m y C m p p w i
es e a as e n.

At l t h as t h b th hi y
e se er o s e es .

Sh w e d C pi d bli d d t h i e
o n, an u n o r s .

Oh L , h h d
o ve , t hi t t h e '
as s e one s o e

W h t h ll l 'b ecom e f m '

a s a , a as o e

I t is p robable th a t P rimero was one of the

”
earliest games of cards played i n England says ,

M r S inger ; and it c ontin ued

.
“
to be the most fash
i o n a bl e one th ro ugh o ut the reigns of H en ry the '

E ighth E d ward the S ixth Mary Elizabeth and

, , , ,

J ames .
”
Sha k sp ea r e makes Fa lstaff sa y,

I ne ve p
r ro s p e re d i s n ce If o rsw ore m y elfs at i
P r mero ;
 P i ct u r e Boot s
’
108 The D evi l s -
.

showing that it was a well known game at that

perio d .
“
A n alteration or improvement of this
”
game became , says the sa m e author ,
“
known as
El H o mbre ( The m an ) or O mbre whi c h i s the , ,

”
national game o f S pain I t was played generally .

by th ree persons at small three cornered tables ; ,

-

and these little card tables are -

f requently found

am o ng c o llecti o ns of o l d f urniture .

T hat O mbre or its s u ccess o r Q uadrille was a

, , ,

fashionable game at no very an c ient period is ,

proved by the i nimita ble descripti o n given in C ran

fo rd of the card parties held in that mildewed little

-

place . I t says : “
T he dra w i ng r oo ms contained
-

small tables , on which were di splayed a k alei do

—
scope conversation cards puzzle c ards ( tied toge ther
, ,

to an i n termin able length with faded pink satin

ribbon ) . T he card table was an animated scene
-

to watch — f o ur ,
o ld
’
ladies heads with niddle nod ,
-

d li ng caps all nearly meeting over the m i ddl e of

th e table i n their eagerness to whisper quick

en o ugh and l o u d enough ,
‘
Basto , madam you ,

’
have Spadille I believe ,
.

A game mu c h in favour among the c omm o n f o lks

at the latter end of the sixteenth cent u ry was says ,

S inger ,
“
an o ld one calle d T rump , whi c h was prob
 Ca r ds
'

f
o D ifler en t Cou n t r i es . 109

ably the T ri um f o of the Spaniards and Italians .

In that amusing perfo rman c e “

Gammer G u rt o n
’
s

Needle , first acted i n 1 56 1 , D ame C hat says to

D iccon ,

We sa t a t t r u mp m a n by t h e fi re ;

a nd af terward to her maid She says ,

Th er e a r e fi ve t r u mp s b ides es t he Queen .

T rump b o re som e resemblance t o Whist or R uff

( an o ther name f o r t hat game ) ; and it is n o tice a ble
th a t these t w o w o rds sh o uld still be used in playi ng
Whist and that b o th of them signi fy the same
,

thing We are told by Mr S inger tha t Whist and

. .

H o n o urs ( a lias Slam ) were games c o mm o n ly kn o wn

in all parts of England , and th a t “
every c hild of

eight years old has competent k n o w ledge in t hat

”
re c reation .

I n a book published i n c a lled T he Co m

“
1 78 7 ,

p let e Gamester ,
by R ichard S eym o u r Esq , .
, we
find the fo llowing sentence : Whist vulga rly
,

c al led Wai sle is said to be a very ancient game

,

among us and the f ou ndati o n o f all English

,

games upon th e cards . I t was pro bably invented

ab o u t th e period of C harles the Second . I ts ori
gi nal n a m e was W hist , or the Silent game . I t is
 P i ct u r e Boot s
’
1 10 l e D evi l s -
.

believed that it was n ot played upon p ri nciples

u ntil about 1 7 36 ; be f ore that time it was chiefly
’
confined to servants halls . T he rules laid d o wn
by the gentleme n w ho f requented the C ro wn

C o ff ee H o use in Bed ford R ow were :

‘
TO play
’
fro m a straight s u it ; to study y o ur partner s hand
as much as your o wn ; never to f o rce y o ur part
’
ner unnecessarily and to attend to the score
, . At
o ne time it was usual to deal f o ur cards t o gether .

H orac e Walpole writing i n , 1 7 6 7 f ro m P aris , says

“
The Fren c h have ad o pted the two dullest things
the English have , W hist and R ichardson s ’

”
novels .

Th e W hist pl a ye r s of the last century would be as

-

t o n i sh e d t o s ee the developments a h undred years

have made in this game . At the present time the
b o oks which have been writte n o n it alone would
fill a small b o ok case — the o n e by C avendish w h o
-
, ,
”

is the acknowledged au thority on th e game having ,

re a c hed its se venteenth edition ; and it has be c o me

so c o mplicated that i ts rules require pro fo und study ,

and so f a shionable that teachers of its mysteries have

S prung up i n all dire c tions . Several ladies have
adopted the pro fessi o n of W hist teachers and have
-
,

fo und i t a most profitable on e . O ne person has

I 12 Til e D evi l
’
s P i ct u r e Books -
.

A ME RICA .

T HE history of P laying -
cards would be i nc om

p le t e w ithout some ref ere n ce to their i n t ro d u c

ti o n into America and a sligh t sketch of the
,

games most i n favour i n that country H istory .

tells us that C olumbus carried cards with him in

his ship on the v oyage of discovery i n 1 49 2, and
that his sailors empl o yed ev ery spare momen t
pl aying with them until their superstitious, fan
'

cies persuaded them that this im pious practice

was t he cause of the long v oyage and contrary
winds which alarmed them so greatly . D uring

the frenzy caused by this panic they flung over ,

b o ard their J onahs ( the cards ) T heir safe arrival .

at wh at they believ ed to be the P romised L and

caused the m to f orget their fears , an d they soon
regrette d the rash ness with which they had sacri
fi c ed their beloved amusement ; so w ith consider
able ingen ui t y they made f or themselves new
pa c ks f rom the leaves of the copas tree -
. T ra

di t i o n states that the sacrificed card s had been

made of leather . T he i ntro d uc t ion of cards into
A merica their first makers
, , an d the materials
 P i ctu r e Book s
’
1 14 Tue D evi l s -
.

an ordi na ry size d town di d n ot contain

-
, on e card
table or pack of playing cards -
. It was natural ,

however that some am usement sh o uld be c raved

,

by the younger members of society , and that

games which were considered more harmless than
”
the D evil ( as cards were n amed by
s books
’
“

the P uritans ) should have been sought fo r and

discovered Among these were the vari ous kinds
.

o f instructive cards which had bee n invented so

m any years previ o usly by the Franciscan f riar ,

and whi c h had met with S O much f avour i n parts

o f Europe T hese cards taught various branches
.

o f science t o the player and were very n umer ,

o u s ; and pac ks o f them by degrees f orced their

way into diff erent places where the wicked French
cards with their royal dames and kings and
,

th eir scampish kn aves — whose names alone were,

synonymous with wro n gdoing , gambling ,

an d
thieving , and the i n n o c ent looking -
but bad
little pips were strictly f orbidde n
, .

O ne q u aint pack of Educational C ards , which

seems to h a ve bee n made i n Am eri c a and prob
ably in New York has been caref ully preserved
,

fo r nearly one h u ndred years and is m ost , va l u a

ble as giving specimens of the card s used at that

 P i ct u r e Boot s
’
1 16 Tb e D evi l s -
.

n am e being printe d across the surf ace of the

cornere d Ace ) its area inhabitants pro d ucts
, , , ,

commerce customs etc ; all this v aluable but ob

, , .

solete in f orm ati o n being crowde d on th e surf ace

“ ”
of of The
the ten pip cards J ( J ack ) the suit .

shows the principal i slands which surrou nd the

”
contine nt Q ( Q ueen ) t ells the quarter
; the
of the globe to which A f rica bel ongs with v ari ,

”
o us statistics ; and the ( K ing ) th e king K ,

doms or g o vernments i nto which it is div i d ed .

T he same f orm ula is adopted on the other

cards — the Spades being devote d to Asia the
, ,

H earts to E urope an d the , D iamon d s to America .

A mong the statements on the cards we find ,

on the Four of D iam onds : T he D utch first

planted Colonies in New York these usurp , bu t
ers were obliged to own the right of the E ng
lish to the land O n the J ( J ack ) among
.
“
,

other islan d s mentioned , it states that L ong

I slan d is 1 40 m iles by 10 . T he middle i s san d y .

T he place called L l o yd s Neck f rom i t s

’

situation and f erti l ity , is or might be m a d e a

paradise ( and this sentence probably le d to
the purch ase an d preservation o f these precious
card s ) T h e chie f tow n s of America an d their
.
 P i ct u r e Book s
’
1 1 8 Tti e D evi l s - .

n ot among the most re fi n ed and cultivated is ,

P oker . T his game has its ad v ocates and a his ,

t o r iet te of i ts ow n which is to o widely known to

require f urther comment here .

Am ong the terms use d in playing it an d peculiar ,

to it are , bl i n d, which is s upposed to h ave been

derived f r o m bin d st r a dd l e, which means to
“
;

cover both the bl i n d and the a n te . T he latter

word m ay have been derive d f rom the French
en t r er , to enter ; as to a n te i s to enter the game
by paying the stakes require d .

Euchre , C ommerce , P iquet , Bezique , an d W hist

are general f avourites ; and they have superseded
the Old f ashioned games
-
( the father of of Brag
P oker) P ope J oan and others dear t o the hearts o f
, ,

o u r grandmothers .

Amo n g other ingenious means of e v ading the

religious s c ruples that f orbade playing cards some -
,

publisher h it upon the sche m e of introducing to

”
the public what he called “
Yankee Notions .

