According to Père Daniel's reading of the cards, which is of the same ingenious character as that of the soldier who is said to have used his pack as a Manual of Devotions,[241] the Ace is the Latin As, a piece of money, which also signifies wealth; and as money is the sinews of war, the Ace has for this reason the precedence at Piquet. The Trèfle, or clover plant, which abounds in the meadows of France, denotes that a general ought always to encamp his army in a place where he may obtain forage for his cavalry. Piques and Carreaux signify magazines of arms, which ought always to be well stored. The Carreaux were a kind of heavy arrows which were shot from a crossbow, and which were so called from their heads being squared [carré]. Cœurs,--Hearts,--signified the courage of the commanders and the soldiers. David, Alexander, Cæsar, and Charlemagne are at the head of the four suits at Piquet, because troops, however brave and numerous, yet require prudent and experienced leaders. The Queens are, Argine, for Trèfle; Rachel, for Carreau; Pallas, for Pique; and Judith, for Cœur. In Argine, Père Daniel finds the anagram of Regina, and having made this capital discovery, he is enabled to determine that this Queen was Mary of Anjou, wife of Charles VII. Rachel represents the fair Agnes Sorel, mistress of Charles VII; and the chaste and warlike Pallas is but an emblem of Joan of Arc. Judith is not the Jewish heroine who cut off the head of Holofernes, but the Empress Judith, wife of Louis le Debonnaire; but even this Judith is merely a representative of Isabel of Bavaria, wife of Charles VI. In David he sees a typification of Charles VII, in consequence of a conformity in their destinies: David, after having been long persecuted by Saul, his father-in-law, at length obtained the crown; but, in the midst of his prosperity, was troubled with the revolt of his son Absalom: and Charles VII, after having been disinherited and proscribed by his father Charles VI,--or rather by Isabel of Bavaria,--gloriously reconquered his kingdom; but the latter years of his life were rendered unhappy by the restless spirit and wicked character of his son, Louis XI. In his account of the Valets, Père Daniel is not so imaginative as in the explication of the double and triple characters which he sees represented by the Kings and Queens. La Hire is the famous Stephen de Vignoles, surnamed La Hire, a devoted adherent of Charles VII; while Hector is supposed to be intended for Hector de Galard, another famous captain of the same period. Hogier and Lancelot are allowed to pass simply in their own proper characters, as heroes of romance.[242]