Broadsides; Chapbooks; Street literature -- Great Britain
“When I see the ace,” said he, “it puts me in mind that there is one
God only; and when I see the deuce, it puts me in mind of the Father
and the Son; when I see the tray, it puts me in mind of the Father,
Son, and Holy Ghost; When I see the four, it puts me in mind of the
four Evangelists that preached the gospel, viz., Matthew, Mark,
Luke, and John; when I see the five, it puts me in mind of the five
wise virgins that trimmed their lamps; there were ten, but five were
foolish, who were shut out; when I see the six, it puts me in mind
that in six days the Lord made Heaven and Earth; when I see the seven,
it puts me in mind that the seventh day God rested from all the works
which he had created and made, wherefore the Lord blessed the seventh
day and hallowed it; when I see the eight, it puts me in mind of the
eight righteous persons that were saved when God drowned the world,
viz., Noah, his wife, three sons, and their wives; when I see the nine,
it puts me in mind of nine lepers that were cleansed by our Saviour,
there were ten, but nine never returned God thanks; when I see the ten,
it puts me in mind of the ten commandments that God gave Moses on Mount
Sinai on the two two tables of stone.
Here he took the knave and laid it aside.
“When I see the queen, it puts me in mind of the queen of Sheba, who
came from the furthermost parts of the world to hear the wisdom of
King Soloman, and who was as wise a woman as he was a man; for she
brought fifty boys and fifty girls, all clothed in boys’ apparel, to
show before King Solomon, for him to tell which were boys and which
were girls; but he could not until he called for water for them to wash
themselves; the girls washed up to their elbows, and the boys only
up to their wrists, so King Solomon told by that. And also of Queen
Victoria--THE QUEEN of _our_ HEARTS--to pray for her. And when I see
the King, it puts me in mind of the great King of heaven and earth,
which is God Almighty.”
“Well,” said the mayor, “you have given a very good description of all
the cards except one, which is lacking.” “Which is that?” said the
soldier. “The Knave,” said the mayor. “Oh, I can give your honour a
good description of that, if your honour won’t be angry. “No, I will
not,” says the mayor, “if you will not term me the knave.”
“Well,” said the soldier, “the greatest that I know of is the serjeant
of the city that brought me here.” “I don’t know,” said the mayor,
“that he is the greatest knave, but I am sure he is the greatest fool.”
“I shall now show your honour how I use the cards as an Almanack.” “You
certainly are a clever fellow,” said the mayor, “but I think you will
have a hard matter to make that appear.”
“When I count how many spots there are in a pack of cards, I find there
are three hundred and sixty-five, there are so many days in the year.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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