T hese were cards covered with distinctive symbols

and marks of suits and we re a c companied by a
,

small book of r u les which has been embodied i n an

Ameri c an edition of H oyle fo r playing w ith them ,

an d which containe d the following pre face

 P i ct u r e Boot s
’
1 20 Tue D evi l s - .

D iamonds , Spades and

, C lubs . To an u nprej udice d
mind the substitution of one symbol f or another
would not be su fficient to excuse the u se of the
”
“
Yankee N o tions in places where ordinary play
ing cards were regarded with dis f avour
-
. S ums of

m o ney might be as well staked and lost on Flags

and Eagles as on H earts an d D iamonds , i f the
players were incli ned to gamble on a game ; and
”
the term “
to throw or “
to pass , which in the
rules is employed i n stead Of
“
to deal , migh t
soothe the scruples of some minds although th e ,

action in both cases were the same . T hat these

games might be gambling is proved by the , su g

gestio n ab o ut the c o unters .

Th e publisher of the “
Yankee Notions gives
in his book of rules m any games whi c h could be
.

played with h is cards , o n e of which bears the om i

nous n ame o f Bunkum A nother game called .

“
J oh n Smith is played u nder some droll rules .

Am ong others is one which states that the holder

of M rs Smi th who is always anxi o us to recall her
.
,

”
truant h usband Joh n to her S ide , m ust recite
“
ce rtain verses when she calls f or him , th inking
him perhaps i n doubtf ul company ; and th e posi
tion of J o h n is o ne of dr ea d, thinking he will be
 P i ct u r e Boot s
’
I 22 Til e D evi l s -
.

T hat cards were fashionable in some localities of

the U nited States during the past ce ntury is proved

not only by the invi t ati o n s iss u ed on the backs of

playing—c ards (o f which specimens exist ) and which ,

have been already described but also by th e exist ,

e nce of n umerous beauti f ul Japanese or C hinese

lacquer c o unter boxes wh i c h may be f ound any day

-

care f ully treasured i n many f am ilies .

T hese boxes whi c h were originally imported

,

espe c ially for the person who ordered them are ,

usually of black and gold lacquer , o val in shape

and covered with grace ful arabesques of leaves an d

tendrils whi c h surrou nd the i n i t i a l letter

, of the
owner s n ame whi c h was n ot only painted on the
’

cove r of the large box but was a lso , on each one

”
of the tiny fish boxes contained inside of it
“
.

T hese strangely shaped little recepta c les fitted

compactly into the large b o xes and c o uld be ,
re

m o ved and repla c ed at pleasure . The centre Of

the bo x c o ntained a n umber of small trays espe ,

c i a lly designed fo r th e favourite and at one time

”
f ashi o nable game of P ope J oan . Each tray bore
on its b o ttom a quaint figure painted in lacquer ,

which represented the Ch inese idea of an ordinary

court card ; and this tray according to the rules ,
 Ca r ds f
o D ifi r en t
'
Cou n tr i es . 1 23

of the game , w a s to contain the counters when the

players went th rough the customary for m ula and
paid o ne to the Knave two to the Q ueen three
, ,

to the King ,
fo u r to the Ace and five to ,
“
P ope
”
J o an ,
whi c h was represented by the f D ia n i ne o

m on ds . T hese convenient little trays were almost

a necessity when playing this game ; but substi t utes
were Of ten inge niously contrived by taking f ro m

an extra pack the necessary cards and be n di n g

their S ides up until they would h o ld the co u nters
with o ut spilling them all over the table .

”
T he c o u nters , or
“
fish ( as o ur grandmothers
called them ) which were imp o rted in these f o r e ign
,

b o xes were m a de of s m a ll bits of m o ther of pearl

which were of diff erent sizes . Some of them w ere
ro und s o me oval and some l o ng slender and
, , , ,

S haped s o mewhat like their namesakes the fish .

T hey were usually engraved with quaint devices ,

a circ ular S pace being lef t in the c entre Of the

c o u nter i ntended to contain the i nitial letter of

the owner s name which was designed

’

, so as to
mat c h that placed on the boxes .

O ne set Of counters in particular were imported

by a naval Of ficer fo r his family , and were small
circular disks of pearl on which strange figures
 P i ct u r e Boot s
’
1 24 Tue D evi l s -
.

were painted in bright c o lours . T hese fi gures have

become o bliterated in the course of years . T hey

came f ro m their f oreign h o me in a small ro u n d

ivory box whi c h contained o nly a limited number .

T hey were always used fo r counte rs , but they

may have bee n intended by the man u fact u rer f or

a game by themselves ; and they s o mewhat re

semble th o se des c ribed by M r . C hatto , which he

classed am o ng the cards . U n fo rtu nately nothing
remains of the o riginal pictures and only a ,
fe w

dabs of c o lour n ow stain the tiny pearl disks ,

the outlines of the devices havi n g been entirely

obliterated .

A nother most beauti ful se t of C hinese c o unters

is c o ntained in an ivory box . T hey are curi
o u sl y carved with min ute figures in lo w relie f and,

when first take n f rom their box were i n regular

order and it seemed as
, if their pictured sides
could relate a histo ry . U n f ort u n ately , the o ne

h undred and sixty Odd pieces s oo n be c ame h o pe

lessly mixed ; and the t a le they c o uld have told
was never related and is now l o st , f o rever .

Besides the cards introduced i n t o North Amer

ica by C o lumbus and his sailors or by the emi
grants to v ari o us parts of the coun try strange ,
 Ca r ds
'

f
o D ifler en t Cou n t r i es . 1 25

ga m bling instruments or sticks whic h m ay be

called cards have been f ound among the I n
of
’
dians southeastern Alaska and Q ueen C harlotte s
I slan d s . T hese original and peculiar impleme nts
are m ade by the natives fo r their own use and are
,

of tw o kinds ,
— o ne set being beauti f ully carved
with strange devices of birds an imals men etc
, , , .
;

the other set simply marked by lines of red or

'

black pain t rudely smeared o n their rounded sur

face , but which are q uite distinct enough to dis
t i n gu i sh at a glan c e one f ro m the other . The

same game seems to be pl a yed with either the

carve d or painte d se t , al t h o ugh one seems to be
only n umbered and the , o ther to h ave no numbers
and to rely o n the carvings to represent the v alue
of the stick .

From what sou rce these I n dians derived t h eir

”
cards will pro bably never be kn o wn . T aking

into accoun t the di ff erence between card board -

an d cubes of wood there is m o re than a fancied

,

rese m blance between these rude toys and the

card s of Asia and this may poi nt to the original
,

source . I t is certain that they were n ot derived

f rom the Spaniards or other emigrants who settled
o n the eastern coast of America an d moved toward
 P i ct u r e Boot s
’
1 26 Tli e D evi l s -
.

th e west as the embl e ms have nothing in comm o n

,

with Eur o pean cards whereas the cards used by ,

the Apache I ndi a n s of A rizona show their deriva

tion f rom the Spanish cards at once . T hese In
dian s m ake fo r themselves cards f ro m deerskin ,

on wh ich they paint i n t w o colours — namely red ,

and blue — the O r os D ena r i E sp a da s and Cop a s

, , ,

of th e Span ish emblems . T hese deerskin cards

are practi c ally imperishable , as eve n the very rough
usage which they undoubtedly have cann o t destro y
them ; and they are greatly prized by their o wners ,

w ho can seldom be ind uced to part with them .

T here are se v eral packs of these c a rds in the

National Museu m at Wash ington and , o ne in t he

Muse um at Boston .

A complete set of H aida gambling sticks is -

also to be fo und i n the National Muse u m ; and

casts of the carvings have been care f u lly taken
on plaster whi c h, d isplays the shape of the fig

ures m o re p l ain l y than the curved surfaces of the

sti c ks c an do . T hirty t w o -
of these c ubes com
p o se “
a pac k ,
and these are c o ntained in a
leather po u c h . T he game is usually playe d by
a n u m ber of persons who squat on the ground
,

in a circle around the d ealer who places the ,

 Ca r ds f
o D ifn r en t Cou n t r i es . 1 2
7

sticks in f ro nt of h im under a pile of shavings

or shredded cedar bark an d draws them out with ,

great ceremony and hands them to the players ,

who receive them with grunts cries and othe r , ,

unc o uth noises . E ach stick has its v alue ; and

they are passed with great rapidity fro m one t o
the o ther the players staking considerable am o un t s
,

on the game .

T hese cubes are made of spruce about , si x

i n c hes l o ng and ha lf an inch thi c k ; on the m pat

terns of birds animals fish men and
, , , , o ther de
v ices are c ut . Th e designs ne c essarily adapt
themselves to th e curved surfa c es and on s o me ,

are repeate d so that whe n the stick is held

, up

righ t the same pattern is seen ba c k to bac k .

T his arrangemen t is al most al w ays fo llowed a l ,

th o u gh there are exceptions to the rule . What

the designs mean and what thei r value is no o ne

seems to kno w but it is quite evident that they are

,

T o l em i c devices ; and these gambling sticks -

ar e

pro bably the m o st peculiar contrivances that have

ever been in v ente d to take the place of the pic
t ured cards or the grave n chessmen and though ,

not to be considered as a link between the two ,

certainly cont a in characteristics peculiar to both .

 P i ctu r e Boot s
’
1 28 Tne D evi l s - .

T hey m ay be classed into suits which can be ,

divided as f oll o ws : Fi gu r es, D evi ces A n i ma l s , ,

Fi sk , B i r ds and Rep t i l es o r I n sects

,
.

