Facts and Speculations on the Origin and History of Playing CardsChatto, William Andrew
History
Facts and Speculations on the Origin and History of Playing Cards
Chatto, William Andrew
Playing cards -- History
[139] Though the ten is one of the cards employed in Marcolini's System
of Fortune-telling, it appears to have been generally omitted in the
packs of cards used by the Italian jugglers of the sixteenth century.
Leber, who says that he had examined "un grand nombre de tours de
cartes" described in the pamphlets of the most famous Italian jugglers
of the sixteenth century, yet refers only to two works on the subject
printed before 1600; one of them entitled 'Opera nuova non più vista,
nella quale potrai facilmente imparare molti giochi di mano. Composta
da Francesco di Milano, nominato in tutto il mondo il BAGATELLO.'
8vo, circa 1550. The other, 'Giochi di carte bellissimi e di memoria,
per Horatio Galasso.' Venetia, 1593. The author of the following
work, also referred to by Leber, appears to have been the original
"Pimperlimpimp," whose fame as a mountebank physician appears to have
been still fresh in the memory of the wits of the reign of Queen Anne:
'Li rari et mirabili Giuochi di Carte, da Alberto Francese, detto
PERLIMPIMPIM.' 8vo, Bologna, 1622.
[140] Life of Lord Bacon, p. 5. Lord Bacon relates the circumstances,
and a certain curious man's explanation of them, in his Sylva, Century
xth, p. 245. Edit. 1631.
[141] Cuffe assisted Colombani in the "editio princeps" of the Greek
text of the romance of Daphnis and Chloe, printed at Florence, 4to,
1598.
[142] "Observations on a picture by Zuccaro, from Lord Falkland's
collection, supposed to represent the game of Primero. By the Hon.
Daines Barrington." In the Archæologia, vol. viii. Mr. Barrington says,
"According to tradition in the family, it was painted by Zuccaro, and
represented Lord Burleigh playing at cards with three other persons,
who from their dress appear to be of distinction, each of them having
two rings on the same fingers of both their hands. The cards are marked
as at present, and differ from those of more modern times only by being
narrower and longer."
[143] Original Letters Illustrative of English History, with Notes by
Sir Henry Ellis. Second Series, vol. iii, p. 102.
[144] When the prohibition to play at cards or dice was first
introduced into apprentices' indentures I have not been able to learn.
It occurs, however, in the form of an indenture for an apprentice in 'A
Book of Presidents,' printed about 1565, and said to have been compiled
by Thos. Phaer, the translator of the seven first books of the Æneid.
In the title-page of his translation, 1558, Phaer describes himself as
"Solicitour to the King and Queenes Majesties."
[145] Those injunctions with respect to tavern-haunting and gaming are
embodied in the seventy-fifth canon of the Constitutions and Canons
Ecclesiastical, 1603.
[146] Extracts from the Accounts of the Revels at Court in the Reigns
of Elizabeth and James I. Edited by Peter Cunningham, p. 176. Published
by the Shakspere Society.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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