{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_42950/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_42950","id":"gutenberg_42950","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/42950","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Archaeology & Anthropology","Category: History - Other","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Fortune-telling by cards -- History","Playing cards -- History"],"text":"PROPHETICAL, EDUCATIONAL AND PLAYING CARDS\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration: ATOUTS OF AN EARLY ITALIAN PACK OF TAROTS\n\n    1 Il Bagattel\n\n    2 La Papessa\n\n    3 L'Imperatrice\n\n    4 L'Imperatore\n\n    5 Il Papa\n\n    6 Gli Amanti]\n\n\n\n\n  Prophetical, Educational and Playing Cards\n\n\n  By MRS. JOHN KING VAN RENSSELAER\n\n  Author of \"The Devil's Picture Books,\" Etc.\n\n\n  LONDON\n  HURST & BLACKETT, Ltd.\n  PATERNOSTER HOUSE\n  1912\n\n\n\n\n  PRINTED BY\n  THE GEORGE H BUCHANAN COMPANY\n  PHILADELPHIA, U. S. A.\n\n\n\n\nTHE ORACLE OF ISHTAR AND NEBO UTTERED BY A WOMAN BAYA (OR WITCH) A NATIVE\nOF ARABELA\n\n\n\"I proclaim it aloud--What Has Been Will Be--I am Nebo--The Lord of the\nWriting Tablet--Glorify Me.\"\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\n\n  CHAPTER I--PROPHETICAL AND OTHER CARDS                             27-57\n\n    Divining cards--Tablets of fate--Tarots--Gambling cards--\n    Their difference--Persian cards--Oldest emblems--Standard\n    packs of Tarots--German designs--French designs--Rouge et\n    Noir--Persia and Sweden--Writers on cards--The three\n    gods--Derivation of name--Mercury and his predecessors--\n    Writer of E-Sigalia--Fortune-telling--The priest of\n    Thoth--Speech--Italian Tarots--L'Ombre--From leaves to\n    cards--Attributes of Mercury--Atouts--de Gebelin--From\n    arrows to cards--Gambling sticks of King Qa--Rods--\n    Devices--Argiphontes--Cyllenius or Agoneus--Caduceator--\n    Chthonius--The study of cards--Rods--Many authorities--\n    Papus--Temple at Bai\u00e6--Book of Thoth--Addha-Nari--\n    Heraldry--Tradesmen's signs--Lady Mary Wortley Montagu--\n    Terminus--Cestus--Pigs and tongues--Gazelle--Number\n    Thirteen--Joker.\n\n  CHAPTER II--THE BOOK OF THOTH, HERMES, AND NEBO                    58-71\n\n    Its leaves--Mercury's attributes--Il Matto--Nebo--Tablets\n    of fate--The Atouts--Their significance--de Gebelin--\n    Egyptian deities--Parchment records--Thoth the framer of\n    laws--Bible of the gypsies--Attributes of Mercury--\n    Interpretation--Balaam--The \"baru\"--T\u00eate-\u00e1-T\u00eate\n    mysteries--The pack--L'Ombre--Skus--Pagat--Austrian\n    Taroks--The romance of a pack of Tarots--Austrian games--\n    Austrian game books--A clergyman on cards.\n\n  CHAPTER III--MERCURIUS                                             72-93\n\n    The rank of Mercury--His occupations--His statues--\n    Cadueceus--The purse bearer--The sword--The cup of\n    Hermes--The four symbols--Nebo's temple--E-Sigalia--\n    Pozzuoli--Its merchants--The Serapeon--Serapis--Roman\n    villas--The temple of Mercury at Bai\u00e6--Mercurius--His\n    work--His parentage--His Infancy--Gifts from the gods--\n    Golden-leaved rod--Wings--The planet--Different\n    cognomens--Representations--Thoth--Inventions--Priests--\n    Sirius--Hermes introduced by the Pelasgi--Books of\n    Thoth--Inventor of games--Great teacher--Titles of\n    books--Connection with cards--Their scientific\n    arrangement.\n\n  CHAPTER IV--THOTH                                                 94-108\n\n    M. Maspero's description of temple--Mr. Rawlinson's\n    account--Psammetchas--Nebo and Thoth--Symbols--The\n    month--Its device--Tablet of Khufu or Cheops--\n    Hieroglyphically described--Names of gods--Qualities and\n    titles of Thoth--At judgment seat--Sacrifices--Books--\n    Colleges--Priestess of Thoth--Khufu--Thotmes--Cleopatra's\n    needles--Generations of priests--Gypsies--Hermetic\n    books--The ghosts--Book of knowledge--Its boxes--Magical\n    texts--Amulets--Ritual of the dead--Hall of two\n    truths--Osiris--Confession--Three Writings--King of\n    Sais--The dumb children--Some of the books of Thoth--The\n    temple--Wall pictures--Origin of Atouts.\n\n  CHAPTER V--NEBO OR NABU                                          109-123\n\n    Chaldean god--Different names--Parent--Wife--Presides at\n    birth and death--Sword as symbol--Assyrian gods--King's\n    temples--Protector--Hymn to Nebo--Borsippa--E-Zida--Great\n    library--Invocations--Titles--Emblems--Stylus--God of\n    Revelations--Nabi, Naypes or prophet--Mr. Chatto's\n    derivation--Early cards in Italy--Planet--Assyrian gods\n    identical with Roman gods--The Moon--The month--Dog\n    star--Sacrifices--Card emblems--Boar--Temples--Cult--\n    Nebuchadnezzar--All wise--Asshurbanipal--Assyrian\n    invasion--Mingling of cults--Highway of Egypt--Cuneiform\n    inscriptions--Tablets--Texts--Hymn to Nabu--Origin of\n    letters.\n\n  CHAPTER VI--THE ATOUTS OF THE TAROTS                             124-174\n\n    Consultation of the divinities--Wave offerings--Prayers--\n    Priests and Priestess--Hermetic books--Ishtar--Rods--\n    Jackstraws--Rites--Graven images--Divining arrows--\n    L'Ombre--Egyptian gods on the cards--Number One--The\n    Pagat--Quotation--Baton de Jacob--Meaning of Rod--Choice\n    of the boy--Lottery Chart--Aleph--Meaning--Bohas and\n    Jakin--Initiation of youth--Tablets of fate--Korean\n    superstitions--Fringes of temple--Numbers or letters--\n    Number Two--La Papesse--Isis--Emblems--Qualities--Eve--\n    Derivation of name--de Gebelin--Juno--Emerald Tablet--Mr.\n    Willshire--Juno's worshippers--Ritual of dead--Beth--\n    Number Three--The Empress--Maut--Attributes--\n    Significances--Figure--Gimel--Dress--Girdle--Titles--\n    Number Four--Emperor--Ammon--Daleth--Persian cards--\n    Titles--Invocation--Number Five--Le Papa--Phthah--\n    Attributes--Hands--Fatima--Number Five's Meaning--Number\n    Six--Lovers--Cupid--Significance--Vau--Symbolism--Number\n    Seven--Chariot--Mystic meanings--Zain--Arrows--Marked Yes\n    and No--Chinese sticks--Mercury--Pythagoras--The occult\n    seven--Three ages of the world--Seven evil spirits--Hymn\n    to them in Assyric--Seven in the Bible--Other references\n    to that number--Number Eight--Justice--Ma or Truth--The\n    Judge--Attributes--Tiemei--Heth--Ceres--Cups--Number\n    Nine--The Hermit--Aspect--Diogenes--Significance--Rod--\n    Texts--Typical of shelter--Teth--Number Eight--Rota,\n    Wheel of Fortune--Osiris--Anubis--Typhon--The Circle--\n    Wheels of Ezekiel and Pythagoras--Yod--Termius--Use of\n    Yod--Anubis called the Lord of Burying Ground--As jackal--\n    Number Eleven--Strength--Mystic hat--Una--Amazons--Kaph--\n    Goddess Neith--Emblems--Inscription on her shrine--\n    Brides--Number Twelve--Il Pendu--Hanged man--Freemason's\n    signals--Pagat--Lamed--Its meanings--Vulcan--Number\n    Thirteen--Death--Skeleton--Proverb--Horse of Aurora--Bad\n    luck--Its reasons--Mem and its meanings--Number Fourteen--\n    Temperance--Nut or Nepte--Titles and description--Nun--\n    Oil--Oblations--Number Fifteen--Devil--Set or Sutech--\n    Parents--Title of Hyksos kings--Ears--Zam--Significances--\n    Number Sixteen--Tower--Lighting god--Castle of Plutus--\n    Rameses II and the thieves--Bael--Enlil--Second Dynasty\n    of Ur--Dr. Radau's translations--Goddess Nin-Mar's hymn--\n    Ayin--Number Seventeen--The stars--Dog star--Nebo's\n    mountain--Hebe--Oblations--Gazelle--Typification--Number\n    Eighteen--La Lune--Attributes--Tzaddi--Diana--Number\n    Nineteen--The sun--Zoph--Ra and Rameses--Number Twenty--\n    Day of Judgment--Resh--Significance--Pluto--Ishtar--\n    Epitaph of Lord de Ros--Number Twenty-one--Le Monde--\n    Verity--Four Apostolic emblems--Their manifold meanings--\n    Tau--Le Fou or the Joker--Mat--Emblems--Shin--Gypsies--\n    Early Tarots--Intention of Atouts--Bible of Gypsies.\n\n  CHAPTER VII--PIPS OF THE TAROT PACK                              175-195\n\n    Suits--Court cards--German, Spanish, Italian and French\n    cards--Emblems of Mercury--Four castes--Lucky devices--\n    Addha--Nari--Phallus--Cteis--Vau--Jod-He-Vau-He--Divining\n    arrows--Golden rod--Numbers 17--Symbols of the\n    Israelites--Indian--Typical of families--Chinese\n    fortune-telling--Zeichiku--Meisir games of Arabia--Naib\n    or prophet--Tr\u00e8fle--Coppas--Assyrian cup--Cup-bearers--\n    Saki-bearer--Jamshid--Omar Kayyam--Golden cup--Texts--\n    Hall of Two Truths--Osiris--Ma--Thoth--Espadas or Piques--\n    Argiphontes--Meaning of sword in Hebrew--Pitch-pot--Money\n    suit--Collars--Zones--Meaning of suits--Numerical value--\n    Court cards--Their meaning--Seventy-eight Tarots--Rods of\n    Aaron.\n\n  CHAPTER VIII--SOME OLD ITALIAN TAROTS                            196-207\n\n    Mysteries--St. Paul--Osiris--Bewildered historians--\n    \"Portrayed on the walls\"--Nebo the Writer--Gypsies--The\n    crossed palm--Spanish cards--The Egyptian fleet--Essay of\n    Count Emiliano di Parravicino--Professional teachers of\n    early days--Cards belonging to the Duke di Visconti--The\n    Royal pack--The artist da Tortona--A wedding gift--Old\n    Tarots--The artist Cicognara--Historic cards--The\n    proverb--Fibbias Tarocci--Museum at Bergamo--Victoria and\n    Albert Museum--Beautiful Tarots.\n\n  CHAPTER IX--HEARTS AND DIAMONDS. SPADES AND CLUBS                208-221\n\n    Oldest French pack--The costumes--Charles VI--The\n    marriage f\u00eate--The fire--Original French Piquet pack--\n    Invention of French pips--Vignoles and Chevalier--Jacques\n    Coeur--The Palace at Bourges--Money or Carreaux--Swords\n    or piques--Sticks or Tr\u00e9fles--The pun--Red and black--The\n    startling inquiry--Tarots, Playing Cards or the Book of\n    Thoth--Ignorance of writers--French cards born three\n    hundred years ago--Vignolles--Chevalier and Jacques\n    Coeur--Piquet--Agnes Sorel--Black and red--de Gebelin's\n    history--Confusion--Discussion--Prejudice.\n\n  CHAPTER X--COURT CARDS WITH FRENCH PIPS                          222-244\n\n    Paio--Stock--Widow--Bunch--Pips--Court cards--Their\n    historic derivation--The number of pip and court cards--\n    The Joker--His origin in America--Cunning Mercury--\n    Fantastic designs--Conservative court dresses--\n    Double-headed and index cards--Costume of the Kings--\n    Their attributes and headgear--Charles of France--Old\n    Tarots in Paris--French cards--The names on the French\n    cards--La Hire--The dress of the knaves--Their\n    attributes--Patch the court fool--Nicknames--The Bowers--\n    Skat--Le Valet--Le Fante--Il Soto--Der Ober--Der Unter--\n    The Queens--Elizabeth of York--Her husband's picture--The\n    history of Elizabeth our Queen of Cards--Her birth,\n    education, betrothal and costume--The jilting Dauphin--\n    Louis XI--Marriage--The poem--The credulous queen--The\n    elegy of Sir Thomas More--Elizabeth's effigy in\n    Westminster Abbey--Card backs--Messages and invitations.\n\n  CHAPTER XI--POINT CARDS WITH FRENCH PIPS                         245-252\n\n    The Pique--Its names--Dr. Stukley's cards--A Picke--\n    Clubs, the emblem of Agnes Sorel--Hearts--The Ace--The\n    Earl of Cork--Le Borgne--Spanish nicknames--The Deuce--\n    The curse of Scotland--Duke of Cumberland--Chinese card\n    and counter boxes--Pope Joan--Trey--Nicknames for the\n    four and five spots--\"Grace's card\"--Lady Dorothy Nevill--\n    The origin of visiting cards--The backs--Derivation of the\n    name of Tarot--The reverse designs--Dolls and their\n    furniture from cards--Thackeray's invitation--Sir Jeffry\n    Amhurst's bid to a ball--Luck at Piquet.\n\n  CHAPTER XII--\"ACCORDING TO HOYLE\"                                253-276\n\n    The original game played with cards--L'Ombre and its\n    successors--Manilla--The Matadores--Spadille--Nine of\n    Money--The game described in \"Cranford\"--Punto--\n    Primero--Philip of Spain--Piquet in England--Earl of\n    Northumberland's letters--Sidney papers--Sir Walter\n    Raleigh--The terms used in Primero--Its Italian\n    rules--Rabelais--Shakespeare's and other plays--Terms\n    used in Primero--The games that succeeded it--Mawe--\n    Noddy--Gleek--Terms and nicknames used--Ruff, Whisk or\n    Whist--Piquet--Its inventors, Rules, Hands--Ballet--\n    References--Piquet or Cent--Political satire--Hamlet's\n    speech--\"The age is grown so picked\"--Euchre--\"Heathen\n    Chinee\"--American Hoyle--History of Euchre--Dialect--\n    Bower or youngster--Euchre derived from Juch--The German\n    words--An unreliable derivation--Poker--Jack-pot--Widow\n    and Kitty--Poker, Patience--Rules of game--According to\n    Hoyle--His birth and history--The story of Whist--Hoyle's\n    rules--Cavendish.\n\n  CHAPTER XIII--ENGRAVED CARDS                                     277-291\n\n    Print lovers--Invention of Xylographic arts--Earliest\n    wood cuts--Double purposes--Rare prints--Gregineur--Dr.\n    Stuckley's pack--Cologne engraved cards--Spanish pips--\n    German emblems--Martin Schoengaur--Le Ma\u00eetre--His\n    designs--E. S.--Augsburg--Its guild of cardmakers--The\n    cards of Nuremburg--Jost Ammon--His productions--Italian\n    and Netherland cards.\n\n  CHAPTER XIV--PLAYING CARDS FOR EDUCATIONAL AND OTHER PURPOSES    292-307\n\n    Invectives from State and Church--Destruction in\n    Nuremburg--Its Museum--\"The Devil's Picture Books\"--\n    Bishop Latimer--The Text--German instructive cards--Those\n    of China and Japan--The Friend's cards--Dr. Muruer's\n    cards--Louis XIV's cards--History of France--Heraldic\n    cards--Political and other packs--Cards with Mercury's\n    emblems--Harlequin cards--Musical packs--Japanese cards--\n    Cards as Christian and Jewish Prayer Books--Grammatical\n    cards--Plato's advice--A tract--Astronomical and religious\n    packs--Historical cards of the United States--Proverbs.\n\n  CHAPTER XV--EUROPEAN PLAYING CARDS                               308-321\n\n    Cards--Charles V--Proclamation in Paris--Red Book of Ulm--\n    Palamedes and the siege of Troy--Egyptian gambling rods--\n    Cards as postals--Evolution--M. Angelo--Prince of Pisa--\n    Maffei Ringhierri Feliceano and Menesturier--Singer--\n    Chatto, 1392--St. Cyprian--Nearsighted writers--The\n    points of view--Concealed practices--The game of gold--\n    Chinese legend--Connection with divination--Count de\n    Gebelin--\"The great dreamer\"--Connection with magic--\n    First French cards--Rouge et noir--Rapid spread through\n    Europe--The sailors with Columbus--Introduction of cards\n    into America--Italian verses--Pictures--Literature.\n\n  CHAPTER XVI--ASIATIC PLAYING CARDS                               322-340\n\n    Discoveries of Messrs. Cushing and Culin--Arrows of\n    Divination--The Magi before Pharaoh--The Rod of Moses at\n    Horeb--The connection between arrows and cards--Korean\n    cards--Alaskan rods--The game--Hida Island Indian rods--\n    The next step--Htou-Tjyen or \"Fighting arrows\"--Chinese\n    lotteries and cards--Derivation of pips--Actor's cards--\n    Jokers called Blessings--Educational cards--Japanese\n    cards--Historical, gambling and divining arrows--Poetic\n    cards--Cashmere cards--Persian cards--Their emblems.\n\n  CHAPTER XVII--CHESS AND OTHER GAMES                              341-364\n\n    Chess a battlefield--The Emperor Akbar and his queen--\n    Lady Dufferin's description of the Palace of Glass--\n    Living Chess--Two Jokers--Derivation of Chess--Troy--\n    Crete--Nig--Egyptian caricature--Korean Chess--Set in\n    British Museum--Chess from Brahmins--Ravan, king of\n    Ceylon--Seffa's trick--Persian words--Jussef's\n    escape--Mora--Draughts--The Pharaoh--Greek and Roman\n    names--French games--Checkers--Korean \"horses\"--Dice--\n    German dice cards--Korean dice--Dominoes--Jackstones--\n    Materials--Ball--Pieces--Kong-Keui--Chinese and Korean\n    games--The sets--Muggins--Milking the cow--Grab--Peas in\n    the pot--Horses in and out of the stable--Sweeping the\n    floor--Spreading the table--Laying eggs--Setting eggs--\n    Hatching eggs--Jackstraws--A set described--Their values.