It would appear, from the testimony of contemporary authors, that the cards most commonly used in Italy in the latter part of the fifteenth century, were those which had Spade, Coppe, Bastoni, and Danari—Swords, Cups, Batons, and Money,—as the marks of the suits. These continued to be the common marks on Italian cards in the sixteenth century, and even to a much later period; and such also would appear to have been the marks of the cards used in Spain, from the period of their first introduction into that country, to the present day. The annexed woodcuts, copied from a plate in Breitkopf, [264] are the Sevens of each of the four suits in a pack of Tarots. The marks are precisely the same as in modern Tarots; and there is reason to believe that they are nearly the same, with respect to form, as those of the earliest Italian Tarocchi cards, properly so called.
The relation which the marks of the suits bear to each other in the three varieties of cards most generally known in Europe, will perhaps be best understood from the following summary, which shows, at one view, the names given to the suits of each variety in the country where such cards were chiefly used.
GERMAN CARDS.
German Names of the Suits.
Herzen, oder Roth. (Hearts, or Red).
Grün. (Green (Leaves).)
Eicheln. (Acorns.)
Schellen. (Bells.)
SPANISH AND ITALIAN CARDS.