[38] "Im Arabischen heist Nabaa: er hat einen leisen Ton, wie die Zauberer thun, von sich gegeben; davon Naba, die Zaubertrommel, und Nabi, ein Prophet, Wahrsager, herkömmt. Eichhorn erklärt, in der Einleitung zum A. Testamente, die hebräischen Worte Nabi, Nabüm, durch göttliche Eingebung, und durch Leute, die durch göttliche Eingebung handeln."—Ueber den Ursprung der Spielkarten, s. 15.
[39] Heineken, Idée Générale d'une complète Collection d'Estampes, p. 240. Leipsic, 1771.
[40] The Abbé Bullet, previous to the appearance of his little book on Cards, in 1757, had commenced the publication of a Celtic Dictionary. In the former there are many traces of his mind having acquired a bent from his Celtic researches. He finds the origin of the term as or ace in the Celtic as; and in the same language he finds the true meaning of the names of the Queens of Clubs and Hearts, Argine and Judith. Argine is formed of ar, la, the, and gin, belle, beautiful; and Judith is a corruption of Judic,—which is formed of jud, a queen, and dyc, twice. Both those queens, according to his fancy, are intended to represent Anne of Bretagne, wife of Charles VIII and Louis XII. According to Père Daniel, Argine is an anagram of Regina, and is meant for Mary of Anjou, wife of Charles VII; and Judith is not the heroine of the Old Testament, but the wife of Louis-le-Debonnaire. Though those doctors disagree, yet each appears to have equally good reasons for his opinions. The consequence is that we can put no faith in either.
[41] The Abbé Rive, grounding his opinion on an interpolated passage in Guterry's French translation of Guevara's Epistles, ascribes the invention of cards to the Spaniards, and places it about the year 1330. With respect to the origin of the name Naipes, he adopts the N P etymology of the Spanish Academy. The Abbé's brochure on cards is entitled 'Eclaircissements Historiques et Critiques sur l'Invention des Cartes à jouer.' Paris, 1780.
[42] "Mappa, dit Papias, togilla, (c-est-à-dire, touaille, nappe); Mapa etiam dicitur Pictura vel Forma Ludorum, unde dicitur Mapamundi. Un vieux glossaire latin-français de la Bibliothèque de Saint-Germain-des-Prés, cité par Ducange, reproduit et explique ainsi ce passage précieux, en le traduisant: 'Mapamundi, mapemunde; et dicitur a Mapa, nappe ou picture, ou form de jeux.'"—Mélanges d'Origines Etymologiques et de Questions Grammaticales. Par M. Eloi Johanneau, p. 40. Paris, 1818.
[43] The description alluded to will be found at p. 41.
[44] The sex of the Company appears to be a matter of interest even with the ladies of Affghanistan. "At night the ladies of Mahomed Shah Khan, and other chiefs who were travelling in our company, invited Mrs. Eyre to dinner. She found them exceedingly kind in manner and prepossessing in outward appearance, being both well-dressed and good-looking. They asked the old question as to the gender of the Company."—Lieut. Eyre's Journal of Imprisonment in Affghanistan.
[45] "Apropos de bottes,"—"Now you speak of a Gun:" Moore, in his Life of Sheridan, observes that but a very imperfect report of Sheridan's celebrated speech on the impeachment of Warren Hastings is preserved. The following piquant passage relating to the East India Company, as then constituted and acting, occurs in a report of the speech published in an old Magazine, for February, 1787. "He remembered to have heard an honourable and learned gentleman (Mr. Dundas) remark, that there was something in the first frame and constitution of the Company, which extended the sordid principles of their origin over all their successive operations, connecting with their civil policy, and even with their boldest achievements, the meanness of a pedlar and the profligacy of pirates. Alike in the political and the military line could be observed auctioneering ambassadors and trading generals; and thus we saw a revolution brought about by affidavits; an army employed in executing an arrest; a town besieged on a note of hand; a prince dethroned for the balance of an account. Thus it was they exhibited a government which united the mock majesty of a bloody sceptre, and the little traffic of a merchant's counting-house, wielding a truncheon with one hand and picking a pocket with another."
[46] It is expressly stated that the cards of one of the packs are made of canvas, in a memorandum which accompanies them. This is the pack which is said to be a thousand years old. On first handling them they seemed to me to be made of thin veneers of wood.
[47] Though Mahometans might object to paint figured cards, it appears that they do "tolerate" them, and that very amply, by using them. See a description of the Gunjeefu, or cards used by the Moslems, at page 41.