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
[224] The Empress is supposed to have been substituted for the Pope,
who occurs in the old series of figures assumed by M. Duchesne to have
been the original Tarocchi. In a similar manner, L'Amoureux is supposed
to have been substituted for Apollo; the Chariot for Mars; the Capuchin
or Hermit for Saturn; the Wheel of Fortune for Astrology; and Le Pendu
for Prudence.
[225] The figures of two or three of the Atous are sometimes
differently represented. In a pack now before me, inscribed "Cartes
des Suisses," manufactured at Brussels, in No. 2, instead of Juno,
there is a figure inscribed "Le 'Spagnol, Capitano Eracasse;" in No. 5,
Bacchus supplies the place of Jupiter; and No. 16, which is inscribed
"La Foudre," shows a tree struck by lightning, instead of a tower. In
this set, the Fou is numbered 22. Tarots are generally about a fourth
longer, and a little wider than English cards, and are usually coarsely
coloured.
[226] Memorie spettanti alla storià della Calcografia, dal conte
Leopold Cicognara. 8vo, Prata, 1831.--Cited in Duchesne's Précis
Historique sur les Cartes à jouer, prefixed to the specimens of playing
cards published by the Société des Bibliophiles Français.
[227] This book was written by the notorious Pietro Aretine. A second
edition was published in 1589, and a third in 1651. The title of the
last is 'Le Carte Parlanti; Dialogo di PARTENIO ETIRO; [the anagram of
PIETRO ARETINE] nel quale si tratta del Giuoco con moralità piacevole.'
[228] Though Mons. Duchesne generally speaks of those cards as if it
had been positively ascertained that they were painted by Jacquemin
Gringonneur, we yet find the following salvo, in the Précis Historique:
"Mais le fait de leur haute destination à l'usage d'un roi, ne repose
que sur des conjectures incertaines; espérons qu'un jour quelque
antiquaire favorisé par un heureux hasard aura peut-être le bonheur de
changer nos doutes en certitude."
[229] The Abbé's notice of those cards is by no means precise; and
when he speaks of the four monarchies contending with each other,
it is evident that he had either an imperfect recollection of them,
or that he supposed some old numeral cards, of four suits, to have
belonged to the same series.--"J'ai vu chez M. de Ganières un jeu de
cartes (je ne sais s'il étoit complet) telles qu'elles étoient dans
leur origine. Il y avoit un pape, des empereurs, les quatre monarchies,
qui combattoient les uns contre les autres: ce qui a donné naissance
à nos quatre couleurs. Elles étoient longues de 7 à 8 pouces. C'est
en Italie que cette belle invention a pris naissance dans le XIV^e
siècle."--Longueruana, tom, i, page 107.
[230] Materiali per servire alla storià dell' origine e de' progressi
dell' incisione in rame e in legno, col. da Pietro Zani. 8vo, Parma,
1802. The author's observations relating to cards are to be found at
pp. 78-84, and pp. 149-93.
[231] There was also a series of the same subjects engraved in the
sixteenth century.
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