The Four of Hearts is sometimes called Bob Collingwood, and is by some considered an unlucky card, while the Four of Spades has received the name of Ned Stokes; but these are probably localisms and have but little interest for the general public. The Four of Clubs is nicknamed “the Devil’s bed-posts,” and in the old game of Gleek all the Fours were named Tiddy. The Four of Money frequently bears the emblem of the double star, signifying the “house of David,” that was one of the signs adopted by Freemasons.
In the game of Gleek the Fives were called Towser, and the Sixes Tumbler, and these were lucky cards, as they counted double when they were turned up as Trumps.
“In Ireland,” says Mr. Taylor, “the Six of Hearts is called ‘Grace’s card,’ from the spirited answer returned by one of that family to Marshal Schomberg, who sent to tempt Grace to espouse the cause of William of Orange. A reply was written on the Six of Hearts as follows: ‘Tell your master that I despise his offer, and that honour and conscience are dearer to me than all the wealth and titles that a prince can bestow.’”
Lady Dorothy Nevill, in her interesting book, “Under Five Reigns,” says (page 320): “Visiting cards, it is not generally known, originated from ordinary playing cards, which were used as such as late as the end of the eighteenth century. A proof of this is that when, some time ago, certain repairs were being made at a house in Dean Street, Soho, a few playing cards were found with names written on their backs behind a marble chimney piece. One of the cards in question was inscribed Isaac Newton, and the house had been the residence of his father-in-law, Hogarth, in one of whose pictures of Marriage a la Mode, Plate IV, several ‘playing card’ visiting cards may be seen lying on the floor on the right side of the picture. On one of them is inscribed, ‘Count Basset begs to no how Lady Squander slept last nite.’ As time went on, specially devised visiting cards with somewhat ornate calligraphy took the place of playing cards, and these, in time, developed into the small and simple pieces of pasteboard in use to-day.”
Although the Tarots and the cards of many nations have well-decorated engraved backs, these sometimes were simply chequered or covered with tiny dots, which made some writers believe the name Tarot to be derived from taroté, or spotted; but this was not the case, since the original name for cards was the “Book of Thoth.”
CHAPTER XII
“ACCORDING TO HOYLE”
The ancestor of all our common games of cards is probably L’Ombre, El Hombre, or The Man, sometimes also called La Beste, the origin of which has been traced to the middle of the fourteenth century in Italy, where the original Tarots were used as they are to-day. A modification of the old game is called Tarroco, the rules for which have been altered during the centuries that have passed since the game was first taken to the hearts of the gamblers, who succeeded the fortune-tellers or the priests of Mercury. The game having now but few interpreters, the cards have nearly ceased to bear the messages of the gods, and the cult of Mercury is forgotten.