\n\n  CHAPTER XVIII--FORTUNE-TELLING THROUGH THE CARDS                 365-383\n\n    Methods--Etteila--Le Normand--Fortune-telling cards--\n    Rules--Meanings of cards with French pips--A fortune\n    told--The hairdresser of Paris--The First Napoleon--Les\n    hautes sciences--Deductions of the fortune-teller--\n    Papus--Definition of suits--Key to the pip cards of the\n    Tarots--Staves, Cups, Swords and Money--Rules for\n    reading the cards.\n\n  CHAPTER XIX--READING THE BOOK OF THOTH                           384-392\n\n    Rules--The first diagram--Directions for divination--The\n    young man's career--A second game with its rules--To\n    establish fluidic sympathy--The fourth deal--Etteila's\n    method.\n\n\n\n\nILLUSTRATIONS\n\n\n  ATOUTS OF AN EARLY ITALIAN PACK OF TAROTS, 1 TO 6         _Frontispiece_\n\n                                                             _Facing Page_\n\n  ATOUTS OF AN EARLY ITALIAN PACK OF TAROTS, 7 TO 12                    30\n\n  ATOUTS OF AN EARLY ITALIAN PACK OF TAROTS, 13 TO 18                   54\n\n  ATOUTS OF AN EARLY ITALIAN PACK OF TAROTS, 19 TO 22,\n  WITH TWO COURT CARDS                                                  74\n\n  EARLY ITALIAN TAROTS, COURT CARDS                                     98\n\n  EARLY ITALIAN TAROTS, PIP CARDS OF THE CUP SUIT                      116\n\n  EARLY ITALIAN TAROTS, PIP AND COURT CARDS OF THE CUP SUIT            140\n\n  EARLY ITALIAN TAROTS, PIP CARDS OF THE ROD SUIT                      166\n\n  EARLY ITALIAN TAROTS, PIP AND COURT CARDS OF THE ROD SUIT            190\n\n  EARLY ITALIAN TAROTS, PIP CARDS OF THE SWORD SUIT                    216\n\n  EARLY ITALIAN TAROTS, PIP AND COURT CARDS OF THE SWORD SUIT          238\n\n  EARLY ITALIAN TAROTS, PIP CARDS OF THE MONEY SUIT                    264\n\n  EARLY ITALIAN TAROTS, PIP AND COURT CARDS OF THE MONEY SUIT          288\n\n  SWEDISH, KOREAN AND JAPANESE GAMBLING AND EDUCATIONAL CARDS          312\n\n  ENGLISH, GERMAN AND CHINESE GAMBLING CARDS                           326\n\n  SPANISH, ENGLISH, DUTCH AND AMERICAN GAMBLING, HISTORICAL AND\n  EDUCATIONAL CARDS                                                    354\n\n\n\n\nFOREWORD\n\n\nIf an apology is needed for writing again on the subject of playing cards,\nthe excuse may be offered that new lights have been turned on the subject,\nso that there is fresh information to lay before the public, derived from\na close and exhaustive study of the European libraries and museums, as\nwell as of the pictures on the Playing Cards themselves or prints found in\nthose repositories, and also in the collection owned by the writer; for\nthese speak their histories to those who regard their symbols with\nappreciative knowledge, since they had an immense significance when\noriginally adopted.\n\nIt is twenty years since The Devil's Picture Book was published and it is\nnow out of print. The writer has been frequently called upon to furnish\npapers on the subject, so that it has been kept fresh in mind. At the time\nthat the first book was issued it was the only one that had been printed\nin the United States devoted entirely to the history of cards not\nnecessarily connected with games. Since then little has been published on\nthe subject, and the information given in the present volume has been\nlargely derived from the writer's own observations and studies.\n\nA collection of Playing Cards, begun at that time with a solitary pack\nbrought as a curiosity by a traveler from Algiers, that bore the ancient\npips of Swords, Staves, Money and Cups, has now grown to hundreds of\nspecimens culled from many different countries. Comparing these with each\nother, and studying all obtainable histories on the subject, leads to the\nconclusion that the writers of the seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth\ncenturies were correct when they stated that no historical record existed\nbefore the middle of the fourteenth century of _games played with cards_.\nBut each and all of the writers on Playing Cards agree that there were\ncards and that they seem to have been used for fortune-telling before\n1350, and also that there was a baffling resemblance between the\ntraditions of the cards and what was recorded of the Egyptian mysteries\nconnected with the worship of Thoth Hermes.\n\nIt therefore followed that the history and traditions peculiar to the\nceremonies connected with that personage should be studied in order to\ntrace Playing Cards to their birthplace and find for them an origin,\nwithout weakly stopping at the fourteenth century, and declaring that\ncards came out of space, as many authors have done.\n\nThe heraldic devices of Mercury, which are the emblems of what has always\nbeen called, by historians, \"The Book of Thoth Hermes Trismegistus,\" are\nin themselves mute proof of the connection of the Tarots (as they are now\ncalled) with the cult of Mercury. These cards are the oldest ones known,\nand the symbols are retained in Italian Tarots of to-day, so it may be\nallowed that when Playing Cards are studied as the leaves of the book of a\ncult, not as a game, their own pictures relate the story that has lain\ndormant for many hundreds of years. They only required to have a key in\norder to be intelligible to any one interested in the subject, and this\nhas been furnished by recognizing the four attributes of Mercury in the\ncard pips, which had escaped the notice of students until the present\ntime, as well as the attributes of the picture part of the pack called the\nAtouts, which are those of Egyptian gods.\n\nThe popular notion that cards were invented for the amusement of a crazy\nFrench king is quite disproved by the historical records of the Tarots of\nthe fourteenth century and the packs that survive. There are some\nbeautiful specimens in Mr. Pierpont Morgan's collection, the emblems and\ndevices of which are identical with records of the ancient Tarots, and\nthese cards are very much older than the French packs.\n\nAlthough the gap between the old cards and the worship of Mercury in\nEtruria is still to be bridged through accurate historical data, the\ninferential connection is too strong to be ignored and the rules of the\ngames played with the cards intended for prophesying or fortune-telling,\nas well as the tradition connected with the Tarots themselves offer\nconnecting links with the cult of Mercury that cannot afford to be\ndisregarded, as has been done hitherto.\n\nMr. Stuart Culin, in his introduction to \"Korean Games,\" says:\n\"Investigation has been hitherto comparatively unproductive of results\nfrom the fact that most students have failed to perceive the true\nsignificance of games in primitive culture, regarding them primarily as\npastimes.\" But he traces many of the games which are common to all\nchildren all over the world to a \"sacred and divinatory origin, a theory\nthat finds confirmation in their traditional associations, such as the use\nof cards in fortune-telling.\"\n\nThat Playing Cards are derived from the mysteries of ancient days will\nprove to be such a novel idea to many persons that the well-worn\nexpression: \"It can't be true, I never heard it before,\" will be hurled at\nthe author. But such critics are begged to pause, to consider the subject\ncarefully, and to marshal convincing proofs to the contrary before dipping\ncaustic-tipped pens into the inkwells of ignorance, doubt and disbelief.\n\nCourt de Gebelin, over a hundred years ago, was scoffed at and called a\ndreamer by the writers who followed him and wrote on the subject of\nPlaying Cards; yet these same gentlemen with strange accord, while failing\nto advance any proofs of de Gebelin's inconsistencies or ignorant\ndeductions, contradicted themselves by agreeing with his bold statement\nthat the Tarots were the survival of the cult of Mercury or Thoth Hermes.\n\nThe nineteen-hundred-year-old crusade against cards, as wicked tools of\nwicked persons, dates from the struggle of the early Christians against\nidolatry, and this has been transmitted for generations, although there\nare few persons who can trace their prejudices to the true origin. Nor do\nthey realize how often Divine commands to consult the occult were laid\nupon the Israelites without carefully perusing the books of Moses.\n\nIt may be as well to sum up in a few words the various proofs that the\nPlaying Cards we now use are descended from the ancient mysteries. First,\nArrows, and their successors, Straws, Sceptres or Rods. Cups, Swords and\nMoney have always been used in connection with prophesying. Second, the\nemblems of Swords, Sceptres (or Stylus), Cups and Money have always\nrepresented Mercury, Thoth and Nebo as their emblems or attributes. Third,\nthe worship of Thoth was introduced into Italy by the priests of that\ncult, as is proved historically by the remains of their Temple at\nPuozzoli, as well as the Temple there to Mercury, near which place the\nTarots are still found in common use in their original form, displaying\npictures of the Egyptian deities. Fourth, the Egyptians or Gypsies are\nthe fortune-tellers of Europe and always use cards for the purpose. Fifth,\nthe name given originally to the Tarots or prophetical cards that bear the\nancient emblems was Nabi, Naypes or \"Prophets,\" which name is retained for\nplaying cards in many parts of the world.\n\nThanks are due to the custodians of various museums who have displayed\ntheir collection of cards, and in particular to the artist, Mr. Burton\nDonnel Hughes, who kindly and skillfully designed the beautifully symbolic\ncover for this book.\n\nM. K. VAN RENSSELAER.\n\n_New York, 1912._\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER I\n\nPROPHETICAL AND OTHER CARDS\n\n\nPlaying cards may be classified under three distinct heads. First, are\nthose intended for divining purposes; these have descended from an ancient\nreligious cult that would be entirely forgotten were it not for the\ntraditional ceremonies connected with consulting this oracle, or \"The\nTablets of Fate,\" that are known as Tarots, and which are still used for\nfortune-telling in southern Europe, Asia and Africa.\n\nThe second division embraces cards used for gambling as well as for\neducational purposes, which have a short and easily studied history\ncovering the time of their invention and the amusements for which they\nwere intended. These date no further back than the end of the fourteenth\ncentury in northern Europe.\n\nThe third division includes the cards used for amusement or gambling,\ncommonly known as playing cards, which are found in common use all over\nthe world, although the designs on them vary with the location, and those\nfamiliar in France, England and the United States are unknown in Spain,\nItaly, Germany, Sweden, Persia, China or Japan, since each of these\ncountries has playing cards peculiar to the nation and quite unknown to\nthe others.\n\nThe French and German packs were invented solely for amusement or gambling\npurposes, while the Tarots, with their typical and heraldic designs,\ntransmitted from early days, are now only to be found entire in Italy,\nother countries having adopted one portion or the other of the original\nset as more convenient for games. This separation renders the decks\nuseless for divining purposes; whereas, when intact they are distinctly\nprophetical or fortune-telling cards, that are derived from ancient\nmysteries, not only bearing the emblems of the three prophetical gods, but\nalso those of the chief divinities of ancient days.\n\nIn some countries, such as Persia, only the emblematic or picture part of\nthe pack, called by the Italians Atouts, is used; but the greater part of\nthe world ignores these entirely and is ignorant that such cards exist,\nrecognising only the pip or suit part of the pack, but in almost every\nquarter of the globe four suits composing a pack are known, although the\nsymbols on them vary widely.\n\nThe oldest emblems are those of the Tarots that are still those most\ncommonly known. These are Swords, Rods, Money and Cups, which are the pips\nfamiliar in Italy as well as Spain, Algiers, South America, Cuba, Mexico,\nPorto Rico, the Philippine Islands and wherever the Spanish language is\nused, for the Spaniards, when conquering the world, carried their favorite\ntoys with them, introducing them to the natives who accepted the novelty\nwith avidity and used them for games, just as the Spaniards had adopted\nthem from the Italians.\n\nThe standard pack has ten pip and four court cards, or fifty-six in all,\nwhich are headed by a King, a Queen, a Cavalier and a Knave, and these\ncards all have names given to them according to the country where they are\nused. Cards for all parts of the world are made in Paris and local\npreferences are closely followed, although most countries manufacture\ntheir own cards, and a considerable revenue is gained by taxing the\nproduct as well as the import of cards. But while the ancient emblems are\nnow commonly used in the countries mentioned, the important part of the\nancient pack has been discarded. This comprised twenty-one picture cards,\nwhich were a most necessary adjunct to the pip cards, for when the\nfortunes of the players were to be revealed by reading the prophecies of\nthe gods it was imperative that the two sets should be used in connection\nwith each other, but the complete pack that is still known as Tarots can\nonly be found in Italy.\n\nThe German cards were never intended for fortune-telling, but entirely for\ngambling, and they have devices peculiarly their own. Hitherto no one has\nexplained why or for what purpose these symbols were invented, since they\nhad no particular significance when used in connection with the cards.\nThey are Acorns, Bells, Hearts and Leaves, and are partly heraldic emblems\nconnected with the game of Lansquenet. There are but three male court\ncards called King, Over Knave and Under Knave.\n\n[Illustration: ATOUTS OF AN EARLY ITALIAN PACK OF TAROTS\n\n    7 Il Carro\n\n    8 La Giustizia\n\n    9 L'Eremita\n\n    10 Ruota della Fortuna\n\n    11 La Forza\n\n    12 L'Appeso]\n\nFrance uses the gambling pack invented for Charles VI about the year 1395.\nThis contains three court cards--namely, King, Queen and Knave, and the\ncards display Carreaux, Piques, Coeurs and Trifles, or as we know them\nDiamonds, Spades, Hearts and Clubs. This French pack is the only one\nconfining itself to two simple dominant colours, while all other cards are\nextravagantly blazoned in variegated tints that are by no means as\nharmonious as the distinctive French _Rouge et Noir_, which commends\nitself so well to players for gambling purposes, that the packs of this\nnation are being now rapidly introduced and adopted all over the world to\nthe exclusion of native designs, even although these symbols have been\ninherited from the prophetical cards of prehistoric times. This is due to\nthe fact that the cards used for fortune-telling are not as convenient as\nthose that were invented particularly for gambling.\n\nIn Persia, where only the Atout or figure part of the pack is used, while\nthe pip part is omitted, the figures are painted in harmonious colours and\nit is left for the tints of the background to indicate the suits. In the\nKile Kort or Cucu pack of Sweden (which also has figures) there are no\ncolours whatever, but the designs are printed in black ink on white\ncardboard. This is also the case with old cards from the Netherlands, but\nnone of these packs were ever intended for fortune-telling.