Chapter IV (2)

In the circular cards described by Bartsch and Singer, the inscription on the Ace of Hares is in Latin, and the initials of the engraver, T. W., are wanting. From a wrapper, of which a fac-simile is given by Singer, it would appear that those cards were engraved at Cologne; and it has been supposed that they are of as early a date as 1470. They are unquestionably the work of either a German or a Flemish artist; and some amateurs of engraving have erroneously ascribed them to Martin Schön, or Schöngauer. Bartsch, in his description of them, includes a fifth suit, namely, that of Roses; and says that each suit consisted of thirteen cards, which would thus give sixty-five pieces for the complete pack. Mr. Singer, also, in his account of such of those cards as were formerly in the collection of Mr. Douce, gives it as his opinion, that the complete pack ought to consist of five suits of fourteen cards each,--in all, seventy pieces.[257] Mons. Duchesne, however, thinks that those authors are wrong, and that the complete pack consisted of only four suits of thirteen cards each, as displayed by those preserved in the Bibliothèque du Roi. But as he entirely overlooks the difficulty of accounting for a suit of Roses, engraved in the same style, he does not seem to be justified in pronouncing so decisively that Bartsch and Singer are wrong in supposing that a complete pack consisted of five suits; for it is by no means unlikely that a fifth suit might have been introduced by the artist, with a view of giving variety to the game, but which might have been subsequently discarded, as inconsistent with the old established principles of the game, and as only making it more interesting.

There is another pack, or set, of cards, also engraved on copper, and of the same period as those last described, which seems to require some notice here, not only on account of the marks employed to distinguish the suits, but also on account of the means by which those marks were repeated on the different cards. The complete pack appears to have consisted of fifty-two pieces; each of the four suits containing four coat and nine numeral cards--the place of the Ten, as in the other two packs, being supplied by a fourth coat card. The marks of the suits are: 1, Human figures; 2, Bears and Lions; 3, Deer; and 4, Birds. These cards are of large size, being about five inches and seven eighths high, by about three and a half wide. The name of the engraver is unknown; but they are believed to be the work of the German artist usually known to amateurs as "The Master of 1466." In the coat cards the mark of the suit is impressed from a different plate; and as it sometimes occurs surrounded by the work of the coat card, it has been ascertained that in such instances a blank space had been left for its subsequent impression. The marks on the numeral cards were also printed in the same manner, by means of impressions from separate plates.

In the collection of Thomas Wilson, Esq., there were twenty-nine of those cards, together with fourteen drawings of other cards of the same pack, and eleven animals on separate plates, forming the marks of the suits.[258] Those cards were purchased of Mr. Wilson by Mr. Tiffin, printseller, West Strand, who again sold them to the Bibliothèque du Roi, where others of the same pack are also preserved. Fac-similes of thirty-seven are given in the 'Jeux de Cartes Tarots et de Cartes Numérales,' published by the Society of Bibliophiles François. In the Table des Matières prefixed to that work, it is indeed said that there are forty; but, on looking at their plate, No. 91, it will be perceived that the three coat cards there given do not properly belong to the pack in question; for the mark on two of them is a kind of flower something like a sweet-pea, and on the other it is a rose.[259] Mons. Duchesne, who appears to have supplied the Précis Historique prefixed to the work above named, should have distinctly mentioned that the three coat cards in question were not of the same pack or set, which has Human figures, Bears and Lions, Deer, and Birds, as the marks of the suits. If they really did belong to the same pack, it must then have consisted of at least six suits.

The annexed four cards, engraved on copper, are copied from specimens given by Breitkopf, in his 'Enquiry into the Origin of Playing Cards;' who there describes them as "German Piquet cards of the fifteenth century with Trappola characters."[260] The complete pack appears to have consisted of fifty-two cards; each of the four suits containing a King, Queen, and Valet, or Knave, as we term the character; together with ten numeral cards. The marks of the suits were Swords; Clubs (proper, not Trèfles); Cups; and Pomegranates. The latter mark is substituted for that of Money; and was perhaps intended by the artist to commemorate the marriage of Philip the Fair, son of the Emperor Maximilian, with Joanna, daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella, King and Queen of Spain; who, on their subjugation of the kingdom of Grenada, in 1497, appear to have adopted the _Granada_, or Pomegranate, as one of their badges.[261] The cards unquestionably belong to that period; and in support of the speculation, it may be further observed that they are generally ascribed to Israel van Mecken; who, as a native of Bocholt, was a subject of Philip, who inherited the Netherlands, in right of his mother, Mary of Burgundy.

Von Murr, in the second volume of his Journal, gives a description of a nearly complete pack of those cards, which were then in the possession of a gentleman named Silberrad, residing at Nuremberg, but which are now in the British Museum.[262] He calls them old Trappola cards, and says that they are certainly of an earlier date than the time of Israel van Mecken the younger; or rather, that they were engraved by Israel the elder. "The suits," he says, "are distinguished, after the Italian manner, by SPADE; COPPE; DANARI (represented by Pomegranates); and BASTONI."[263] The cards displayed in the preceding specimens are: the Deuce of Swords; the Valet of Cups; the Ten of Pomegranates; and the Ten of Clubs. In the latter, the Club seen on the banner is rough and knotty, and not an artificially-formed Baton, as is sometimes seen on old Italian cards: it has previously been observed that the Bastoni were sometimes called Colonne, from their being something like slender pillars.

It would appear, from the testimony of contemporary authors, that the cards most commonly used in Italy in the latter part of the fifteenth century, were those which had SPADE, COPPE, BASTONI, and DANARI--Swords, Cups, Batons, and Money,--as the marks of the suits. These continued to be the common marks on Italian cards in the sixteenth century, and even to a much later period; and such also would appear to have been the marks of the cards used in Spain, from the period of their first introduction into that country, to the present day. The annexed woodcuts, copied from a plate in Breitkopf,[264] are the Sevens of each of the four suits in a pack of Tarots. The marks are precisely the same as in modern Tarots; and there is reason to believe that they are nearly the same, with respect to form, as those of the earliest Italian Tarocchi cards, properly so called.

