Chapter I: Of the Origin and Name of Cards (2)

On every one of the common cards there is also depicted, in addition to the mark of their respective suits, something like a slender leaf, tapering upwards, but with the top curving down. Of this pack of cards I have nothing further to observe here than that if they are even a hundred years old, they must have been preserved with great care; and that I am inclined to think that the Bramin, who gave them to Capt. Smith, had over-rated their antiquity and rarity in order to enhance the value of his present.

In a second pack, consisting, like the preceding, of eight suits of twelve cards each, the King appears seated on a throne; while the Vizier, as in the former, is on horseback, except in three of the suits where he appears mounted on an elephant, a single-humped camel, and a bull. Though there be a difference between this pack and the former, in the marks of some of the suits, there can be no doubt that the same game might be played with each. In the pack now under consideration the backs of all the cards are red. The following are the colours of the ground and the marks of the several suits.

COLOURS. MARKS.

1. YELLOW Apparently a flower.
2. BLACK A red spot, with a white centre.
3. RED A "tulwar," or sword.
4. RED Man's head and shoulders.
5. BROWN (Unintelligible.)
6. GREEN A circular spot.
7. GREEN A parallelogram (longest side vertical)
8. YELLOW An oval.

The third pack of Hindostanee cards in the possession of the Royal Asiatic Society, to whom it was presented by the late Sir John Malcolm, is much more curious and interesting than either of the other two previously noticed. It consists of _ten_ suits, of twelve cards each; and the marks of the suits are the emblems of the ten Avatars, or incarnations of Vichnou, one of the three principal divinities in the religious system of the Hindoos. The King is represented by Vichnou, seated on a throne, and in one or two instances accompanied by a female; and the Vizier, as in most of the suits of the other two packs, is mounted on a white horse. In every suit two attendants appear waiting on the second as well as on the principal "honour." The backs of all the cards in this pack are red; and the colours of the ground and marks of the several suits are as follows:--[48]

COLOURS. MARKS.

1. RED A fish.
2. YELLOW A tortoise.
3. GOLD A boar.
4. GREEN A lion.
5. BROWNISH GREEN A man's head.
6. RED An axe.
7. BROWNISH GREEN An ape.
8. PUCE A goat or antelope.
9. BRICK RED A cattashal or umbrella.
10. GREEN A white horse, saddled and bridled.

The following description of the ten Avatars, or incarnations, of Vichnou, as represented in a series of drawings,[49] will explain the meaning of nearly every one of the marks of the ten suits of cards. The only suits which do not exactly correspond with the Avatars, as represented in the drawings, are those numbered 8 and 9, the emblems of which are a goat and an umbrella. It is, however, to be observed that Hindoo authors do not agree in their accounts of the different Avatars of Vichnou, though they generally concur in representing them as ten in number, that is, nine passed and one to come. It is also possible that the goat--which appears couchant as if giving suck--and the umbrella, which in the east is frequently the sign of regal dignity, may be symbolical of the eighth and ninth Avatars in the description of the drawings. Though the Bramin Dwarf, in the fifth Avatar of the drawings, carries an umbrella, there can scarcely be a doubt that the Man's head, in No. 5 of the cards, is the symbol of this Avatar.

THE TEN AVATARS OF VICHNOU.

1. MATSYAVATARA. The first Avatar of Vichnou, as a Fish; represented as the body of a man with the tail of a fish. The human part is coloured blue; the rest is white. In two of his four hands he holds the _Chakra_, or _Soudarsana_, which here appears something like a quoit with rays proceeding from it.[50] In the palm of another of his hands the diamond--carré mystique--is displayed. According to the Bhagavat Purana, the precious stone or diamond called _Castrala_, is a sort of talisman which illuminates all things, and in which all things are reflected. It is the perfect mirror of the world, and Vichnou generally wears it on his breast, or holds it in the palm of that hand which is raised in the act of benediction.

2. KOURMAVATARA. The second Avatar, as a Tortoise; the upper part of the figure, man, the lower, tortoise. The _Chakra_ appears poised on the fingers of one of the hands.

3. VARAHAVATARA. The third Avatar of Vichnou, as a _Verrat_, or wild boar, to destroy the giant Hiranyakcha. Vichnou appears with the head of a boar, but with the body and limbs of a man. In the cards, the head of the boar is blue.

4. NARASINHAVATARA. The fourth Avatar of Vichnou, as a Lion, to destroy the giant Hiranycasyapa. Vichnou appears with a lion's head, but with a human body, holding the _Chakra_ in one of his hands.

5. VAMANAVATARA. The fifth Avatar of Vichnou, as a Bramin Dwarf, to avenge the gods on the giant Bali. In one hand he holds a kind of narrow-necked pot, with a spout to it, and in another a _cattashal_, or umbrella.

6. PARASOU-RAMA. The sixth Avatar of Vichnou, as a Bramin, armed with an axe, to chastise kings and warriors. The colour of the figure is green, and in one of his hands he holds either a flower, or a kind of leaf.

7. SRI-RAMA, or RAMA-ICHANDRA. The seventh Avatar of Vichnou, in the family of the Kings of the race of the Sun, to avenge the gods and men of the tyranny of Ravana, King of Lanka or Ceylon. The figure of Vichnou in this Avatar, is blue or green; and he is seated on a couch or throne with his wife Sita beside him, while monkeys appear offering him adoration. In the cards, the colour of Vichnou is blue, and a female shares his throne, which is very much like a font or shallow bath. Monkeys also appear before him.

8. CHRISHNA. The Eighth Avatar of Vichnou, as an Infant suckled by his mother Devaki. Rays of glory surround the heads of the mother and child.

9. BOUDDHA, the SON of MAYA. The ninth Avatar of Vichnou, who appears richly dressed, seated in an attitude of meditation on a throne, the back of which is of a shell-like form--"espèce de conque"--and is adorned with Lotus flowers.

