[287] "Hist. de la Maison de Montmorency.--Le Grand, Vie privée des Franç. tom. ii." [288] "Sidonius Apollinaris, Epist. 9, p. 245 de l'édit. in-4 de Savaron. Ce commentateur allègue un passage de Prosper, lib. iii, cap. 17, de Vita contemplativa, où il est aussi question d'oiseaux et de chiens de chasse: 'Utuntur accipitribus ac saginatis canibus ad venatum.'" [289] "Suivant l'opinion la plus généralement adoptée, et que partagèrent Velser, Duchesne, Fauchet, Du Tillet, Blondel, les frères de Sainte-Marthe, Spelman, le P. Menestrier et autres. Voy. le Traité de _l'Origine des Armoiries_, de ce dernier. Paris, 1679, in-12, pp. 53 et suiv." [290] "Sentiment adopté par le président Hénault: 'Mathilde ... broda en laine un monument qu'on voit dans l'église de Bayeux, de l'expédition de son mari en Angleterre; la mort ne lui permit pas de l'achever.' (Hist. de Fr. sous les ann. 1067-74.)" [291] "Voy. Fauconnerie de G. Tardif." [292] Leber, Etudes Historiques sur les Cartes à jouer, pp. 80-4. [293] There is every reason to believe that the suit of cards which we call Diamonds was not so named in consequence of the mark being mistaken for the symbol of a precious stone, but merely on account of its form. The Dutch call the same suit _Ruyt_, in consequence of its form being like a lozenge-shaped pane of glass. The Diamonds on cards are, in Northumberland, more especially amongst the colliers, frequently termed _Picks_, in consequence of the acute angular points being something like the Picks used in hewing coals. The Spanish name _Oros_ appears to have been originally applied to the suit called by the Italians _Denari_ or _Danari_, without the least reference to the French _Carreaux_.--The mistakes on this subject appear to be exclusively Mons. Leber's own. [294] The probability is on the other side, namely, that the German _Grün_, or Leaf, was the original of the French _Pique_. No French cards hitherto discovered are of so early a date as those which have Bells, Hearts, Leaves, and Acorns as the marks of the suits. [295] The Crequier is a kind of wild plum-tree, and its leaves are borne as the family arms of the house of Crequi. Armorial bearings of this kind are called "_armoiries parlantes_" by French heralds. [296] Mons. Leber should have said "Sept de Grün;" but then this would have destroyed the anomaly which he was desirous of illustrating; for there is nothing anomalous in the Leaves on German cards having a resemblance to the leaves of a particular tree. [297] See the passage at length, p. 135. [298] On this card the name of the manufacturer appears--P. De Lestre--together with his mark.