Prophetical, Educational and Playing Cards

by Mrs. John King Van Rensselaer

Humourous, or what are known as harlequin, cards have been published in all countries, where the emblems themselves have been taken for the foundation of fantastic figures. One of these packs was designed by Mr. William Thackeray. There are several French and Belgian packs, but far the best one was designed by Mr. Charles Caryl and issued by Messrs. Tiffany & Co., New York.

Musical cards are ingenious, and, by following the rules, several pretty airs may be played. Cards for the game of Authors were lately popular, and the game called Doctor Busby was a capital one for teaching children observation and concentration.

The Japanese cards, that have been referred to, are original in conception and design. The pack emblematic of the weeks of the year seems to be intended for gambling, although it shows no traces of a descent from the Tarots, for the cards display no suggestion of the pips or emblems of Mercury. Nor are there any emblematic figures like those of China, where the cards show evident imitations of the Stave, Money, and Sword pips, with some court cards. The Japanese themselves declare that Portuguese sailors introduced gambling cards into the country, but the only proof lies in the tradition and in the name by which cards are known in Japan, which is Karta, for the Portuguese use cards with the Cup, Money, Sword, and Stave pips, and no traces of these are to be found on any of the Japanese packs. In that country divining cards or sticks are used, which seem to have been inherited from China, and the methods of using them follow closely the rules adopted in all primitive countries, where the old superstitions referred to in the Bible are still active and in force.

A chap book of the late seventeenth or early eighteenth century had a large circulation, for it described one Richard Middleton, who, being caught playing with a pack of cards in church, was haled before a magistrate, who was amused when the soldier declared that he looked upon the cards as his Prayer Book, and described what they conveyed to him as he ingeniously connected each one with some Biblical reference.

This original description led to his release, and it has frequently been quoted. A variant of the story appeared in “The American Hebrew” that is worth repeating, as the original Christian ideas have been altered to suit the synagogue. It says: “The Ace is the only God. The Deuce, the two tables of stone that Moses broke at one blow. Try to keep them. The Trey is the three patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The four is our four ancient mothers, Sarah, Rachel, Leah, and Rebecca. The five, the books of Moses. The Six, the six days of the week, and the Seven is the Sabbath, when God rested and the seven-branched candlestick was made. Eight righteous persons were saved from the flood, Noah, his wife, three sons, and their wives. Joab came to Jerusalem at the end of Nine months. Ten Commandments are the cornerstone of the jurisprudence of the civilized world. The Knave is the constable who took me up. He was a fool, or he would not have disturbed me at my devotions. Queen Sheba and King Solomon are the Royal family. The former dressed fifty boys and fifty girls alike in male attire, and, to test the king, asked him to tell which were which. The wise one ordered water to be brought, and then quickly picked them out, greatly to the astonishment of the queen; but the children had betrayed themselves, as the boys only washed their wrists, while the girls washed to their elbows. Furthermore, there are three hundred and sixty-five spots in a complete deck of cards, corresponding to the days of the year, fifty-two to a pack corresponding to the weeks. Twelve picture cards, one for each month. Four suits, Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter. Diamonds represent wealth, Hearts love, Spades health and labor, and Clubs power.”

In the British Museum is a pack of grammatical cards printed by Jane, June 1, 1676. A small treatise of instruction that went with the cards begins as follows: “To all ingenious gentlemen the Purchasers of these Sciential cards. It was Plato’s custom, after he had ended his disputation, as he went forth from his school, to give this admonition to his scholars, ‘Videte ut ocium in re quapiam honesta collocetis,’ or, ‘Nothing is more irksome to nature than not to know how to spend one’s time,’ and if the mind have not some relaxation from its grave and Serious Employment it cannot endure. I should have been very injurious to you if I should have Obscured this Grammatical Epitome and Deprived you of that which will make much both for your Leisure and Profit.”

There is another pack in the same collection with “a short tract” teaching their use, saying: “For as your cards are entitled Hearts, Diamonds, Spades, and Clubs, so ours are to be called by the names of Orthographie (Spades), Etymologie (Clubs), Syntax (Hearts), and Prosodie (Diamonds).” By such gentle paths were men lured from vice to literature!

Astronomical cards were early adopted in Nuremburg, as was natural, for one of the most celebrated astronomers lived in that town, and the Tarots certainly lent themselves more easily to conceptions based on astronomy than to any other science, since so many of the Atouts have derivations from the planets. There are also French cards that are dated 1620, and Italian ones of about fifty years earlier, all of them being on the same subject.

Many of the Atouts in the Tarots are connected with the signs of the Zodiac, but the emblems on them are not clearly displayed, so inferences from them are mere guesswork.

The astronomical cards of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, showing the signs of the Zodiac, are clearly inspired by the Tarots, but the designs are supplemented by figures that show no connection with the Book of Thoth.