The originals of the annexed four cards, representing the Valets, or Knaves, of the four suits known in England as Hearts, Diamonds, Clubs, and Spades, are, in my opinion, of, at least, as early a date as the cards containing the names Coursube and Apollin. Mons. Duchesne and Mons. Leber, judging from the costume of the last-named cards, agree in supposing, or, rather, confidently asserting, that they were executed about 1425, in the reign of Charles VII. Conclusions, however, drawn from the costume displayed on cards are not of much weight in the determination of a date, seeing that persons supposed to be well acquainted with the subject of costume have not been able to determine, from that alone, the date of any old drawing, even within fifty years. To whatever period the costume of the "Coursube" cards may belong, that of the four Knaves may be fairly presumed to be of as early a period; but yet, looking at the costume of the latter, and the style of their execution, I should not take them to be of an earlier date than 1480. Supposing them to be of that date, I think it will be generally admitted, by all acquainted with the subject, that, in point of drawing, as expressive of action and character, they may fairly rank with the best specimens of wood-engraving executed previously to that period.

Those four Knaves, which are now in the print-room of the British Museum, were discovered by the writer, in the covers of an old book, which he bought of Mr. Robert Crozier, bookseller, 27, Bow Street, about the latter end of December, 1841. The book, which is a small quarto, had formerly belonged to the Cathedral Library of Peterborough, [246] and its subject is the Sermons of St. Vincent de Ferrer, a Spanish friar, of great repute in his day, who died in 1419: it wanted both the title-page and the last leaf, and, consequently, had no date; but, looking at the character of the type,—old Gothic—and the rude execution of the initial letters, I should conclude that it was printed in France, within the last ten years of the fifteenth century. The other leaves forming, with the cards, the "boards" of the cover, were portions of the gloss, or commentary, of Nicholas de Lyra, on the Old Testament; which leaves, apparently, are of a date somewhat older than the volume. Seeing that old cards have so often been found in the covers of old books, it might be conjectured that certain pious persons had made it a point of conscience to thus employ them, for useful purposes; this supposition is, however, rendered untenable by the fact of those cards being intermixed with the pious lucubrations of Nicholas de Lyra. Besides the two squares of paper containing the four Knaves, there were also two other squares, consisting of "pips" of Diamonds and Hearts, which were so arranged that each square of paper might be cut into four cards: the low cards on one square were, the Nine, Four, Five, and Seven of Diamonds; and those on the other, the Ten, Four, Five, and Eight of Hearts. The "pips" on those low cards were evidently impressed by means of a stencil.

On one square of paper were the Valets of Clubs and Spades,—Lancelot and Hogier; and on another, the Valets of Diamonds and Hearts,—that of Diamonds being named Rolant, and that of Hearts containing the inscription, "Valery: f." Though each piece of paper contained four cards, it yet displayed only two different characters,—the Valet of each suit occurring on it being repeated in the alternate compartments. The outlines of the figures and the names have evidently been engraved on wood, and are printed in a brownish colour,—something like Indian ink mixed with bistre; and the colours have been laid on by means of stencils. The names of these Valets,—Rolant, "Valery: f," Lancelot, and Hogier,—compared with those occurring on other French cards of an early date, seem to prove that, originally, the French coat cards received their names merely at the caprice of the card-maker. Any argument, therefore, respecting the origin of cards, or the invention of Piquet, as founded on the names of the coat cards, must be utterly without foundation.