10. CALKI-AVATARA. The tenth, and future Avatar of Vichnou, as a Horse, or Man-horse, armed with sword and buckler, to destroy the world at the end of the present age. The figure has a human body, and a horse's head.

As there are different accounts of the incarnations of Vichnou, as has been previously observed, the following is given with the view of throwing a little more light on the subject: "Vichnou, the second person in the Hindoo trinity, is said to have undergone nine successive incarnations to deliver mankind from so many perilous situations. The first, they say, was in the form of a lion; the second of a hog; the third a tortoise; the fourth a serpent; the fifth that of a Bramin (a dwarf, a foot and a half high); the sixth a monster, namely, half man half lion; the seventh a dragon; the eighth a man born of a virgin; and the ninth an ape. Bernier adds a tenth, which is to be that of a great cavalier. (Voyage, vol. ii, p. 142.) A very particular and a very different account of these transformations is given by Mr. Sonnerat (Voyages, vol. i, p. 158), with curious representation of each of them."[51] In this account we have both a lion, and a man-lion, which are probably symbols of the same Avatar; and a dragon and a serpent, also probably symbols of the same thing, though neither of them occur in the cards, nor in the description of the drawings.

I shall now present the reader with a description of another pack of Hindostanee cards, and of the game played with them: it forms an article entitled 'Hindostanee Cards,' in the second volume of the Calcutta Magazine, 1815; and is accompanied with two plates, fac-similes of which are here given.

"The words _Gunjeefu_ and _Tas_ are used in Hindostanee to denote either the game, or a pack of cards. I have in vain searched the 'Asiatic Researches,' 'Asiatic Annual Register,' Sir William Ouseley's 'Oriental Collections,' and the 'Oriental Repertory,' by Dalrymple, for some account or description of the mode of playing the cards in use among the natives of Hindostan; and further, from the total silence of the French and English Encyclopædias, conclude that they have never engaged the attention of any inquirer. A description of the gunjeefu, or cards, used by the Moslems, may therefore be acceptable to our readers.

"In the 'Dictionary, Hindostanee and English,' edited by the late Dr. Hunter, the names of the eight suits are to be found under the word _Taj_, the name of the first suit.

"The pack is composed of ninety-six cards, divided into eight suits. In each suit are two court cards, the King, and the Wuzeer. The common cards, like those of Europe, bear the spots from which the suits are named, and are ten in number.

"Four suits are named superior,[52] and four the inferior[53] suits.

SUPERIOR SUITS. INFERIOR SUITS.

Taj.[54] Chung.
Soofed. Soorkh.
Shumsher. Burat.
Gholam. Quimash.

"Plate I represents the [honours of the] four superior suits, called _Beshbur_; and Plate II, the inferior, _Kumbur_. The kings are easily distinguished, and are here numbered from 1 to 8.

"In the superior suits, the ten follows next in value to the king and wuzeer; and the ace is the lowest card. In the inferior suits, the ace has precedence immediately after the wuzeer, then the deuce, and others in succession, the ten being of least value.

"The game is played by three or six persons: when six play, three take the superior, and three the inferior suits. The pack being divided into parcels after the cards are well mixed, the players cut for the deal; and he who cuts the highest card deals.[55] When three play, the cards are dealt by fours. In the first and last round the cards are exposed, and thus eight cards of each person's hand are known to the adversaries. The cards are dealt from _right_ to _left_, the reverse of the European mode.

"THE LEAD. When the game is played by _day_, he who holds the red king, (_Soorkh_, the sun,) must lead that and any small card. Should he play the king alone, it is seized by the next player. The adversaries throw down each _two_ common cards, and the trick is taken up. When the game is played by _night_, the white king, (_Soofed_, the moon,) is led in like manner. The cards are then played out at the option of him who leads, the adversaries throwing away their small cards, and no attention is paid to the following suit, unless when one of the adversaries, having a superior card of the suit led, chooses to play it to gain the trick.

"In order to guard a second-rate card which may enable you hereafter to recover the lead, it is customary to throw down a small one of that suit, and call the card you are desirous to have played. With this call the adversaries must comply. As in Whist, when the person who has the lead holds none but winning cards, they are thrown down. After the cards have been all played, the parties shuffle their tricks, and the last winner, drawing a card, challenges one of his adversaries to draw out any card from the heap before him, naming it the fourth or fifth, &c. from the top or bottom. The winner of this trick in like manner challenges his right-hand adversary. The number of cards in the possession of each party is then counted, and those who have fewest are obliged to purchase from an adversary to make up their deficiency of complement. The greatest winner at the end of four rounds has the game.

"The following terms used in the game may be acceptable to those who desire to understand it when played by natives: I think they unequivocally prove that _Gunjeefu_ is of Persian or Arabian origin.

"Zubur-dust, the right-hand player.
Zer-dust, the left-hand player.
Zurb, a trick.
Ser, a challenge.
Ser-k'hel, the challenging game.
Ekloo, a sequence of three cards.
Khurch, the card played to one led; not a winning card.
K´hel java, to lay down the winning card at the end of a deal.
Chor, the cards won at the end of a deal; the sweep.
Ghulutee, a misdeal.
Wuruq, a card.
Durhum-kurna, to shuffle.
Wuruq-turashna, to cut the cards.

"From my observation of the game when played, I do not think it sufficiently interesting to cause its being preferred by Europeans to the cards in vogue in Europe. The number of the suits are too great, and the inconvenient form of the cards (the size and shape of which are represented by the plates[56]) are great objections. The Hindoostanee cards are made of paper, well varnished; the figures appropriately painted, and the ground and backs of every suit of one colour. The Slave standing before the King in No. 3, is the figure used as the spot or crest on all the common cards of that suit.... The tradition regarding the origin of the Hindoostanee cards is, that they were invented by a favorite _sultana_, or queen, to wean her husband from a bad habit he had acquired of pulling or eradicating his beard."

