Part 7

Previous to the arrangement of the Tarot cards into the more convenient pack which is now generally used, the female figure was placed in that part of the pack which was divided into suits, although among the twenty-two emblematical cards named Atouts were found an Empress, and Pope Joan, and other female figures representing justice, temperance, etc. In some packs of Tarots the Queens joined the male figures; but their presence is not common, and these packs were comparatively modern. In the place now occupied by the Queen there was a Cavalier, Knight, General, Vizir, or whatever might have been the name of the male figure which was second in rank in card-land, and he had the Queen’s place and value. This was the descendant of the same warrior who in the ancient games of Chess was placed beside the King; and the position which that piece occupied was much more in accordance with the energy, the strategy, and the manœuvring to be looked for in a marshal in command of an army, than from the wife of a reigning sovereign.

Mr. Chatto states that at an early period the Italians occasionally substituted a Queen for the Cavello, and declares that the French have claimed an honour which does not belong to them when they assert that they were the first nation that had the gallantry to place a lady in the pack.

This example, set by the French or perhaps by the Italians, of placing a queen among the court cards has not been followed by other nations, nor indeed to any very great extent by the Italians themselves, who, although they sometimes included her, only do so, as a general rule, when they adopt the French cards and their symbols entirely, and discard those derived from the East, which have been clung to since their first introduction.

England was one of the few nations gallant enough to retain the lady in the national pack when it had emigrated from France and taken root in its adopted country; and England also selected a particular Queen of her own, and placed her figure among the court cards.

In one of the pictures of Elizabeth of York, wife of Henry the Seventh of England, we find the original of the quaint dress now worn by our cardboard queens. There were various reasons for the selection of this lady and her elevation to the paper throne, where she has remained, with her costume and even the colour of her hair almost unchanged, to the present day, and which a cursory examination of her history will reveal. During the lifetime of her father Edward the Fourth of England, Elizabeth was betrothed to the dauphin Charles, eldest son of Louis the Eleventh of France. At that time there was constant intercourse with the sister country, and cards may then have been first imported into England. The English princess after her contract with the heir of France was always addressed as Madame la Dauphine, and her picture may have been placed on the cards to show that she took rank as a French princess. This match was, however, suddenly terminated by the French monarch, and his rage and disappointment it is said caused her father’s death. Her marriage with his successor, which joined the two houses of York and Lancaster, who had been rival claimants for the throne of England, terminated forever the Wars of the Roses; and it may have been during the period of great rejoicing which followed this auspicious event that the royal dame who had been elevated to the position of Queen Consort was also selected to reign over card-land, where her figure, dress, and attributes are cherished to this day.

If we turn to the picture of Elizabeth of York, we shall see at a glance where the card-maker derived his inspiration for the costume of the card Queens. Over the heads of the royal dames are odd-looking head-dresses, which in the lapse of years have become rigidly conventionalized; but in them can easily be traced the resemblance to the straight lappets made of a scarf or veil richly embroidered with jewels, forming a cap and hanging on either side of the face, which forms part of the dress in the picture of Elizabeth. In it her hair, which was of a pale golden hue, is banded plainly on her forehead, and she wears a square-cut dress, which opens at her throat and has long flowing ermine-edged sleeves. One of the most important parts of the picture must be carefully noted. The Queen holds the rose of York in her hand, and this emblem has been always copied and retained.

Elizabeth of York was a most beautiful woman, and it might have been due to this fact that her picture was so eagerly copied. She died very young, having only attained her thirty-eighth year, in 1503, leaving an heir to the throne, who was afterward Henry the Eighth.

Among the names bestowed upon the Queens of the French court cards are those of Hélène, Judic, Rachael. These are found in the pack which is believed to be of the time of Louis the Twelfth. When the war with Spain took place, which was followed by the capture and imprisonment of Francis the First and his marriage with the Queen Eleanor, the ladies of the pack change their names to Lucresse, Pentaxlie, Beciabia. Again, under the reign of Henry the Second they become Argine, Pallas, etc. The effeminate reign of Henry the Third affected the dresses as well as the names on the cards. The Queens wore their hair turned back and crepé, “la robe juste à corps et a vertu garde,” and bear such names as Dido, Elizabeth, and Clotilde.