With respect to the names of those Valets, it seems to be generally agreed that Roland, spelled Rolant on the cards, was the nephew of Charlemagne, so famed in romance, and that Hogier, or Ogier, was the renowned Hogier of Denmark. According to a modern author, this hero was a grandson of Pepin of Heristal, the great-grandfather of Charlemagne; and the appellation, "of Denmark," was conferred on him, not from his being of that kingdom, but from his being a native of Dane-marche, that is, of the district now called Ardennes. The same author also informs us, that Hogier was a descendant of St. Hubert of Ardennes; and, for a confirmation of the fact, refers to the dog seen in an old Valet of Spades, of which he gives a copy in his work: in the irregular line of the more distant ground, in the same card, he sees an indication of the uneven surface of the district of Ardennes. [247] An inspection of the four Valets in question will enable any person to decide on the value of his speculations: three of those Valets,—Rolant, Hogier, and Lancelot,—are accompanied by dogs; and the line of the more distant ground in two of the subjects is nearly level; while the slight eminence in the third—Rolant—evidently indicates a rabbit-burrow. If such stuff as Mons. Barrois drivels forth on the subject of cards pass for antiquarian knowledge in France, it would seem that an ass-load of useless book-learning constituted the grand qualification of a French antiquary.

With respect to Lancelot, the reader is left to determine whether the name were intended for one of the Paladins of the court of Charlemagne, or Lancelot du Lac, one of the Knights of King Arthur's Round Table. The appearance of this name on the Valet of Clubs proves that Daniel was right in his conjecture, as has been previously observed; though Mons. Leber seems to argue that he either was, or ought to have been, wrong. [248]

The name Valery, which occurs on the Knave of Hearts, has not been found on any one of the other old cards hitherto discovered; and from the circumstance of its having the letter f after it, which might be intended to signify "fecit" it might be supposed that it was the card-maker's name. It is, however, to be observed that the word "fecit" is of very rare occurrence, as signifying the work of the artist whose name precedes it, on engravings, for whatever purpose executed, of the fifteenth century. It may even be asserted, with small hazard of contradiction, that f as an abbreviation of "fecit," in its artistic application, is not to be found on a single engraving, whether on wood or copper, executed previous to the year 1500.

For whatever person the name of Valery may have been intended, it seems certain that it is not to be found as that of a distinguished character in any of the old French romances. Mons. Paulin Paris, having been consulted on this subject, thus gives his opinion, in a letter addressed to his friend, Thomas Wright, Esq., so well known for his numerous publications on Middle-Age Literature: "The name of the Valet of Hearts seems to me extremely curious, for it ought necessarily to bring to mind the name of Erart de Valeri, the famous companion of Charles of Anjou, King of Sicily, to whom his contemporaries chiefly ascribed the gain of the battle of Tagliacozza, in which Manfred [the opponent of Charles] was killed. [249] It might, therefore, be supposed that the pack [to which the four Valets in question belonged] was either of Sicilian or Italian fabrication; for the names Lancelot, Roland, Ogier, and Valeri were equally familiar to the Sicilians of the fourteenth century. I have said a few words about this Erard de Valery in the article on Charles of Anjou, in my Romancero François." [250]

Though by no means agreeing with Mons. Paulin Paris, that these cards were either of Italian devising, or manufacture, I am yet inclined to think that his conjecture about the name of Valery is correct, and that a corroboration of it is to be found in the inscription on the Valet de Pique, in the "Coursube" cards, previously noticed at page 211. This inscription is read ctarde, by Mons. Duchesne; but, to my eye, the letters, as they appear in the fac-simile given in the specimens of cards published by the Society of Bibliophiles François, appear much more like the name erarde; and if, on a careful examination of the original, it should be ascertained that this was the word intended, I should then unhesitatingly conclude that the person represented by this was Erard de Valery. The objection that one of those cards is the Valet of Hearts, and the other the Valet of Spades, is of no weight, for the old French card-makers were by no means consistent in the practice of always giving the same name to the same card. From the red rose which appears on the shield held by Valery, an Englishman might be justified in supposing that those cards, if not of English manufacture, were more especially, if not exclusively, fabricated for the English market, at a period shortly after the accession of Henry VII, [251] when the Red Rose of Lancaster had obtained the ascendency. By assuming, indeed, a small portion of French license on this subject, it might even be asserted that those cards were of English manufacture; seeing that they were discovered in the covers of a book which had formerly belonged to an English monastery, and that the features, expression, and bodily proportions of the Valets are rather characteristic of Englishmen than Frenchmen. In support of this speculation, it may further be observed that, in former times, monks were accustomed to act as their own bookbinders, and that there is reason to believe that playing cards were manufactured in England as early as 1463. [252]