With respect to the word _Gunjeefu_, which, according to the preceding account, appears to be a general name for cards, I am informed that it is of Persian origin, and that it signifies both a pack of cards and the game. In Bengal, cards are more generally known by the name of _Tas_, which is a Hindoo word, than that by _Gunjeefu_, or _Gangēefah_, as it is otherwise written. From the reference, in the preceding account, to the 'Dictionary, Hindoostanee and English,' edited by the late Dr. Hunter,[57] I am inclined to think that _Taj_ and _Tas_ have the same signification, with reference to cards; and that the only difference between them consists in the pronunciation and mode of spelling. Now, the word _Taj_ is said to signify a crown; but if it be also used figuratively for a king, the wearer of a crown--just as "crown" is figuratively used to signify empire or regal power--the Hindoo name for cards would be synonymous with "Kings." That cards were known in England by the name of the "Four Kings" has been already shown; and if my speculations on the terms _Chartæ_ and _Naipes_ be correct, it was by a name originally signifying four kings, or four viceroys, that cards were first known in Europe.

With regard to the game described in the preceding account, it appears to bear some resemblance to that which the French call "l'Ombre à trois,"--three-handed Ombre.[58] In both games the suits appear to be considered as ranged in two divisions: in the Hindostanee game, as the Red and the White; and in the European, as the Red and the Black. In the Hindostanee game there are eight suits, and six or three players; and when three play, the cards are dealt by fours. In the European game of four suits and forty cards--the tens, nines, and eights being omitted--there are three players, and the cards are dealt by threes. A person who can play at Ombre will scarcely fail to perceive several other points of similarity between the two games. From the terms used in the game of Ombre--Spadillo, Basto, Matador, Punto, &c.--there can scarcely be a doubt that the other nations of Western Europe derived their knowledge of it from the Spaniards. The Hon. Daines Barrington, in his 'Observations on the Antiquity of Card Playing in England,' derives the names of the game from the Spanish, "hombre," a man; and there is reason to believe that it was one of the oldest games at cards played at in Europe. If the game of cards were introduced into Europe by the Arabs, it is in Spain that we might first expect to find them. Pietro della Valle, in his Travels in the East, between 1614 and 1626, speaks of the people playing at cards, though differing from ours in the figures and number of suits; and Niebuhr, in his Travels, also speaks of the Arabians playing at cards, and says that the game is called Lab-el-Kammer.[59] It is, however, to be observed, that the game of cards is not once mentioned in the Arabian Nights; and from this silence it may be concluded that at the time when those tales were compiled card-playing was not a popular pastime in Arabia. The compilation, it is believed, is not earlier than about the end of the fifteenth century, though many of the tales are of a much higher antiquity.

Leaving out of consideration the pack of ten suits, with the emblems of the ten incarnations of Vichnou, as being of a mythological character, and probably not in common use for the purposes of gaming, it is evident from the other three packs, of eight suits each, that the cards known in Hindostan are not uniform in the marks of the different suits, though it is obvious that any game,--depending on sequences and the conventional value of the several cards,--which can be played with one of the packs, may be also played with either of the other two. The difference in the marks is, indeed, much less than is to be observed in old French, Spanish, and German cards, which present so many differences as to render it impossible to derive them from one original type. The mere mark or emblem, whatever it might originally signify, appears to have had no specific meaning or value, beyond what might be assigned to it by the conventional rules of the game; whether it were a sword or a chalice, a club or a piece of money, a heart or a diamond, a green leaf or a hawk's bell, in playing and counting the game, it was a "pip," and nothing more.

Whether the two packs of eight suits each, in the possession of the Royal Asiatic Society, are considered by the natives of Hindostan as consisting of two divisions of four suits each, as in the pack described in the extract from the 'Calcutta Magazine,' I have not been able to ascertain. In all the three packs the sword is to be found as the mark of one of the suits; and the _soofed_ and _soorkh_ of the one pack--silver coin and gold coin, figuratively the moon and the sun--I consider to be represented by the circular marks in the other two; and the oval in these is not unlike the mark of the suit named _Quimash_--merchandise--in the former. The mark of the suit _Burat_, see Plate II, No. 7--which is said to mean a royal diploma or assignment, corresponds very nearly with a parallelogram containing dots, as if meant for writing, in the pack formerly belonging to Capt. D. Cromline Smith; but though a parallelogram--crossed by two lines, and with the longest side vertical--also occurs in the other pack, its agreement with the _Burat_ is by no means so apparent. The marks of the suits _Taj_, a Crown, and _Chung_, a Harp.[60] (see Plate I, fig. 1, and Plate II, fig. 5,) I am unable to recognise, either by name or figure, in the other two packs; though I am inclined to think that, in one of them, the place of the _Taj_ is supplied by a kind of fruit, and in the other by a flower. It will be observed that, in the plate, the mark of the suit called _Chung_, a harp, is a bird. In the other two packs, the suits which I consider to be the substitutes of the _Chung_ have a mark which I have not been able to make out; but in one of them the Vizier, as in the _Chung_, is mounted on a single-humped camel. In the suit called _Gholam_, a slave--Plate I, fig. 4--I cannot make out what is intended for the mark,--whether the _Mahut_, who appears guiding the elephant, or the kind of mace carried by the Vizier; whatever may be the mark, I consider the suit to be represented by that with a white ground in Capt. D. C. Smith's cards, the mark of which is a grotesque head, as in both suits the Vizier is mounted on a bull. The corresponding suit in the other pack I conceive to be the one which has for its mark a man's head.

With respect to the marks of the several suits, in the different packs of Hindostanee cards, previously described,--what objects they graphically represent, what they might have been intended to signify by the person who devised them, and what allegorical meanings may have assigned to them by others,--much might be said; and a writer of quick imagination, and hieroglyphic wit, like Court de Gebelin, might readily find in them not only a summary of all the knowledge of the Hindoos--theological, moral, political, and scientific--but also a great deal more than they either knew or dreamt of. As I feel my inability to perform such a task, or rather to enjoy such pleasures of imagination; and as the present work does not afford space for so wide a discursus, I shall confine my observations to such marks as appear to have, both in their form and meaning, the greatest affinity with the marks to be found on early European cards. The marks in the pack consisting of ten suits, representing the incarnations of Vichnou, I shall only incidentally refer to, as I am of opinion that those cards are not such as either are or were generally used for the purposes of gaming, but are to be classed with those emblematic cards which have, at different periods, been devised in Europe for the purpose of insinuating knowledge into the minds of ingenious youth by way of pastime.

