“But there is a more excellent way,” said Gutenberg. “These lines, I find, were first marked on a wooden block, and then the wood was cut away, so that they were left raised; this portion was then smeared with ink and pressed on the paper. And this, my Anna, is shorter than by drawing and painting, because when once a block is engraved, it can be used to impress any number of cards.” Playing-cards were at this period in common use. Of their origin, there is some doubt. Some have supposed they were invented to amuse Charles VI., King of France, as early as 1393. They are mentioned at nearly the same date in the laws of both England and Spain. The first cards made were doubtless painted with a stencil; that is, a piece of pasteboard or thin metal plate perforated with holes in the shape of the figures desired. The stencil being placed over paper, the color is applied with a brush, leaving the shape of the figures underneath. As they were so common and so cheap, it has been thought that the outline must have been made by some rude form of wood-engraving. There is proof that cards were _printed_ before the middle of the fifteenth century; for there is a petition extant from the Venetian painters to their magistracy, dated 1441, setting forth that the art and mystery of card-making and of printing figures, which was practiced in Venice, had fallen into decay, because of the large quantity of playing-cards and colored printed figures which were brought into the city. What foreigners brought them to Venice? Evidently the Germans; for they were the chief card-makers of the time. A wood-engraver is still called, in Germany, _Formschneider_, meaning figure-cutter; and this name is found in the town-books of Nuremburg as early as 1441. As a specimen of the early cards,--which were very rude,--we have here the Knave of Bells. Perhaps some may think Knave a good name for the article, in view of the characters who sometimes “play cards.” But this word had not always the same meaning. Originally, it signified a boy or young man, then a servant, and lastly a rogue. “An unsightly figure,” said Anna, as she examined the one in her husband’s hand, “and not to be compared to our St. Christopher,”--glancing at the wall opposite, where hung a picture of the saint,--“which was made with a pen!” “Nay, it was made from an engraved block, like the card,” said Gutenberg. [Illustration: The Knave of Bells.]