Singer relates that Pallas, as the Queen of Spades was at one time named, was intended to represent Joan of Arc, the Maid of Orleans, as Pallas was goddess of war and of chastity, and the Maid was her worthy representative; and that Charles the Seventh, out of gratitude for the services received at her hands, caused her to be placed under the cover of the heathen goddess’s name in card-land.

Père Daniel, in his dissertation on the “Game of Piquet,” says that the Queen of Clubs is called _Argine_, from which the anagram Regina may be made, and that it is intended to represent Marie d’Anjou, wife of Charles the Seventh. Rachael was chosen to represent Agnes Sorel, whose token—the clover-leaf (_sorrel_)—was placed among the symbols of the suits. The same author fancies that Judith may be intended to represent Isabel of Bavaria, mother of Charles the Seventh and wife of Charles the Sixth.

THE KNAVE.

The Knave has always been given an original and sometimes a prominent place in the pack of cards. Although this position does not seem to have been derived directly from _Il Matto_, or the _Fool_ of the Tarots, he seems to have inherited some of the peculiarities of the latter; and in many games he is given the same position, and either takes precedence of all the other court cards or else adds to their value according to the rules of the particular game which is being played.

The word “knave” in the English language was originally used to signify a “boy.” Chaucer employs it in this sense where he says of the King of Northumberland,—

“On hire he gat a knave child;”

and this name was given by the English to the card which was called by the French _le Valet_, as they regarded the male figure which accompanied the court cards on their invasion of their country as the son of the King and Queen of the suit to which he belonged, and did not recognize his position as the court-jester or servant of the royal family. But the words “man-child” or “knave” used in the sense of “boy” soon became obsolete, and the latter is never seen in the present day except to denote a cheat, dishonest person, or the second male figure of the court cards.

To the same card is frequently given the name _Jack_. It is supposed that this name was derived from the party-coloured or buffoon’s dress worn by the Knave; the cant name for a jester being “Jack,” which was also the term used to designate a serving-man of low degree. The expression “Jack-a-napes” was probably derived from “Jack-a-Naïpes,” or Jack of the cards, _Naïpes_ being the Spanish name for the pack; and as cards were at one time imported into England quite as much from Spain as from France, it was usual to call them by the Spanish as well as the French name. Mr. Chatto declares that “Jack-a-napes” means “Jack the Knave,” and says that “this card has more affinity in character with the Spanish _Sota_ or the Italian _Faute_ than with the French _Valet_;” and he also says: “We believe that it has never been explained why the coarse and vulgar appellation of Knave was originally given to the card next in degree to the Queen. Perhaps the following account may be found a plausible one. It was usual with kings in ancient times to choose some ludicrous person with whose ridiculous and comical tricks they might be diverted in their hours of ease. This person was generally selected from the lower ranks; but choice always fell on one endowed with low cunning and humour calculated to excite mirth and laughter; and the tricks of knavery in which he was allowed free indulgence in the presence of the King gave him the appellation of King’s Fool, or Knave.”

In the German pack the Knave has been called _Landsknechte_ (Free Lancer), and from this has been derived the name of a well-known game which the French call “Lansquenet.” In early French packs the same card was sometimes termed _Trichem_, which was also the name of a formidable band of robbers who at one time committed such horrible ravages in France that the Popes were obliged to preach a crusade against them.