In referring to any of the marks to be found in the three eight-suit packs of Hindostanee cards, which appear to be intended for the purposes of play only, it seems unnecessary to specify the particular pack to which they belong, as my object is merely to call attention to the apparent agreement between some of the marks of Hindostanee cards, and those which are either known to have been the marks of the earliest European cards, or are to be found on such old cards as are still preserved in public libraries, or in the collections of individuals.

In the early European cards, which have cups, swords, pieces of money, and clubs or maces for the marks of the four suits,[61] the sword and piece of money of the Hindostanee cards are readily identified; and if we are to suppose that in these cards certain emblems of Vichnou were formerly represented--but which are not to be found either on the ordinary Playing Cards, or on those displaying the ten incarnations of Vichnou--it would not be difficult to account for the cups, and clubs or maces; for, according to Dr. Frederick Creutzer,[62] the mace or war club is frequently to be seen in one of the hands of Vichnou; and Count von Hammer-Purgstal remarks, that "the sword, the club, and the cup, are frequent emblems in the Eastern Ritual."[63] As the marks in European suits, cups, or chalices, swords, money, and clubs, have been supposed to represent the four principal classes of men in a European state, to wit, Churchmen; Swordmen, or feudal nobility; Monied men, merchants or traders; and Club-men, workmen, or labourers,--it is just as easy to run a parallel in the four superior suits of one of the packs of Hindostanee cards, given in Plate I; there may be found _Taj_, a crown, royalty; _Soofed_, silver money, merchants; _Shumsher_, a sword, fighting men, seapoys; and _Gholam_, a slave, the coolies both of hill and plain. It may not be unnecessary here to observe that the four great historical castes of the Hindoos are, 1, Bramins, priests; 2, Chetryas, soldiers; 3, Vaisyas, tradesmen and artificers; and 4, Sudras, slaves, and the lowest class of labourers. Of these four castes the Bramins alone remain unmixed; the other three, as distinct castes, exist only in name, for they have become so intermixed, that the subdivisions can neither be ascertained nor reckoned by the learned pundits themselves.[64]

In the oldest stencilled, or printed, European cards, which are probably of as early a date as the year 1440, the marks of the suits are bells, hearts, leaves, and acorns; and in the Hindostanee cards we find a leaf or a flower, as the mark of one of the suits; and I am inclined to think that, in the latter, the figures of the oval, and of that which appears something like a pineapple in a shallow cup, were the types of the bells and the acorns. When those marks are compared, without reference to their being representations of specific objects of which the mind has already a preconceived idea, the general agreement of their forms is, to the eye, more apparent. For the heart, I have not been able to discover any corresponding mark in the Hindostanee cards. Should I be told that the form of the heart might be suggested by that of the leaf, I have to observe that the form of the leaf in Hindostanee cards, is not the same as that which occurs in European, and that in the latter, the colour of the so-called heart appears always to have been red.

Between the marks of the suits on old French cards,--Cœur, Carreau, Trèfle, and Pique,--and those to be found on Hindostanee cards, I shall not venture to make any direct comparison. It, however, may be observed that the form of the Pique--the spade in English cards--is almost precisely the same as that of the leaf in other European packs; and that the Trèfle--the club, in English cards--in its outline bears a considerable likeness to the acorn. Those who please may derive the Carreau, or diamond, from the _Castrala_, or mystic diamond, worn on the breast, or held in the palm of the hand of Vichnou; it does not, however, occur as the mark of a suit in any of the Hindostanee cards that have come under my observation; and the mark to which it bears the greatest resemblance is that of the suit _Burat_, as shown in Plate II, No. 7. An examination of a greater variety of Hindostanee cards, and more extensive knowledge of the names and significations of the marks of the suits, and of the different games played, would probably lead to the discovery of more points of resemblance than I have been able to perceive.

The different things signified by marks, apparently agreeing in their general forms, on Hindostanee and European cards, may be partly accounted for on the following grounds, which will also in some degree serve to explain the difference, both in form and name, of the marks of the suits in different packs of old European cards.

Graphic forms of all kinds, whether symbolic, or positive representations of specific objects, which are readily understood, both in their figurative meaning and direct signification, by the people with whom they originated, are, when brought into a different country without their explanations, often interpreted by that people according to their knowledge and opinions; and forms for which they have no corresponding originals, or which they fail to identify, are referred to objects of similar shape with which they are familiar, and are called by their names. Similar changes in the meaning of symbolic figures also take place with the same people, in consequence of the original meaning becoming obsolete, through change of customs and opinions, in the course of time. In this manner a figure of the horned Isis, with the young Horus in her lap, appears to have been taken for a representation of the Virgin Mary, with the crescent moon on her head, nursing the infant Jesus; and thus the figures of Jupiter and Minerva have passed for those of Adam and Eve. In the sixteenth century it appears that in Italy the suit of Bastoni--clubs, or maces, proper--was also called _Colonne_, pillars; and the suit of Danari--money--_Specchi_, mirrors;[65] merely because the club or mace as depicted on the suits, bore some resemblance to a slender pillar, and that the form of Danari, like that of an ancient mirror, was circular. Among the pitmen in the neighbourhood of Newcastle-on-Tyne, the diamonds on the cards are frequently called _Picks_, from their similarity to the head of a pick, the tool with which they dig the coals; a writer like Court de Gebelin, might discover in this connexion between picks and "black diamonds" "a type with a pair of handles." It may be here observed, that the suit which the French term piques, is that which we, improperly, call spades.