In the latter quarter of the fifteenth century, several packs, or sets, of cards were engraved on copper, having the suits distinguished by figures evidently introduced according to the fancy of the artist, and bearing no resemblance to those which occur on cards of an earlier date. As the art of engraving on copper was then of recent invention, and its productions comparatively scarce and high priced, it may be concluded that those cards were chiefly intended for the amusement of the wealthier classes. Though Mons. Leber is of opinion that such cards were not intended for the purpose of play, it is yet certain that they might be so employed; seeing that they consist of the same number of suits as the common cards of the period, and have also in each suit, like the latter, a certain number of coat cards, and a certain number of others which have their value determined by the number of marks impressed on them. One of Mons. Leber's reasons for concluding that such cards were not intended for the purposes of play, is, that being delicately engraved on copper, it cannot be supposed that they were meant to receive the colouring which, in his opinion, was essential to a pack of cards. [253] It may, however, be observed that people may play very well with uncoloured cards, more especially when the suits are so strikingly distinguished as in the cards alluded to.

Perhaps the earliest specimens of the cards in question are those which have Hares, Parroquets, Pinks, and Columbines as the marks of the suits, and of which a complete pack, or set, of fifty-two pieces, is now in the Bibliothèque du Roi. [254] They are not cut up, but appear just as they came from the hands of the printer, and each separate piece of paper contains either four or six cards. The four Aces form one plate; the numeral cards from Four to Nine are contained on four plates; and the Twos and Threes appear promiscuously mixed with the coat cards on five plates more.

The form of these cards is circular, and in each suit there are four coat cards, namely, a King, a Queen, a Squire, and a Knave. [255] The distinction between the two latter is not indeed very clearly expressed in the costume; though there cannot be a doubt that the lowest character is that which in each suit is represented as running, and thus plainly corresponding with the Italian Fante. The highest of the numeral cards is the Nine, there being no Ten in this pack. The respective number of each is marked at the top in Arabic cyphers, and at the bottom in Roman numerals. At the bottom also, within the outer circle of the border, are the letters T. W., probably intended for the initials of the engraver. [256] Whoever he might be, his name is unknown; and only one other subject of his engraving is noticed by Bartsch. In the annexed specimens are shown the King, Queen, and Ace of Hares; the Squire of Columbines; the Deuce and Squire of Pinks; and the Knave and Nine of Parroquets. On each of the Aces there is an inscription on a scroll, as on the Ace of Hares; on the latter, the language is low German—"Platt Duitsch"—and the words form a rhyming couplet:

The precise meaning of this it is not easy to make out; but taking the contracted word Av͞e to have been intended for Auwe, a meadow, the couplet may be thus "done into English:"

But supposing the word Av͞e to have been meant for Augen, the eyes, and giving a slight turn to one or two other words, the meaning would be that the hare was called Lepus—quasi Lippus—on account of its blear eyes.

Mons. Duchesne says that, on the plate containing the Aces, there is a date written in an old hand, but he omits to mention what it is. In the 'Jeux de Cartes Tarots et de Cartes Numérales,' where all the fifty-two pieces are given, they are said to have been engraved about 1477. These cards, though of the same form, and having the same marks of the suits as those described by Bartsch, and noticed by Singer, are yet the work of a different engraver.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

GERMAN CARDS.

German Names of the Suits.

Herzen, oder Roth. (Hearts, or Red).

Grün. (Green (Leaves).)

Eicheln. (Acorns.)

Schellen. (Bells.)

SPANISH AND ITALIAN CARDS.

Spanish Names.

Copas.Espadas. Bastos. Oros.

Italian Names.

Coppe. (Cups.)

Espadas. (Swords.)

Bastoni. (Clubs, or Batons.)

Danari. (Money.)

FRENCH CARDS.

French Names.

Cœur. (Hearts.)

Pique (Spades.)

Trèfle. (Clubs.)

Carreau. (Diamonds.)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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:

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: