[292] Leber, Etudes Historiques sur les Cartes à jouer, pp. 80-4.
[293] There is every reason to believe that the suit of cards which we call Diamonds was not so named in consequence of the mark being mistaken for the symbol of a precious stone, but merely on account of its form. The Dutch call the same suit Ruyt, in consequence of its form being like a lozenge-shaped pane of glass. The Diamonds on cards are, in Northumberland, more especially amongst the colliers, frequently termed Picks, in consequence of the acute angular points being something like the Picks used in hewing coals. The Spanish name Oros appears to have been originally applied to the suit called by the Italians Denari or Danari, without the least reference to the French Carreaux.—The mistakes on this subject appear to be exclusively Mons. Leber's own.
[294] The probability is on the other side, namely, that the German Grün, or Leaf, was the original of the French Pique. No French cards hitherto discovered are of so early a date as those which have Bells, Hearts, Leaves, and Acorns as the marks of the suits.
[295] The Crequier is a kind of wild plum-tree, and its leaves are borne as the family arms of the house of Crequi. Armorial bearings of this kind are called "armoiries parlantes" by French heralds.
[296] Mons. Leber should have said "Sept de Grün;" but then this would have destroyed the anomaly which he was desirous of illustrating; for there is nothing anomalous in the Leaves on German cards having a resemblance to the leaves of a particular tree.
[297] See the passage at length, p. 135.
[298] On this card the name of the manufacturer appears—P. De Lestre—together with his mark.
[299] In a pack of modern Portuguese cards now before me there is no Queen; and the suits are Hearts, Bells, Leaves, and Acorns. The figures of the coat cards are half-lengths and double—"de duas Cabeças;" so that a head is always uppermost whichever way the card may be held. In a pack of modern Spanish cards,—"Naypes Refinos"—also without a Queen, the figures are also double; but the suits are Copas, Oros, Spadas, and Bastos,—Cups, Money, Swords, and Clubs proper.—On modern German cards the figures are frequently represented double in the same manner.
[300] Peignot, Analyse de Recherches sur les Cartes à jouer, pp. 288-90. Paris, 1826. The following passage relative to the change of manners which succeeded the Revolution is quoted by Mons. Peignot from a periodical entitled 'Le Corsaire:'—"Les cartes en vogue jusqu'à la révolution furent totalement abandonnées pendant les terribles années de notre bouleversement politique. Le boston, le grave wisth, le sémillant reversis, n'étoient plus conservés que chez quelques bons bourgeois, dont ils n'avoient jamais sans doute enflammé les passions, ou dans quelques vieilles maisons du Marais et du faubourg Saint-Germain. La bouillotte n'étoit guère connue que de quelques marchands; et même l'opinion publique flétrissait ceux dont une ignoble avidité compromettoit la fortune. La mode avoit mis en faveur la conversation, les soirées musicales, les soirées dansantes. L'écarté a paru, et ce jeu niais et insipide a fait revivre parmi nous toutes les fureurs du gothique lansquenet. Plus de conversation, plus de danses; la sonate ou la romance du jour sont interrompues par le cri des joueurs; le bal est désert, ou n'est plus peuplé que de vieux amateurs; tandis que la jeunesse s'empresse autour des tables d'écarté."
[301] A description of the same cards by Mons. Amanton, member of the Academy of Dijon, is given in Peignot's Analyse, p. 291: "Dans ce jeu," says Mons. Amanton, "les portraits des rois sont très ressemblans, les costumes du temps bien observés; et même les noms des personnages sont écrits en caractères de l'écriture en usage dans le siècle où ils ont vécu. Malgré la perfection du travail, ces jolis dessins n'ont pu l'emporter sur les anciennes images informes, qui rappellent l'enfance de l'art; tant la force de l'habitude est tyrannique."