But, even admitting the agreement, both in figure and signification, of several of the marks of the suits in early European cards, and those which occur in the cards now used in Hindostan, it may be said that this fact by no means proves either that cards were invented in the East, or that the marks of suits on the Hindostanee cards were actually the models of those resembling them which are to be found on early European cards; for cards might find their way into the East from Europe as well as into Europe from the East. When St. Francis Xavier was in the East Indies,--from 1541 to 1552,--card-playing was a common amusement with the European residents and traders;[66] and it is very likely that the first Portuguese ship that arrived there, about half a century before, had a pack of cards on board. That European cards were sent to the East, among other articles of merchandise, towards the end of the sixteenth century, appears evident from a passage in a narrative of the first voyage of the English, on a private account, begun by Captain George Raymond, and finished by Captain James Lancaster;[67] and we learn from Sir Alexander Burnes, that commerce has imported cards into the Holy City of Bokhara, that the pack consists of thirty-six cards, and that the games are strictly Russian.[68]

Looking, however, at all the circumstances,--the probability of Cards having been suggested by Chess, the names _Chartæ_ and _Naipes_, the marks to be found on them, and the tradition of their having been known in Hindostan from a very early period,--the balance of evidence appears decidedly in favour of the conclusion that cards were invented in the East. The writer of an article on Cards, in No. xlviii of the 'Foreign Quarterly Review,' previously referred to, speaks confidently of the great antiquity of cards in Hindostan, but does not give any authorities for the fact. "We know," he says, "that the Tamuli have had cards from time immemorial; and they are said to be of equal antiquity with the Brahmins, who unquestionably possess them still, and claim to have invented them." The statement of the Bramin who gave the cards to Captain D. Cromline Smith, though certainly not true with respect to that individual pack, may yet be received as confirmatory of the traditional evidence in favour of cards generally having been known in Hindostan from a very early period.[69]

Playing Cards appear to have been known from an early period in China. In the Chinese dictionary, entitled _Ching-tsze-tung_, compiled by Eul-koung, and first published A.D. 1678, it is said that the cards now known in China as _Teen-tsze-pae_, or dotted cards, were invented in the reign of Seun-ho, 1120; and that they began to be common in the reign of Kaou-tsung, who ascended the throne in 1131.[70]--According to tradition, they were devised for the amusement of Seun-ho's numerous concubines. M. Abel Remusat, probably on the authority of the Ching-tsze-tung, has also observed that cards were invented by the Chinese in 1120.[71] Mons. Leber, however, considers it to be more likely that they got their first cards from Hindostan; and that, like the Europeans, they merely changed or modified the types, and invented new games.

The general name for cards in China is _Che-pae_, which literally signifies "paper tickets." At first they are said to have been called _Ya-pae_, bone or ivory tickets, from the material of which they were made. A pack of dotted cards consists of thirty-two pieces, and the marks--small circular dots of red and black--are placed, alternately, at two of the corners; for instance, in a card containing eight dots, four are placed in one corner and four in the other diagonally opposite to it. Ten of those cards are classed in pairs; the first pair are called _Che-tsun_,--"the most honorable,"--and are superior to all the others; these may be considered as coat cards, as the one contains the figure of a woman, and the other that of a man; both these cards are also marked with black and red dots,--that of the woman with six, and that of the man with twelve. The second pair are called _Tien-pae_,--"celestial cards;" each contains twenty-four dots of black and red, corresponding with the twenty-four terms in the Chinese year. The third pair are called _Te-pae_,--"terrestrial cards;" each contains four red dots corresponding with the four cardinal points of the compass. The fourth pair are called _Jin-pae_,--"human cards;" each contains sixteen red dots, relating to benevolence, justice, order, and wisdom in a four-fold degree. The fifth pair are called _Ho-pae_; each card contains eight black dots, relating to a supposed principle of harmony in nature extending itself towards all points of the compass. The remaining twenty-two cards have distinct names, which it is needless here to give: the aggregate of the dots upon them is said to have reference to the number of the stars.

The cards most commonly used in China, are those called _Tseen-wan-che-pae_,--"a thousand times ten thousand cards." There are thirty cards in a pack; namely, three suits of nine cards each, and three single cards which are superior to all the others. The name of one of the suits is _Kew-ko-wan_; that is, the nine ten-thousands, or myriads of _Kwan_--strings of beads, shells, or money. The name of the other suit is _Kew-ko-ping_,--"nine units of cakes;" and that of the third is _Kew-ko-so_,--"nine units of chains." The names of the three single cards are, _Tseen-wan_, a thousand times ten thousand; _Hung-hwa_, the red flower; and _Pih-hwa_, the white flower.

In the annexed specimens of Chinese cards, Nos. 1 and 2 are the first and third of the suit of nine myriads of Kwan; Nos. 3 and 4 are the one and the three of the suit of cakes; No. 5 is the one of the suit of chains; and No. 6 is that of the three superior cards, which is called the white flower.

Besides those above described, the Chinese have several other varieties of cards: one pack or set is called _Pih-tsze-pae_, the hundred boys' cards; another, _Tseen-wan-jin-pae_,--"a thousand times ten-thousand mens' names cards," containing the names of persons famous in Chinese history; and a third has the same name as Chinese Chess, _Keu-ma-paou_, chariots, horses, and guns. This latter name corroborates what has been previously said about the probability of the game of cards having been suggested by that of chess.

The marks to be found on Chinese cards scarcely afford a gleam of light by which we might judge of their relation to the cards of other countries: in a pack of such as are chiefly used in Cochin China, I have observed the form of the diamond nearly the same as it appears on English cards; and in a pack of the Chinese cards called Tseen-wan-che-pae, the mark of the suit of Nine Cakes is nearly the same as that of the old Italian _Danari_, which Galeottus Martius--in his treatise 'De Doctrina promiscua,' written about 1488--considers to have been meant for a loaf.