\n\nThere have been many persons who have interested themselves in the history\nof playing cards, and some of them have pierced the veil surrounding their\ncradle; but, generally, since these students have only been interested in\nthe cards as toys or gambling instruments or as rare specimens of\npainting, engraving or stencilling, the studies have not extended beyond\nthe time when playing cards became common in Europe, or about the\nbeginning of the fourteenth century. None of these students followed the\nclues that would have proved the original purport of the \"tablets of\nfate.\"\n\nIn \"Les Etudes Historique sur les Cartes \u00e0 Jouer,\" by M. C. Leber (1842),\nthe question is asked: \"Where do cards come from, what are they and what\ndo they say?\" These queries the writer proceeds to answer only in part,\nfor he fails to see the connection of the cards familiar to him, that have\nFrench or German pips, with the more ancient Tarots, which, in all\nprobability, he had never seen. But Leber states positively that cards\n\"are of ancient origin and Eastern invention, and primarily they\nconstitute a symbolic and moral game.\" He professes to be guided by the\nemblems on the cards themselves, but he fails to decipher or to understand\nthe evidences shown by the heraldic devices peculiar to one of the ancient\nGreek gods, which would have answered his questions.\n\nAccording to the Rev. Edward Taylor and other authorities, the emblematic\nand mystic cards called Tarots were \"born long since in the East, from\nwhence they were brought by the gypsies for thaumaturgic purposes.\"\nAlthough it is declared that the gypsies always carried and consulted\npacks of cards ever since the wanderers were known in Europe, these people\nthemselves have no history of their mystic book that they will disclose,\nso the positive historical record of playing cards as used for gambling\ngames or fortune-telling does not commence before the second half of the\nfourteenth century.\n\nThese cards are the ones we call Tarots, which are still common in Italy,\nand the emblems on the cards themselves reveal their original connection\nwith the worship of Mercury in Etruria, of Thoth in Egypt, and of Nebo in\nBabylonia. These three gods have the same attributes, and were worshipped\nfor many generations in the then civilised portions of the world; yet the\nforms of their worship, that have been so strangely transmitted to us\nthrough the greatest of their books, the cards are now little understood\nand seldom consulted.\n\nIndeed, the very name Tarot has been deemed by some authors as positive\nproof that the cards are the unbound leaves of one of the great books of\nthe Temple of Thoth Hermes Trismegistus, since they derive the word Tarot\nfrom Thoth or else from Thror Tahar, which, says Wilkinson (Volume II,\npage 90), \"were the parchment records kept in the Temple, which are\nmentioned in the time of the eighteenth dynasty that were written on\nskins.\" The same author states (page 207) that \"Thoth framed the laws.\" In\nfact, his temple was the seat of all learning, where doctors, lawyers and\nscientists were able to study and to devote their knowledge to the god\nthey worshipped.\n\nIt seems, therefore, that the name is in truth one of the links in the\nchain of evidence proving that what we use as playthings were once part\nof the great cult of Mercury and his African or Asian _confr\u00e8res_, in\nwhose time the pictures and the emblems were thoroughly understood and\nwere regarded with awe or reverently consulted, since by their means alone\ncould the wishes of the gods be made known to mortals, through the medium\nof the priests of Mercury, Thoth, or Nebo.\n\nThe intimate connection of the triple god is no fanciful suggestion, but\nis acknowledged by all students. Nebo, of the Babylonians (mentioned in\nthe Bible), Thoth, of the Egyptians, and Hermes, of the Greeks, were all\nworshipped as gods of speech and inventors of transmitted ideas. It is not\ncredible that in Asia or Africa, even as early as the twelfth dynasty,\nthat voice language or speech was a gift newly granted to mankind, so\nthere must have been some reason for the belief that \"these gods gave\nspeech to mankind.\" This is one of the superstitions puzzling many modern\nstudents who have tried to investigate the mysteries of the Temple of\nThoth.\n\nIt is now believed that one of the priests who was connected with the cult\nconceived the bright idea of communicating the wishes of the planets, of\nthe vegetable and the animal kingdoms, as well as those of the patron\ngods, to mankind through a well-arranged system that had the Temple of\nThoth for a centre and its priests as interpreters. The power that this\nsystem would give to the learned men congregated in the vast Temple of\nlearning would be great, and would increase their prestige to a wonderful\nextent. Before that time the primitive people were content with simple\nmeans of consulting the wishes of the gods, or with the decrees written at\nthe birth of each child on the tablet of fate by \"the writer of Esigalia,\nwho was called Neb\u00fc.\" The means generally resorted to were those still\ncommon in Korea, Japan and China, where the oracle is consulted by\nthrowing a handful of sticks before a shrine. Among the Arabs a sheaf of\narrows is used. Gordon Cummings describes his negro servants using sticks\nwhich were marked and then thrown on the ground, when the natives desired\nto be told by their gods where the game lay and what direction to take\nwhen hunting.\n\nThe scientific arrangement devised by the priest of Thoth that earned for\nhis god the reputation of giving speech to mankind was done through\nplacing on the walls of the temple a series of pictures representative of\nthe chief gods, such as Thoth, Isis, Maut, Phthah and Ammon, as well as\nvarious virtues, vices, etc., either pictorially or through heraldic and\nemblematic devices. These mural pictures could be consulted by the priests\nby casting on a central altar a handful of arrows, straws or rods, that\nwere always connected with the magic of the Egyptians, as is mentioned in\nExodus. As these rods fell they naturally pointed toward the pictures on\nthe walls, and since these represented nearly every event in human life\nthe \"speech or commands\" of the gods were readily interpreted by the\npriests, who thus proved that Thoth was the \"God of speech\" with\nthemselves for his mouthpieces. This superstition was carried out even to\nthe sacrifice of tongues, which was customary as late as the days of the\nRoman emperors, when tongues were used as one of the sacrifices to\nMercury.\n\nIt can easily be seen that the primitive arrows were incomplete without\nthe interpretation of the pictures on the walls used in their connection,\njust as the pip part of the Tarot pack is useless for fortune-telling\nwithout the Atouts, which are supposed to be crude Europeanized copies of\nthe pictures on the walls of the Egyptian temples representing their\ndeities. It will also be seen that the cards bearing the comparatively\nmodern pips of Hearts, Diamonds, Clubs and Spades, or of Acorns, Bells,\nHearts and Leaves have no power whatever of translating the wishes of the\ngods, since they were invented for another and widely different purpose.\n\nSome old and beautifully painted Tarots have been found in Italy, so it is\nassumed that their use was common among the upper classes in that country,\nwho could afford to buy the beautiful unbound leaves of the great book of\nThoth, long before there is any historical record of cards either for\ngambling or for fortune-telling, and that these cards were probably used\nfor the latter purpose whenever any wandering priest of the cult could be\ninduced to interpret their meaning.\n\nWe find that these medi\u00e6val Italian Tarots are usually painted on\ncardboard by a skillful hand, and that when they were used for amusement\nthe game was called \"l'Ombre\" (or The Man). The rules for playing it show\nplainly that it was not originally intended for amusement, but for a\nserious consultation of the wishes of the divine powers. In short, the\ngame was identical with fortune-telling, since the most important rule\ndetermines that only two persons took part, the one to inquire the future,\nand the other to interpret the meaning of the cards that were dealt. Both\nthe rules for laying out the pack and the value or significance of the\ncards point to the occult meaning of the game, which is still played with\nsomewhat the same laws, although alterations and modifications have crept\nin that obscure the original intention, of consulting an oracle which is\nprobably not even conjectured by modern players of _Tarocci_, as the game\nis now called.\n\nThe arrangement of the unbound leaves of the book of Thoth Hermes\nTrismegistus, that is regarded to-day as a mere pack of playing cards,\nenabled the priests (or initiates, as we may call them) of ancient days to\ncarry a pack on their persons, so that the wishes of the gods might be\nconsulted at any place. This rendered it needless to enter the Temple of\nMercury for the purpose, which had been the custom before the Christian\nera. After this time secrecy was probably necessary, since the priests of\nthe Roman Catholic Church naturally discouraged any consultation with the\ngods of ancient mythology, although the people might cling privately to\nthe cult that they had enjoyed and had believed in since prehistoric ages.\nThrough appealing to the prophets (or fortune-tellers, as the priests of\nMercury would be deemed at present) the superstitious people believed that\nthey were actually receiving divine guidance, and this belief is secretly\nheld by many, even in the twentieth century; although few of those who\nconsult diviners through playing cards realise that they are worshippers\nat the shrine of Nebo, of the Babylonians; the great god Thoth, of the\nEgyptians, or their successor, Mercury, of the Romans.\n\nMany links in the chain connecting playing cards with the ancient\nmysteries can be separately taken up and studied. In the first place, the\nhistories of Mercury show him as being worshipped under several distinct\nattributes, combined with that of being the Interpreter or Messenger of\nthe gods, and the students who were of his cult learned twenty or more of\nthe arts and sciences which Thoth or Mercury was supposed to have\ninvented, such as speech, music, painting, agriculture and astronomy, all\nof which were under his protection. Virtue, vice, death, temperance,\nhealth, joy and sorrow each had an emblematic figure peculiar to and\nconnected with it, such as a hanged man or a skeleton. Each of these\nfigures, if displayed on the walls of a temple could be recognised even by\nan unlettered congregation, so the people would have been accustomed to\nthese representations, even after they were removed from the walls to the\nflat surface of the cards and no longer displayed in their exalted\npositions.\n\nThe emblematic figures found on the Tarots and called the Atouts are still\nknown by the names given to them when the Egyptians introduced them to\nEurope, and are as familiar in Italy to-day as when worshipped under the\nprotection of Mercury. After a little study the attributes displayed on\nthe modern Tarots show most plainly their Egyptian origin, and mutely\ndeclare their pedigree--the image, value and position of each card,\nunchanged for ages, all silently pointing to this. Yet, while strangely\nconforming to all the attributes, decorations and posture of the gods as\nrepresented in the Egyptian temples, the designs have been so modernised\nas to be at first difficult to recognise.\n\nIt is supposed by several authors, notably by Court de Gebelin, as early\nas 1773, when he published \"The Primitive World,\" that originally the\ntwenty-two figures of the Atout or emblem part of the Tarots were painted\non the walls of the temples, a fashion inherited from Biblical times, to\nenable the worshippers to recognise gods, sciences, arts or conditions\nrepresented by the figures and their attributes when it was wished to\nconsult them. Discoveries in Babylonia and Egypt since De Gebelin's time\nhave confirmed his suppositions.\n\nThese figures in themselves were insufficient for communicating with the\ngods, for they were speechless, so for the purpose of transacting business\nwith them the second volume of the book of Thoth was adopted by taking\nfrom the peasants their ancient fashion of consulting the gods through the\nthrow of arrows or rods. These were marked with figures representing a\nfather, a mother, a child and a servant, and four tokens or heraldic\ndevices were also scratched on the rods, dividing them into the suits\nthat have been so universally retained. These symbols were always\nconnected with the worship of the gods, and ivory rods bearing these\ndevices have been found in the tomb of King Qa, who is supposed to have\nlived about 4000 B. C.\n\nThus, the ancient divining arrows became the pip cards now in general use,\nwhile the pictures on the walls, or the Atout part of the pack, is unknown\nexcept in Italy, where the complete book of two volumes with twenty-two\nAtouts and fifty-six pip leaves is still found.\n\nOriginally what we call the suits or pip cards were probably simply rods\ninherited from Moses and Aaron, or perhaps only a quiver full of arrows,\nor a bundle of straws, which we know were used at the Delphic oracle; and\nout of these primitive articles the cards were evolved. On them were\nplaced the four heraldic emblems of Mercury by which any statue or\npainting of him may be readily recognised. These emblems are convincing\nproof that cards were part of the worship of Mercury, since the four suits\nof the Tarots represented the four chief attributes of the god, those\nsymbols by which he is universally recognised, which are _Espadas_\n(Swords), _Denari_ (Money), _Bastoni_ (Rods), and _Coppas_ (Cups).\n\nAny one familiar with the many beautiful statues of Mercury that are\nscattered through the great museums of Europe, or the funeral urns or\nsarcophagi on which Mercury is represented, is aware of this. First, he\nappears as Argiphontes, with the harp\u00e9 or sword at his side, given him by\nhis father, Jupiter. Second, he is shown as Cyllenius, or Agoneus, holding\na purse, through the meshes of which round coins can be seen, signifying\nthe protector and representative of merchants. Third, he appears as\nCaduceator, or the messenger of the gods, bearing aloft the caduceus, or\nmagician's rod. Fourth, he is represented as Chthonius, presiding at birth\nor leading the soul to the unknown regions, when his emblem is the Cup of\nFortune.\n\nThis emblem inspired the shape of the beautiful Etruscan funeral vase,\nwhich is in itself symbolical and derived from the worship of the\nAssyrians. He is frequently represented by a cup or chalice, since Mercury\nwas also the cup bearer of the gods, like the butler of the Pharaoh\n(Genesis xl), who protected his master from poison. When he was the\nmessenger he held to the lips of mortals the seven-ringed cup of sorrow or\njoy, and the many significances of this cup, although now nearly\nforgotten, were realised by the ancient worshippers as an important emblem\nof the functions of the god.\n\nIf the Tarots are the direct descendants of the occult images in the\nTemple of Thoth, as is conceded, it must also be acknowledged that then\nthese cards each has a meaning or intention worth studying, if only to\ndiscover their secret; and that if they are connected with the ancient\nmysteries they represent human life in all its phases. To wrest their\nsecret from them has been the endeavor of many writers, some of whom have\nlearned their portent traditionally, others through careful historical\ninvestigation, while some confess to inspiration without authority or\nsupport, but not one of these authors discovered the important connection\nbetween the emblems on the cards and those representing Mercury\nheraldically under his chief guises, although such a discovery would have\nbeen conclusive proof that their surmises were correct and that cards were\nthe survival of the cult of Mercury and his predecessors.