But the cards out of which this conversation arose, are worth returning to. I was surprised to see the figures such as those used by the Greeks; to hear the suits designated as by them, and not according to the names used in Europe: but this is not all. The Spaniards are not content with the name which all other countries know them by: card, _carte_, _carta_, _spielkarten_, will not do for them--they call them _naipes_. A learned French abbé (Boullet) in his “_Recherches sur l’Origine des Cartes à jouer_,” makes them a French invention posterior to the use of paper, as proved by their being called _cartes_! introduced into Spain through the Basque provinces, where they took the name of _naipes_, from the Basque word _napa_, which signifies smooth! May not this, like so many other European inventions, turn out to be a mere copy, and Spain the transmitter to Europe rather than the debtor of Europe? If we go back to the once-famed game of Ombre, we shall find the terms of the game all Spanish, such as spadillo, matador, &c. If we go to Hindostan, we find the manner of playing to correspond with the game of ombre. Here is the link established between the Hindoos and Modern Europe through the Spaniards--that is, the Arabs. This latter point the name naipe confirms--Naib or Nawab, whence Nabob, being the equivalent to king. “The Four Kings” was the original name of cards in Europe. An old writer quoted in Bursi’s “_Istoria della città di Viterbo_,” has these words, “Cards were introduced into Viterbo in 1379, from the country of the Saracens, where they are called _Naib_. In Italy, they were formerly known by the name Naîbi. The two old Spanish lexicographers, Tamarid and Broceuse, derive the word from the Arabs. Alderete gives the fantastic origin of the initials N. and P. of the supposed inventor, Nicholas Pepin, which the moderns have followed. Islamism has driven cards out of use among the Arabs, and has thus left us to dispute about the origin of the name. Cards and chess seem to have been combined and originally played by four persons, there being four suits of chessmen as well as of cards. The history of them would be a great book, if it could be written.