T he sui t o f Figures has eight sticks . T he first

one is a man crowned and holding i n his right ,

hand a fa n , which seems to be a strange attribute

’
when the climate of Quee n C harl otte s Islands is
c o nsidered . T he carving on the second cube re

s embles that of a m an se a ted and leaning his ,

c hin on his hands , hi s elbows resting on his

knees . T wo semi c ircles over the head m ay r ep re

sent a ha t ; fi f teen notches placed on each S ide

of t his figure may show its value . Number th ree
displ ays a sea t ed figure with what seems to be ,

the s o les of its f eet turned outward ; four circles

c ut beside the figure m ay denote its worth .

T he f ourth cube represents a seated figure in

pr o file with one han d spread
, o ut to S how the
th u m b and f o ur fingers . T his stick has no marks
to den o te its value unless , f o ur notc h es deeply cut
in its bac k m ay t a ke their place . T he fi f th stick
is an interesting one as it seems inten d ed to ,

S h o w b o th the fac e and back of the fig u re . O ver

the head are t wo semicircles resembling those on

n umber tw o . The hands h ang on each side each ,

 Ca r ds o f D ifi zr en t Cou n t r i es . 1 29

o ne having but th ree fingers and a thumb . T he

carvings on number si x contai n dev ices which
resemble the lotus flo we r I n a circle is a huma n -
.

f ace the head surmounted by the semicircul a r c ap

, .

Number se ven shows two grinning f aces wi tho u t

bodies but with arms and lar ge hand s d i splayed
,

with the pal ms

”

o ut . Tw o l a rge c hevrons divide

these devices which are cut ac ross the stick and
, ,

not as the others are up and d own its length

, , .

T he eighth carving rep resents a h and with f our

well shaped fingers an d a th umb
- . C ertain notches
and cuts which surround the hand are unde
cipherable .

Th e eight succeeding cubes contain strange d e

v ices which seem to represent fingers eyes teeth
, , , ,

etc .
, but which are con f used an d meaningless to
the un initiated . N umber seventeen on the con ,

t ra ry, sh o w s a spirited and life like carving -

of a
beaver ; an d the next one a strange looking
-
m on
.

ster with a large m outh and h uge teeth

, . The
nineteenth cube h as on it the hea d of some u n
recognizable beast with a very long snout ; an d
the twentieth , a f erocious -
looking large m outhe d
,
-

animal . I n cubes twenty on e twenty two t wenty -

,
-
,

th ree an d t wenty four the carvings resemble fish

’

,
-
;
9
 P i ctu r e Boot s
’
1 30 Tue D evi l s -
.

twenty t w o in particular shows a C lever

-
, ,
re p re sen

t at io n of a huge fi sh , and also a duck . T wenty

fi ve, twenty s ix twenty seve n

-
,
-
, and t w enty eight -

call to mind birds ; the twenty sixth cube in par -

,

t i c u l a r, sh owi n g most plainly the h ead wings and , ,

claws of what m ay be intended fo r an eagle . T he

stick which is numbered twenty eigh t has on it -

a carving of a bird perche d beside a nest which

contains f our fledgl i ngs .

T he last f our sticks are as well carved and

deeply cut as any of the others in the pack ,

number t wenty nine bearing a spirited c ut

-
of a
beetle ; but the o thers cannot be as easily de
c iphere d . The carvings
the beave r the eagle of , ,

and the beetle represent these creatures i n an

erect or upright attitude instead , of the o ne natu
ral to the animal . Whether this has s o me pe c uliar
significance or not remains to be proved .

”
The gambling sticks -
used by the Alaska
I ndians closely resemble those al ready described ;
”
and they also have two ki nds Of
“
sticks ,
some
of them carv ed an d some painted . T here are
fi f ty four
-
cubes i n the painte d pack ,
some of

them pe rfectly plain or unpainted two more

plain sticks hav e n otched en d s wh i ch probably ,
 Ca r ds o
f D ifnr en t Cou n tr i es . 1 31

increases their value . Fourteen of the sticks h ave

stripes painted on them but these are so
, f aint
and blurred as to be almost u n noticeable . None
of this se t are n otched . T hree sticks are striped
with bla c k bars , o n e, two an d three i n number
, ;

five sticks have red bands . A nother se t of six

sticks have red and black s t ripes n umbering f rom ,

o ne to eigh t . All these sticks are notched at

o ne e nd and besides the bars

, , , have on them
smears of red or black pain t . T he game played
with the painted sticks appears to be the same
as that played with th e carved ones ; and the
f orm er are also kept in a leather pouch which , is
bound or tied with a leather thong .

J A PA N .

IT is to J apan th at we m ust turn when we wish

to find the most dainty and original o f P laying
cards T his interesting nation have devised fo r
.

themselves the symbols that they use which are ,

so un ique that they bear no f eatures in common

with those of any other country , if we except o ne

d evice which may be an accidental one and which ,

w il l hereafter be mentioned ; otherwise the J apanese

 P i ct u r e Book s
’
1 32 Tue D evi l s - .

playing cards di ffer completely f rom those

-
of other
places except that they are painted
,
on pasteboard
and highly glazed or varnished .

T h o se writers who trace in European an d other

cards a resemblance to the classes of society into
which the world is divided an d promulgate the ,

opinion that the f our sui t s commonly see n rep

resent them , namely the , C up or P riest , the

S word or Soldier Money the Merchant and Maces
, ,

the Artisan , woul d find it impossible to di vide

the J apanese cards in this way as they belong , di s
t i n c tl y to a new se t of ideas and seem to have been
,

originated in the Islands where alone they are ,

used and do
, n ot S ho w as those
, of other nations d o ,

some mark or device which betrays to the stu d ent

an i nherited symbol which may be trace d to th e

original O riental card .

J apanese cards are of the same shape as those

used by the French and other European nations ,

but are very much smaller than ordinary cards ,

being a little m ore th an two i nches long by o ne

broad . T hey are made the back of pasteboard , on

of which black paper h as been caref ully pasted

over the edges of the cards so as to leave a
narro w rim to form a f rame on the f ace of the
 Ca r ds f
o D zfi ’
r en t Cou n tr i es . 1 33

card . The symbols are stencilled and the whole ,

card varnished o r enamelled , so that they are

extremely slippery .

Forty nine i n nu mber they are divided into

-
,

t welve suits of four each with , o ne c ard which is

a trifle smaller than the others and which has a ,

plai n white f ace and is used as a J oker “

. On
the other cards are painted flowers or emblems
appro priate to the twelve months of the year ;
each card is disti nct and di ff erent f ro m its f ellows ,

eve n whe n beari n g the same e m blem an d they ,

can be easily distinguished and classified not only

by the design they bear but also by a , C haracter
or letter wh ich m arks nearly e very card and whi c h ,

seems to de n ote the vegetable that represents the

month .

January is marked by pine trees two -

, of the cards
showing them against a lurid sk y . O n the third
the pine stands out on a grayish background ; and
the f ourth has a setting su n flec k ed with light
clouds the pines barely i ndicated i n
,
f ront of it ,

and the larger part of the card being co vered

wit h the figure of a white bodied red eyed stork
-
,
-
.

February displays as her emblem a plum blos -

so m the f our cards dev oted to the month bear

 P i ct u r e Boot s
’
1 34 Tn D evi l s -
.

ing the fl o we r in v arious positions . M arch ha s a

red cherry bl o ssom and April the hanging tendrils
-
,

of the W isteria vine ; and on o ne of the cards be

longing to this month there is a wee yellow bird -

which is flying a c ro ss its surf ace u nder a red cloud .

Fo r May there are four beauti f ul blue irises with ,

long spiky leaves ; o ne card S howing in i ts corner

part of a d o c k and the water f r o m whi c h the flower
,

is li f ting its lovely head . J une is represented by

blood red peonies-
, o n e of the cards having two yel
l ow butterflies hovering ove r the flowers . On
’
J uly s cards star S haped leaves some yello w some
-
, ,

red and some black are scatte red ov er their sur

, ,

f aces . T hese leaves resemble those Of the maple

trees . On o ne of the card s belonging to this
J uly suit a dee r stan d s under the branches of

this tree ; and it is this deer that is the one

device whi c h m ay be found on cards belonging

to other n ation s . S ome packs of C hinese cards
have deer on o ne of their cards and in ancien t
,

Spanish packs animals resembling deer can be

seen alth ough they are usually represented with
,

o ne straight horn something like a unicorn which ,

fabulous animal has bee n retained i n Spanish card s

to this day .
 Ca r ds f
o D if er en t Cou n t r i es . 1 35

August h a s f our pictures of grass covered m oun

-

tains I n three of them there is a cloudy blue sk

.
y,
and the fourt h sh ows the su n l o oking ho t and
s u ltry beaming down
, on the treeless elevation .

T hree birds fly across the sk y o n o ne of these

cards . S eptember bears the Mikado s flower ’

a party coloured yellow and red

-
C h rysanthemum ;

Oc t o ber a H agi with red green leaves and

'

or ,

on o ne c ard is a yello w boar tro t ting along under

the spreading branches of the tree .

November shows o n o n e card willow trees -

S h arply defined against a leaden S k y The wil .

l o ws on the f ell o w cards look wi nd tossed and a -

,

long tailed bird skims across the

- sk y . A third
card is c o v ered with i nky cl o uds and torrents of

rain with strange zigzags S hooting over its

,
su r

f ace looking like f orked lightning . T he f ourth

card of this suit bears the quain t figure of a man

rushing under the willow trees through the storm -

and dropping his sandals i n his haste his head ,

covered by a huge yellow umbrella and surrounded

by streaks of ligh tning wi t h the rain stream ing
,

down on his unprotecte d body .

