class="c1">Fac-simile of one of Murner's Cards for teaching logic, 1509

105 Copies of Four Small Cards, from Marcolini's Sorti, 1540 117 Woodcut, "Thus of Old" and "Thus Now," from Samuel Ward's Woe to Drunkards, 1627 131 The Knaves of Hearts and Clubs; and the Knaves of Spades and Diamonds, from the Four Knaves, by Samuel Rowlands, 1610-13 133-6 Fac-similes of four Heraldic Cards, from a pack engraved in England about 1678 152 Fac-similes of the Signatures of Edmund Hoyle and Thomas Osborne 170 Copy of a plate in Darly's Political and Satirical History, showing the Coat Cards for 1759 183 Copies of two of the painted cards, ascribed to Jacquemin Gringonneur, preserved in the Bibliothèque du Roi at Paris 198 Copies of four French Cards, coloured,—the King of Diamonds; the Queen and King of Spades; and the King of Hearts,—of the latter part of the fifteenth century 212 Copies of the Four Knaves, coloured,—Lancelot, Hogier, Roland, and Valery,—of the latter part of the fifteenth century. In the British Museum 214 Copies of Eight Circular Cards belonging to a pack engraved on copper about 1480, with Hares, Parroquets, Pinks, and Columbines as the marks of the suit 222 Four Cards of a pack engraved on copper, apparently about the end of the fifteenth century, with Swords, Clubs, Cups, and Pomegranates, as the marks of the suits. In the British Museum 225 The Sevens of a pack of Tarots, with Swords, Cups, Batons, and Money as the marks of the suits 227 The Second Coat Cards of the suits of Acorns and Leaves—in a German pack engraved on wood, 1511 236-7 The Sevens of a pack of German Cards, with Bells, Hearts, Leaves, and Acorns, as the marks of the suits 238 Copies of Four Small German Cards, of the seventeenth century 239 The Valets of a pack of French Cards, of the time of Henry IV 250 The Chevaliers, or Valets, of a pack of Portuguese Cards, of the date 1693 252 Figure of "the real Spata," as shown in Baker's Eclectic Cards, 1813 261 Tail-piece, Cheating Time with Cards 330 Cupid; from a cut relating to Prophecies and Fortune-telling, in Bagford's Collection, Harleian MSS. 5966 336 The Four of Cups, from an old card, in the same collection 343

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ORIGIN AND HISTORY

of

PLAYING CARDS.

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CHAPTER I.
OF THE ORIGIN AND NAME OF CARDS

Man has been distinctively termed "a cooking animal;" and Dr. Franklin has defined him to be "a tool-making animal." He may also, with equal truth, be defined to be "a gambling animal;" since to gamble, or venture, on chance, his own property, with the hope of winning the property of another, is as peculiar to him, in distinction from other animals, as his broiling a fish after he has caught it with his hands, or making for himself a stone hatchet to enable him to fell a tree. Whether this gambling peculiarity is to be ascribed to the superiority of his intellectual or of his physical constitution, others may determine for themselves.

Other animals, in common with man, will fight for meat, drink, and lodging; and will do battle for love as fiercely as the ancient knights of chivalry, whose great incitements to heroic deeds—in plain English, killing and wounding—were ladye-love and the honour of the peacock. There is, however, no well-authenticated account of any of the lower orders of animals ever having been seen risking