The grotesque dress of the Knaves of the English packs has remained almost unchanged for several hundred years. It has evidently been copied from the ordinary costumes of the fifteenth or sixteenth centuries, but no exact date can be assigned to it. It seems to consist of a short jacket with full flowing sleeves, the body being crossed by a sash, or what may have originally been intended for a strap to hold a quiver. This coat, or jacket, resembles the _gaberdine_ described by Chaucer as being the dress of the Squires in the “Canterbury Tales.” The cap, with its squarely cut or battlemented edges, turned back over an under-cap of black, which fitted closely to the head, was in common use about the end of the fifteenth century. The Knaves of to-day are cut in halves, and show two heads, which are legless; and these replace the old standing figures and the odd-looking, misshapen, party-coloured legs, which followed an ancient fashion, and showed one clothed in one colour, its fellow being dressed in a different one, with gayly striped garters and peculiarly shaped shoes.

Mr. Taylor tells a droll story, which shows how conservative people have for many years been on the subject of cards, and how they resent the smallest change in the costume, etc., of the court cards, when every other dress changes almost as soon as it is generally adopted. He says: “One of the large card-makers in London many years ago introduced a scarcely perceptible modification in the colour of the Knave’s garter. Cards were supplied, as usual, to the customers; but very soon the steward of one of the considerable clubs came rushing down in a great hurry to the shop. ‘The committee can’t think what you have been doing to the cards! All the members are complaining that they keep losing. What have you done?’ At first the card-maker said, ‘Done? Why, nothing!’ not thinking the trifling change of any importance; but on further inquiry it was found that the indescribable something the clubbists had detected confused them, and he was obliged to take back all his cards and supply those of the former sort. Such is the influence of a trifle. Since that time, however, many alterations have been introduced, and not a few improvements.”

The weapons which are placed in the hands of the Knaves have become strangely distorted with the lapse of time and through the carelessness of the card-maker. Our Knave of Hearts bears a clumsy-looking battle-axe, which looks too dull and too heavy to be of much service in case of necessity; and in the other hand he holds a laurel leaf. The Knave of Diamonds has what Falstaff calls a “Welsh hook,” which has been defined as meaning “a pike with a hook placed at some distance below its point.” The peculiar attribute of the present Knave of Spades is a twisted ribbon, and its origin has not been traced. It may originally have been a Marotte, or Fool’s Staff, around which gayly coloured ribbons were twisted, the whole surmounted with a fool’s cap. This Knave formerly bore a strange-looking instrument; but its use having become obsolete, even its form has been discarded, and the figure bears no weapon of defence, like his confrères. The strange-looking staff carried by the Knave of Clubs is supposed to have been originally intended for an arrow.

Why it is that the Knaves of Hearts and Spades should be in profile, while the others show their full face, will probably always remain a mystery; but it may be observed that the Knave of Hearts is in the same position in some very old packs, now preserved in the British Museum, to which has been attributed the date of 1440; and the same thing occurs in a picture which is prefixed to a book called “The Four Knaves,” which was published in 1613.

As has been before mentioned, the court cards of the French packs have always had names placed somewhere on the face of the card; and these names, after changing with some rapidity with the fashions of the day, have now become permanent, and for some years have been retained without the slightest variation. “Hector,” as one of the Knights is dubbed, is supposed to recall Hector de Galard, Captain of the Guard, to Louis the Eleventh of France. Some authors think that Hector, the son of Priam, is intended by this name, as on some old cards the inscription is “Hector de Troye.” Another Knave bears the name of “Roland,” which was that of a nephew of Charlemagne. “Hogier,” or Ogier, was a renowned King of Denmark. Lancelot may have at first been intended as a compliment for a Paladin of the court of Charlemagne, who was a celebrated character of his day; or perhaps Lancelot du Lac, as it was sometimes written, may have been intended for one of the Knights of King Arthur’s Round Table. La Hire, another name placed beside the Knaves, was that of the celebrated Étienne de Vignolles, who contributed so much by his valour to re-establish the tottering throne of Charles the Seventh of France. Mr. Singer says that he was surnamed La Hire. Some authors attribute the arrangement of the French pack, with the symbols of the Hearts, Diamonds, Clubs, and Spades, and the black and red colours, to the same La Hire.

ACES AND OTHER CARDS.