The cards commonly used in China, are much narrower than ours; an idea of their size may be formed from the specimens given, making allowance for a small margin of white paper all round, but rather wider at the top and bottom than at the sides. The Chinese name for a card, considered singly, or as one of the pieces of a pack or set, appears to be _Shen_, a fan.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Bibliothèque curieuse et instructive, tom. ii, chap. xii. Des Principes des Sciences et des Arts, disposé en forme de Jeux. Trevoux, 1704.

[2] Ita vita est hominum quasi cum ludas Tesseris:
Si illud, quod maximè opus est jactu, non cadit,
Illud quod cecidit fortè, id arte ut corrigas.

TERENT. _Adelph._ act. iv, sc. 7.

"Ludo Tesserarum Plato vitam comparavit, in quo et jacere utilia oportet, et jacientem uti benè iis quæ ceciderunt."--PLUT. OP. MOR. _Epist. ad Paccium._--Etudes historiques sur les Cartes à Jouer, par M. C. Leber, p. 63.

[3] In a paper entitled, l'Origine du Jeu de Piquet, trouvé dans l'Histoire de France sous le règne de Charles VII. Printed in the Mémoires pour l'Histoire des Sciences, &c.--Trévoux; in the vol. for May, 1720, p. 934-968.

[4] In a dissertation "Du Jeu de Tarots, où l'on traite de son origine, où l'on explique ses allégories, et où l'on fait voir qu'il est la source de nos Cartes modernes à jouer," &c. This dissertation is contained in his Monde primitif, analysé et comparé avec le Monde moderne.--Dissertations mêlées, tom. i, p. 365-394. Paris, 1781. It is not unlikely that he was led to make this discovery from the notices of a _philosophic_ game of the ancient Egyptians, quoted by Meursius, in his treatise De Ludis Græecorum, p. 53. Lugduni Batavorum, 1622. A summary of Court de Gebelin's conceits on the subject of Tarots is to be found in Peignot's Analyse de Recherches sur les Cartes à jouer, p. 227-237.

[5] He shall have a bell, that's Abel;
And by it standing one whose name is Dee,
In a rug gown; there's D and Rug, that's Drug;
And right anenst him a dog snarling _er_;
There's _Drugger, Abel Drugger_. That's his sign.
And here's now Mystery and Hieroglyphic!

_The Alchymist_, act ii.

[6] See an image of Isis, horned, with the infant Horus on her knee; and note, that antiquaries have not settled why the Virgin Mary is sometimes represented with the crescent on her head. Isis was the protectress of seafaring people; and her image, as we learn from Petronius and other writers, was frequently placed in ships.

[7] The _hand_ occurs frequently in Egyptian hieroglyphics: it would be superfluous to tell the learned reader what it means. The hand holding a hammer, in the hieroglyphic usually known as the Blacksmiths' Coat of Arms, is sufficiently explained by the motto,

"By Hammer and Hand,
All Arts do stand."

[8] Versuch, den Ursprung der Spielkarten, die Einführung des Leinenpapieres, und den Anfang der Holzschneidekunst in Europa zu erforschen. Von J. G. I. Breitkopf. 4to. Leipzig, 1784.

[9] Researches into the History of Playing Cards; with Illustrations of the Origin of Printing and Engraving on Wood. By Samuel Weller Singer. 4to. London, 1816.

[10] Tome deuxième de l'année 1836. 'Origine Française de la Boussole et des Cartes à jouer.' Fragmens d'un ouvrage sous presse, intitulé, 'Histoire du Drapeau, des Couleurs, et des Insignes de la Monarchie Française,' &c. Par M. Rey. Livre X--Universalité des Fleurs de Lis.

[11] Etudes historiques sur les Cartes à jouer. Par M. C. Leber. Originally printed in the sixteenth volume of the 'Mémoires de la Société royale des Antiquaires de France,' and subsequently published separately. Paris, 1842.

[12] "... Ce n'est pas l'affaire de quelques années, ni des travaux, ni des sacrifices d'une seule vie, que de rassembler tant de chétifs débris, de pièces égarées, souillées, mutilées, informes, et dont la découverte n'est plus souvent qu'un caprice du hasard, une bonne fortune plutôt qu'une bonne action. Il faut donc attendre que cette œuvre du temps et de la persévérance soit accomplie."--Etudes Historiques, p. 60.

[13] Catalogue des Livres imprimés, Manuscrits, Estampes, Dessins, et Cartes à jouer, composant le Bibliothèque de M. C. Leber, tom. i, p. 238. Paris, 1839. This library, the Catalogue of which consists of three volumes, now belongs to the city of Rouen. The cards are described in the first volume, pp. 237-48.

[14] With the Latins, Ludere par impar; with the Greeks, αρτιαζειν; ραιζειν, αρτια η περιττα. "Nempe ludentes, sumptis in manu talis, fabis, nucibus, amygdalis, interdum etiam nummis, interrogantes alteram divinare jubebant, 'αρτια η περιττα'; paria, nempe, an imparia haberent."--Meursius, de Ludis Græcorum, p. 5, edit. 1622.

[15] Fortune is a _parvenue_, in the Olympian circle,--of great means, but no family:

Di chi figluola fusse, ò di che seme
Nascesse, non si sa; ben si sa certo
Ch'infino à Giove sua potentia teme.

MACCHIAVELLI, _Capitolo di Fortuna_.

[16] Dr. Thomas Hyde is inclined to think that the game of Astragali was known from the time of the general Deluge.--De Ludis Orientalibus. Oxon. 1694.

[17] The ancient Greek game of Astragali or Astragalismus--the Tali of the Romans--appears to have been played in a manner similar to that described in the text. The names given to the different casts are to be found in Meursius, De Ludis Græcorum, under the word ΑΣΤΡΑΓΑΛΙΣΜΟΣ.

[18] Πεσσοισι προπαροιθε θυραων θυμον ἐτερπον,
Ἡμενοι ἐν ῥινοισι βοων οὑς ἐκτανον ἁυτοι.--_Odyss._ A. 107.

