Specimens of a pack of cards designed by Erhard Schön, and engraved on wood, are given by Singer in his Researches. In this pack, the marks of the suits are Flowers, Pomegranates, Leaves, and Roses.[274] These cards are very inferior, both in design and execution, to those just described, of the date 1511. Erhard Schön flourished about 1530. About 1550, Virgil Solis engraved a pack of cards on copper, with Lions, Apes, Peacocks, and Parrots as the marks of the suits: they are noticed by Bartsch, in his 'Peintre-Graveur'; and six of the pack were recently in the possession of Messrs. Smith, of Lisle street. The best of all the fanciful cards that appeared in Germany during the sixteenth century, are those engraved on wood from the designs of Jost Amman. They were published at Nuremberg in 1588, in a quarto volume, with illustrative verses, in Latin and German, composed by J. H. Schroter, the imperial poet-laureate.[275] From the following verses,--'Liber de Seipso,'--it would seem that those cards were not designed for the purposes of play: "CHARTA mihi titulum tribuit LUSORIA; lusus Et chartæ in pretio munera vulgus habet. Sed nec ego laudes moror aut convicia vulgi; Sit mihi sat claris posse placere viris. "Hos rogo, ut a rerum quondam graviore vacantes Cura, si chartis ludere forte velint, Colludent nostris: sine rixis, vulnere, morte, Ludenti quoniam lucra benigna dabunt." In this set of cards, the marks of the suits are Books; Printers' inking balls; Wine-cups, of metal "formed by the skill of the goldsmith;" and Goblets, with bosses of glass or earthenware. Correct and beautifully executed specimens of those cards are given in Singer's 'Researches,' pp. 180-96. [Illustration: Bells. (p. 239.)] [Illustration: Hearts. (p. 239.)] [Illustration: Leaves. (p. 239.)] [Illustration: Acorns. (p. 239.)] The four annexed German cards, are the Sevens of the four suits: _Schellen_; _Herzen, oder Roth_; _Grün_; _Eicheln_,--Bells; Hearts, or Red; Green, or Leaves; and Acorns. They are copied from Breitkopf, and are of the seventeenth century. The four small ones given below are of the same period, and were probably intended for the amusement of children,--like the "pretty little cards for pretty little fingers," manufactured at the present day. The subjects are, the second Coat card and the Three of Leaves; the Four of Acorns; and the Six of Hearts. [Illustration]