It would seem that the name _ace_, _as_, _asso_, or at any rate some combination of letters which convey about the same sound, is given to the first card in the pack in nearly all countries where they are used. Mr. Chatto says, according to Père Daniel, the Ace is the Latin _as_, meaning “a piece of money, coin, riches;” while Bullet derives it from the Celtic, and says that it means “origin, source, beginning, or first.” A French writer of the sixteenth century, supposed to be Charles Stephens, in a work entitled “Paradoxes,” printed at Paris, 1553, says that the “Ace or Az ought to be called _Nars_, a word which in German signifies a ‘fool.’” The German word which he alludes to, continues Mr. Chatto, “is just as likely to have been the origin of Deuce as of Ace. It has also been supposed that the term ‘ace’ was derived from a Greek word signifying ‘one.’ But as this also signified an ‘ass,’ it has been conjectured that the Ace of Cards and of Dice were so called not as a designation of unity, but as signifying an ass or a fool. Those who entertain the latter opinion are said by Hyde to be asses themselves.”

Aces have had soubriquets or nicknames like many other cards; but these have gained favour only in certain localities. In one part of England they are called _Tib_; but the origin and meaning of this name is unknown. The Ace of Diamonds is commonly called the _Earl of Cork_ in Ireland, “because it is the worst Ace and the poorest card in the pack, and he is the poorest nobleman in the country.” In Spain the Ace of Oros is called _La Borgne_, or the “one-eyed.”

“There is luck under a black Deuce,” is a common saying among card-players. “But not if you touch it with your elbow,” is the reply; and when it is turned up as a trump, superstitious people place their elbow upon it, and quite a struggle goes on between the dealer and the opponent as to which one shall do so first. It is more than probable that the words _Deuce_ and _Tray_ may have been derived from the Spanish _Dos_ and _Tres_, which signify “two” and “three” in that language. In some German games the _Daus_ is the master card, and takes all the others. Mr. Chatto says: “The Deuce of cards, it may be observed, has no connection with the term _deuce_, as used in the familiar expression ‘To play the deuce,’ in which it is synonymous with _devil_, and is of northern origin. In some parts of the country the Deuce, although lower in value, is considered to be a more fortunate card than the Tray; and ‘There’s luck in the Deuce, but none in the Tray,’ is a frequent expression among old card-players who like to enliven the game with an occasional remark as they lay down the cards.”

In Northumberland, England, the four of Hearts at Whist is sometimes called _Hob Collingwood_, and is considered by old ladies an unlucky card. The four of Clubs is called by sailors _the Devil’s Bedposts_, and the four of Spades is named by others _Ned Stokes_. The Tray of Oros, in Spain, is called _Le Seigneur_. The Tray of Cups is _La Dame_; the Deuce is _La Vache_. The nines of Cups and of Money are the _Great and Little Nines_, and the Ace of Clubs is _Le Serpent_. In Ireland the six of Hearts is known as _Grace’s Card_, and is said to have acquired that name from the following circumstance: “A gentleman of the name of Grace being solicited with promises of royal favour to espouse the cause of William the Third, gave the following answer written on the back of the six of Hearts, to an emissary of Marshal Schomberg, who had been commissioned to make the offer to him: ‘Tell your master I despise his offer, and that honour and conscience are dearer to a gentleman than all the wealth and titles a prince can bestow.’”

“The nine of Diamonds,” continues Mr. Chatto, “is frequently called the _Curse of Scotland_, and some suppose on account of the tradition that the Duke of Cumberland wrote his sanguinary order on it after the battle of Culloden. It was, however, known by this name many years before this battle, as it is stated that about 1715 Lord Justice Clerk Ormistone, who had been zealous in suppressing the rebellion became universally hated in Scotland, where they called him ‘the curse of Scotland;’ and when ladies played the nine of Diamonds (commonly called the Curse of Scotland), they called it Justice Clark.” Other explanations are offered to account for this name, some of them being found in heraldic devices, as nine diamonds or lozenges are displayed in the arms of various distinguished men notorious for their hatred and persecution of that country. The riddle on the subject says: “_Question._ Pray why is the nine of Diamonds called the Curse of Scotland? _Answer._ Because the crown of Scotland had but nine diamonds in it, and they were never able to get a tenth.” The nine of Diamonds is the card designated to represent Pope Joan in the game known by her name. The fours have been called _Tidely_, and the fives and sixes _Towser_ and _Tumbler_.