The word used by Homer, ρεσσοι,--which properly means the pebbles or pieces employed in the game,--is here translated _tables_; a term, which having now become nearly obsolete as signifying draughts, may be used to denote an ancient cognate game.

It might be plausibly urged by a commentator fond of discovering Homer's covert meanings, that the poet intended to censure the games of Astragalismus and Petteia,--the former as a cause of strife, and the latter as a fitting amusement for idle and dissipated persons, like the suitors of Penelope. In the twenty-third book of the Iliad, v. 87, Patroclus is represented as having killed, when a boy, though unintentionally, a companion with whom he had quarrelled when playing at Astragali or Tali:

... παιδα κατεκτανον Ἀμφιδαμαντος,
Νηπιος, οὐκ ἐθελων, ἀμφ' ἀστραγαλοισι χολωθεις.

It is not unlikely that an ancient piece of sculpture, in the British Museum,--representing a boy biting the arm of his companion, with whom he has quarrelled at Tali--relates to this passage.

[19] See a work by the late Mr. James Christie--more generally known to the world as an auctioneer than as a man of learning and of great research--entitled "An Enquiry into the ancient Greek game supposed to have been invented by Palamedes antecedent to the Siege of Troy; with Reasons for believing the Game to have been known from remote antiquity in China, and progressively improved into the Chinese, Indian, Persian, and European Chess." London, 1801.

[20] Julius Pollux, Onomasticon, lib. ix, cap. 7.

[21] "As the military groundwork of the game of cards, and its similarity to chess, cannot be denied; so a closer examination of this affinity may readily lead to the origin of the change in their figures and colours."--Breitkopf, Ueber den Ursprung der Spielkarten, s. 30.

[22] "Le traducteur du Poëme de la Vielle, en décrivant les Echecs, s'exprime ainsi;

'La Reyne, que nous nommons Fierge,
Tient de Venus, et n'est pas Vierge;
Aimable est et amoureuse.'" &c.

--L'Origine du Jeu des Echecs, par Mons. Freret. Hist. de l'Académie des Inscriptions, tom. v, p. 255.

[23] "Comme c'est un jeu militaire, il y a dans chaque couleur un roi, un officier supérieur ou capitaine, nommé _Ober_, et un bas-officier appelé _Unter_. On appelait encore de nos jours dans l'Empire, où les mots François ne sont pas en vogue, les officiers supérieurs _Oberleute_, et les bas-officiers _Unterleute_"--Heineken, Idée Générale d'une Collection d'Estampes, p. 241. Leipsic, 1771.

[24] It would appear that the etymology of this name was a matter of great uncertainty even among people of oriental race. According to some, it was _Sad-rengh_, the _hundred turns_, or wiles of the players; according to others, it was _Sad-rangi_, the hundred vexations of the game. A third derivation was from _Shesh-rengh_, _six colours_, as if each of the six orders of pieces had been distinguished by a separate colour.--Hyde, De Ludis Orientalibus. Par. 1. Historia Shahiludii, cap. De Nomine Shatrangi. Oxon. 1694.

[25] That the suits of cards were formerly distinguished by an emblem which was suggestive of a particular colour, as well as representing a particular form, is certain. The Germans still call two of their suits _Roth_ and _Grün_--red and green--and the emblems are a heart and a leaf.

[26] Observations on the Antiquity of Card-playing in England. In the Archæologia, vol. viii.

[27] "Edward the First, when Prince of Wales, served nearly five years in Syria, and therefore, whilst military operations were suspended, must naturally have wished some sedentary amusement. Now, the Asiatics scarcely ever change their customs: and as they play at cards, though in many respects different from ours, it is not improbable that Edward might have been taught this game, _ad quatuor reges_, whilst he continued so long in this part of the globe."--Archæol. viii, p. 135.

[28] "Après souper venoient en place les beaulx Evangiles de bois, c'est-à-dire force tabliers, ou le beau flux, ung, deux, trois."--Rabelais, livre i, chap. 22.

[29] The following verses relating to this point are quoted by Peignot, in his Analyse de Recherches sur les Cartes à Jouer, from a poem intituled "La Magdeleine au Désert de la Sainte-Baume en Provence, Poëme spirituel et chrétien, par le P. Pierre de St. Louis, religieux Carme." Lyons, 1668.

"Voila quant à l'église: allons à la maison
Pour voir après cela si ma rime a raison.
Les livres que j'y voy de diverse peinture,
Sont les LIVRES DES ROYS, non pas de l'Escriture.
J'y remarque au dedans différentes couleurs,
Rouge aux Carreaux, aux Cœurs, noir aux Piques, aux Fleurs;
Avecque ces beaux Roys, je vois encore des Dames,
De ces pauvres maris les ridicules femmes.
Battez, battez les bien, battez, battez les tous,
N'épargnez pas les Roys, les Dames, ni les FOUS."

[30] "The _b_ and _v_ in Persian are constantly used for each other; one instance will suffice--the plural of _na-eeb_, a viceroy, is equally pronounced _nu-vaub_ and _nu-baub_, or, according to our pronunciation, _nabob_."--A Personal Narrative of a Journey from India to England, by Captain the Hon. George Keppel, vol. ii, p. 89. Second edit. 1827.

[31] "Naipe, carton, &c. Tamarid quiere que sea nombre Arabigo, y lo mismo el Brocense; pero comunamente se juzga que se los dio este nombre por la primer cifra que se las puso, que fue una N y una P, con que se significaba el nombre de su inventor, Nicolao Pepin: y de ahi con pequeña corrupcion se dixo Naipe."--Diccionario de la Academia Españolo, edit. 1734.