\n\nNevertheless, a thorough examination of all these writers shows that\nthrough different channels they all come to the same conclusions, and by\ncomparing their writings with that of the original rules for the game of\nl'Ombre (or The Man) quite a definite idea of the value and meaning\nattached to each card by the initiates or priests of Mercury may be\nreached.\n\nRaymond Lulle (1235-1315) gives an historical account of Tarots in his\n\"Ars Magna.\" Jerome Cardeau (1501-1576) writes of the historic pack in his\nwork \"Subtility.\" An English writer named Mathers has written exhaustively\nabout the great book of Thoth Hermes Trismegistus, chiefly with the view\nof explaining fortune-telling through a correct reading of the mysterious\nleaves.\n\nCourt de Gebelin, although sneered at by the authors who followed him, who\nfound his learning too deep for their understanding, has given a lucid\naccount of Tarots and their connection with divination, while Boiteau, in\nhis \"Les Cartes \u00e0 Jouer et la Cartomancie\"; Merlin, in his \"Origin des\nCartes\"; Chatto, in his \"Facts and Speculations About Cards,\" and Taylor,\nin his \"History of Playing Cards,\" agree that cards appeared suddenly in\nEurope early in the fourteenth century, that the cards of that day were\nthe Tarots, or the fortune-telling cards, that they were altered to suit\nDutch, Swedish or German tastes, or the fancies of a French king,\nfollowing also the desires of each nation that adopted them for gambling\npurposes, with no thought of the ancient cult to which they had belonged.\nNot one of them, however, pointed out the connecting link with the emblems\nof Mercury, or explained the reason for this sudden appearance in\ncivilised nations of these fortune-telling packs, except De Gebelin, while\neven he failed to connect the attributes of Mercury with the pips on the\ncards or the emblematic figures on the Atouts that still show the\nattributes of the chief gods of Egyptian mythology, that would have been\nsuch convincing proofs of their origin.\n\nWe are indebted to Papus, in his \"Tarots of the Bohemians,\" for clearly\npointing out that the cards are derived from the book of Thoth and for\nexplaining the meaning of each leaf. But even Papus, shrewd and far-seeing\nas he is, does not bridge the chasm lying between the temples of the\nEgyptian deities and the introduction of cards into Europe, although he\nrecognises the paramount importance of the emblem of Rods, which he wisely\ncalls Sceptres, since he sees the value that such a symbol of power was to\nthe ancients, and he never condescends to call the pip by its vulgar name\nof Club.\n\nIt is the more strange that the surviving signs connecting the ancient\nworship of Mercury with the emblems on the pip cards remained unnoticed,\nfor the old Temple of Mercury at Bai\u00e6 remains with its vaulted roof in a\nfairly good state of preservation; and on the ceiling of this temple can\nstill be seen traces of pictures resembling those on the Atouts. Almost\nobliterated and difficult to see, since the place is dark and there is no\nmeans of lighting, they can yet be discerned, even though it would be\nimpossible to reproduce the emblems.\n\nThey are in the shape of the old Atouts, that is to say, the figures are\nenclosed in a well-defined line the shape of a card, and the same size if\nconsidered in reference to that of the emblematic pictures. Two of them\nare distinct enough to show a figure, although which one of the Atouts is\nintended it is now impossible to say. Traces of other Atouts may be\ndiscerned all along the roof of the building, although they are being\nrapidly destroyed by the weather.\n\nEnough evidence exists now to show that, in this house erected to Mercury\nby the rich merchants of Rome, the emblematic figures were displayed as\nornaments on the ceiling and were not concealed in alcoves or curtained\nniches, which some writers have supposed was done in the more ancient\ntemples of Egypt where pictures have been discovered that have puzzled the\nsavants who have not connected them with the worship of Thoth or Serapis.\n\nWhy the emblems of Mercury did not receive recognition from the\nauthorities on playing cards of the past three centuries, or from others,\nremains a mystery, since it seems to be quite evident that, while the\nAtouts show the various virtues, vices, arts and crafts, which were under\nhis protection, the pip cards display his four chief attributes, and that\nthese were evidently placed in the book to represent the god when it was\nnecessary to call on his good offices to protect or guide merchants, to\ndirect love affairs, to encourage warriors or to inspire scientists. No\nother derivation for these devices has even been suggested, and these\nself-evident links in the chain of evidence connecting playing cards with\nthe worship of Mercury have been totally ignored. Many students have,\nhowever, pointed out that the Tarots are the survivors of his cult and\nwere originally the Book of Thoth Hermes Trismegistus.\n\nIn the \"Catalogue of Playing and Other Cards in the British Museum,\" by\nWilliam Hughes Willshire, M. D. (1876, page 52), he shows a picture of\nAddha-Nari, saying, \"she is the Isis of the Hindus, a pantheistic emblem\ntypifying Nature, Truth and Religion.\" In this Hindu emblematic figure the\nfour symbols of the ancient Tarots (now the suit marks of the numeral\nplaying cards of the Tarots and of Italy and Spain) are placed in the four\nhands of the figure that has the crescent or emblem of prophetic power on\nher head--namely, the Cup, the Circle (or Money), the Sword and the\nMagician's Rod. \"These are recognised,\" says Mr. Willshire (page 62), \"as\nbeing the symbols of the four chief castes into which men were divided on\nthe banks of the Ganges and of the Nile. Accordingly, the Cup denotes the\nsacerdotal rank or priesthood; the Sword implies the king, a soldier or\nmilitary type; the Circle or ring of eternity (that in the hands of the\nprotector of commerce became Money) typifies the world or commercial\ncommunity, and the Staff is emblematic of agriculture or the tiller of the\nsoil.\" This connection between these symbols with those on the Tarots has\nbeen copied slavishly by many authors as the only explanation for the\nadoption of these devices. That there were in early days these principal\ncaste divisions is unquestionable, and men of the different professions\nselected their heraldic emblems when consulting the oracle to worship or\nconsult Mercury as Chthoneus, Argiphontes, Cyllenius or Caduceator.\n\nThe bridge connecting the great goddess of India with Mercury has not yet\nbeen built, although the foundations have been laid and will soon be given\nto the world. It is sufficient to say at present that the mythologies of\nBabylonia and Egypt have mingled mysteriously, and that the mother of\nThoth is connected with the Indian deity so that symbols and rites common\nto one country are often found in the sister continent.\n\nBefore the era of printing men crystalised their ideas by making pictures\nto portray the thing or person that it was desired to represent. Thus the\nheraldry of to-day is simply this crude idea scientifically treated and\nclassified, and a coat-of-arms is the name of a family pictorially\nrepresented. The totem of the North American Indian displays his family\ncognomen in this way, as do the various symbols of uneducated people all\nover the world who are unable to express their ideas in written\ncharacters.\n\nSigns over the doors of tradesmen carry out the same plan, as the barber's\nbasin or pole (the latter being really the caduceus of Mercury, that was\ninherited from the doctors who studied at the Temple of Thoth). The bunch\nof grapes or bush of a wine dealer shows an inn, and a well-known saying\nof Lady Mary Wortley Montagu recalls this, for she remarked, \"How should\nwe know where the wine was sold if we did not see the bush?\"\n\nThus, also, at a cross-road where directions from the god Terminus\n(Mercury) were required, his pointing finger [Illustration: pointing\nfinger] (which was also the Yod found on the Tarots) was a pictured sign\nthat all could comprehend. It is the same with all the other emblems\nconnected with this ubiquitous deity, and the ancients understood these\ndevices far more easily than we of to-day, as the lapse of time has caused\nthe intention of many of them to be forgotten, and none more so than those\nof Mercury on the pip cards of the Tarots. That their meaning is forgotten\nis not the fault of those who credited transmitted knowledge through\npictures instead of written words, as the devices remain as a simple key\nto the origin of cards that originally were intended only as a means of\ncommunicating with occult powers. (See Numbers xvii.)\n\nIn order to come closely to the meanings attributed to the devices as well\nas to the figures on the Atout part of the Tarots, each one must be\nstudied separately, and close attention must be given to the other\nconnections with the cult of Mercury that have not been dropped from the\ncards in the course of ages, but which remain to enlighten us.\n\nThus, the girdle or cestus that Mercury stole from Venus encircles the\ndeuce of Money, and all the oldest cards retain this symbol as well as\nthose manufactured now. This card plays an important part in the\nsoothsayer's pack. Under some conditions it signifies thieving, which\nprobably refers to the theft of the girdle. A pig is always displayed on\nthe two of bells of the German pack that was evidently derived from the\nTarots, since it was sacred to Nebo. Pigs and tongues (representing\nspeech) were always part of the sacrifice to Hermes at his annual\nfestival, and both were sacred to Proserpene, whose descent to hell was\ncelebrated on the day she was dragged from her mother, Ceres, and\nconducted by Mercury Chthoneus, to the arms of Pluto.\n\nA gazelle under a palm tree is placed on the knave of Money, which recalls\nthe worship of Osiris, in which Thoth plays such an important part.\nAccording to a legend, the gazelle gives notice of the rising of the\nwaters of the river Nile by fleeing from its wonted feeding grounds on the\nbanks to the recesses of the desert, long before the first signs of the\ncoming flood are noticed by mankind. The gazelle acts in this way as a\nlieutenant to Hermes, or as a messenger from the gods to humans, and it is\nsacred to Thoth, who was afterwards, by the Romans, merged into Mercury.\nThoth is also represented on the Fool or Joker.\n\n[Illustration: ATOUTS OF AN EARLY ITALIAN PACK OF TAROTS\n\n    13 La Morte\n\n    14 La Temperan\n\n    15 Il Diavolo\n\n    16 La Torre\n\n    17 Le Stelle\n\n    18 La Luna]\n\nThe number thirteen has always received mystic reverence, and the reason\nfor this has been sought by many. Among the Atouts that number is on the\ncard representing Death. Mercury's festival falls on the thirteenth of the\nfifth month, so the thirteenth card has more than one significance to the\nbelievers in the old pictured symbols, particularly when connected with\nthe Tarots.\n\nThe card known to us as the Joker combines in itself all the versatile\nqualities attributed to the god Hermes himself, and it is small wonder\nthat it was so regarded, as he was supposed to represent in his own person\nso many and such different things. Among the Atouts it is called Le Fou\n(the Fool). It has no number in the pack and was not one of the pictures\nthat were placed on the walls, but was probably a statue occupying the\ncentre of the temple, where it might be separately approached. Among the\ncards it outranks all others, and is as volatile and as little to be\ndepended upon as the god of Quicksilver himself. It controls and dominates\nevery card in both the pip and Atout parts of the pack. It represents the\nunforeseen, the unexpected, uncertainty or uncontrollable fate, and the\ndestiny that presides over every walk in life. It stands for Destiny,\nwhether it be called Kismet, Luck, Chance, Fate or Mercury, who alone\ncould tell to mortals what he had foretold at their birth, when as \"the\nWriter\" he inscribed on his \"tablets\" all the events of life.\n\nThrough studying the Joker and the value bestowed on him in the old as\nwell as in the modern packs the similarity of the powers that he wields\nwith those that were attributed to the Hermes of the Greeks may be\nrecognised, and this representation of irresponsibility, of chance or of\nluck, is found in every part of the world where divining cards are used.\nIt marks the difference between the Tarots and the French, German and\nSwiss packs that were invented for gambling only, and were never intended\nfor fortune-telling. That packs in the United States, with French pips,\nhave a Joker, does not prove that in France the gentleman is known, for he\nmade his appearance here after 1850, as will be related later.\n\nThe way that the Joker is represented varies most strangely. Sometimes the\ncard shows a group of huddled imps. Sometimes it is a blank like that of\nKorea and Japan, or it may show the figure of a clown or a jester like\nthat of Austria. It would be interesting to follow the history of jesters\nthrough the troubadours from Mercury himself. But each and all\nrepresentations have the same value when luck rules, and the Joker takes\nevery card in the pack.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER II.\n\nTHE TAROT PACK OF CARDS\n\n\nThe complete pack of Tarots (sometimes called \"the book of Thoth\")\ncontains seventy-eight leaves, and, of these, fifty-six bear pips, with\nfour court cards to each suit, which show the attributes of Mercury,\nnamely: Swords, Staves, Money, and Cups. Besides these, there are\ntwenty-two cards with emblematic figures, that were also connected with\nthe worship of Mercury or some of the ancient mysteries; and they, as a\nwhole, represent the chief moral or spiritual characteristics of mankind,\nthe cardinal virtues, marriage, death, creation, and resurrection, closely\nfollowing the attributes of the Egyptian deities. They are presided over\nand controlled by Mercury himself, the card being named in Italy \"_il\nMatto_,\" or \"_le Fou_\"; and we know it as the Joker. This figure was also\noriginally intended for Thoth or Nebo and is often presented as a vagabond\nor tramp, who typifies irresponsibility, the elements of uncertainty,\nchance, or luck, that pervade all the concerns of life, and which must be\nacknowledged and provided for under all circumstances, and in all social\nconditions from the emperor to the beggar.\n\nThe close resemblance of this Matto, in all the attributes bestowed upon\nhim in the card world, to the Greek god Hermes should not be overlooked,\nfor he was so rapid in his movements as to have quicksilver named after\nhim, the mineral that has so many qualifications and is so uncertain. The\nname was probably given to the metal by the scientists who belonged to the\nEgyptian temple of learning. Then, too, its healing qualities were\nrecognised by the medical world of ancient days, and, as these wise men\nwere under the protection of the god Hermes, that also may have\ncontributed to its having been named after him. Mercury also was the\nunexpected and versatile god who attended the dying, although he did not\ncause the death. He was the inventor and patron of games, although he was\nno gamester himself, but he personified luck and chance; so, with these\nand many other characteristics, Mercury was, indeed, the Joker of the\npack, \"the Trump that captures all other cards.