The relation which the marks of the suits bear to each other in the three varieties of cards most generally known in Europe, will perhaps be best understood from the following summary, which shows, at one view, the names given to the suits of each variety in the country where such cards were chiefly used.

GERMAN CARDS.

_German Names of the Suits._

HERZEN, oder ROTH. GRÜN. EICHELN. SCHELLEN.
(HEARTS, or RED. GREEN (LEAVES). ACORNS. BELLS.)

SPANISH AND ITALIAN CARDS.

_Spanish Names._

COPAS. ESPADAS. BASTOS. OROS.

_Italian Names._

COPPE. SPADE. BASTONI. DANARI.
(CUPS. SWORDS. CLUBS, or BATONS. MONEY.)

FRENCH CARDS.

_French Names._

CŒUR. PIQUE. TRÈFLE. CARREAU.
(HEARTS. SPADES. CLUBS. DIAMONDS.)

In the oldest cards of the German and Spanish type there appears to have been no Queen. In the German pack, the second coat card was a kind of superior officer, distinguished as OBER,--Upper, Superior; while the third, corresponding with our Knave, was named UNTER,--Inferior.[265] The Spaniards called the second coat card CABALLO,--the Horseman or Knight;--and the Knave they called SOTA, a word which, in the Dictionary of the Spanish Academy, is said to be derived from the Italian _soto_, signifying 'under.'[266] The Italians called their second coat card CAVALLO, and the third FANTE; in each of the four suits the principal coat card was the King. It would, however, appear that at an early period, the Italians occasionally substituted a Queen for the Cavallo; and if the cards formerly belonging to the Marquis Girolamo be really of so early a date as is assigned to them by Millin,[267] it would seem that the French have no just title to the "honour" of being the first to introduce a Queen as the second coat card, and that in having made "Place aux Dames," in the pack, they had only followed the example set them by the Italians.

Millin's notice of those cards is to the following effect: "In the collection of the Marquis Girolamo, at Venice, there are some cards of very early date,--about the beginning of the fifteenth century. They are larger than the ordinary cards of the present day; they are also very thick; and the material of which they are formed resembles the cotton paper of ancient manuscripts. The figures, which are impressed--'imprimées'--on a gold ground, consist of three Kings, two Queens, and two Valets, one of the last being on horseback. Each figure has a Baton, a Sword, or a piece of Money [as the mark of the suit]. The design is very like that of Jacobello del Fiore; but the work has the appearance of impression, and the colours seem to have been applied by means of a stencil. They are the most ancient specimens of their kind."[268]

As the names, Clubs and Spades, given to two of the suits in this country, by no means correspond with the marks by which they are distinguished,--to wit, the French _Trèfle_ and _Pique_--I am inclined to consider them as the old names for the suits of Bastoni and Spade; Clubs being merely a translation of Bastoni, and Spades probably a corruption of Spade, or Espadas,--Swords.[269] From these names, indeed, it may be fairly supposed that the cards first known in England were those having Swords, Clubs, Cups, and Money, as the marks of the suits; and that two of those suits retained their names when the old cards of Spanish or Italian type were superseded by those of more recent French design. There are also other circumstances which strengthen the conclusion, that cards, on their first introduction into England, as a popular game, were brought either from Spain or Italy; the character of the third coat card, the Knave, or Jack, is more in accordance with the Spanish Sota, or the Italian Fante, than with the French Valet, which, in the earliest French cards, always bears the name of some person of note, either in romance or history. The term Valet, at the time when it was first bestowed on the third coat card by the French, did not signify a "Gentleman's Gentleman" or a menial servant; but was more especially applied to young noblemen--the "Dilecti Regis"--holding appointments at court. The term Knave was never applied, like Valet, to signify a courtier, or person of distinction; it was used to signify a serving-man of low condition. It seems to be derived from the same root as the German _Knabe_, the primary meaning of which is a Boy, but which was also used, in the same way as the Latin _Puer_, to signify a servant. Subsequently the term Knave became obsolete in the sense of servant, and was exclusively applied to designate a dishonest person. The term Jack, another name for the Knave of cards, was in former times very frequently applied to a "serving-man of low degree," without any regard to the name which might have been given to him by his godfathers and godmothers.

Though Dr. Johnson, and most other English lexicographers, derive the term Jackanapes from Jack and Ape, and though this derivation seems to be supported by the meaning attached to the term by one of the earliest writers who makes use of it, yet "Jack-a-Naipes," that is, Jack of Cards, is at least as probable an etymology; and much more so than that of "Jack Cnapa," suggested by Sharon Turner, in his 'History of England,' from which the following passage is extracted.

"In the British Museum, Vesp. B, 16, is a ballad written at this time on the catastrophes of the Duke of Suffolk and his friends. (Temp. Henr. VI, May, 1450.) It treats these horrors with an exulting levity, which shows the barbarous unfeelingness of political rancour; but it is curious for giving the names of those friends of the government who were most hated by the people. They are the clerical statesmen who were employed either in the offices of government or on its embassies, and it shows how much the dominant church had, by these employments, become identified with the crown. It designates the Duke of Suffolk by the cant term of 'Jac Napes,' and is perhaps the earliest instance we have of the abusive application of the word Jackanapes. Our lexicographers derive this word from Jack and Ape; but the ballad shows, that Napes was a term of derision signifying a Knave; and must therefore be the Saxon Cnapa, which bore also this meaning. This will explain the reason why our third figured card is called Jack, and also Knave. The word Jackanapes therefore seems to be Jack Cnapa, and to mean Jack the Knave. In this sense it is applied to Suffolk; and as the Knave is next in power at cards to the King and Queen, the nickname may be used in the ballad with an allusion to Suffolk's being the prime minister of Henry and Margaret."[270]

The following are two of the stanzas of the ballad in which the term occurs:

"In the moneth of May, when grass grows grene,
Fragrant in her flowres with swete savour,
Jac Napes wold on the see, a maryner to ben,
With his clogi and his cheyn to seke more tresour.