[32] Istoria della Citta di Viterbo, da Feliciano Bussi, p. 213. Roma, 1743. The passage relating to cards appears to have been first pointed out by Leber, in his Etudes Historiques sur les Cartes à jouer, p. 43. "Though we have no information respecting the precise date of Covelluzzo's birth or death," says Mons. Leber, in a note at p. 17 of Mons. Duchesne's Précis Historique, "it is yet certain that this chronicler, whose name is properly Giovanni de Juzzo de Covelluzzo, wrote in the fifteenth century, and that what he relates about cards being brought into Viterbo in 1379, was extracted from the chronicle of Nicholas de Covelluzzo, one of his ancestors, who, as well as himself, was an inhabitant of Viterbo, and who possibly might have resided there at the period when cards were first introduced."

[33] Mahmoud, the Gasnevide, first invaded Hindostan in A.D. 999.

[34] "Χαρταριον; Gallicum, _quartier_; scutulum quadratum. Extat. apud Codinum de Offic. aulæ Constantinop. χαρτιον, idem quod χαρταριον."--Meursii Glossarium Græco-Barbarum, 4to, Lugd. Batavor., 1605.--_Quartier de bois._ A quarter, or square piece of timber.--Cotgrave's French and English Dictionary.

[35] "_Cayer_. A quire of written paper; a piece of a written book, divided into equal parts."--Cotgrave. The _cayer_ appears to have been synonymous with the _pecia_ of monkish writers. It may be observed that from _chartar_, a Persian word literally signifying '_four-strings_,' the Rev. Stephen Weston has traced the descent of κιθαρα _cithara_; _chitarra;_ and _guitar_. To these derivates the old English _gittern_ may be added."--Specimens of the Conformity of the European Languages, especially the English, with the Oriental languages, especially the Persian. By Stephen Weston, B. D. 12mo, 1802.

[36] It may be here noted that the word _Wuruk_ or _Wuruq_, used by the Moslems in Hindostan to signify a card, signifies also the _leaf_ of a tree, a _leaf_ of paper, being in the latter sense identical with the Latin _folium_. See Richardson's Arabic Dictionary, word "Card;" and the word "_Wuruq_"' in the list of terms used at the game of cards as played at Hindostan, given in a subsequent page.

[37] Should I be told that the correct word for "_four_" in Hindostanee, is _chatur_, _chatta_, or _cattah_,--not _chartah_,--and be required to account for the ρ in χαρτης, supposing the latter word to be derived from the same root, I should answer by giving a case in point--the derivation of _quartus_ from _quatuor_,--leaving others to assign the reason. I subjoin here, by way of contrast, a different etymology of _carta_--Epistola, a letter. "Quieren algunos que este nombre Castellano, Carta, se derivasse de la ciudad de Carta insigne por aver sido cuna de la reyna Dido, y atribuyen à esta ciudad la etimologia, por aver sido la primera que dio materia en que las Cartas se escriviessen."--Seneca impugnado de Seneca, &c. Por Don Alonzo Nuñez de Castro, p. 220, 4to. Madrid, 1661.--Is there any evidence to show that the form of ancient Carthage was _Square_?

[38] "Im Arabischen heist _Nabaa_: er hat einen leisen Ton, wie die Zauberer thun, von sich gegeben; davon _Naba_, die Zaubertrommel, und _Nabi_, ein Prophet, Wahrsager, herkömmt. Eichhorn erklärt, in der Einleitung zum A. Testamente, die hebräischen Worte _Nabi_, Nabüm, durch göttliche Eingebung, und durch Leute, die durch göttliche Eingebung handeln."--Ueber den Ursprung der Spielkarten, s. 15.

[39] Heineken, Idée Générale d'une complète Collection d'Estampes, p. 240. Leipsic, 1771.

[40] The Abbé Bullet, previous to the appearance of his little book on Cards, in 1757, had commenced the publication of a Celtic Dictionary. In the former there are many traces of his mind having acquired a bent from his Celtic researches. He finds the origin of the term _as_ or _ace_ in the Celtic _as_; and in the same language he finds the true meaning of the names of the Queens of Clubs and Hearts, Argine and Judith. Argine is formed of _ar_, la, the, and _gin_, belle, beautiful; and Judith is a corruption of Judic,--which is formed of _jud_, a queen, and _dyc_, twice. Both those queens, according to his fancy, are intended to represent Anne of Bretagne, wife of Charles VIII and Louis XII. According to Père Daniel, Argine is an anagram of Regina, and is meant for Mary of Anjou, wife of Charles VII; and Judith is not the heroine of the Old Testament, but the wife of Louis-le-Debonnaire. Though those doctors disagree, yet each appears to have _equally good_ reasons for his opinions. The consequence is that we can put no faith in either.

[41] The Abbé Rive, grounding his opinion on an interpolated passage in Guterry's French translation of Guevara's Epistles, ascribes the invention of cards to the Spaniards, and places it about the year 1330. With respect to the origin of the name Naipes, he adopts the N P etymology of the Spanish Academy. The Abbé's _brochure_ on cards is entitled 'Eclaircissements Historiques et Critiques sur l'Invention des Cartes à jouer.' Paris, 1780.

[42] "MAPPA, dit Papias, _togilla_, (c-est-à-dire, touaille, nappe); MAPA etiam dicitur PICTURA vel FORMA LUDORUM, unde dicitur MAPAMUNDI. Un vieux glossaire latin-français de la Bibliothèque de Saint-Germain-des-Prés, cité par Ducange, reproduit et explique ainsi ce passage précieux, en le traduisant: 'MAPAMUNDI, mapemunde; et dicitur a MAPA, nappe ou picture, ou form de jeux.'"--Mélanges d'Origines Etymologiques et de Questions Grammaticales. Par M. Eloi Johanneau, p. 40. Paris, 1818.

[43] The description alluded to will be found at p. 41.

[44] The sex of the Company appears to be a matter of interest even with the ladies of Affghanistan. "At night the ladies of Mahomed Shah Khan, and other chiefs who were travelling in our company, invited Mrs. Eyre to dinner. She found them exceedingly kind in manner and prepossessing in outward appearance, being both well-dressed and good-looking. They asked the old question as to the gender of the Company."--Lieut. Eyre's Journal of Imprisonment in Affghanistan.