\"\n\nThe twenty-two Atout cards, as they are called, present allegorical\nfigures in which the attitude, the costume, the accessories, and the\nattributes each have a significance that may be traced back to their\norigin, and although some of these symbols are still unidentified, the\ngreater part are recognised, so the value of the figure itself is\nunderstood. Some of them were connected with one or the other of the arts,\ncrafts, or sciences that were taught by the priests of Thoth, and by them\ntransmitted to their successors in Italy; twelve of them represent the\ngods of Olympus; the others are connected with Egyptian gods or can be\ntraced to even earlier ceremonies connected with divination.\n\nBefore describing each one of the Atouts and their meanings, it must be\nmentioned that, while many authors have written of different packs of\ncards, there are but two authors who have made a study of the Tarots, and\nthat neither of these regards the packs as toys or gamblers' instruments,\nbut as the outcome of a great mystery or religious cult. Court de Gebelin,\nas early as 1773, declared: \"The complete pack of Tarots, with pip and\nemblem cards together, were part of the Egyptian mysteries, and\nparticularly of the worship of Thoth,\" and he traces the resemblance of\nthe figures and the quality or value attributed to them to Isis, Maut,\nAnubis, or other personages in the Egyptian cosmogony, which theory is\nconfirmed by Papus in his \"Tarots of the Bohemians.\" A careful study of\nSir Gardiner Wilkinson's \"Ancient Egyptians,\" and Mr. Rawlinson's \"Ancient\nEgypt,\" shows how accurate these surmises were, for the origin of many of\nthe figures on the Tarots can be traced in these works, although in the\ndays of de Gebelin, Egypt was a sealed book to students.\n\nSir G. Wilkinson stated in \"Ancient Egyptians\" (Vol. II, page 207):\n\"Parchment was used for the records kept in the temples and is mentioned\nin the time of the eighteenth dynasty, when there were histories written\non skins called Thr, or Tahar, and Thoth (Hermes) framed the laws.\" This\nproves that the rules governing mankind emanated from the temple of Thoth\n(as the name is indifferently spelled), and that, if it were necessary to\ngive publicity to the mandates, it could be done outside of the temple\nwith written characters, or ideographically. Probably letters were not\nused at the time, although Thoth was the god of letters and the inventor\nof the alphabet; but symbols and emblems were adopted, since they could be\nmore easily understood by illiterate people. This, then, might well have\naccounted for the figures of the Atouts, even if there were no other\nreasons for them.\n\nWe are indebted to M. de Gebelin for connecting the Tarots with this cult,\nas well as to Papus, for the latter, in his \"Tarots of the Bohemians,\" not\nonly accepts the statements made by the other writer, but tries to prove\nthat the Tarot pack was \"the Bible of the Gypsies\" and states that \"it was\nalso the book of Thoth Hermes Trismegistus of ancient civilization.\"\n\nOther writers who have studied the cards believe that they \"are the key to\nforgotten mysteries\"; but none of them have pointed out the significant\nfacts connecting the emblems of the suit cards with the heraldic\nattributes of Mercury, and none have noted the value and connection\nbetween the different figures of the Atouts with those of the gods of\nBabylonia mentioned in the Bible, yet they are so remarkable that it seems\nincredible that they should have been so long overlooked by those who were\nsearching for the origin of Playing Cards.\n\nIt is quite evident in the first place that the Staff, or magic wand, must\nhave been inspired by the caduceus, or, perhaps, by the stylus, which is\nalso emblematical of Thoth and was used by the Babylonian god Nebo to\nwrite on his tablets of fate. The Sword was derived from the Harp\u00e9\npresented by Jupiter to his son, Mercury, and was also used by Nebo. The\npurse of Money, and the Chalice, have from the earliest times been\nconnected with spiritual uses and the mysteries of the three prophetical\ngods. Any one of the four denoted Mercury, while not one of the other gods\nof Olympus, Babylonia, or Egypt was ever so marked, and none of them\ncombined all the sciences and arts that were practised by his priests and\ndedicated to the honour of the god who was worshipped as the prophet and\nmessenger from gods to men.\n\nThe connection of the Tarot cards with astronomy and astrology is a study\nby itself, but, since these sciences were part of the course of studies\npursued by the priests of Thoth, many emblems connected with them are\nfound on the Atouts. These had meaning for those learned enough to read\nthe signs. But each Atout, be it connected with kabbalism, demonology,\nBabylonian, Egyptian, Greek or Roman mythology, is written in a language\nnow partly forgotten, but once widely known and revered.\n\nAt first the book of Thoth, or prophetic cards, was only in the hands of\nthe priests; but as the meaning of these detached leaves was from time to\ntime revealed to the educated classes, these persons learned to consult\nthe Tarots for themselves when desiring to know the wishes of the gods. A\nsystematic arrangement of the cards could be made by a couple of players,\nand this t\u00eate-a-t\u00eate method of asking for divine guidance is a very\nancient custom, and must receive due recognition when studying the cult of\nMercury, for it must be particularly noted that all the earliest known\ngames with cards are invariably for two persons and two only, so that when\nmore players were added to the game its name was altered.\n\nIt will be recalled how many times magical performances are mentioned in\nthe Bible, one of the most notable being in Numbers xxii, when Balak\nconsulted Balaam. The whole ceremony is there graphically described, but\nthese two men were the only ones who took active part in the ceremony,\nalthough Balak sent \"the elders of Moab and the elders of Midian to Balaam\nwith the rewards of _divination_ in their hands.\" By some people it might\nbe supposed that Balak intended to bribe Balaam for a favorable report\nfrom his god, but \"When Balaam saw that it pleased the Lord to bless\nIsrael, he went not, as at other times, to seek for enchantments\" (Numbers\nxxiv:1). The whole history of the occult transaction shows that these two\nmen alone took part, although others stood aloof and watched from afar.\n\nProf. Samuel Daiches, in his essay, \"Balaam a Baru,\" declares that \"Balaam\nwas a sorcerer pure and simple,\" quoting from certain Babylonian tablets\nwritten in cuneiform characters, to prove his resemblance to the \"baru\" of\nthe ancient ritual who would be deemed a magician in these days. Professor\nDaiches also states that, in the Babylonian Ritual Tablets lately\ndeciphered, is found the statement that \"the diviner and the inquirer in\nthe ceremony have _both_ to be engaged and present when the wishes of the\ngods are to be consulted,\" and that \"this was followed in religious\nceremonies in many other countries.\" This custom is adhered to at present\nin the Roman Catholic Church when the penitent confesses to the priest,\nthe two people being alone and shielded from observation.\n\nAll the early games for the Tarots were arranged for two persons. The\nmodifications that crept in after 1400 allowed other players to join, when\ndifferent names were given to the newly invented games. The main rules\nwere but little altered and the play was only changed in order that others\nmight take part, which is one of the clearly defined marks indicating the\nperiod when the Tarots were discarded by initiated persons and adopted by\npeople in general, who accepted the cards for amusement, leaving the\nprophetic mysteries to the superstitious. The complete pack of Tarots, as\nit came from the ancients, consists of two parts, twenty-two Atouts and\nfifty-six suit cards, or seventy-eight in all; but these are used only in\nItaly.\n\nA pack called Tarok or Taroc is a favorite in Austria and Hungary, though\nunknown elsewhere, a fact of which the Viennese are inordinately proud,\nfor they declare, and with truth, that their game is scientific and\nrequires keen intellects to play it successfully. But their handbooks on\nthe game do not recognise the fact that their cards are copied from the\nancient Book of Thoth, and that their game is almost identical with the\noriginal one of divination called \"L'Ombre.\" The Austrian Taroks have the\nsame numbers as the originals, and retain twenty-two Atouts, but only \"le\nFou\" or \"Mercury\" has an emblem resembling those on the old leaves. The\ndesigns have within fifty years changed from the German or Italian pips to\nthe French devices of Coeurs, Carreaux, Trifle and Piques.\n\n\"Le Fou,\" or the Joker, is called Skus, Skis, Skys, or St\u00fcs. The Juggler\nof the old pack is named Pagat, and although the lowest in number it has\npeculiar values that recall the fact that when used for fortune-telling it\nrepresented the inquirer into the wishes of the gods. The card of highest\nvalue in the Austrian Taroks is the World, and is called after its\npredecessor, retaining the name, as well as its position in the pack, with\nthe value of its namesake, but the picture on the card does not resemble\nthe original, and it requires the inspection of an expert to connect these\ntwo packs, since the Austrians have strayed so far from the old designs as\nto make the emblems hardly recognisable.\n\nThe pictures on the rest of the Atouts are not even copies of those that\nformerly were used in Vienna. One of these packs is now in the writer's\ncollection, bearing the date 1780; and showing some faint resemblance to\nthe Italian Tarots, proves its descent, for in it the figures of Death and\nother characters are retained, while the card makers of the twentieth\ncentury adorn the Austrian Taroks with pastoral views, which mislead\nstudents who have not older packs with which to compare them, so the book\ndescribing the Wiener Tarok games claims that these cards and games\noriginated in that city and are peculiar to that locality.\n\nThe Austrian Taroks, given to the writer in 1890 by an old lady in New\nYork, were wrapped with a faded green ribbon and accompanied with a note\ndescribing how they had come into her possession. It seems that her father\nleft Vienna when a young man, having got into some scrape through playing\ncards. Before leaving he bade farewell to his betrothed and begged for her\ngarter and her miniature. These he placed with the fatal pack of cards and\nkept in his desk. After several years the young man, having made a fortune\nin America, wrote to his ladylove, begging her to cross the ocean to marry\nhim. The answer was that, not having heard from him since he had left, she\nhad married. Her lover consoled himself with an American wife, and had\nmany children, the descendants of whom are now well-known people in New\nYork.\n\nThere are several complicated and interesting games played with the\nAustrian Taroks derived from \"l'Ombre,\" or \"the man,\" and originally\nintended for two players only. One is called the \"Great Tarok,\" another\nretains the old name \"Tarok l'Ombre,\" while a third game (a modification\nof the last and arranged for more players), is called \"Tarok for Four.\"\nThe game called \"Tapp Tarok\" requires but fifty-four cards; it is only a\nvariant of the others and is most popular. \"Styrean Tarok,\" like the Tapp\ngame, requires three players, the fourth one being a silent partner or\ndummy. These games are so intricate, and have so many rules, that none but\nAustrians play with these adapted cards.\n\nIn the \"Illustrirtes Wiener Tarokbuch,\" by Ulman, we find this statement:\n\"Two centuries had not passed after cards were introduced into Europe,\nwhen Francis Fibbia, Prince of Pisa, Italy, arranged from the oldest of\nall games, called Tappola, a new one called Tarok, which is found in\nBologna as a favorite game during the fifteenth century. This was played\nwith Trappola or Trappelin cards, when the original suits were retained,\nwhich were Cups, Money, Swords, and Staves, but after wood engraving was\ninvented, the French pips were adopted and are now the only ones used in\nthe Austrian Tarok pack.\"\n\nIt is noteworthy that the Rev. Edward Taylor, in his \"History of Playing\nCards\" (pages 209 and 457), mentions an interesting pack of cards, \"the\nimprint of which states them to be sold by John Lenthall, stationer at the\nTalbot over against St. Dunstan's Church, London, who carried on business\nthere from 1665 to 1685, so the cards were probably issued immediately\nafter the Restoration.\" They were prophetical or fortune-telling cards,\nand their use was described in directions published with them. The pips\nwere French; the emblematical figures were imitations of the Atouts and\nevidently had been copied from part of a pack of Tarots, but the figures\nhad names applied to them that were not exactly like the originals. The\nAce of Hearts had a figure that was named Hermes Trismagus, which leads to\nthe supposition that the original connection of Mercury with the Tarots\nwas not entirely forgotten in the seventeenth century, but was known in\nconnection with fortune-telling. As a prophet he was still an important\npersonage. The other figures on the cards represented Roman Catholic\nsaints or modern heroes, so that of Mercury was entirely out of place,\nunless in connection with his cult.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER III\n\nMERCURY\n\n\nAlthough treated by modern writers as one of the minor of the twelve gods\nof Olympus, Mercury was by no means so looked upon by the ancients, who\nrevered, feared, consulted and obeyed him as they did no other deity, so\nhe wielded more influence over the lives of mankind than did all the other\ngods put together. Jove was dreaded because a bolt from the blue might\ndestroy the unwary at any moment; even though Mercury was the lightning\nconductor, the latter was not blamed for the catastrophe. Juno commanded\nadmiration by her beauty, but her cold self-esteem drew few followers;\nstill, as presiding over maternity, she delivered, through Mercury, the\nnewly born to its parents. Diana had, perhaps, the largest number of\nworshippers, since she had a plurality of attractions, and had under her\nprotection many and various walks of life, when Mercury acted as her\nlieutenant. It was Mercury who lured Proserpine from the side of Ceres,\nto reconduct the former to earth when spring followed winter, and it is\nunder this form, as Chthonius, that Mercury is allegorically represented\nas the messenger conducting the soul at death to the future state.\n\nMercury was the peacemaker, or adjuster of difficulties, as well as the\ncouncillor and intercessor, for he could be appealed to with the certainty\nthat his orders could be received by mankind, and by them could be\ncomprehended through a sign language interpreted by his priests. He was in\nreality more powerful than any of the other gods taken separately, for,\nalthough they might be lavishly propitiated, they could not reply to\ninvocations except through their messenger, Mercury. He was also the\ninventor of emblems, pictorial art, and language, through which he could\nbe directly approached and his wishes communicated in response to\ninvocations by means of the Atouts and the pip cards. Any profanation of\nhis mysteries was rapidly revenged by his worshippers, so it is little\nwonder that they were not placed in town records or in early histories.\nNor, if they were, would these mysteries have been mentioned as Playing\nCards, for the ancient Book of Thoth was not classified as a game, and\nuntil the Temple of Toth, as well as the Serapeon, near Naples, were\ndestroyed, compelling the exiled priests to carry on their person the\nemblems taken from the walls, there was absolutely nothing like a card to\nmention in the official records. Students, therefore, must search for\ndescriptions of wanderers, of soothsayers, of astrologers, of\nfortune-tellers, of prophets or of gypsies, if they wish to discover\ntraces of the cult of Mercury, since it was gradually and imperceptibly\nmerged into the Playing Cards as we understand them.