The court cards have not escaped these soubriquets. In France the Knaves or Valets were sometimes called _les Fous_, and in Germany the horsemen or chevaliers who took the place of the Queens were designated _Ober_. In certain games the Knave of Clubs is called _Pam_; and in Euchre Knaves are called _Right_ and _Left Bower_, as they happen to fall with trumps. The Queen of Clubs has been called _Queen Bess_.

It is mentioned in “Court Life below Stairs,” by Molloy, as a curious feature of the time, and showing how far presumptuous gamblers forgot their manners and their loyalty, that during one of the attacks of lunacy suffered by the King, George the Third, great abuse of the King and Queen, and of Pitt was indulged in without reserve at Brook’s Club; and a cant phrase used at the whist-table was, “I play the lunatic,” meaning the King.

USE AND ABUSE.

Strange tales have been related of the various uses to which cards have been put, and Mr. Singer tells one of a Friar “who, thinking to pull out his Breviary, displays a pack of cards which some mischievous wit had substituted for it. Not at all disconcerted by the circumstance, he explains to the people that he makes use of them as a Breviary, and in a most ingenious manner applies the different cards to this purpose.”

There is another history of a parson who loved gaming better than his eyes, quoted by Mr. Chatto. This preacher thrust his cards up his sleeves when the clerk called him to the pulpit. “‘Tis true that in the height of his reproving his parish for their neglect of holy duties, upon the throwing out of his zealous arm, the cards dropped out of his sleeve and flew about the church. What then? He bid one boy take up a card, and asked him what it was. The boy answers, ‘The King of Clubs.’ Then he bid another boy take up another card. What was that? ‘The Knave of Spades.’ ‘Well,’ quoth he, ‘now tell me who made ye?’ The boy could not well tell. Quoth he to the next, ‘Who redeemed ye?’ That was a harder question. ‘Look ye,’ quoth the parson, ‘you think this was an accident, and laugh at it; but I did it on purpose to show you that had you taught your children their catechism as well as to know their cards, they would have been better provided to answer material questions when they come to church.’”

The story does not go on to state that this precious preacher met the fate of Ananias, as he well deserved to do.

Not many years ago in England, the following story printed on a sheet or pamphlet, was circulated among the poorer classes and was received with great favour. It was called: “Cards Spiritualized; or the Soldier’s Almanac, Bible, and Prayer-Book.”

Richard Middleton, a soldier attending divine service with the rest of a regiment at a church in Glasgow, instead of pulling out a Bible like the rest of his fellow soldiers to find the parson’s text, spread a pack of cards before him. This singular behaviour did not long pass unnoticed both by the clergyman and the sergeant of the company to which he belonged. The latter, in particular, requested him to put up the cards, and on his refusing, conducted him after church before the mayor, to whom he preferred a formal complaint of Richard’s indecent behaviour during divine service.

“Well, soldier,” said the mayor, “what excuse have you for this strange, scandalous behaviour? If you can make any apology or assign any reason for it; it is well; if you cannot, assure yourself that I will cause you without delay to be severely punished for it.”

“Since your Honour is so good,” replied Richard, “I will inform you. I have been eight days on march, with a bare allowance of sixpence a day, which your Honour will surely allow is hardly sufficient to maintain a man in meat, drink, washing, and other necessaries that consequently he may want, without a Bible, Prayer-Book, or any other good book.” On saying this, Richard drew out his pack of cards, and presenting one of the Aces to the mayor continued his address to the magistrate as follows:—