_Briefe_, that is, letters; the game itself _Spielbriefe_, game of letters; the earliest cardmakers were _Briefmaler_, painters of letters. The four suits of the _Briefe_ were neither Italian nor French in character; they bore the name of _Schellen_, “bells” (Figs. 216, 217, 218), or _roth_ (red), _grün_ (green), and _Eicheln_ (acorns) (Fig. 219). The Germans, in their love of symbolism, had comprehended the real original signification of the game of cards, and although they introduced many marked changes, they made it their study, at least in principle, to preserve its military characteristics. Their suits depicted, it is said, the triumphs or the honours of war--the crowns of oak-leaves or ivy, the bells were the bright insignia of the German nobility, and the purple was the recompense of their valiant warriors. The Germans were careful not to admit ladies into the thoroughly warlike company of kings, captains (_ober_), and officers (_unter_). The ace was always the flag, the warlike emblem _par excellence_; in addition to this, the oldest game was the _Landsknecht_, or lansquenet (Fig. 220), the distinctive term of the soldier. We are speaking here only of the earliest German cards, for, after a certain date, the essential form and emblematical rules of the pack depended on nothing but the fancy and whim of the maker or the engraver. The figures were but seldom designated by a proper name, but often bore devices in German or Latin. Among the collections of ancient cards we find one pack half German and half French, with the names of the Pagan gods. There are also several sets of cards with five suits (of fourteen cards each), among others those of “roses” and “pomegranates.” [Illustration: Fig. 220.--The “Two” of a Pack of German Lansquenet Cards. (Bibl. Imp. of Paris.)] [Illustration: Fig. 221.--Card from a Game of “Logic,” invented by Th. Murner, and copied from his “Chartiludium Logices.” (Cracow, 1507.)] The Germans were the first who entertained the idea of applying cards to the instruction of youth; and, as it were, of moralising a game of chance by making it express all the categories of scholastic science. Thomas Murner, a Franciscan monk, and professor of philosophy, made in 1507 an attempt of this kind (Fig. 221.) He designed a pack of fifty-two cards, divided into sixteen suits, corresponding to the same number of scholastic treatises; each card is covered with so many symbols that a description would resemble the setting forth of some obscure riddle (_ténébreux logogriphe_). The German universities, which were far from being dismayed at a little mysticism, were only the more eager to study the arcana of grammar and logic while playing at cards. Imitations of Murner’s cards were multiplied _ad infinitum_.