\n\nThere were few of the homes of the rich Romans that were not adorned with\na statue of this god under one of his four great attributes. The best\nknown is, perhaps, one by John of Bologna, showing him as Caduceator, or\nthe messenger, under which guise Mercury carries the caduceus and points\nwith his right hand to heaven. When represented in this way, he is the\nbearer of news, of life, and of health. It was his wand, or caduceus,\nthat, up to the middle of the eighteenth century, was the emblem of the\nmedical man, who always carried his stick or staff into the sick\nchamber. It is still used by barbers, who display his staff, apparently\nwound with bloody rags, before their shops, a survival of a custom dating\nfrom the time when barbers were the dentist surgeons and \"blood-letters.\"\nHis wand was also representative of the stylus which was used to write on\nthe \"Tablet of Fate,\" for Mercury was also the god Nebo of the\nBabylonians, who is mentioned under this name in the Bible. He is credited\nwith being \"the writer in the Book of Fate\" and, says a Cuneiform\ninscription, \"had foretold the destiny of mankind since eternity.\" The\nstylus was also the emblem of Thoth, who wrote in the \"Book of Good Works\"\nafter death.\n\n[Illustration: ATOUTS OF AN EARLY ITALIAN PACK OF TAROTS WITH TWO COURT\nCARDS\n\n    19 Il Sole\n\n    20 Il Giudizio\n\n    21 Il Mondo\n\n    22 Il Matto\n\n    23 Queen of Cups\n\n    24 King of Cups]\n\nAs the protector and foreteller of events, Mercury was represented as\nbenign or benevolent, but the second attribute as reproduced in his\nstatues was purely mercantile. These statues are frequently found holding\na purse in the right hand, the coins inside being seen through its meshes,\nemblematic of the Money pip on the cards. When represented in this way the\nface is no longer joyous or serene as it is when depicted as the\nmessenger; it is stern, cold and calculating, perhaps rather shrewd, yet\nstill self-reliant, and with an air of concentration, but always youthful.\nAs the god could foresee and foretell business probabilities, since they\nwere already written in his Book of Fate, or could give counsel in\nmercantile transactions, Mercury was always consulted and obeyed. It was\ndue to this that his image bearing aloft the money bag was a favorite\ndecoration in the homes of successful merchants, who credited the counsels\nof Mercury with having caused the riches of Plutus to fall into their\ncoffers.\n\nThe beautiful statue of Mercury seated idly with a sword girded at his\nside, but trailing on the ground, is well known. Here another and most\npowerful attribute of the god was silently displayed for worship in all\nthat concerned enterprises other than commerce, since the sword denoted\nwarlike expeditions, explorations, and voyages, and was the symbol of\nrulers, of soldiers, and of men of a class superior to rich merchants.\nBesides, under the attribute of \"the sword,\" Mercury was the patron of\nbooks, and of arts and crafts, as well as the encourager of learning.\nGirded with the ever-ready sword, presented to him for his wit and\nunderstanding by his father, Jupiter, Mercury was alert to point out in\nthe Book of Fate the initiative that should be taken, if success was\ndesired, and also to adjust quarrels, smooth away strife, or heal\ndifferences. Under the emblem of the sword, Mercury was an often-consulted\noracle. The sword (or lightning) was also emblematic of Nebo.\n\nThe fourth guise of Mercury was usually kept for serious or sacred periods\nof life, and was seldom seen in the home, as it was reserved for more\ngrave positions. After Mercury gave up being the cupbearer of Olympus to\nthe beautiful Hebe he retained the badge of office, and \"the cup of\nHermes\" remained as one of his attributes as a reminder of this position.\nTo-day it is used at Christmas in Italy, when presents are placed in\nMercury's cup for distribution instead of being hung on a tree, as is the\nmore northern custom. The seven-ringed cup was sacred to Nebo as well as\nto Toth, and this votive cup entwined with two serpents--now in the\nLouvre--proved that the Chalice and the Caduceus were always typical of\nNebo.\n\nAs Chthonius, Mercury was always the useful helper of mankind. He presided\nat birth, when he recorded the future events of a child's life on \"the\ntablet of fate,\" as had been done by his predecessor, the god of the\nBabylonians, Nebo. He also attended the dead, when the tablet was broken,\n(which was Thoth's perogative), so he is allegorically represented on\nfuneral urns, where he is seen leading Proserpine to Hell. The vase has\nbeen converted into one of Mercury's emblems on the cards, as the Cup or\nChalice. Many of the beautiful Etruscan vases in the Vatican show Mercury\nwith Pluto's reluctant wife. Perhaps the most graceful of stone pictures\non this subject is in the British Museum, where a female figure reclines\non a couch, surrounded by a group of mourners, and behind the dying woman\nstands Mercury, patient and alert, ready to show the soul to its bourn.\nThe cup of sacrifice is overturned, the tablet is broken, and Mercury's\ntask is to guide her spirit carefully and gently to another sphere.\n\nHere, then, are the four attributes of Mercury through whose aid he speaks\nto men: the Caduceus, stylus or magic wand; the Coin or ring, emblem of\neternity; the Sword, and the Cup or chalice.\n\nAlways depicted as a youthful or, perhaps, irresponsible man, sometimes\ndescribed as inconsequent, volatile and light-hearted, still Mercury was\nthe most affording and helpful of all the gods of Olympus, and it was he\nwho interceded for men, who presided over births and deaths, as well as\nover love affairs, business, and the arts. He was, therefore, consulted at\nevery turn of life--small wonder that his image was a prized ornament of\ntheir homes, under one of his three attributes, or else near their tombs\nunder the fourth.\n\nTemples to Mercury, to Thoth, and Nebo, were the principal and most ornate\nones that were built. The great one at Babylon to Nebo was called\nE-Sigalia. He was worshipped as the \"tablet writer\" who foretold fate.\nThere is one to Mercury that is still in a fairly good state of\npreservation and is first of the group to the other gods of Olympus, at\nBai\u00e6, a town ten miles north of Naples in Italy. This temple was probably\nerected by the rich merchants of Rome, near their own beautiful villas,\nthat have rendered the place historical. The other temples are little more\nthan charming ruins, but that of Mercury survives to remind us that\nmutilated rites are still held in his honour in all parts of the world,\nalthough by persons who have lost their clue to the original intention of\nthe cult that they follow.\n\nIt is probable that the adjoining town of Pozzuoli was the cradle of\nPlaying Cards in Europe, for it was here that the mysteries of the\nEgyptian god Thoth were taught by the priests of that cult. Close to the\nedge of the water are the ruins of the vast temple of Osiris, or Serapis,\ncalled the Serapeon. Here the strangers worshipped, who landed there\nyearly from the Nile, from a vast fleet which was sheltered in the bay of\nBai\u00e6. Its arrival was heralded by a number of swift yachts that could be\nrecognized as they passed through the narrow straits between Capri and the\nmainland with topsails flying, a privilege that was accorded to none but\nthe visitors from Alexandria, who were too powerful to offend and too\ndesirable not to conciliate.\n\nThe exports of corn from Alexandria were of such importance to Italy that\nthe trade enjoyed the peculiar protection of the State, and \"the\nAlexandrian corn fleet,\" says Merivale (\"Roman Empire,\" Volume IV, page\n392), \"enjoyed the protection of a convoy of war galleys that was met by a\ndeputation of senators.\"\n\nThe visitors landed at Pozzuoli, at the spot where St. Paul disembarked\nfrom the _Castor and Pollox_, in a bay that sheltered mariners from Spain,\nSardinia, Elba, Cyprus and all the great trading ports of Asia Minor, the\nisles of the \u00c6gean Sea and, above all, Greece. This great centre received\nmerchandise, iron and fine tools from the clever workmen of Elba, and\ngorgeous carpets from Phoenicia, as well as Egyptian goods and cults; so\nit was natural that what was presented at this port should also be\nexported from there. Thus it was with the learning and the arts of Egypt\nthat were taught by her priests or initiates in the temple erected by them\nat this spot, which points to the probability that their great book was\nfrom this centre scattered over Europe.\n\nWhat is now called the Serapeon is one of the most remarkable ruins in\nItaly, for through some volcanic action it was buried beneath the sea in\nthe twelfth century during the last eruption of the Solfatara, reappearing\nafter another volcanic outburst in 1538. It had been forgotten for\ncenturies, but when the fresh movement of that ever-swaying shore made the\nwaters recede, the temple again appeared above the surface. Some of its\nmarble columns are still erect, although they are honeycombed with holes\nmade by a little bivalve that is still found in the bay of Bai\u00e6, and in\nthese perforations countless of their shells can be seen. Enough of the\ntemple remains to record the fact that the Egyptians were numerous and\nprosperous on the foreign shore, and it is probable that it was built 211\nB. C., although many students think its erection was even earlier.\n\nSerapis, or Osiris, was worshipped as Hermes, or Mercury, by the Romans,\nwhich worship was introduced into the neighbouring city of Rome by the\nEmperor Antoninus Pius, in A. D. 146, which may indicate the date of the\nTemple of Serapis (Mercury).\n\nSerapis was the god of commerce, so his shrine was enriched by the\nmerchants who thronged to the ever-busy port. It was probably after this\ntemple (the original home of Mercury) was submerged, that the smaller one\nwas erected to him at Bai\u00e6. The latter was a famous marine watering place\nof ancient Italy, perched on an indentation of the western shore of the\nBay of Naples. It is celebrated for the softness of its climate, and the\nabundance of its hot springs, so it became fashionable about the era of\nLucullus, the ruins of whose magnificent villa, as well as those of C\u00e6sar,\nPompey and Augustus, still remain. It was a favourite resort until the\ninvasion of the barbarians under Theodoric the Goth.\n\nHorace alludes to the palaces and temples overhanging the sea, but most of\nthese have now fallen into the water, where beautiful columns may be seen\nbeneath the waves.\n\nBesides these luxurious homes, and the vast temple of Serapis that was so\nnear, there remain ruins of a temple to Jupiter, another to Venus, and\nothers that are unidentified. But the one that remains in the best\ncondition and state of preservation is Mercury's, as the domed roof\nprotected it when the others were destroyed by the ashes from the\nneighbouring volcano. The fa\u00e7ade of the temple has been removed, but one\nlong vaulted hall remains. It is not pierced with windows, and was\nprobably intended to be dark, for the better perpetration of mysteries. On\nthe ceiling may be traced oblong shaped paintings, \"men portrayed upon the\nwall,\" that are too much defaced to identify, but they recall the shape\nand approximate size of the Atouts of the Tarots. These may be seen at\nstated intervals, and, when originally placed there, would have\naccommodated the twenty-two Atout cards ranged in the order in which they\nare now numbered. It was supposed that the emblematic figures representing\nOsiris, Maut, Isis and other deities with the virtues, vices, love,\nmarriage, death, etc., were placed in recesses or alcoves in the Egyptian\ntemples, but if these half-obliterated figures in the temple at Bai\u00e6 were\nintended to represent the Atouts, a different plan was followed, more like\nthat mentioned in Ezekiel xxiii:14. It may have been that the priests\nfollowed the idea of putting the figures on the ceiling, so that they\nmight teach their followers the significance of the emblems when it was no\nlonger worth while to make mysteries of them and to conceal them.\n\nBeside the temple, and opening from it, is an inner room that was probably\nonce covered by a roof, but that has fallen, and now the space is only an\nenclosed court. In the centre remains what might have been a platform or\naltar where the sacrifices of pigs or tongues, and of other things\nimmolated to Mercury, were made yearly at the time of his festival, on the\nthirteenth of May.\n\nProf. Charles Anthon, in his \"Classical Dictionary,\" when describing\nMercury, says:\n\n\"Mercurius was a celebrated god of antiquity, called Hermes by the Greeks.\nHe was the messenger of the gods and of Jupiter in particular. He was the\ngod of speech, of eloquence, the patron of orators, of merchants, and of\nall dishonest persons, particularly thieves, of travellers, and of\nshepherds. He also presided over highways and crossways, and conducted the\nsouls of the dead to the world below, and it would be nearly impossible to\ndiscover anything about which this versatile god could not be consulted\nthrough his learned priests, who had been taught the gift of speech from\nhim that they transmitted to their followers. The Egyptians ascribed to\nHermes the invention of letters, and the Greeks accredited him with many\nother important improvements that made men's lives happier or better, such\nas the invention of the lyre, as well as the regulation of commerce, and\nthe improvement of gymnastic exercises, while, by a strange perversion the\nGreeks made Hermes the protector of thieves, when, in Egypt, he was the\ngod of merchants, so that it may be possible that the crafty god favoured\nthe person who first propitiated him or, perhaps, the highest bidder.\"\n\nMercury was the son of Jupiter by the brightest of the Pleiades, Maia,\nherself the daughter of Atlas, King of Mauritania, and Pleione, one of the\nOceanides, or ocean nymphs whose mother was Tethys, and father, Oceanus.\nSuch distinguished ancestry may well have placed the ever-youthful Mercury\namong the presiding deities of Olympus, even if he had not inherited the\nmantle of the Egyptian god Thoth, and with it the \u00e6gis of the god of the\nBabylonians, Nebo, who was the arbiter of the fate of mankind.\n\nHis infancy was intrusted to the Seasons, who could not prevent his\nstealing the trident of Neptune, the girdle of Venus, the sword of Mars,\nand the sceptre of Jupiter, all of which are displayed on the old pip\ncards, the sword and sceptre being two of the pips, while the girdle of\nVenus encircles the Deuce of Money.\n\nThe ingenious god presented the lyre that he invented to Apollo, receiving\nin exchange the \"golden three-leaved rod,\" called by the poets _Aurea\nvirga_. It was represented as a wand of laurel, or olive, with two dainty\nwings on one end, and entwined with two serpents, the whole emblematical\nof many things besides peace, or a flag of truce, for which it was\ngenerally used. This rod entwined with serpents is one of the most ancient\nsymbols and is found on a vase discovered in Babylonia that is supposed to\nhave been used 2350 B. C. Another device showed the staff wound with ropes\ntied after a peculiar fashion, and when so depicted the caduceus\nrepresented commerce and merchants, since the rope tied after a certain\nfashion was the token of the Phoenician traders. This is retained on the\nAce of Sticks in the Tarot pack. When the caduceus was wound with stripes\nof red and white it represented surgeons, or the healing arts; and, as has\nbeen mentioned, is so displayed on barbers' poles to-day. The stick wound\nin this way also represented birth, and, set before the door, was a token\nof Mercury's recent visit carrying a babe from Juno to its parents. The\ncaduceus served Mercury as a herald's staff, and this name was sometimes\napplied to the white wand or rod that in time of war was regarded as a\nsignal for peace.