The names of the German suits are _Schellen_ (Bells), _Hertzen_ (Hearts), _Grün_ (Green), and _Eicheln_ (Acorns). It is not now known at what period these symbols which have become a distinguishing character of the German cards were adopted, but during part of the fifteenth century other objects were also represented on their cards; and the different marks quarrelled with the others and strove to be generally adopted, but without success, as those named above have been the only ones in use for many generations, although they are now being gradually superseded by the French designs, which among English-speaking nations are known as Hearts, Diamonds, Clubs, and Spades. Some ancient German packs which have been preserved are not only very remarkable for the beautiful workmanship lavished on their production and as handsome specimens of the engraver’s art, but are also curious because they contain five suits instead of the ordinary four. These were divided into _Hares_, _Parrots_, _Pinks_, _Roses_, and _Columbines_, with the usual King, Queen, Knight, and Knave in each suit. These cards were executed in the fifteenth century in the city of Cologne. Other packs of engraved cards made about the latter end of the fifteenth century in Germany had their suits marked by animals, flowers, and birds, and were not coloured, the symbols marking the suits without other aid. The mark of the _Grün_, or Leaf, in the German card resembles in shape the Hearts and Spades of the French. The shape of all these pips is closely analogous; and the Heart provided with a short handle and called a Spade or given a long stem and named a Leaf must originally have had a common origin, all knowledge of which is lost in the mists of the Middle Ages. The Pique may have received its name of Spade in its English home, not, as some authors fancy, because the word was a corruption of the Spanish _Espadas_, but because it resembled in shape the spade or shovel which was in use in England when cards first made their appearance there. M. la Croix fancies the shape of the _Heart_ resembles a shield, and points to this as supporting his claim that the designs on the cards had a military origin. Among the miners in some parts of England _Diamonds_ are frequently called _Picks_, owing to their resemblance to the head of that tool. M. la Croix also declares that _les Cœurs_ were the symbols placed on the cards by the French adapter, in order to do honour to his friend Jacques Cœur, a merchant of the day whose trade with the East might have been the means of introducing the cards into France, and fancies that _les Trifles_ denoted “the heraldic plant of Agnes Sorel,”—the King’s mistress, who had adopted the humble clover-leaf as her badge as a sort of pun upon her own name; the French word _sorel_ signifying the plant the leaves of which bear some resemblance to the _Trifle_ on the cards.