D ecember carries the I mperial J ap anese plan t ,

 P i ct u r e Boot s
’
1 36 Tne D evi l s - .

K i ri ; and over one of the flowers hovers a beau

ti ful red crested pheasant with sil ver wings
- .

’
T he C h rysanthemum is the Mikado s plant an d ,

the Ki ri the national flower of J apan . The fa

v o u ri t e game at present seems to be like C asino ,

in whic h any card of a se t can take up any other

card but each
, one has a particular val ue in the
final count . A n infinite variety of games m ay be
played with these cards , as there is a shade of

di ff erence in each one and to the accustomed eye

,

they are as easy to sort as the European ones .

T here is a great di ff erence in the style and fi nish

of Japanese cards . S ome of the m are carefully
executed and highly v arnished ; but other packs
are roughly stencille d and S ho w but little glaze .

The “
Joker is not necessarily part of t he pack ,

and does not accompany e ach on e .

 P i ct u r e Boot s
’
1 40 Tue D evi l s -
.

by a re ference to the existing portraits of that

m onarch .

Notwithstanding the f act that the crowns of h

t e

card Kings are which seems to point

at first to a French origin the dress in other ,

respects bears a close resemblance to that of bluff

K ing H arry .

I n French an d G erman packs the Kings gener

ally bear sceptres globes and other insignia
, , of

their exalted rank ; but those of the English cards

are warriors to the core and throwing aside the ,

emblem s which only

, S ho w their rank they arm ,

themselves and stan d ready for the f ray . T heir

Maj esties of Spades , C lubs , and Hearts h o ld up

their trusty double edged swords like th e brave
-

men that they are ; the King of Hearts being in

a most warlike attitude with his uplif ted sword ,

held ready fo r a blow . T he King of Spades

alone carries a battle axe -
; but why he in par
t i c ula r adopted this w eapon in pre ference to any
other h istory does not declare
,
.

Among the French packs the royal f amily are

always distinguished by names whi c h are plainly
written on some part of the card ; an d these names
a y according to the date
v r of the pack an d see m
,
 Tue K i ng . 14 1

i n gly through the caprice of the card maker -

.

French authors hav e traced the origin of these

names to v arious celebrated personages an d find ,

that they were assumed to d o hon our to the reign

ing monarchs of the period their queens
, or mis
tresses o r some f avourite hero o f the hour either
, ,

real o r fictitious ; and the only limit to the vari

ety of these names was the imagination of the
designer .

A gl a nce over any ol d collection of Fre n ch

cards will v e ri f y this asserti o n ; but the f ashion
does n ot seem to have been f ollowed in other
countries e v en i n England wh e re the symbols
, , of

the French were adopted in pre ference to those

use d in Spain Germany and , , o ther places . T heir

Maj esties of C ards were not dubbe d with n ames ,

an d if originally i ntended to represent some par

t i c ul ar
person ( as some of them notably the Kings ,

and Q ueens un d oubtedly were) the names were

, ,

n ot place d o n the cards and we have only t rad ition ,

on which to rest the presumption that they were

inten d e d f or any celebrated character either in
history or fiction .

To return to the French cards those , f or example

which are supposed to have been mad e fo r C harles
 P i ct u r e Boot s
’
1 42 Tne D evi l s - .

th e S eventh bear n o i nscription s but that Of the

maker s name ’

; but i n a n early contemporaneous

pac k the King of D iam o nds is named Cor su oe, the
King of C lubs S a ns S ou ci , and he of Spades A p o l

li n . T his c olle c ti o n of n ames says one writer

, ,

sh ows a triple i n flu e nc e , the Eastern origin of

the cards in the first place as they bear strange

, ,

c o gnomens which are not French ; in the second ,

the impression that the o ld romances of chivalry

had made on the mind of the designer ; and third ,

the reflecti o n in them of contemporane o us e v ents .

M any pers o ns p o int to this pac k as being the

very that was designed by E tien n e Vignoles
o ne ,

o r, as he was usually c alled L a H ire o r C hevalier , , ,

and declare th at they are the Oldest examples tha t

bear the symbols of Hearts , D iamonds , C lubs ,
and
Spades . G o ing back to the n ames b o rne by t he

card Kings we f an c y that we , see that the one as

s u med by his M ajesty of
Spades ( A p o l li n ) was de
rived f ro m that borne by an id o l adored by the S ara
c ens whi c h is menti o ned in an
, pic p o em
e of the
period ; and C o rsub e was a knight of C o r du e ( Cor
suba) , w ho was glorified by the rom ancers of that
day . Th e n ames of th e Q ueens and K naves of this
pack are those of celebrated historical characte rs .
 Tm D evi l P i ct u r e Boot s
’
1 44 s -
.

like hi s , were sti ffly starched ; they ha d hats

bearing long plumes , and their breeches were
puff ed out at the hips in a most extraordi nary
way ; while as ,
if to make the figure look as
slender and as womanly as p o ssible the d o ublet ,

was pinched i n at the waist ; and they had pe

c ul i a r boots which were then the mode
,
.

H enry the Fourth mounted the throne of

France and the card Kings immediately altered

,

their costumes and their name s and reflected the ,

aspect of his court an d the names , of the heroes

of the day were given to the gentlemen of the
card circle .

T he paper so verei gns generally m irrored the

characteristics of the day ; and whe n the succes

sors of H enry the Fourth m o u nted the throne
the change is at o nce shown in the card s eithe r ,

by the names the dresses the weapon s , , , or by all

these . At one ti m e Italian fashions and customs ,

’
imported by Marie de Medici i nfluenced them , ,

and the names became C arel C apet Melun etc ; , , ,

.

and they change with am using ra p i dity af ter

her death .

A m o st interesting an d almost boundless field

of research Opens bef ore t he stu d e nt who wishes
 Ti l e K i ng . 1 45

to trace i n thes e seem i ngly mean ingless varia

tions the prominent events and fash ions of t he

period which are sta m ped

, on the c a rd s and can ,

be easily traced . T his h as induced m any per

sons to make elaborate stu d ies f rom them ; and
on e in particular , Pé re D aniel , declares that he
can detect the f act that D a vi d , on e of the origi
nal names of the King of Spades , is intende d to
represent C harles the S even th of France ; and he
draws an elaborate parallel between the character
Of the real king and the characteristics of the
m imi c one as represented on the cardboard .

O ther auth ors demur at this but it , is at least

worthy of note .

D u ri n g the time Of the French R evolution it

was n ot only the royal f amily who were de
posed and beheaded ; but the same f ate also
followed their M ajesties of S pades , Clubs , D i a

monds an d Hearts
,
.

Th e K n i g w as s lyly fin gered fr om th e d eck ;

the s o vereigns were banished an d their places ,

supplied by picture d representati o ns of sages and

philos o ph ers . T he R eign of R eason d id not last
long ; and the royal fam ily were recalle d i n 1 8 1 3,
10
 P i ctu r e Boot s
’
1 46 Tb e D evi l s -
.

and established m ore firmly than ever on their

ancient thrones , from whence even the republican
ca r t i er s of the present day in France have not
d esired to depose them , to replace their serene
highnesses with presidents senators , , and other
rulers of the revised republic .

S ome attempts hav e been m ade in the U nited

S tates of America to supplant the kings in their

governmen t of the card world by placing the ,

pictures of prominent generals in thei r place ;

and after the triumphant ter m in ation of the war

wi th Mexico i n 1 8 48 a pack was issued on which
Generals S cott , Bragg , W ool and , T wiggs took
the plac e of the s o vereigns of the packs as rulers
of the card suits . Bu t these peculiar cards hand ,

some as they were in th eir details did , not meet

with p o pular f avour, and are only f ound i n some
”
collections while the
,
“
G reat R epublic meekly
bows its head and submits to th e dominion of
,

the Kings o f D iam o nds o f Hearts o f C lubs and , , ,

of Spades who rule triumph antly over it as well

,

as the greater part of the civilized w o rld dressed , ,

as they ha ve bee n fo r h undreds of years like ,

t heir brother H enry the Eighth Of England ; an d

every deviation from this quaint garb i s frow ne d
 P i ct u r e Book s
’
1 48 Tne D evi l s -
.

M H enin who f ound them pasted in the cover

.
,

of a book of the fi fteenth ce ntury , of which they

formed part of the binding . T hei r f ortu nate dis
coverer well understood the v alue of this prize ,

and they were care fully remov ed and are n ow ,

treasured as the first specimens of cards which

w ere divided into suits with the symb o ls which
’
t hey now bear . T he bookbinder s knif e has

shaved O ff the title of the King of H earts , or

rather his name ; otherwise the principal c o urt

cards a re almost u ninj ured , and are preserved
with the respect they deserve to hav e as the
oldest surviving monarchs of the world — their ,

age being nearly five hu ndred years the date , of

their invention being ab out 1 425 .

 P i ct u r e Book s
’
1 5 2 The D evi l s -
.

Museum . The history of their invention has

al ready been related . T he Adams of the pack
w ere by the politeness o f the French courtier pro
, ,

v i d e d with Eves a n d th ey have become the a u ces

,

tors of countless m illi o n s of successors .

P revious t o the arrangement of the T arot cards

into the m o re convenient pack whi c h is no w gen
e ra l l y used th e fem ale figure
,
w as placed i n that
part of the pack which was divided into suits ,

although am ong the twenty two -

emblematical
cards n amed Atouts were f ound an Empress ,

and P ope Joan and other f emale figures represent

,

ing j u stice temperance etc , , . I n some packs of

T a ro ts the Q ueens joined the male figures ; but

their presence is not c o mm o n and these pac ks ,

were c omparatively modern . I n the place n ow

occ u pied by the Q ueen there was a C avalier ,

Knight General Vizir o r wh atever might have

, , ,

been the name of the male figure which was

se c o nd in rank in card lan d and he had the -
,

O u ee n
’
s place and value . T his was the deseen
d ant of the same warri o r who in the ancient games
of C hess was placed beside the King ; and the posi
tion which that piece occupied was m uch more in

ac c ordance with the energy the strategy and the , ,

 Tm Queen .
1 53

man oe uvri ng to be l o oked for i n a marshal in

c ommand of an army than , f rom the wi fe of a
reigning sovereign .