\n\nThe wings of Mercury typify the planet named for him, that is so fast that\nit completes its revolution around the sun in a little less than three\nmonths. He is connected with the old Israelitish legend, referred to in\nEzekiel ix:2, where Nebo is one of the seven planets.\n\nThe important place given to the rod in the Bible must not be overlooked.\nIt is closely connected with the arrow of primitive peoples, that was used\nnot only for war or the chase, but serving also to ascertain the wishes of\nthe gods, for when a bundle of arrows was cast to the ground from a quiver\nor the hand, according to certain well-known laws, they indicated the\nwishes of the divine power by the direction in which they fell. This is\nrecalled in Jeremiah, in the story of Jonathan and David, besides in many\nother instances.\n\nIt was a natural sequence that Mercury, who had inherited the \"tablet of\nfate\" from Nebo of the Babylonians, should also have received the \"wand of\nthe magi\" that, when cast before the Pharaoh by his wise men, was able to\nswallow the serpents that sprang from the rod of Moses. The rod, when used\nas a sceptre, has other and important significances, and is one of the\nchief signs of a ruler's position and power.\n\nMercury was the most active and useful of all the gods, owing to his\ntemperament, and no event or ceremony was undertaken without seeking his\nadvice. He had many names under which his good offices were invoked, such\nas Argiphontes, or the slayer of Argus, when he represented warriors. Then\nhe was called Chthonius, or \"he who guides the dead\"; when thus\nrepresented he is generally seated and is without sword, caduceus, or\npurse. Another name for him was Agoneus, the patron of gymnastic\nexercises, of commerce, and of executive ability.\n\nSometimes Mercury is represented in his birthday suit, at others with a\nchlamys or cloak enveloping him, the petasus or winged cap on his head,\nthe talaria, or winged sandals, on his heels, bearing the caduceus aloft.\nAncient representations of Mercury were simple wooden posts, the terminals\ncarved with a rude head wearing a beard, which were the original\nsignposts.\n\nProfessor Anthon says: \"Hermes may in some degree be regarded as a\npersonification of the Egyptian priesthood. It is in this sense,\ntherefore, that he is regarded as the confidant of the gods, their\nmessenger, the interpreter of their decrees, the genius who presides over\nscience, the conductor of souls to the realms of bliss.\"\n\nOne of the Egyptian names for Mercury, when he combined many attributes of\nOsiris and other deities, was Thoth, which, according to Jablonski's\n\"Pantheon \u00c6gypt,\" signifies \"an assembly composed of sages and educated\npersons, the sacerdotal college of a city or temple.\" Professor Anthon\nsays: \"Thus the collective priesthood of Egypt, personified and considered\nas a unity, was represented by an imaginary being to whom was ascribed the\ninvention of languages and writing, hence the sacrifice of tongues to\nMercury. He was also credited with the origin of geometry, arithmetic,\nastronomy, medicine, music, rhythm, the institution of religion and sacred\nprocessions, the introduction of gymnastic or health-giving exercises,\nand, finally, the less indispensable, though not less valuable, arts of\narchitecture, sculpture and painting. So many volumes were attributed to\nhim that no human being could possibly have composed them.\n\n\"For many years it was customary for the priests devoted to his service to\npresent the results of their labours to Thoth, receiving no reward or\nglory for the individual work, which was turned to the advantage of the\nwhole sacerdotal association in being ascribed to its presiding genius,\nwho, by his double figure, indicated the necessity for a plural doctrine,\nof which the interpretation was confined entirely to his initiates, or\npriests, who translated the occult signs of the gods or the learning\nentrusted to their care to the inquirers, who frequented the temples to\nreceive knowledge or directions in the material walks of life which they\nwere taught to believe was transmitted by the oracle to ordinary mortals\nby the priests of Thoth, who alone understood the painted or written\nsigns.\"\n\nBesides the arts and crafts before mentioned as being under the protection\nof the Egyptian god, was the important one of commerce. \"This in like\nmanner,\" says Professor Anthon, \"was intended to express the influence of\nthe priesthood on commercial enterprises.\"\n\n\"The identity of Hermes with the Dog Star, Sirius, that serves as\nprecursor of the inundation of the Nile, the emblem of which,\" says the\nsame authority, \"was the gazelle that flies to the desert on the rising of\nthe waters, his rank in demonology as the father of spirits and guide of\nthe dead, his quality of incarnate godhead, and his cosmogonical alliance\nwith the generative fire, the light, the source of all knowledge, and with\nwater, the principle of fecundity. It is surprising, however, to observe\nhow strangely the Grecian spirit modified the Egyptian Hermes, who was\ntransformed by the Greeks into the messenger or interpreter of the wishes\nof others who were more powerful than himself, but not omnipotent, as the\nEgyptian mythology regarded him.\"\n\nThis is seen in the mystic portions of the early Orphic or Homeric hymns,\nwhere Hermes is treated quite differently than is done in the Iliad or the\nOdyssey. The earliest records of Hermes recall all the peculiar qualities\nof the Egyptian Hermes, and sometimes even the strange legends of the\nHindoo Avatars, as well as the Babylonian Nebo. One of the Hindoo gods\nbears the same emblems that are devoted to Mercury, namely: the Cup, the\nSword, the Staff, and the Ring, Coin, or Circle; but a striking difference\nis noted when Hermes is adopted by the Romans, who even changed his name\nas well as his characteristics, although retaining his distinguishing\nmarks or emblems.\n\n\"The Romans,\" says Professor Anthon, \"first received the sacerdotal\nHermes, whose worship had been brought into Etruria by the Pelasgi,\nprevious to the time of Homer, and, as the earlier Hermes had been\nrepresented by a column, he became with them the god Terminus. When,\nhowever, the Romans became acquainted with the twelve great deities of the\nAthenians, they adopted the Grecian Hermes under the name of Mercury,\npreserving at the same time the remembrance of their previous traditions\nand jumbling the attributes of the Egyptian god Thoth with that of the\nGrecian Hermes.\"\n\nBut, in order to make this favourite god of use, it was necessary to\napproach him through his own priests, the only persons who were initiated\ninto his mysteries and who could interpret them. Since these priests were\nalready established and had been for some time in Italy, in the great\ntemple of Serapeon, it is easy to see how the cult engaged the attention\nof the people, and how readily it absorbed the new-fashioned god who\nstrayed there from so many different quarters.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IV\n\nTHOTH\n\n\nThe great authority on modern Egyptian discoveries, M. Gaston Maspero,\nsays in his book, \"Ancient Sites and Modern Scenes\": \"On the outskirts of\nThebes there are ruins that lie to the north of the Valley of Kings. The\ntemple was built or restored in the last years of the seventh, or in the\nfirst years of the sixth, century B. C. to Thoth, the master of magic and\nletters; the god who was the scribe and the magician of the gods.\"\n\nThis mysterious but powerful god ranked high in the Egyptian cosmogony and\nthe remains of his worship flourish to-day among the votaries of the card\ntable, who, however, no longer consult him as the oracle, but use his book\nfor their amusement or pleasure.\n\n\"During the Roman period, from 527 B. C. to 332 B. C., that was called the\nEgyptian renaissance,\" says Mr. Rawlinson in his \"History of Ancient\nEgypt\" (Volume II, page 502), \"Asia poured the fetid stream of her\nwonderful superstitions into Africa. The exorcisms of Thoth and the powers\nof witchcraft in league with him are the favorite themes which cover the\npolished surfaces of the monuments at this remarkable time.\" And on page\n465, \"Asiatic Greeks became in the reign of Psammetchas (about 610 B. C.)\nclose to the throne. Consequently, free communication and commercial\nintercourse between Egypt and Europe were opened.\" This ruler was devoted\nto art, architecture and adventure, and one of the inventions of his reign\nwas the enchorial or demotic writing which superseded the hieratic. This\nwas attributed to the priests of Thoth, those wise men who sought no\npersonal glory, but who contented themselves with placing their works at\nthe feet of their presiding genius and attributing their own discoveries\nto him.\n\nWithout discussing whether the Assyrian god Nebo absorbed the Egyptian\nThoth, or the reverse, we may concede that such strong similarities exist\nbetween them that they are virtually the same. With similar heraldic\nsymbols and functions, they were the inventors of many useful arts, that\nof writing always being attributed to both. Besides, both gods were\nsupposed to have the power of recording the fate of mankind at birth, and\nboth presided at the judgment of souls after death.\n\nThe ibis-headed Thoth was also symbolized by a stylus and inkstand, and\nwas often termed \"the Scribe,\" just as Nebo was called \"the Writer,\" and\nhad for his device a stylus and inkstand. A month was dedicated to each,\nthat of Thoth being the first in the Egyptian calendar, or our September.\nIts symbol was a reversed crescent with three lotus flowers, under which\nwere two aspects of the moon, as full and as a crescent. One cannot but\nwonder if the artistic Egyptians, while adopting the cuneiform characters\nwhich resemble long shafts with reversed triangles on top, did not alter\nthe lines and convert the \"arrow head\" of Nebo's invention into the\ngraceful flower, thus retaining the original conception of the symbol of\nthe Assyrian god, while stamping it with their own love of the beautiful.\n\nThe tablet of Khufu at Wady Magarah shows Thoth bearing in his right hand\na sceptre (one of the designs of the Tarot pack). This rod has three\ntriangles on it that resemble the cuneiform characters, which is certainly\nnot accidental.\n\nThe name of Thoth is written heraldically as \"an ibis standing on a perch\n(which in shape again recalls the cuneiform) followed by a crescent and\nthe two oblique lines commonly used to express the number one.\"\n\nThe principal likenesses of the great gods of Egypt seem to be represented\nin the Atouts of the Tarot pack of cards, called \"The Book of Thoth Hermes\nTrismegistus,\" for the sun, moon, seven stars, etc., are all among the\nAtouts. Mr. Rawlinson (\"History of Ancient Egypt,\" page 315) gives the\nnames of the gods, and the qualities for which they were worshipped,\nrevered or dreaded, as follows:\n\n    NUM or KNEPH--the creative mind.\n\n    PHTHAH--the creative hand.\n\n    MAUT--matter.\n\n    RA--the sun.\n\n    KHONS--the moon.\n\n    SEB--the earth.\n\n    KHEM--the generative power in nature.\n\n    NUT--the upper hemisphere in heaven.\n\n    ATHOR--the lower world.\n\n    THOTH--divine wisdom.\n\n    AMMON--divine mysteriousness.\n\n    OSIRIS--divine goodness.\n\nAll knew that there was but one god, but these were the interceders.\n\nOn page 370 of his book, Mr. Rawlinson says: \"Thoth was the oracle or the\nclerk (recorder) of the wishes of the divine circle, who bears as insignia\na palm branch or a stylus, and often a tablet. Sometimes he carries the\nCrook Headed Sceptre. His titles were Lord of Sesennu and Lord of Truth.\nHe is called one of the chief gods--the Great God--the God Twice\nGreat--the Great Chief in the paths of the dead--the Self-created or\nNeverborn--the Lord of Divine Words--and the Scribe of Truth.\"\n\nThoth was often represented under two different forms, earthly and\ninfernal, or as Thoth in the House of Selection, and Thoth at the Balance\nof Souls. As the god who took part in the judgment of the dead Thoth was\nrevered throughout Egypt and it is written of him: \"All Eyes are open on\nthee and all men worship thee as a god.\"\n\n[Illustration: EARLY ITALIAN TAROTS\n\nCourt Cards of the Pip Part of the Pack\n\n    25 Queen of Rods\n\n    26 Queen of Swords\n\n    27 Queen of Money\n\n    28 King of Rods\n\n    29 King of Swords\n\n    30 King of Money]\n\nOxen, cows and geese were sacrificed in his honour and the ibis with the\ncynocephalous ape were sacred to him. Very many images of him are found\nthat show him in attendance on different kings, either purifying them or\ninscribing their names on the sacred tree. His spiritual office was to be\npresent in Amenti when souls were to be judged, to see their deeds weighed\nin the balance and record the results. This is recalled in the Atout of\nthe Tarot pack, named Justice. Thoth also reveals to men the will of the\ngods. He composes the Ritual for the Dead, that great work that is so\nfrequently found bound in the shrouds of mummies, to instruct the soul how\nto conduct itself in the world of spirits. It is also Thoth who, in the\nrealms below, writes for good souls with his own fingers the Book of\nRespirations, which protects, sustains, and enlightens them, causing them\nto \"breathe with the souls of the gods for ever and ever.\"\n\nThoth had three great colleges, at Thebes, at Memphis, and at Heliopolis,\nwhere he was worshipped by priestesses as well as by priests, and there\nare many records of the prognostications of the former. If the supposition\nis correct that the gypsies are descended from the outcasts of the temple\nof Thoth, near Naples (the Serapeon), when that building was overthrown by\nan earthquake, it may be noted that in the tribe the women are the\nprincipal soothsayers, while the men generally pursue other occupations.\n\nKing Shafra, who built the Second Pyramid, married the daughter of\nMeri-Aukhs. Her tomb at Saccarah bears an inscription stating that she was\na \"Priestess of Thoth,\" and her son was called \"a sacred scribe.\" From the\ntime of Shafra, scribes are frequently represented as seated or squatting\nat work, with a pen or brush in the right hand and one or two tucked\nbehind the ear, while the left hand holds the paper or a palette.\n\n\"The first and greatest of the builders of the pyramids,\" says Mr.\nRawlinson, \"was Khufu or Cheops. He composed a religious work called the\nSacred Book. He was a great admirer and worshipper of Thoth, who is\nrepresented with him on the rock pictures.\"\n\nClosely copying the Assyrian kings, who placed themselves under the\nprotection of their gods, notably that of Nebo, by adopting their names,\nseveral of the Pharaohs called themselves Thothmes, meaning child of\nThoth. The third ruler of that name, who has been called the Alexander of\nEgyptian history, raided the heart of Western Asia, going as far as\nNineveh. He was wise as well as valiant, and noted all novelties in the\nlands through which he passed, which he afterwards sought to introduce\ninto his own country. The two obelisks known as Cleopatra's Needles were\noriginally set up at Heliopolis, one of the temples of Thoth, by Thothmes\nIII. They were transported to Alexandria and afterwards carried to London\nand New York, so the genius of playing cards still presides at the two\ngreat world centres, where cards are a favourite amusement.\n\nThe priests of Thoth were said to have descended in a direct line from\nfather to son for three hundred and forty-five generations. This habit is\nanother one common to gypsies, who rarely marry any but their own people.