+--------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Transcriber's Note: | | | | This e-text includes fragments (Greek and Hebrew) and characters | | that require UTF-8 (Unicode) file encoding: macron Ē ē ō ā. | | | | If any of these characters do not display properly make sure your | | text reader’s "character set" or "file encoding" is set to | | Unicode (UTF-8). You may also need to change the default font. | | | | Further details on errors and changes are given at the end of | | the text. | +--------------------------------------------------------------------+ PLAYING CARDS. [Illustration: Lancelot] FACTS AND SPECULATIONS ON THE ORIGIN AND HISTORY OF PLAYING CARDS. BY WILLIAM ANDREW CHATTO. Hæc mihi charta nuces, hæc est mihi charta fritillus.--MARTIAL. With Cards I while my leisure hours away, And cheat old Time; yet neither bet nor play. LONDON: JOHN RUSSELL SMITH, 4, OLD COMPTON STREET, SOHO SQUARE. MDCCCXLVIII. PRINTED BY C. AND J. ADLARD, BARTHOLOMEW CLOSE. PREFACE. Should a person who has never bestowed a thought on the subject ask, "What can there be that is interesting in the History of Cards?" it is answered, "There may be much." There is an interest, of a certain kind, even in the solution of a riddle, or the explication of a conundrum; and certain learned men, such as Père Daniel, and Court de Gebelin, having assumed that the game of Cards was originally instructive, and that the figures and marks of the suits are emblematic, speaking to the intelligent of matters of great import, their amusingly absurd speculations on the subject--set forth with all the gravity of a "budge doctor" determining _ex cathedra_--impart to the History of Cards an interest which, intrinsically, it does not possess. But putting aside all that may relate to their covert meaning, cards, considered with respect to what they simply are--the instruments of a popular game, and the productions of art--suggest several questions, the investigation of which is not without interest: Where and when were they invented, and what is the origin of their names? When were they introduced into Europe? What has been their progress as a popular game; and what influence have they had on society? What changes have they undergone with respect to the figures and the marks of the suits; and to what purposes have picture and fancy cards been made subservient, in consequence of those in common use being so generally understood? And lastly, what have been the opinions of moralists and theologians with