Mr . C h att o states th at at an early peri o d the

Italians occ asionally s u bstituted a Q u ee n f o r t h
C ave l l o , a n d de c lares that th e French have c laimed

an hon o u r which does not belong to them when

t hey assert that they were the first nati o n that had
the gallantry to place a lady in the pa c k .

T his example set by the Fren c h or perhaps by

,

t he Itali a ns , of placing a q u ee n among the c ourt

cards has n ot been f o ll o wed by o ther n a ti o ns ,
n or

indeed to any very great extent by the Italians

themselves , w ho , alth o ugh they s o meti m es included
her only
, do so , a s a general rule whe n they adopt
,

the Fren c h cards and their symb o ls entirely and ,

dis c ard those derived f rom the E a st , w hi c h h ave

been clung to S i nce their first i ntro ducti o n .

Engla n d w as one of the few nations gallant

e nough to retain the lady in the nati o nal pack
when it had emigrated f ro m France and taken
root in its adopted count ry ; and England also
selected a parti c ular Q ueen of her own and placed ,

her figure among the court cards .

In on e of the pictures of Elizabeth of York ,

 P i ct u r e Boot s
’
1 54 Tti e D evi l s - .

wi f e of Henry the S e v enth of Englan d we find ,

the original of the quaint dress now worn by our

cardboard queens . T here were various reasons
fo r the selecti o n of this lady and he r elevati o n to

the paper th rone where she h as remained with her

, ,

c o stume and even th e colou r of her hair almost

unch a nged to the present day and which a cu rsory
, ,

examinati o n Of her history will rev eal . D u ring

the li fetime of her father Ed w ard the Fourth of

England Elizabeth was betrothed to the d a uphin

,

C harles , eldest son of L ouis the Eleventh of

France . At that time there was constant i nter

course with the sister coun try and cards may ,

then have been first imported into England .

T he E nglish princess after her c ontract with the

heir of France was al w ays addressed as Madame
la D a u phine , and her pi c ture m ay have been
placed on the cards to S ho w that sh e took rank
as a French princess . T his mat c h was h owever , ,

suddenly terminated by the French monar c h and ,

his rage and disappointment it is said caused

’
her f ather s death . Her marriage with his suc

c essor which j oined the two h ouses

, of York and
L ancaster, who had been rival claimants fo r the
throne of England term inate d f ore v er th e W ars
, of
 P i ctu r e Boot s
’
1 56 T/ze D evi l s -
.

Elizabeth of York was a most beauti ful woman ,

and it might hav e been due to this f ac t that h er

picture was so eagerly copied . S he died v ery
y o ung having , o nly atta ined her thirty eigh th year -
,

in 1 50 3 , l eaving an heir to the throne , who was

a fterward H enry the Eighth .

Am o ng the names bestowed upon the Q u eens of

the Fre nch c o u rt cards are those o f H el ene J u di c , ,

R ach ael . T hese are f ound in the pack whi c h is

believed to be Of the time of L ouis the T wel f th .

Whe n the war with Spai n took place which was ,

fo llowed by the capture and imprisonment of

Fran c is the Fi rst and his marriage with the Q ueen

Elean o r th e ladies o f the pack change their n a mes
,

to L u c r esse , P e n t a xli e , Bec i a bi a . Again under ,

the reign o f H en ry the S econd they be c ome Ar

gine P a llas etc T he e ff eminate reign o f Henry
, ,
.

the T hird a ff
e c ted the dresses a s well as the names
on the cards T he Q ueens wore their hair turned
.

bac k and c repe ,

“
la robe j u ste a corps et a vertu
”
garde and bear such n ames as
, D id o , Elizabeth ,

and C l o tilde .

S inger relates that P allas , as the Q ueen of

Spades was at one time n amed was intended , to

represent Joan of Arc the Maid

, of O rleans as ,
 Tee Qu een . 1 57

P allas was go d dess of war and of chastity and the

,

Maid was her worthy representati ve ; and that

C harles the S eventh , o ut Of gratitude fo r the se r

v ices received at her hands caused her to be placed

,

under the cover of the heathen goddess s name ’

i n card land -
.

Pere D a nie l , in his dissertation on the “

G ame
”
of P iquet , says that the Q ueen of C lubs is called
A rg i ne fro m , which the anagram Regina may be
made and that it is intended to represent Marie
,

d A njo u
’

, wi fe of C harles the S e venth . Rachael was

chosen to represent Agnes Sorel whose token , the
clover lea f ( sorel ) — w as placed among the symb o ls
-

o f the suits T he same author f ancies that J udith

.

may be intended to represent Isabel of Ba v aria ,

mother of C harles the Se venth and wi fe of C harles

the S ixth .
 T HE K NA V E .

H E Knave h as always been gi ven an o r i gi na l

and sometimes a prominent place in the

pack of cards . Al t h o ugh this p o sition does not
seem to have been derived di re c tly f rom It Ma tto ,

or the Fool of the T arots , he seems to have in

heri t ed some of the pec u li a rities of the latter
and in m any games he is given th e same posi
ti o n and either takes precedence
, of all the other
court cards or else adds to their v alue according
to the rules o f the particul a r game which i s
being played .

The word “
kn ave in the English language
was originally used to signi fy a “
b oy . C haucer
employs it i n this sense where he says of the
King of North umberl and ,

“
On hi re h e gat a k na v e c hil d ;

an d this n ame was given by the English to the

card which was calle d by the French le Va l et,

as they regarde d the m ale figure which acco m

II
 P i ct u r e Boot s
’
1 62 Tne D ev i l s -
.

p a n i ed the court cards on thei r invasion of thei r

c o untry as the son of
th e King and Q u ee n o f the
suit to wh ich h e bel o nged and did n o t recognize ,

his p o siti o n as the c o urt jester or servan t -

of the
ro y a l family . Bu t the w o rds m an -
child -
or

knave u sed i n the sense of b oy

’
soon became
o bsolete and the latter is n eve r seen
, in the present
day except to den o te a c heat dish o nest person or , ,

the se c o n d male fig u re of th e c o u rt c a rds .

TO the s a me c a rd is f req u ently given the name

ya c/e . It is s u pp o sed th a t this name was derived
f ro m the party c o l o ured b u ff o on s dress w o rn by
’
-
or

the Knave ; the c a nt name for a je ster being Jac k “

,

which was als o the term u sed to design a te a serving

m an Of low d egree . The expression J a c k a napes
- -

was pr o b a bly derived f ro m J a ck a -

or

J a ck of the c ards , Nai

'

p es being th e Spanish n a me
fo r the pa c k ; and as c a rds were at one ti m e im
p o rted i nto E n gl a nd q u i t e as m u c h f ro m Sp a i n as
f ro m Fra n c e , it w as u sual to c a ll them by the Sp a n
ish as well as the Fren c h n a m e . Mr . C hatt o de c l a res
”
th a t J a c k
“ -
a -
n a pes means “
J ac k the Kn a ve , an d
says th a t “
thi s c ard ha s more affinity i n c harac ter
with the Spanish S ot a or the I talian Fa u te th an
with the Fren c h Va l et ; and he a ls o says : W e “
 Tne D evi l P i ct u r e Boot s
’
1 64 s
-
.

sev eral h un d red years . I t has evidently been

copied f rom the ordinary costumes of the fi f teenth
or sixteenth centuries but ,
no exact date can be
assigned to it . I t seems to consist of a short
j acket with f ull flowing sleeves the body being ,

crossed by a sash , or what may h ave originally

been i ntended fo r a strap to hold a quiver . T his

coat , or jacket resembles the

, g a oer di ne describe d
’

by C haucer as being the dress of the S quires

in the “
C anterbury T a les . T he cap with its,

squarely cut or battlemented edges turne d back ,

over an u nder cap -

of black which fitte d closely
,

to the head was in c o m mon use about th e end

,

of th e fif teenth cent u ry . The K nav es of to day

-

are cut i n hal ves and S ho w two heads which are

, ,

legless ; and these repl a ce the ol d standing figures

and the O d d looking misshapen party coloured legs
-
, ,
-
,

which followed an an c ient fa shion , and showed

one clothed i n o ne c o lour , its f ellow being
dressed in a di ff ere n t o n e, with gayly striped
garters and peculiarly shaped S hoes .

M r T aylor tells a dro ll story which

.
, S ho w s
how conservative pe o ple h ave for many years
been on the subjec t of cards an d h ow they
, re

sent the smallest ch ange i n th e costume etc , of

 Tne K n a ve . 1 65

the c o urt cards when every other dress changes

,

alm o st as soon as it is generally ad o pted . He

says :
“
O ne of the large c ard makers i n -
L o nd o n

many years ago introduced a s c arcely per c eptible

modifi c ati o n in the c o lour o f the Knave s garter ’
.

C ards were supplied as usual to the customers ; , ,

but very s oo n the steward of o n e of the c o nsider

able clubs c am e r u shing d o wn in a great hurry
’
t o the shop Th e comm ittee can t think wh a t
‘
.

you have been d o ing to the cards ' All the mem
bers are c o mplaining that they keep l o sing . Wh a t
have ou
y done ' At first the c ard maker said
’
-
,

c
Done P Why n o thing ' n o t thinking the tri
,
’

fling c hange Of any imp o rtance ; but on f u rt her

inq u iry it was found that the indes c ribable s o me

thing the c lubbists had detected c o n f used the m ,

a nd he was o bliged to take ba c k a ll his c a rd s

and s u pply th o se of the f o rmer sort . S u c h is
the influence of a trifle S in c e th a t time , how

ever many alteration s h ave been intro du c e d and

, ,

”
not a fe w impr o vements .

T he weapons which are placed i n the hands of

the Knaves have become strangely distorted with

the lapse of time and through the carelessness Of

the card maker -

. O ur Knave of Hearts bears a
 P i ct u r e Boot s
’
1 66 Tl ie D evi l s -
.

C u l m sy l o o ki n g battle axe whi c h lo o ks too dull an d

- -
,

too h ea v y to be of m u c h service i n c ase of n ec es

s i ty; and i n the o ther hand he h o lds a laurel leaf .

Th e K n a ve of D i a monds has what Falstaff calls a

“
Welsh h o o k ,
whi c h has bee n d efi ned as mean
ing “
a pike with a ho o k placed at s o me distance
bel o w its p o int . T he pe c uli a r a ttribute of the
present K n ave of S pades is a twisted ribb o n and ,

its origi n has not bee n tra c e d . I t m ay o rigi n a lly

have been a Maro tte , or Fool s Staff ar o un d which
’

gayly c o l o ured ribbons were t w isted the wh o le , su r

m o u n ted wi t h a f ool s cap ’

. T his K n a ve fo rmerly

b o re a r
st a n ge l o o king instrume n t ;
-
but its use hav
i ng be c o m e o b s o lete even its
, f o rm h a s been dis
c a rded ,
an d the figure bears no weap o n of de fe n c e ,

like his c o n f ré r es . Th e strange l o o king st a ff car

-

ried by the Knave of C lubs is supp o sed to h a ve

been origin a lly intended fo r an arro w .

Why it is that the Knaves Of H e a rts and Spades

S h o uld be in pro file wh ile the others S h o w their f u l l
,

f a ce , will pro bably always remain a mystery ; but it

may be o bserved that the Knave of H earts is in
the same p o siti o n in s o me very Old p a cks , n ow pre
served in the British M useum to which has been
,

attributed the date Of 1 4 40 ; and t he same thing

 ’
1 68 Tne D evi l s P i ct u r e Boot s
-
.

Knaves was that , of the celebrated E tienne de

V ignolles , wh o con tributed so m uch by hi s v alour
to re -
establish the tottering throne of Charles th e
S eventh of France . Mr Singer says that he was
.

surnamed La H ire . S ome auth ors attribute the

a rra n gement Of th e French pack with the symbols ,

of the H earts , D iamonds , C lubs , and Spades and ,

the black and red colours to the same , La H ire .

O THE R C
 P i ct u r e B ook s
’
1 72 Tk e D evi l s -
.

has bee n c o njectured that th e A c e of C ards an d

of D ice were so called not as a designation of

unity but as signi fyi n g an ass or a

,
fo o l . T h ose

w ho entertain the latter o pini o n are said by Hyde

”
to be asses themselves .

Aces have had soubriquets or nicknames like

many othe r cards ; but these have gained favour

only i n certain l o cali t ies . In on e part of England

they are called Ti t ; but the o rigi n and meaning
of this name is unkn o wn . T he Ace of D iam onds

is c o mm only c alled the E ar l o

f Cor k in I reland ,

“
be c ause it is the worst Ace an d th e p o orest card
in the pa c k and he is the poorest n o blem an in
,

”
the country . In Spain the Ace of O ros is called
”
L a Borg n e, or the one eyed
“ -
.

“
T here is luck unde r a bl a c k D euce , is a com
m on sayi ng am o ng c ard players -
.
“
Bu t n ot i f yo u
”
touch it wi t h yo ur elbow is the reply ; and when,

it is turned up as a tru m p s u perstiti o us people ,

place thei r elbo w u p o n it and quite a str u ggle

,

g o es on between the dealer and the opp o nent as to

wh i c h o ne S hall do so first . It is m o re than pr o b
able that the wo rds D eu ce and Tr ay m ay h ave been
deri ved f ro m th e Spanish D os and Tr es, wh i c h sig
” ”
n ify and th ree in that lang u age I n some
“ “
two .
 A ces a nd ot k er Ca r ds . 1 73

German games the D a ns is th e master c a rd and ,

takes a ll the others . Mr . C hatt o s ysa :

“
T he

D euce of c ards it may be observed has

, , no c onne c
tion with th e term deu ce, as u sed in th e f amiliar
expressi o n ‘
To play the d eu c e ,
’
in w hi c h it is
syn o nymous with devi l and i s o f n o rthern o rigin
, .

I n s o me parts o f the cou ntry the D e u c e a lth o u gh ,

lower in val u e is c o nsidered

, to be a m o re fo r t u

nate c ard than the T ray ; and ‘

T here l u c k in the
’
S

D euce , but none in the T ray is a f req u e n t ex

’

pression am o ng old card players

-
w ho like to en

liven the game with an occasi o nal rem ark as they

l ay d o wn the c ards .

I n N o rthumberland England the f our , , of Hearts

at Whist is sometimes c alled [7 05 Col l i ng w ood ,

and is c o nsidered by o ld ladies an u nl u cky c a rd .

Th e fo ur C lubs is called by sail o rs ’

of t k e D ev i l s

Bedposts ,
and the f o ur of Spades is n amed by
o thers N ed S tok es . T he T ray of O ros in Spain , ,

is called L e S ei gn eu r . The T ray of C u ps is

L a D a me ; the D euce is L a Va c/re . T he nines of

C ups and of Money are the G r ea t a nd L i t t le

N i nes ,
and the Ace of Cl ubs is Le S er p en t .

’
In Ireland the si x o f Hearts is known as G r a ce s

Ca r d, and is said to have acquired that nam e

 P i ct u r e Book s
’
1 74 Tk e D evi l s - .

“
f ro m the f ollowing c ircumstance : A gentleman
of the n ame of G race being solicite d with prom
i se s of royal f av our to espouse the cause of W il
liam the T hird , ga ve the f o ll o wing answer written
on the ba c k of the si x o f Hearts to an emissary
,

of Marsh al Schomberg , w ho had been commis

s i o ne d to make the o ff er to him : T ell your m aster

I despise his off er and that honour and conscie nce

,

a re d earer to a gentlem an than all the wealth and

titles a prince can bestow
The nine of D iam o nds c ontinues Mr C hatt o
“
, .
,

is f requently called the Cu r se f S cotl a n d and

o ,

some suppose on acco u nt of the tradition that the

D uke of C umberland wrote his sa nguinary order
on it af ter the battle of C ulloden . I t was , ho w
ever known by this
,
n am e many years bef ore
this battle as it is sta ted that about
, 1 715 L ord
J u stice Clerk O r m i s t o n e who had bee n zeal o us ,

in suppressing the rebellion becam e universally

hated i n Scotland where they called , hi m ‘
the
’
cu rse of Scotland ; and when ladies played the
nine of D iamonds (commonly called the C urse of

Sc otland ) they called it J ustice Cl ark

, . O ther
explanations are off ered to account fo r this name ,

s o me of them being fo u nd in heraldic d e v ices as ,

 P i ct u r e Book s
’
1 76 Tk e D evi l s - .

of t he at t ac ks of lunacy su ff ered by King ,

G eorge the T hird , great abuse of the Ki ng and

Q ueen and , Of P itt was indulged i n with o ut re

Br o ok
’
serve at s C lub ; and a cant phra se used
”
at the whist table was-
,
“
I play the lunatic , mean
ing the King .
 P i ctu r e Book s
’
1 80 Tk e D evi l s - .

other card . W hat was that ' ‘

T he Kn ave of

’
Spades .
’ ‘
W ell , quoth he ,
‘
n ow tell me who
made ye ' ’
T he b o y c o uld not well tell . Q uoth
he to the next ,
‘
W ho redeemed ye ' ’
T hat was
‘
a harder question . L ook ye ,
’
quoth the parson ,

‘
you think this was an accident and laugh at it ; ,

but I did it on purp o se to show you t hat had you

taugh t your childre n their catechism as well as to
know their c a rds they would have bee n better ,

provided to answer m aterial questions wh en they

come to
T he story does n ot go on to state th at this
precious preacher met the fate of A nanias as , be
well deserved to do .

Not many years ago in England the following ,

story printed on a sheet or pamphlet , w as c i rc u

l a t ed among the poorer c l a sses an d was r ece l v ed

with great f avo ur . It was called : “

C ards Spiritual
’
iz ed ; or the S o ldier s Almanac , Bible ,
and P rayer
”
Bo ok .

R ichard Middleton , a soldier attending divine

service with the rest of a regiment at a ch urch
in Glasgow instead , of pulling o ut a Bible like
the rest of his f ellow soldiers to find the parson s ’

text spread a pack

, of cards be f ore him . T his
 Use an d Aou se . 1 8 1

S ingular behaviou r did not long pass u nnoticed

both by the clergyman and the sergeant of the
c o mpany to wh i c h h e belonged . T he latter i n ,

parti c ular requested him to put up

, t he cards , an d

on his re fu s i n g conducted , hi m after churc h bef ore

the may o r , to wh o m he pref erred a f o rmal com

’
plaint of R i c hard s indecent behavi o ur during di
vine servi c e .

“
Well s o ldier
, , said the m ay o r ,
“
what excuse
have you fo r this strange s c an dal o us beh a vi o ur '
,

If yo u c an make any ap o l o gy or a ssign an

y reas o n
fo r it it is well ;
,
if yo u c an n o t assure y o ursel f t hat
,

I will c ause you without del a y to be severely

”
punished fo r it .

Since y o u r H o nou r is so good replied R i c h

“
,

ard I w ill i n fo rm yo u I have been eight days

,
“
.

on mar c h wi t h a bare all o w an c e

, of S ixpe n c e a day ,

whi c h your H o n o ur will surely a ll o w is h a rdly

sufficient t o m a intain a man in me a t drink wa sh , ,

ing and , o ther ne c essaries that c o nsequen t ly he

may want without a , Bible ,
P rayer Bo o k -
, or an y

”
other go o d b o ok . O n saying this R i c h a rd drew ,

o ut his pack of cards and presenting one

,
of the
Aces to the m ay o r c ontin ue d h is address to the
magistrate as f ollows
 P i ct u r e Book s
’
1 82 Tk e D evi l s -
.

W hen I see an Ace may it please your ,

H onour it remin d s me that there is only

,
one

G od ; an d whe n I look upon a two or a three ,

th e f ormer puts me i n mind of the Father and

S on and th e latter
,
of the Father , S on , and Holy
Ghost . A f our calls fo r remembrance the f our

evangelists Matthew Mark L uke an d J ohn

, , , , . A
five the, fi ve w ise V irgins wh o were ordered to
trim their lamps . T here were ten i ndeed ; but
five your W orship m ay remember were wise and
, ,

five were foolish . A si x, that i n s ix days God

created h eav en and earth . A sev en that , on the
seventh day h e rested f rom all he had made .

A n eight , of the eight righteous persons p re

served f rom the deluge ; namely Noah and his ,

wif e with his three s o ns and their wives

, . A nine ,

of the n ine lepers cleansed by our S aviour . T here

were ten but only one returned to o ffer his tribute

,

of th a nks . And a ten , of the te n commandments

that God gave Moses on M ou nt S inai , on the
”
t wo tables of stone . H e took the K n ave and
p ut it aside .
“
W h en I see the Q ueen it reminds
me of the Q ueen of Sheba who came , fo rth f rom
the f arthermost parts Of the world to hear the
wisd o m of Solomon , for she was as wise a woman
 P i ct u r e Book s
’
184 Tk e D evi l s -
.

be the greates t Knave or n o but I am sure he ,

”
is the greatest fo o l .

Th e s o ldier the n contin ued : When I count “

the n umber of d o ts in a pack of cards there are ,

three hundred and sixty fiv e

- -
, as m any days as
there are i n the year . Whe n I coun t ho w many
cards there are i n a pack I find there are fif ty ,

two — so many weeks are there in a ye ar When

,
.

I re c k o n many tricks are w o n by a pack I

ho w ,

find there are thirteen — so many mo nths are ,

there in a year . So that this pac k of c ards is

both Bible , Alma n a c k and , P rayer Boo k -
to me .

T he mayor c a lled his serva n t s , o rdered them to

e ntertain t he s o ldier well gave , hi m a piece of

money and said he was the cleverest f ell o w he

,

ever heard i n his li fe .

are severa l variati o ns o f this sto ry one

T here ,

being written in the Fren c h language and i n

rhyme ; but as their theme is nearly identi c al
with the on e quoted it is u n necessary to repeat
,

them .

It is supposed that the visiting card -

n ow i n com
mon use derived its origin f rom a custom quoted ,

by Mr . T ayl o r , of writing messages on th e backs

of playing cards — a practice which
-
, is mentioned
 Use a nd A o u se . 18 5

i n the Spiritual Q uix o te a vel of George the

“
, no

T hird s time T his practice is also mentioned i n

’
.

”
“
Henry Esmond , where an invitati o n is sent on a
te n of D iam o nds ; and it was not c o nfined to the
’
n ovelist s world , as it was evidently the c u stom in
Ameri c a be f ore the R evoluti o n , fo r s o me of these
invit a tions still exist and are treasured among fa m

ily reli c s . T here is one bel o ngi n g to an Ameri c an

family which bears an invitati o n f ro m S ir Je ff rey
A m herst printed ,
on the back of the King Of

C l u bs t o, one of the f air da msels of his day ; and

this was dated 1 76 9 . A n o ther card which appar
ently belonged to the same pack bore on its back
an invitati o n to dinner f ro m the same General to
Mr . Te n Ey c k fo r this sam e anniversary of Saint
George s ’
D ay . I t seems a strange coincidence
that b o th these cards sh o uld have been sent to
the author — one o f them coming fro m Bo st o n ;
,

the other f ro m C aze n ovia New Y o rk where it was , ,

fo und in an old iro n chest bel o nging to the T en

Eyc k f amily . Another invitati o n c ard whi c h is

treasured in New Yo rk ,
carried an i n vitation f rom
Miss Kitty and M iss A nna L ivingston to Miss
L aurence . T hese ladies are the ancestors of m a ny
well known townspeople and the date , of the in
 P i ct u re Book s
’
186 Tk e D evi l s -
.

vi t a t i o n m ust hav e been abou t th e sam e as that

o ne issued by Sir J e ff rey A mherst S h o wing that ,

it was a common practice during the m i dd le of

the last c entury to use playing cards -

on which
to write invitation s .

P laying -
cards have also been use d to carry
on their surface import a n t m essages ; as be fore
mentioned the message written by the
, D uke of

C umberland was on a playing car d ( the ni ne

-
of

D iam onds ) .

T h e f a s c i nat ion that games hav e f or so m e peo

ple led to the i r being carried into q u eer places
’
and strange company . The preacher s catastro
phe and th e soldier s ap o logy hav e already been
’

related ; but c ards have been played on the battle

field as well as by the home fireside they have ,

been used when travelling an d even at the play ,

as one write r mentions that during a visit i n Flor

ence he was invited to j o in a game i n an opera
box wh ere h e was told th a t
,
“
goo d mu sic a dd e d
greatly to t he pleasure of a W hist -
party that it , in
crease d the joy of good f ortu ne an d soothe d the
affl iction of th e bad .
”

O ne writer has describe d a

,

isit to a tem v

ple in T hibet i n which he f ound among other

,
P IPS , S UITS , C O LO URS .
 P i ct u r e Books
’
1 92 Tbe D evi l s -
.

at the prese nt day ; and there are valu able c ol lec

tions i n E uropean m useums which contain rare

specimens of c ards , n ot only delicately painte d
like the most beauti f ul miniatures on parchme nt
and other materi als but also exquisitely engraved ; ,

and among them are some of the first specimens

Of that art .

T he pack painte d by G ri ngo n n e u r , which has

already been f ully described is in , P aris ; but this
is a T arot pack which seems to have bee n the
, on e

in use at the French C ourt just bef ore playing

cards i n their m odern dress were adopted . The
cards prepared f or the use of the French King ,

which were the first to be d ivided into suits and

m arked with the symb o ls of H earts D iamon ds ,
‘

Spades , an d C lubs , are also prese rv e d in the

same place .

I n the print room O f t he British Museum is a

-

porti o n of a p a c k which has the German m arks of

suits . T hese c ards are stencilled and not p rinte d
or painted and are supp o sed to date f rom
, 1 4 40 .

T hey were discovere d as so many othe rs hav e ,

been i n the cover

, Of an ol d book . T here is an

other pack d a ted 1 79 0 , manu fact u red by R owley

( to quote from M r
”
Co .
“
I n it the Spade .
 Pi ps , S u i t s, a nd Col ou r s . 1 93

T ayl o r) “
is a kind of dagger , of a clumsy , ih
c o nvenient f o rm . T he A ce of C l u bs is a c l over
le af in an oval . D i a m o nds clearly p o int to the
o rigin a l c o nven ti o n a lized fo rm , being a veri t able
diam o nd l o zenge shaped with the
,
-
, f a c ets of the
c u t ti n g S h o wn in relie f . T his idea of a quad
ra n
gu l a r sh a pe is invo lved in all the names of

t he D i a mond suit whether it be panes

, of gl a ss
”
or pa i g t iles C lubs
v n -
.
, he declares ,
“
has always
”
been an a n o m a ly .

The c o l o urs used i n cards vary with t he pips or

the caprices of the card makers -

. In t he c urious
old pack m enti o ned by M r S inger .
, w hi c h dates
f ro m 1 500 and perhaps earlier t here , a re o nly two

c o l o u rs used and these were red and green ; but

,

t hey were n ot intended to mark the s u its they ,

were used o nly on the c o stumes of the c o urt c a rd-

figures . S o me early It a lian c ards menti o ned by

'a ni in his bo o k enti t led “
L e C arte P arlante ,

were exe c uted with a pale ink of a gra yish tint ,

while others were p rinted with very black ink .

T he Germans n ow call tw o of their s u its Rot/c

and Gr il n , or R ed and Green the emblems , Of which
are a heart and a leaf .

T here is still i n existence a curious pack of

13
 P i ct u r e Book s
’
1 94 Tb e D evi l s -
.

c ards whi c h were presented t o C apt . D . C rom li n e

S mith by a Brahmi n of I ndia in 1 8 1 5, whi c h is
menti o ned by Mr . C hatto . T hey were supposed to
be a th o us a nd years old . T h e Brahmi n considered
them to be a great curiosity as they had been ,

in his f amily f rom time immemorial . H e did n ot

k n o w whether or n ot they were per fect , bu t be

l i e ve d that origin a lly there were two m o re c o lours
or suits . H e said they were not the sam e as the
modern c a rds that none knew how to play with
,

them and th a t
, no b o o ks give any a cc o u nt of

the m . T he pack c onsists of eight suits ea c h ,

c o ntaining two hon o urs and ten c o mm o n cards .

T he ba c ks are green and they are p a i nted in

,

ma n y di ff erent c o l o urs . Mr . C hatto remarks that ,

if they are eve n one h undred years old they

m ust have been preserved with great c are and he ,

is in c lined to d o ubt their extreme antiquity .

T he o ldest se t of Fre nch P iquet cards kn o wn ,

”
as the Co rsu b e pa c k , whi c h were invented abo u t
1 42 5, or nearly five h undre d years ago are , en

graved on w o od and c o loured . T he outlines are

printed in pale ink and the c olours appear to h ave
,

been applied by means of a stencil . A beauti ful

pack engraved on copper in the latter quarter of
 P i ct u r e Book s
’
196 Tb e D evi l s -
.

h is heraldi c kn o w ledge and his m ilitary tastes and ,

that his Spades a nd H earts were shields , and his

D iamonds arro w heads it is w o rth n oting that
-
,

the Germans had c h o sen nearly iden t ical devices

t o m ark their s u its , and that the A c o rn is a C lub ,

and L eaves and Hearts so c l o sely resemble Spades

and t he Fre n c h C oeur ,
that th e S imilarity in f o rm

can h ardly be due to a caprice of th e card maker -

or the fa n c ies of a military man .

C ards h a ve by m any people been reg a rded fo r

centuries i h a s u persti t i o us awe and a cc o rded

w t ,

s u pernat u ra l p o w ers of divinati o n ; a nd it seems

m o re pr o bable th a t the devi c e s w ere s u gge sted by
vari o us symb o ls whi c h were pr o bably c o nsta n tly
be f ore the eyes o f men o f the Middle Ages par ,

t i c u l a r l y in c h u rc hes or h o uses d e v o ted to religi o us

p u rp o ses .

Mr . Ba ri n g -
G o u ld , in h is “
C uri o us Myths of th e
Middle Ages menti o ns t h e disc o very in
, 1 8 50 of

a G a ll o R o m a n palac e near Fa n i n Fran c e

-
. In o ne

of the r o o ms the p a vement c o nsisted of squares

whi c h were o rnamented with c r o sses Of diff ere nt
shapes . T h o se of Sain t Andrew “
terminated in
either a he a rt shaped leaf or a trefoil
-
. He re the n
may be seen th e various devices adopted by the
 P ip s S u i t s
, , a nd Col ou r s . 1 97

card maker
-
. On the C arreaux , or diamond
shaped tiles were displayed C lubs H earts a n d
, , ,

Spades beneath th e f ee t of the worshipper i n

,

his churc h or the c o urtier i n the palace ; a nd

to transf er the emblems to t he card i n place of

the symbols used by th e O riental was an easy

m a t ter . Th e “
C lub , as we n ame it is a f av o u rite
,

emblem of the T rinity , whi c h has been used fo r

c en t uries as its symb o l ; and we need not S earch
fo r an Agnes Sorel or a S a int P atrick as the first
to use the clover le af and -
, fa ncy that the French
’
c o u rtier meant to comp liment the King s mistress
by pl a c ing her device among the cards . It might
just as well have been directl y the reverse and ,

th a t sh e , seeing how pretty the leaf and how a

p

p ro p r i a t e th e pun on her n a me might have adopted ,

it f ro m the card pips . It is quite pos s ible th a t

beside the T arot cards there were others i n u se

ab ou t the fi fteenth c ent u ry and th at their em ,

hl e m s became f avourites in France and Germ any ,

wh ile Italy and Spain clung to those seen in the

Saracen pack .
 ODDS A ND E NDS .

M O N G the other extravagant f ashions of the

Fren c h C ourt f r o m the time o f C harles the
Sixth to that of L ouis the S ixteenth that , of deco
rating the c ard ro o m its f urniture ac c essories and
-
, , ,

even the c ards themselves was by no me a ns the ,

least . It was perh aps fitting that the place i n

w hi c h enorm o us sums of m o ney cha n ged hands
should be de c o ra ted as a shrine to the God of

P lay ,
and it is certain that they were luxuriously
f urnished and magnificently adorned . U nder

L o uis the Fo urteenth the cloths were Of green

velvet embroidered in go ld and enriched with
bulli o n f ringes . The counters were of vari o us
metals — m o ther
, of pearl , or o ther valuable su b

stan c es . We read Of a pack embroidered on white

satin enriched with silver and another , one en

graved mother of
on
p earl . Some of th e more
luxuri o us among the aristocracy ordered their
cards f rom the most f amous miniature painters
 P i ct u r e B ook s
’
20 2 Tk e D evi l s -
.

of the day in order , to diff er as widely as possible

f ro m th e r o u ghly pro duced and c heap cards used
by the c o m m o n pe o ple ; and of c o urse fo r these
cards en o rm o u s prices were given . T he decora
tions of the card ro oms were i n harmony with the
-

accessories of the tables and tapestries were de

,

signed and w o ven to a c cord with t he scenes which

they s u rr o u nded ; even within a few years one of

the modern palaces in Europe has bee n adorned

with mural de c orati o n s which represented the
c o urt cards of obs o lete packs ; and the fo u r Knaves
in picturesque c o stumes li fe size and beautif ully ,

designed and exe c uted surround the c ard room ,

-
.

The table s were at firs t c o vered with gree n

cl o ths which h u ng d o wn and were held i n pla c e
by their bulli o n f ringes ; but these c o vers were
s o o n discarded and the c loth was caref ully paste d
,

on the t o p of the t a ble M uch ingen uity w a s ex .

pended i h m a king the card tables as h a ndsome as -

were all the o ther details of the roo m T hey were .

inlaid with beauti f ul woods painted by celebrated ,

artists and richly ornamented in many other ways

, .

T hey are nearly always square or partly r o u nded

in sh ape but are sometimes octagonal
, or three
corn ered .
 P i ct u r e Book s
’
2 04 Tb e D evi l s -
.

says the historian ,

“
the appropriate theatre fo r
”
such an event .

The rage fo r playi ng cards was at one time as

great i n England as in France . J ames the First
f o rbade cards in S cotland ; but it was his f avou rite
amusement . C harles the Fi rst did not disdai n
to create a monopoly of playing cards by buying
-

’
all th o se produced by the C ard -
makers C ompany of

L o ndon , and selling them out at a much higher

price . C ards s o ld i n 1 5 4 5 fo r two pence a pack ,

and they must have been wretched specimens .

T he marriage of C harles to a French princess i n

1 62 9 m ay have intro duced P iquet into England ;
it is menti o ned in a book printed in 1 649 , at the
same time with C ribbage .

T he R undheads pr fessed to despise all

o o f ri v o
l o us am u sements an d considered them sin f u l
, , al

th o ugh the early C hristians evidently did n ot look

on D i ce and su c h games in the same ligh t ,

as recent excava t ions i n th e C atacombs Sh ow

that the graves there contained various i m p le
ments of sport .
“
D ice -
counters and gambling
boards , says a recent write r ,
“
have bee n
discovered in C hristian t o mbs ; an d the b o ards ,

with their gay and inspiriting inscriptions V ictus

 Odds a nd E n ds
. 20 5

”
leva te ; l nd ere n esc i s da lusori locum D om
“
; ,

ine , f rater h i l a ri s semper l n dere do not

differ at all f rom those with which the heathen
had made merry I n the D omitilla C ata c o mb
.

ha s been f ound the tomb of a master i n the art

of making D ice .

A fter t he restoration of C harles the Second the

court cards resum ed their sway and from that ,

time to the accession of Q ueen V ictoria reigned ,

supreme f rom court c ir c les down to the gypsies

,

in their encampment i n the fields The rage fo r .

play reached such a pitch during the latter years

ofthe reign of G eorge the T hird that the Re ,

gent hi s brothers and h i s f riends were all deeply

, ,

involve d in debt .

A story is related o f the f amous D owager Elec

t ress of Saxony who w as dev oted to the c ard
,

table an d was not above taking advantage of he r

positio n and using it whe n opportunity O ffered .

”
She evening comm itted some irregularity
o ne
“

(a s cheating i s termed when indulged in by a per

so n exalte d rank) and excited suspicions of her
of ,

honesty by her play A c o urtier took notice of .

this at which
, sh e expressed her su rprise ; there
upon he remarke d ,
“
P ardon , ma d ame , my s a spi
 Tb e D evi l P i ct u r e Book s
’

20 6 s - .

cions co u ld n ot fall on you . S over ei gn s cheat

only f or cr ow n s .

Napoleon t ried to while away the tedi o us h ou rs of

his c aptivity by pl a ying cards H is f avourite games
‘

were Vingt et n u - -
, P iquet , and Whist . T he coun
ters used fo r the l a st game were al w ays of gold ,

and these h a ve been c are f ully treasured by the de

sc e n d a n t s of his jailers . A ni ne of H earts upon
whi c h he had written some English sentences
is also preserved . It is related that he neve r
en tered on any enterprise or military o peration
wi thout c o n sul t ing a peculiar pa c k of cards which
,

were not pr o vided with the c ustomary marks of

suits and in f act were

, n ot divided into suits at
all . T hese c a rds , w hi c h have been c are f u lly pre
served were sent to the author
, for inspection .

T hey were sm a ller than those generally used ,

and were printed in black on yellow pasteboard .

E a c h card was surrounded with the signs of th e

'odiac , and was divided by a bla c k line drawn
through its centre , and always c o ntained two
litt le pictures , o ne ab o ve and o ne bel o w this
line . R ings , H earts , R oses , C u pids , L adies ,
Kings , and Q ueens were displayed on these
cards ; but it was evident that they were n ot