"Swych a payn prikked him, he asked a confessour;
Nicholas said, I am redi the confessour to be;
He was holden so, that he ne passed that hour:
For Jac Napes saule, 'placebo et dirige.'"

Mr. Turner's remark, that "the ballad shows that Napes was a term of derision, signifying a Knave, and must therefore be the Saxon Cnapa," does not appear to be well founded; for if it were derived from Cnapa, and merely signified a Knave, or Cheat, it is difficult to conceive why it should be written Napes, and not Knave, or Knape, as required, according to Mr. Turner's etymology; besides, it is evident from the context, that, in the mind of the writer, the idea of a Jac Napes was associated with that of a monkey, or an ape, with his clog and his chain. That this was not the primary signification of the term, may be confidently asserted; and no writer who has derived it from Jack and Ape, has produced any authority to show that it originally meant a man who travelled about with apes or monkeys. In the following passage, from a tract printed about 1540,[271] the term "_Yack an napes_" evidently refers to a mummer or buffoon in a particoloured dress, like that of a knave of cards. The writer, after having noticed the assembling of the poor on holidays, at the "personis barne,"[272] and there committing "ydolatre in mayntenynge his ambision, pride, and bestly lyvinge," thus proceeds: "Nobyl statis were better to hunte the bull, here, hert, or ony othere thynge lyke to suckure the powre with the mette, then to here Sir Jhon Singyl Sowle stombel a payer of mattens in laten, slynge holy water, curse holy brede, and to play a caste lyke _yack an napes_ in a foles cotte." When John Bale, in his work entitled, 'Yet a Course at the Romish Foxe,' speaks of Jack-a-Naipes "swearing by his ten bones," it would seem that he in some manner or other associated the term with the Jack-a-Naipes, or Jack of Cards; for his ten bones can only be supposed to relate to the numerical value of the Jack of Naipes, as a coat card. In Bale's time a "card of ten" would appear to have been a general expression for a coat card, as well as for a card distinguished by that number of pips.

Fyrste pycke a quarell, and fall out with hym then,
And soo outface hym with a carde of ten.

_Skelton's Bowghe of Court._

From the following passage in Pulci's 'Morgante Maggiore,' it would seem that, in Italy, in the fifteenth century, the King of cards was occasionally referred to as the type of a presumptuous person:

"E com' e' giunse, gridava il gigante;
Tu se' quì, Re di Naibi, o di Scacchi,
Col mio bataglio convien ch'io t'ammachi."

"And when the two together came, the giant shouted out,
And here you are, my King of Cards, or e'en of Chess, pardie!
My club then with your shoulders must without delay make free."

In Scotland, about 1508, the Knave of cards was the representative of a forward impertinent person,--a very Jack-a-Naipes,--as is evident from the "Flyting of Dunbar and Kennedy," where the latter, among other bad names, calls the former "Valet of cards":

"Waik walidrag, and verlot of the cairtis."[273]

Even in modern times the Knave of Hearts has been referred to as the ideal of a presumptuous, thickset little man, as appears from the following passage which occurs in the second edition of Brockett's Glossary, 1829, under the word Purdy.

"PURDY, a little thickset fellow.--I owe this word," says Mr. Brockett, "to the communication of a clerical friend in the county of Durham, who first heard it at Barnard Castle. On ascertaining the meaning, the following dialogue took place.

_Q._ What does _Purdy_ mean?

_A._ A little _throstan-up_ thing like a _Jack at Warts_. [Jack o' 'Arts,--Jack of Hearts.]

_Q._ What's that?

_A._ Something like a _lime-burner_.

_Q._ What is a lime-burner?

_A._ Oh, nobbut a _Kendal stockener_.

_Q._ What is that?

_A._ A little thickset fellow."

If cards were actually known in Italy and Spain in the latter part of the fourteenth century, it is not unlikely that the game, as a common amusement, was introduced into this country by some of the English soldiers who had served under the banners of Hawkwood, and other Free Captains, in the wars of Italy and Spain, about the period in question. But, however this may be, it seems at least certain that the earliest cards commonly used in this country, were of the same kind, with respect to the marks of the suits, as those used in Italy and Spain.

The German cards of the fifteenth century, and even of a much later period, display more of fanciful embellishment than the cards of other countries; more especially in the numeral, or low cards; which, in addition to the "pips," or marks of the suits, frequently contain figures of men and women, quadrupeds, birds, foliage, and such like, introduced by way of ornament, at the caprice of the designer. These ornamental appendages are frequently of a grotesque character, and sometimes indecent. The two annexed figures are the second coat cards of the suits of Grün and Eicheln,--Leaves, and Acorns,--in a pack of German cards engraved on wood, of the date 1511. The figures are drawn with great freedom, and are much in the style of Lucas Cranach. On the Two of Acorns are the letters F.C.Z.; the F and the C being probably the initials of the designer, and the Z signifying that he made the drawings,--_zeichnet_. On the Two of Leaves are two shields suspended from a tree; the one displays two strait swords, in saltire; and the other the arms of the house of Saxony, the same as are frequently seen in wood engravings designed by Lucas Cranach. In a third shield at the bottom of the same card, are a pic-kaxe and mallet, in saltire, the same as in Dr. Stukeley's cards, and probably the mark of the card maker. Thirty-six cards of this pack, which appears to have originally consisted of fifty-two, are preserved in the Bibliothèque du Roi; and fac-similes of them are given in the 'Jeux de Cartes Tarots et de Cartes Numérales,' published by the Society of Bibliophiles Français, planches 92-95.

