Though Mons. Leber has freely censured Daniel for writing on the subject of cards chiefly from books, without referring to cards themselves, he is yet exceedingly prone to follow Daniel's example; and though his explanation of the symbolical meaning of cards be less extravagant than the latter's account of the origin and signification of the game of Piquet, it can scarcely be called more reasonable; since both writers interpret the marks on the cards according to their own conceit. The one informs us that the Trèfle signifies that a general ought only to encamp in a place which affords plenty of fodder for his cavalry; and the other says that the Carreau, which, as it stands, in the cards, seems the very emblem of instability, signifies firmness, stability, constancy; an interpretation which seems to rest chiefly on the ingenious hypothesis of the Carreau being an emblem of the cube. The variations which occur on cards from the commencement of the sixteenth century, either as regards the marks of the suits or the names of the coat cards, throw no light on their origin; as such variations have evidently been introduced merely at the caprice of the card-maker in accordance with the prevalent taste of the period. In a pack of French cards, engraved by Vincent Goyraud, in the time of Henry IV, all the coat cards appear in the costume of the period; though the Kings and Valets still display in their dress that variety of colour which is to be seen on cards of an earlier period, but which, at that time, appears to have been out of fashion. Such cards would appear to have been in common use in England in the early part of the reign of James I. In Rowland's 'Knave of Hearts,' first printed in 1612, the Knave, in his supplication to the card-makers, complains of the pie-bald suits which he and his fellows are compelled to wear.[297] In the pack referred to the names and designations of the Coat cards are as follows: Suits. CŒUR. CARREAU. TRÈFLE. Kings. _Salomon._ _Auguste._ _Clovis._ Queens. _Elizabeth._ _Dido._ _Clotilde._ Valets. _Valet de Court._ _Valet de Chasse._ _Valet d'Eté._ Suits. PIQUE. Kings. _Constantine._ Queens. _Pantalisee._ Valets. _Valet de Noblesse._ The Valet de Court has his hat under his arm; the Valet de Chasse holds a dog in a leash; the Valet d'Eté carries a large flower; and the Valet de Noblesse bears a hawk on his fist. The mark of the card-maker appears on two of the Valets, namely, on the Valet of Cœur, and on the Valet of Pique. A pack of those cards is preserved in the Bibliothèque du Roi; and fac-similes of the Kings, Queens, and Valets, in their proper colours, are given in the 'Jeux de Cartes Tarots et de Cartes Numérales,' published by the Society of Bibliophiles Français. From those fac-similes the outlines of the four Valets here given have been copied. [Illustration: Valet de Cour. (p. 250.)]