a statement of the fact of Edward having been in Syria, and that he might have learned the game of cards there [27] —taking it for granted that cards were of Eastern invention, and known in Syria at that period,—and in a second-hand reference to Breitkopf for a passage in the Güldin Spil, wherein it is stated that a certain game—cards being unquestionably meant—first came into Germany about the year 1300.

From Sir William Jones's account of the game of Chaturanga or, more specifically, chaturaji—the Four Rajas, or Kings—there can scarcely be a doubt that the game of the Four Kings played at by Edward I, was chess, and that this name was a literal translation of the Indian one. Assuming this, then, as an established fact, we have evidence of the number four being associated in Europe at that period with the game of chess, which, as has been previously shown, bore so great a resemblance to a game of cards.

Now, whatever may have been the origin of the name of cards, it is undeniable that the idea of the number four is very generally associated with them; there are four suits, and in each suit there are four honours, reckoning the ace;—to say nothing of the very old game of All Fours, which may have originally meant winning in each of the four Angas or divisions, now represented by High, Low, Jack, and the Game. It is also certain that, in this country, cards were called the Books of the Four Kings, long before the passage relating to the game of Quatuor Reges, which might have suggested the name, appeared in Anstis's History of the Garter. They are so called by Sir Thomas Urquhart, in his translation of Rabelais, in chapter 22, book i, which contains an account of the games that Gargantua played at: "After supper, were brought into the room the fair wooden gospels, and the books of the Four Kings, that is to say, the tables and cards." [28] Cards are not indeed called the Books of the Four Kings in the original text of Rabelais; though it is certain that they were known in France by that name, and that the Valets or Knaves were also called fous—a term which, as Peignot remarks, corroborates Breitkopf's theory of the analogy between chess and cards. [29] Mrs. Piozzi, speaking of cards, in her Retrospection, published in 1801, says, "It is a well-known vulgarity in England to say, 'Come, Sir, will you have a stroke at the history of the Four Kings?' meaning, Will you play a game at cards?" A writer in Fraser's Magazine, for August, 1844, also calls cards the books of the Four Kings, as if they were well known by that name.

Now as chahar, chatur, or, as the word is sometimes written in English, chartah, signifies four in the Hindostanee language, as it enters into the composition of chaturanga, and as chess probably suggested the game of cards, I am inclined to think that both games were invented in Hindostan, and that chahar or chatur in the language of that country formed a portion of the original name of cards. The common term for cards in Hindostan, is Taj or Tas; and its primary meaning, as I am informed, is a leaf, folium. But as it is also used in a figurative sense to signify a diadem or crown, and as the term signifying a crown is frequently used in most languages to signify regal authority, the compound term chahar-taj, or chahar-tas, would be suggestive of nearly the same idea as "the Four Kings," and be almost identical in sound with the Latin chartæ or chartas. The name, whatever it might be, would be liable to change in passing from Hindostan, through other countries, into Europe; in the same manner as we find Chaturanga, the Sanscrit name of chess, transformed into the Persian Chatrang, the Arabic Shatranj, the Greek Zatrikion, the Spanish Axedrez, the Italian Scacchi, the German Schach, the French Echecs, and the English Chess.

The name given to cards by the earliest French and German writers who mention them, is, respectively, Cartes and Karten—in Latin, Chartæ; but as Charta signifies paper, and as cards are made of paper, it has generally been supposed that they received their name from that circumstance. But if a part of their original name signified the number four, whether derived from an eastern root, or from the Latin quarta, it can scarcely be doubted that they acquired the name of chartæ, not in consequence of their being made of paper, but because the Latin word which signified paper had nearly the same sound as another word which signified four,—in the same manner as Pherz, the General, in chess, found a representative in Fierge, and subsequently became confounded with Vierge: the ideal change of Vierge into Dame, the wife of the king, followed of course, like "wooed,—an' married an' a'."

It is deserving of remark, that in several old French works, written within fifty years of the time when we have positive evidence of the game of cards being known in France, the word is sometimes spelled quartz or quartes, as if, in the mind of the writer, it was rather associated with the idea of four than with that of paper. The possible derivation of cards from quarta, was suggested by Mr. Gough, in his Observations on the Invention of Cards, in the eighth volume of the 'Archæologia,' though he was of opinion that they obtained their name from the paper of which they were made. "Perhaps," says he, "it may be too bold a conjecture that the 'quartes, ludus quartarum sive cartarum,' by which Junius [in his Etymologicon] explains cards, may be derived from quarta, which, Du Cange says, is used simply for the fourth part of any thing, and so may be referred to the quatuor reges; but as Du Cange expressly says, that quarta and carta are synonymous, I lay no stress on this, but leave it to the critics."

To carry still further this speculation on the Indian origin of Playing Cards,—both name and thing,—it is to be observed that cards are called Naibi, by the earliest Italian writers who mention them; and that they have always been called Naypes, or Naipes, in Spain, since the time of their first introduction into that country. Now in Hindostan, where we find the word Chahar, Chatur, or Chartah, they have also the word Na-eeb, or Naib, which, judging from the sound only, appears at least as likely to have been the original of naibi and naipe, as it is of the English Nabob. [30] This word Na-eeb signifies a viceroy, lieutenant, or deputy, who rules over a certain district, as a feudatory who owes allegiance to a sovereign. Now, as the game of chess was known in Hindostan by the name of the Four Kings, if cards were suggested by chess, and invented in the same country, the supposition that