Specimens of a pack of cards designed by Erhard Schön, and engraved on wood, are given by Singer in his Researches. In this pack, the marks of the suits are Flowers, Pomegranates, Leaves, and Roses.[274] These cards are very inferior, both in design and execution, to those just described, of the date 1511. Erhard Schön flourished about 1530. About 1550, Virgil Solis engraved a pack of cards on copper, with Lions, Apes, Peacocks, and Parrots as the marks of the suits: they are noticed by Bartsch, in his 'Peintre-Graveur'; and six of the pack were recently in the possession of Messrs. Smith, of Lisle street.

The best of all the fanciful cards that appeared in Germany during the sixteenth century, are those engraved on wood from the designs of Jost Amman. They were published at Nuremberg in 1588, in a quarto volume, with illustrative verses, in Latin and German, composed by J. H. Schroter, the imperial poet-laureate.[275] From the following verses,--'Liber de Seipso,'--it would seem that those cards were not designed for the purposes of play:

"CHARTA mihi titulum tribuit LUSORIA; lusus
Et chartæ in pretio munera vulgus habet.
Sed nec ego laudes moror aut convicia vulgi;
Sit mihi sat claris posse placere viris.
"Hos rogo, ut a rerum quondam graviore vacantes
Cura, si chartis ludere forte velint,
Colludent nostris: sine rixis, vulnere, morte,
Ludenti quoniam lucra benigna dabunt."

In this set of cards, the marks of the suits are Books; Printers' inking balls; Wine-cups, of metal "formed by the skill of the goldsmith;" and Goblets, with bosses of glass or earthenware. Correct and beautifully executed specimens of those cards are given in Singer's 'Researches,' pp. 180-96.

The four annexed German cards, are the Sevens of the four suits: _Schellen_; _Herzen, oder Roth_; _Grün_; _Eicheln_,--Bells; Hearts, or Red; Green, or Leaves; and Acorns. They are copied from Breitkopf, and are of the seventeenth century. The four small ones given below are of the same period, and were probably intended for the amusement of children,--like the "pretty little cards for pretty little fingers," manufactured at the present day. The subjects are, the second Coat card and the Three of Leaves; the Four of Acorns; and the Six of Hearts.

As small bells were worn as ornaments by the emperors of Germany and the higher classes in the 12th and 13th centuries, Breitkopf is inclined to think that bells might have been introduced on cards as a distinctive mark of the class of kings and nobles; and that cards might even have been known in Germany at the period referred to. In corroboration of his opinion, he gives a plate, entitled "_Alte Deutsche Furst Schellen-tracht_,"--that is to say, Ancient German Princely Bell-costume,--containing four figures, all adorned with small bells. The first figure is that of the Princess Wulphilde, who was living in 1138; the second and third represent the Emperor Henry VI, who died in 1197; and the fourth is that of the Emperor Otho IV, who died in 1218.[276]--Breitkopf's conjecture is undeserving of remark: had he asserted that his old German emperors and princes were adorned with bells to indicate their rank and precedence, in the manner of leading packhorses, he would perhaps have been as near the truth.

The tinkle of the bell rouses the questing spirit of Mons. Leber, who pursues the inquiry with singular ardour and perseverance, though not with success. His researches, however, on the subject of bells, though throwing not a glimmer of light on the history of cards, are yet so amusing, that they are here given entire, notes and all. They also furnish an additional proof of the wide field afforded for speculation by the history of cards.

"After the _Fou_ of European Tarots, the Bells on Indian cards are another proof of the Oriental origin of the game. The use of bells in India, whether as a mark of distinction and greatness, or as a means of diversion, is of remote antiquity; while everything shows that they were not known to the ancient nations of Europe. The Baladins and female dancers of India have their legs decked with small bells, which they shake when dancing; and certain idols are decorated with the same ornament; girdles formed of bells are also worn by infants, without any other clothing; and sometimes a single bell supplies the place of the girdle. Herbert relates that 'as this bell contains a viper's tongue, it might be supposed to be annoying and disgraceful. It is, however, neither the one nor the other, for it is made an ornament, and it is esteemed one of their most superb, when given by the king to a person whom he wishes to honour.'[277]--We have already said that the use of bells for various purposes is of great antiquity; and a proof of this is furnished by the Pentateuch.[278] Bells appear to have passed from the Hebrews to the Arabs, and to have been with these two nations the same as we see them to have been in India, a sign of distinction and power, when not prostituted to the use of the Baladins. An English author, who has not been unmindful of the remarks of Calmet,[279] mentions, in the following terms, a kind of devotion paid to the bell among the Arabians: 'The Arabian courtesans, like the Indian women, have little _golden bells_ fastened round their legs, neck, and elbows, to the sound of which they dance before the king.--The Arabian princesses wear golden rings on their fingers, to which _little bells_ are suspended, as in the flowing tresses of their hair, that their superior rank may be known, and they themselves receive in passing the homage due to them.'[280]--Such are bells in the East: let us now see what they have been in Europe at different periods.

"The Emperor Henry IV, who died in 1197, and Wulphilde, the wife of Count Rodolph, living in 1138, are represented in ancient monuments in habits ornamented with bells similar to those which are seen on Tarots. It would seem that this singular ornament, which subsequently became the attribute of the buffoon, or professional jester, was then a mark of dignity in the West as well as in the East, and that it held a conspicuous place amongst the distinctive ornaments of the princes and nobles of Germany, from the eleventh to the thirteenth century.[281] Some English critics, however, have supposed that the bell indicated falconry,[282] a sport which the high nobility only had the privilege of indulging in; and it is certain that small bells were attached to the feet of trained falcons.[283] But the question is, did the bells stand for the falcon, and was the falcon, indeed, a mark of high nobility?

"What renders this conjecture probable is, that we find the use of the small bell [grelot] established in the West before the introduction of heraldic signs, and that we have no evidence of its having been known to the ancient Greeks and Romans.[284] As the bell was used in falconry by princes and nobles of the first class, it might thus become the emblem of the falcon, and, subsequently, that of the nobility to whom it was confined. The falcon, and things pertaining to falconry, were certainly among the marks of grandeur with which the sovereigns and barons of the middle ages loved to surround themselves in their formal displays, and which alone were sufficient, in the same manner as armorial bearings, to indicate the rank of the persons to whom they belonged. In the tapestry ascribed to Queen Matilda, Harold is seen travelling with his falcon on his fist; and the Count Guy de Ponthieu, who conducts him prisoner to Beaurain, carries also his bird in the same manner, although he, doubtless, had no thought of the chase.[285] Besides, sceptres are surmounted with three-branched _fleurons_, like those which form the ornament on the top of a falcon's hood.[286] We also see hawks and falcons on ancient tombs; and it is not unlikely that they were there placed as indications of rank before the introduction of armorial bearings. The same conventional distinctions were still in existence in much more recent times; for Anne de Montmorency made his entry into London as ambassador of Francis I, preceded by twenty-six gentlemen of the best houses of France, each bearing a falcon on his fist;[287] and even our kings themselves, on occasions of grand display, were preceded by their falconers fully equipped. Falconry was not known to the ancients; but it is certain that it was in use among the nations of the North before the conquest of the Gauls by the Franks. Sidonius Apollinaris commemorates the skill of a person named Vectius in the art of training dogs, horses, and birds of prey: "In equis, canibus, _accipitribus_ instituendis, spectandis, circumferendis, nulli secundus."[288]

"The question, however, would still be, 'if bells were used in falconry at so early a period?' and it may be presumed that they were not so used until long afterwards. German princes, as referred to by Breitkopf, are decorated with them as marks of high birth, on monuments from the eleventh to the thirteenth century. Now, it was just towards the close of the eleventh century, that the intercourse between Europeans and Orientals became more extended by means of the crusades; and the invention of heraldry is of the same period. Armorial bearings, which originated in over-sea expeditions and in tournaments, are not of higher antiquity than the eleventh century; their use became more frequent in the twelfth; and, in the thirteenth, we find them generally established.[289] From the concurrence of these circumstances, it may be concluded that bells of this kind were brought into Europe from the East, towards the end of the eleventh century; and, that on their first introduction, the German nobility adopted them as marks of distinction, either from the idea of grandeur attached to them by the people from whom they had them, or on account of the noble bird to whose use they had dedicated them; and that this mark of nobility fell into disuse when heraldry could supply its place by signs better adapted to gratify the pride of the great, on account of their indicating, at the same time, both rank and personal distinction. The Bayeux tapestry, already referred to as the work of Queen Matilda, seems to confirm this opinion. The conquest of England by William Duke of Normandy was achieved in 1066; and the tapestry representing it is supposed to be of the same century: and of this there could be no doubt, if it were true that the work was executed by the wife of William, and her attendants.[290] It may thus have been worked about twenty or thirty years before the first crusade, which was determined on at the council of Clermont, held by Urban II, in 1095. Now, the birds of chase which some of the persons in this tapestry carry on their fist, have no bells at their feet. We perceive there only the _jesses_, or leathern strings with tassels at the ends, which serve to retain the bird.[291] These jesses, without any appearance of bells, are easily to be distinguished in the compartment which contains the inscription, DUX WILLELM: CUM HARALDO: VENIT: AD PALATIN. If this be not evidence that bells of this kind were not then common in Europe, it is at least a proof that they were not then used in falconry, although this sport had been practised for several centuries."[292]

Mons. Leber calls both Spanish and German cards Tarots, even though they may contain no Atous; which yet appear to have been the very pieces which were more especially distinguished as Tarocchi or Tarots; and from the use of which, in combination with other cards, a particular kind of game was called Tarocchino, or Tarocchio. Thus, in consequence of his not sufficiently distinguishing between Spanish and German cards, he speaks of the marks which occur on them indiscriminately; and explains SWORDS and MONEY as if they belonged to the same pack which has one of its suits distinguished by Bells. His account of the marks on the French cards is to the following effect. "The _Cœur_ explains itself; it is a symbol of the most noble and generous sentiments, and more especially indicates courage, valour, and intrepidity, qualities the most brilliant in princes. The _Trèfle_ has its name from its resemblance to the plant so-called; though properly it is a Flower, or rather a _Fleuron_ with three branches, symbolical of the mysterious number Three, which, in ancient times, was regarded with religious veneration. This number being the first which contained in itself the principal characteristics of numbers,--namely, Unity and Plurality, Odd and Even,--became the symbol of a union of the most excellent virtues, such as Power, Wisdom, Love; and, by analogy, Sovereignty, Wisdom, Justice. It is this three-branched Fleuron which appears on the monuments of the French kings of the first and second race; but, in consequence of its being badly designed and worse understood, it became confounded with the heraldic Fleur-de-Lis, and is in fact now displaced by it. The _Carreau_ seems to have been better understood by the French than their neighbours, with whom this figure is a jewel, a precious stone, an ornamental article. The English take it for a diamond, and the Spaniards, for a jewel worn by ladies, or for the decoration of the toilet. Their error has doubtless arisen from the comparison which they made between the _Carreaux_ of cards and the figures of precious stones which they had before their eyes.[293] The diamonds and precious stones forming the ornaments of royal vestments, and of dresses of court ladies, have usually the form of carreaux, and are painted in vermilion, or in carmine in the manuscripts of the middle age; and this conventional form, having been adopted by heralds, was introduced into armorial bearings as the _macle_ and _lozenge_. The Carreaux of cards, however, have no connexion with diamonds and precious stones, any more than they have with the _quarrells_ or square-headed arrows of a crossbow. The Carreau, as well as each of the other marks of the suits, is a symbol, and not a rebus. All iconographers represent Fortune as standing, upon one foot, on a wheel or a ball, to signify her instability. The contrary idea was necessarily attached to the figure of a square or a cube, considered as a firm and immoveable base. It was for this reason that the ancients placed the figure of Wisdom and Firmness on a cube; and Aristotle speaks in the same sense when he informs us that a true philosopher ought to be square,--carré--that is to say, immoveable in courage and virtue. Heraldry has also admitted the square, placed lozenge-wise, as an emblem of Constancy and Firmness; and the Squares of cards, called Carreaux, can only be supposed to have the same signification. As to the _Pique_, there can be no doubt with respect to its meaning. It represents the head of a lance, and is thus an emblem of military force. The Germans, however, seem to have misconceived the character of this figure, which they converted into a Leaf,--_Grün_;[294]--but this mistake, or rather this difference, may be ascribed to the imperfection of the painting in ancient cards; and more especially to the coarseness of the first essays of wood-engraving, in which it was almost impossible to distinguish the figure of a leaf from that of a pike-head. On comparing the earliest German cards with shields of arms, of the same period, and with old wood-engravings which contain trees, it will be immediately seen how easy it was to confound the two forms. There is no difference between the Piques of cards and the leaves of the tree on the right of the woodcut of St. Christopher of the date 1423; and the _Crequier_[295] of heraldry is precisely the same as the seven of Pique[296] in German cards of the fifteenth century. But whatever may have been the cause of this anomaly, it is generally admitted that the Pique in French cards is the figure of a weapon; and it can scarcely be doubted that it was the equivalent of the Sword in the Tarots. In this respect the Spanish and Italian nomenclature is in perfect accordance with our own. In the southern parts of Europe the French _Pique_ is _La Picca_ or _La Spada_."

Thus, according to Mons. Leber, the four suits of French cards have the following signification: CŒUR, valour, greatness of soul; TRÈFLE, wisdom and justice united with power; CARREAU, firmness, stability, constancy; PIQUE, physical force, or the power of the military. The suits, again, may be considered as representing four monarchies, or political societies; namely, CŒURS, governed by a generous and courageous prince; TRÈFLES, by a sovereign just, wise, and powerful; CARREAUX, by a king consistent in principle, and decided in action; and PIQUES, by a warlike prince, who owes his power to his arms.

Though Mons. Leber has freely censured Daniel for writing on the subject of cards chiefly from books, without referring to cards themselves, he is yet exceedingly prone to follow Daniel's example; and though his explanation of the symbolical meaning of cards be less extravagant than the latter's account of the origin and signification of the game of Piquet, it can scarcely be called more reasonable; since both writers interpret the marks on the cards according to their own conceit. The one informs us that the Trèfle signifies that a general ought only to encamp in a place which affords plenty of fodder for his cavalry; and the other says that the Carreau, which, as it stands, in the cards, seems the very emblem of instability, signifies firmness, stability, constancy; an interpretation which seems to rest chiefly on the ingenious hypothesis of the Carreau being an emblem of the cube.

The variations which occur on cards from the commencement of the sixteenth century, either as regards the marks of the suits or the names of the coat cards, throw no light on their origin; as such variations have evidently been introduced merely at the caprice of the card-maker in accordance with the prevalent taste of the period. In a pack of French cards, engraved by Vincent Goyraud, in the time of Henry IV, all the coat cards appear in the costume of the period; though the Kings and Valets still display in their dress that variety of colour which is to be seen on cards of an earlier period, but which, at that time, appears to have been out of fashion. Such cards would appear to have been in common use in England in the early part of the reign of James I. In Rowland's 'Knave of Hearts,' first printed in 1612, the Knave, in his supplication to the card-makers, complains of the pie-bald suits which he and his fellows are compelled to wear.[297] In the pack referred to the names and designations of the Coat cards are as follows:

Suits. CŒUR. CARREAU. TRÈFLE.
Kings. _Salomon._ _Auguste._ _Clovis._
Queens. _Elizabeth._ _Dido._ _Clotilde._
Valets. _Valet de Court._ _Valet de Chasse._ _Valet d'Eté._

Suits. PIQUE.
Kings. _Constantine._
Queens. _Pantalisee._
Valets. _Valet de Noblesse._

The Valet de Court has his hat under his arm; the Valet de Chasse holds a dog in a leash; the Valet d'Eté carries a large flower; and the Valet de Noblesse bears a hawk on his fist. The mark of the card-maker appears on two of the Valets, namely, on the Valet of Cœur, and on the Valet of Pique. A pack of those cards is preserved in the Bibliothèque du Roi; and fac-similes of the Kings, Queens, and Valets, in their proper colours, are given in the 'Jeux de Cartes Tarots et de Cartes Numérales,' published by the Society of Bibliophiles Français. From those fac-similes the outlines of the four Valets here given have been copied.

In the same work are given fac-similes of coat cards executed in the reign of Louis XIII, and displaying the costume of that period. The names given to the Kings, Queens and Valets on those cards are: _Cœur_, Alexandre, Pentasilee [Penthesilea], Roland. _Carreau_, Cirus Major, Roxane, Renault. _Trèfle_, Ninus, Semiramis; the name of the Valet wanting.[298] _Pique_, Jule Cæsar, Pompeia, Roger. Each of the Aces is surrounded with an ornamental bordering; and at the foot is an inscription, which, when read consecutively, through all the four, is as follows: "_Vive le Roy_ | _Vive la Reyne_ | _J'ayme l'Amour_ | _Et la Court_."

Some of the specimens of Portuguese cards given in the 'Jeux de Cartes Tarots et de Cartes Numérales' have very much the appearance of having been originally suggested by, if not copied from, an Oriental type; more especially in the suits of Danari and Bastoni,--Money and Clubs. In those cards the circular figure, generally understood as representing Danari, or Money, is certainly much more like the _Chakra_, or quoit of Vichnou, as seen in Hindostanee drawings, than a piece of coin; while on the top of the Club there is a diamond proper, which is another of the attributes of the same deity. The dragon seen on each of the Aces is perfectly Oriental in character; and the shields which appear on the Kings and Queens are very much like those which are to be seen in Hindostanee drawings. The coat cards in this pack are King, Queen, and Horseman; and the suits are Coppe, Danari, Bastoni, and Spade--Cups, Money, Clubs proper, and Swords. The Queen, which here appears as the second coat card, is of unusual occurrence in cards of this kind, and more especially in such as are of Spanish or Portuguese manufacture.[299] In two of the suits,--Clubs and Swords,--the Queen appears in the act of encountering a dragon. The coat cards and aces have letters both at top and bottom, indicating the suit, and the rank or name of the card. Specimens of those cards, which appear to have been executed in 1693, are preserved in the Bibliothèque du Roi. The four annexed cuts show the outlines of the four Valets. The letters CC, CD, CB, CS, signify respectively the Caballo, or Chevalier of Coppe, Danari, Bastoni, and Spade.

The most remarkable changes that cards have undergone, with respect to the characters displayed on them, are to be found in certain packs manufactured at Paris in the time of the Revolution. Specimens of the coat cards of two of those packs engraved by Chossonnerie and Gayant, in 1793-4, are given in the 'Jeux de Cartes Tarots et de Cartes Numérales.' In one of them the places of the Kings are occupied by four Philosophers, namely, Molière, La Fontaine, Voltaire, and J. J. Rousseau; the Queens are substituted by the four Virtues, Prudence, Justice, Temperance, and Fortitude; while the Valets are superseded by four Republicans, one of whom is a grim-looking ruffian, with a red cap on, and his shirt-sleeves turned up, brandishing a pike; the second is a soldier armed with a musket; the third an artilleryman; and the fourth a young man, in fancy costume, armed with a musket. In the other pack, four Sages, Solon, M. P. Cato, J. J. Rousseau, and J. J. Brutus, serve instead of Kings; four Virtues, as in the other pack, represent the Queens; though with this difference, that Temperance is displaced by Union; while four "Braves,"--Annibal, Horatius, P. Decius Mus, and M. Scævola, supply the place of Valets.

Another pack of Republican cards of the same period is thus described by Peignot, in his 'Analyse de Recherches sur les Cartes à jouer.'

"For Kings we have _Genii_; for Queens, _Liberties_; and for Valets, _Equalities_. In place of the King of Hearts there is the Genius of War,--'GÉNIE DE LA GUERRE.' This Genius, which is winged, is seated on the breech of a cannon; he holds in the right hand a sword and a wreath of laurel, and in the left, a shield, round which is the inscription, '_Pour la République Française_.' On the right, read vertically from the top, is the word '_Force_.' At the feet of the Genius are a bomb, a lighted match, and a heap of bullets. At the bottom of the card is the inscription, '_Par brevet d'invention. Naume et Dugouec, au Génie de la Rép. franç._'

"For the Queen of Hearts: 'LIBERTÉ DES CULTES,'--Religious Liberty. This is a female seated, very badly draped, and with her legs bare. She holds a pike surmounted with a red cap; and on a bannerol attached to the pike are the words '_Dieu seul_.' Towards her feet are seen three volumes, inscribed '_Thalmud_,' '_Coran_,' and '_Evangile_.' The vertical inscription is, '_Fraternité_.'

"Knave of Hearts: 'ÉGALITÉ DES DEVOIRS,'--Equality of Duties. This is a soldier seated on a drum, with his musket between his knees. In his left hand he holds a paper containing the words, '_Pour la patrie_.' The vertical inscription is '_Sécurité_.'

"King of Spades: 'GÉNIE DES ARTS,'--the Genius of Arts. The figure of Apollo with a red cap on his head; in one hand he holds the Belvedere statue of himself, and in the other a lyre. The vertical inscription: '_Goût_.' At the bottom, emblems of painting, sculpture, and such like.

"Queen of Spades: 'LIBERTÉ DE LA PRESSE,'--Liberty of the Press. A female figure with a pen in one hand, and with the other sustaining a desk, on which lies a roll of paper partly unfolded, and displaying the words '_Morale_, _Religion_, _Philosophie_, _Physique_, _Politique_, _Histoire_.' At the bottom, masks, rolls of manuscript, and such like.

"Knave of Spades: 'EGALITÉ DE RANGS,'--Equality of Ranks. The figure of a man whose costume accords rather with that of a '_Septembriseur_' than with that of a mere '_Sans-culotte_' of the period. He wears sabots, and has a red cap on his head. He has no coat on, and his shirt-sleeves are tucked up to the elbows. His small-clothes are loose at the knees, and his legs are bare. He is seated on a large stone, on which is inscribed: '_Démolition de la Bastille_. _10 Août, 1792_.' Under his feet is a scroll inscribed '_Noblesse_,' and displaying shields of arms. The vertical inscription is '_Puissance_.'

"King of Clubs: 'GÉNIE DE LA PAIX,'--Genius of Peace. In his right hand he holds the '_Fasces_' and an olive branch, and in the left a scroll containing the word '_Lois_.' The vertical inscription is '_Prospérité_.'

"Queen of Clubs: 'LIBERTÉ DU MARIAGE,'--Liberty of Marriage. The figure of a female holding a pike surmounted with the red cap; and on a scroll attached to the pike is the word '_Divorce_.' The vertical inscription is '_Pudeur_.' On a pedestal is a statue of the crouching Venus entirely naked,--without doubt intended for the emblem of Modesty.

"Knave of Clubs: 'EGALITÉ DE DROITS,'--Equality of Rights. A judge in tricolor costume, holding in one hand a pair of scales, and in the other a scroll containing the inscription '_La loi pour tous_.' He is trampling on a serpent or dragon, the tortuous folds of which represent legal chicanery. The vertical inscription is '_Justice_.'

"King of Diamonds: 'GÉNIE DU COMMERCE,'--the Genius of Commerce. He is seated on a large bale, which contains the inscription '_P. B. d'inv. J. D. à Paris_.' In one hand he holds a purse, and in the other a caduceus and an olive-branch. The vertical inscription is '_Richesse_.' At the bottom are an anchor, the prow of a ship, a portfolio, and such like.

"Queen of Diamonds: 'LIBERTÉ DES PROFESSIONS,'--Liberty of Professions and Trades. A female figure who, in the same manner as the other three Liberties, holds a pike surmounted with the red cap. With the other hand she holds a cornucopiæ and a scroll containing the word '_Patentes_.' The vertical inscription is '_Industrie_.'

"Knave of Diamonds: 'EGALITÉ DE COULEURS,'--Equality of Colours. The figure of a Negro, seated, and leaning upon a musket. Below is the word '_Café_.' Near to him are a sugar-loaf, a broken yoke, fetters, iron collars for the neck, and such like. The vertical inscription is '_Courage_.'

"Such are the coat cards of this Republican pack. The numeral cards are the same as the old ones, with the exception of the Aces, which are surrounded by four fasces placed lozenge-wise, with these words: '_La Loi. Rép. Franç._;' the whole coloured blue. It is scarcely necessary to say that those ridiculous cards had not even a momentary vogue."[300]

The coat cards of a Republican pack, of recent American manufacture, have been forwarded to me by a friend, resident at New York. From the name of the maker,--R. SAUZADE,--which occurs on the Ace of Spades, I am inclined to think that their invention is to be ascribed rather to a Frenchman than to an American. For the Kings we have: _Hearts_, WASHINGTON; _Diamonds_, JOHN ADAMS, the second President of the United States; _Clubs_, FRANKLIN; _Spades_, LA FAYETTE. For the Queens: _Hearts_, VENUS,--modestly concealing her charms with a mantle, in accordance with American notions of delicacy. _Diamonds_, FORTUNE; _Clubs_, CERES; _Spades_, MINERVA. The Knaves are represented by Four Indian chiefs. The figures appear to be engraved on copper, and are coloured. The marks of the suits are the same as those on the cards in common use in England. Those cards, I am informed, are held in no estimation by the card-players of America, who continue to prefer those of the old pattern.--The chief town in America for the manufacture of cards is Boston; whose discreet, meeting-going people seem to have no objection to make a profit by supplying the profane with the instruments of perdition.

No cards of an "instructive" character have ever obtained popularity amongst regular card-players; for when people sit down to play at cards they do not like to have their attention withdrawn from the game by the historical or biographical reminiscences suggested by Coat cards, either containing portraits of distinguished characters, or commemorating remarkable events; and least of all can they bear that the heads of a sermon or moral lecture should be presented to them in the shape of the four cardinal virtues; which are just as appropriate in a pack of cards as they would be on the proscenium of her Majesty's Theatre.

The best of the costume cards that I have seen are those designed by Armand Houbigant, a French artist, who named them "Cartes Royales," and obtained from Louis XVIII, a license to manufacture them for general use, in 1818. They did not, however, acquire any vogue, and are now seldom to be met with, except in the collections of amateurs of prints. The coat cards, which are etched, and delicately coloured by hand, display the costume of the French Court at four different periods. The characters represented are as follows.

_Spades._ King, CHARLEMAGNE, "Carolus Magnus;" crowned, and seated on a throne, with a globe in the right hand, and a long sceptre in the left.--Queen, HILDEGARDE, second wife of Charlemagne; erect, crowned, and holding a book in her hands.--Knave, ROLAND, described in romances as the nephew of Charlemagne; and said to have been killed at the battle of Roncevalles in 778; holding a spear and shield, and clothed in armour, which appears rather to belong to the sixteenth century than to the time of Charlemagne.

_Diamonds._ King, Louis IX, "Sainct Loys;" crowned, seated on a throne, wearing a blue robe powdered with fleurs-de-lis, and having a sceptre in his left hand.--Queen, BLANCHE DE CASTILLE, wife of Louis VIII, and mother of St. Louis; erect, crowned, and holding a rosary in her right hand.--Knave, SIRE DE JOINVILLE, the biographer of Louis IX, and one of the nobles of his court; clothed in chain-mail, over which is a surcoat of arms.

_Clubs._ King, FRANCIS I; seated, wearing the broad bonnet in which he is usually represented, and holding a sceptre.--Queen, MARGUERITE DE VALOIS, Queen of Navarre, sister of Francis I; erect, holding a rose in her right hand.--Knave, BAYARD; in plate-armour, leaning on a kind of pedestal on which is inscribed "_Sans peur, sans reproche_."

_Hearts._ King, HENRY IV; seated, holding a sceptre, and wearing the characteristic hat and feather which, in modern times, are designated by his name.--Queen, JEANNE D'ALBRET, mother of Henry IV; erect, holding a fan in her right hand.--Knave, SULLY; bald and bearded, as he is usually represented in engravings, holding in his right hand a paper inscribed "_Economie Roy_.[301] ..."