\nTo the priests of the temple of Thoth many books called Hermetic were\nascribed that were so dedicated to the honour of the god that the name of\nthe writer is merged into his. M. Maspero mentions \"an Egyptian romance\nthat describes the adventures of a family of ghosts who were living with\ntheir mummies in a tomb lighted by a wonderful talisman, which was an\nincantation written on papyrus by Thoth himself.\" Another work was\nparticularly full of wisdom and science, containing in it everything\nrelating to the fowls of the air, the fishes of the sea, and the\nfour-footed beasts of the mountains. \"The man who knew a single page of\nthe book could charm Heaven, Earth, the great Abyss, Mountains and Seas.\nThis marvellous composition Thoth enclosed in a box of gold, which he\nplaced within a box of silver, within a box of ivory and ebony, and that\nagain within a box of bronze, within a box of brass, within a box of iron;\nand the book thus guarded he threw into the Nile at Coptos. The act became\nknown, and the box was searched for and found. It gave its possessor vast\nknowledge and magical power, but always brought misfortune on him.\" One of\nthe books of Thoth consists of magical texts, and Mr. Rawlinson says: \"The\nbelief in magic was widely spread among the Egyptians, and the behests of\nthe priests were obeyed with confidence that, whether they turned out well\nor badly for the inquirer, they had been foretold at birth. The fatalism\nof the North Africans is too well known to be disputed, for they accept\nmisfortune bowing the head and saying: 'It is the will of Allah.' This is\nthe inheritance of ages.\"\n\nThe priests explained to the inquirer into the divine wishes the commands\nof the god, and then inscribed them on parchment or some convenient\nmaterial. These records were either hung around the neck or bound on the\narm. The ignorant folk considered that these amulets would preserve them\nfrom all evil. This practice is observed to the present day by members of\ndifferent religious cults. One amulet has been translated: \"Thou art\nprotected against the accidents of life. Thou art protected against a\nviolent death. Thou art protected against fire. Thou escapest in Heaven\nand thou art not ruined upon Earth.\" Such a valuable insurance against\nevery evil during life or death must have been well worth a handsome fee\nto the priest who issued it.\n\nLenormant, in his \"Manual\" (Volume I, page 516), says: \"It is remarkable\nthat the Ritual of the Dead (the Egyptian name for which was Manifestation\nof Light, or the Book Revealing Light to the Soul) is accompanied by\npictures which form the essential portion of it.\" So the Book of Thoth\nHermes Trismegistus, or the Tarots, is composed of pictures that can only\nbe deciphered by initiates. The Ritual of the Dead claimed to be a\nrevelation from Thoth Hermes, who through it declared the will of the gods\nand the mysterious nature of divine things to mankind. Portions of it are\nexpressly stated to have been written by the finger of Thoth, and other\nparts to have been the composition of the god himself. It was held in such\nhigh esteem that portions of it were placed in coffins. The Ritual has\nbeen divided into three sections. There are prayers for the dead, and a\nlong chapter that has been said to \"contain the Egyptian Faith.\" This\ncreed is followed by a series of prayers, and spells, and famous chapter\n(cxxv) describing the seat of judgment known as the \"Hall of Two Truths.\"\nHere the deceased is brought before Osiris as supreme judge. The latter is\nseated on a lofty throne, surrounded by forty-two Assessors, each of whom\naddresses the dead person in turn, and to each he declares his innocence\nof crime or sin, saying, \"I have not blasphemed. I have not deceived. I\nhave not stolen. I have not slain any one. I have not been cruel. I have\nnot caused disturbance. I have not been idle. I have not been drunken. I\nhave not been indiscreetly curious. I have not multiplied words in\nspeaking. I have struck no one. I have caused fear to no one. I have\nslandered no one. I have not eaten my heart through envy. I have not\nreviled the face of the king nor the face of my father. I have not made\nfalse accusations. I have not kept milk from the mouths of sucklings. I\nhave not caused abortion. I have not ill-used my slaves. I have not killed\nsacred beasts. I have not defiled the river. I have not polluted myself. I\nhave not taken the clothes of the dead.\" A dead person is always spoken of\nas \"An Osiris,\" or \"He sleeps in Osiris.\"\n\nEgyptian writing was of three distinct kinds, known as Hieroglyphic,\nHieratic and Demotic or Enchorial. There is but little difference between\nthe Hieratic and the Demotic. The former is the earlier of the two, but\nwas nearly lost in the Demotic, which, according to Lenormant, was\nintroduced about the seventh century B. C., and rapidly superseded the\nHieratic, being simpler. Both were written from left to right.\n\nIt was about this time that the worship of Nebo, in Babylonia, and of\nThoth, in Egypt, was most important, so it is probable that the priests,\nwho were the learned and scientific men of the day, then reconstructed the\nart of writing and so earned for their patrons the honour of being gods of\nwriting, although the stylus and the title of \"the Writer\" had been born\nfor many centuries.\n\nPasmmetichas, king of Sais, who, as has been already mentioned, fought the\nAssyrians, must have been a most intelligent person, for during his reign,\nsays Mr. Rawlinson (page 465), \"a question was raised as to the relative\nantiquity of different races of mankind. Therefore the Pharaoh had two\nchildren isolated from their species and brought up by a herdsman who was\ndumb, and suckled by a goat, in order to see what language they would\nspeak, presuming that they would revert to the primitive type of speech.\nThe result of his experiment was thought to prove the Phrygians to be the\nmost ancient nation, and the Egyptians, we are told by Herodotus, accepted\nit as an established fact.\"\n\nThoth was revered as a great teacher, since his works treated of all\nthings, such as the creation of the world, of divine power, of wisdom, of\nthe art of presaging the issue of maladies by means of the planets. The\nwork treating on this was dedicated to Ammon. Then there were the\nAphorisms of Hermes, which consisted of astronomical propositions\ntranslated from the Arabic about the time of Manfred, king of Sicily. \"The\nCyranides of Trismegistus\" treats of magic power and the medicinal virtues\nof precious stones, of plants, and of animals. Many of the other books of\nThoth are treatises on chemistry or alchemy. One is called \"The Seven\nSeals of Hermes Trismegistus,\" another, \"Chemical Tinctures,\" and a third,\n\"The Emerald Tablet,\" describing the art of making gold. It is said that\nSara, the wife of Abraham, found the Emerald in the tomb of Hermes, on\nMount Hebron. One essay is to Tat or Esculapius, another is entitled \"The\nVirgin of the World,\" as Isis is sometimes called, and is a dialogue\nbetween her and her son Horus.\n\nMany small statues were found in a well in the temple of the Sphinx, that\nmay have originally represented the gods now found among the Atouts. This\nwould be a most valuable confirmation of the theory of their original\nposition in the temple when the priests and initiates wished to consult\nthe occult.\n\nIn an age when letters were only used by the learned, and pictured emblems\nor symbols took the place of an alphabet, it was natural that the priests\nof Thoth, when pressed to divine the fate of men, should place sketches of\nthe great gods on the walls of their temples, so that, by combining them\nwith the rods of divination, the wishes of the supreme beings could be\neasily conveyed. The custom of adorning the walls of the temple is\nreferred to in Ezekiel xxiii:14. \"She saw men pourtrayed upon the wall,\nthe images of the Chaldeans (or Nebo and his confr\u00e8res) pourtrayed with\nvermilion, girdled with girdles upon their loins, exceeding in dyed attire\nupon their heads, all of them princes to look to, after the manner of the\nBabylonians of Chaldea.\" This was possibly the origin of the Tarots, or\nthe Atout volume of the Book of Thoth.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER V\n\nNEBO, OR NABU\n\n\nA great Chaldean god was Nebo, mentioned in Isaiah xlvi:1, \"Bel boweth\ndown, Nebo stoopeth,\" and he had an immense influence over the lives of\nthe Assyrians and Babylonians, extending over centuries. In primitive\ntimes nothing was undertaken without an attempt to consult the wishes of\nthe superior gods, and it is interesting to trace through the tablets on\nwhich are inscribed the wonderful cuneiform inscriptions, discovered and\ndeciphered during the past fifty years, how the people were taught by\ntheir prophets or priests to consult the predestinations of Nebo, who\ninscribed at birth what would befall each person during life. Nebo had\nmany names or designations. He was called Laghlaghghi-Gar, or illuminator;\nGishdar, or god of the sceptre; Ilu-tashmit, or god of revelations; and\nthe spouse of Tashmit; his name signifies Proclaimer Herald in Assyrian,\nand Height in Hebrew.\n\nNebo, called Nabu by the Babylonians, was the son of Enlil, or Marduk, the\nMerodach of the Bible (Jeremiah l:2), who became merged in the Jupiter of\nthe Romans. Nebo was the husband of Tashmitum, or Tashmit, or Tashmetu,\nsometimes called Erna. Her name is translated as signifying \"revelation,\"\n\"she who listens,\" or \"she who intercedes.\" She is frequently invoked and\nbesought to placate her more important spouse, or she is appealed to by\nworshippers to intercede with her consort to reveal what he had prophesied\non the \"tablets of fate.\"\n\nAs the grandson of Ea, who was the god of doctors, Nebo inherited the\nprivileges of healing. He also presided at birth and death, and could cure\ndiseases. One of his symbols seems peculiar and is still retained on the\nTarots. It is a sword, for in the minds of the men of his day a pestilence\nwas a certain follower of war. Although Nebo was not the god of war, he\nwas first its herald and then the healer of the sick or wounded, so it was\nunder these conditions that a sword became his attribute.\n\nNebo shared with Shamash, Gula, and Nergal of Assyrian mythology, the\npower of restoring the dead to life, which, being interpreted, means\ncuring the ill, whether from disease or sin.\n\nIt was to Nebo that the Assyrian kings ascribed their wisdom, for he was\ndeemed to be the source of all knowledge, and the wonderful inventor of\nthe art of writing that enabled the wise men who were his priests to\npreserve the records of the different reigns and the history of wars, the\ndescription of buildings and their donors, of deeds of valour and of\ncharity, for the enlightenment of posterity.\n\nThe great temple built at Calah in the time of Ram-man-nerari III (812-783\nB. C.) is inscribed with a dedicatory inscription placed by the king on\nthe statue of Nebo. It closes with the sentence:\n\n  \"Oh! posterity, trust in Nabu,\n   Trust in no other god.\"\n\nNebo was also the patron of agriculture, who taught the husbandmen when to\nplant, the best time for irrigating, and a favourable time for the\nharvest. Being the messenger from heaven to earth, one of his symbols was\nthe lightning. This emblem is preserved on the Japanese cards, although\nit is probably accidental. A hymn to Nebo attests his having lightning as\nan attribute, and the tablet upon which it was transcribed in cuneiform\ncharacters has been translated as follows:\n\n  \"Lord of Borsippa, Son of E-Sagila! Oh, Lord, to thy power\n   There is no rival. Oh, Nebo, to thy Temple E-Zida there is no rival,\n   Or to thy home, Babylon. Thy weapon is the lightning,\n   From the mouth of which no breath does issue or blood flow.\n   Thy commands are as unchangeable as the Heavens,\n             Where thou art Supreme.\"\n\nThe chief temple of Nebo was at Borsippa, on the opposite side of the\nEuphrates to Babylon; the town was sometimes called Babylon II. Nebo's\ntemple was styled E-Zida, the true house, and E-Sagila signified the lofty\nhouse, which was the temple of his father, Marduk. The connection with\nlightning is too marked to be overlooked when studying the derivation of\nMercury's attributes from those of Nebo.\n\nThe mighty king Ashur-banapal invokes Nebo on thousands of tablets that\nhave been found in his great library. Nebo is called \"the opener of the\nears to understanding,\" \"he who gives the sceptre of sovereignty to kings,\nthat they may rule over all lands,\" \"the upholder of the world,\" \"the\ngeneral overlord and the seer.\" All these attributes were combined with\nthe scientific attainments of Nebo, and he was proclaimed as the inventor\nof language and the art of writing, together with being the great teacher\nand encourager of learning and scientific investigations. This is all\nemphasised by his numerous titles, such as \"Speaker,\" which is said to be\nderived from his name, signifying \"to speak,\" or \"one who announces the\nfate of mankind,\" which was another inheritance of Mercury's when he was\ncalled the \"Messenger of the Gods.\" The attribute, then, in both cases,\nwas the emblematic Sceptre of the ruler, the caduceus. The Sceptre was\nalso named by the Assyrians \"the Proclaimer,\" and was variously\nrepresented, sometimes by the Staff with twisted serpents, although in\nearlier times it was generally pictured as stylus, which was closely\ncopied in the representations of Thoth. The entwining serpents of the\ncaduceus sacred to Mercury were directly inherited from votive emblems\npeculiar to the Babylonians, and they received force and significance\nafter the rods of the Egyptian magi were turned into serpents and\nswallowed by the rod of Aaron.\n\nWhen Nebo is called \"Ilu-tashmit,\" or god of Revelations, who teaches\nthrough his invention of writing and of speech, he is then regarded as a\nsoothsayer or prophet. The Hebrew word for prophet is Nabi, and this leads\nto the interesting discussion that was started by Mr. Chatto in his\n\"History of Playing Cards\" (page 22), when he speculates on the name of\nNaibi, given to cards by the earliest Italian writers who mention them. As\nNaypes or Naipes is still the name printed on the wrappers and on the Four\nof Cups of Spanish cards, it evidently was connected with prophesy, and\nthis card has peculiar values and significances among the gypsy\nfortune-tellers. Mr. Chatto states that in Hindustani the word Na-eeb or\nNaib signifies a viceroy or overlord, and quotes from \"several Spanish\nwriters\" who have \"decidedly asserted that the word Naipes, signifying\ncards, whatever it might originally have meant, was derived from the\nArabic.\" All the writers on playing cards quote from Corvelluzzo, who\nstates: \"In the year 1379 was brought into Viterbo the game of cards,\nwhich comes from the country of the Saracens and is with them called\nNaib.\" The Arabian \"divining arrows\" are always made from a tree called\nNabaa.\n\nThis little history, which is one of the earliest records of cards that\nwere then no longer considered prophetic, has seemed to close all inquiry\ninto the birth of games or their vehicle. No inquiry was therefore made\ninto anything preceding this period. However, had cards been regarded as\nthe survival of one of the most ancient of cults, connected with it by its\ntraditions of prophesy or fortune-telling, the true story might have been\nunravelled centuries ago, for a study of the traditions, religions or\nsuperstitions of Africa and Asia would have revealed that Naibi (the name\ngiven at that time to cards) meant prophesy or revelation, and was\ninherited from the great \"Writer on the Tablets of Fate,\" Nebo the\nprophet, the Assyrian god. The prophets of the Bible were called Nabi, and\nit seems to be no accident that the mountain dedicated to Nebo and\nbearing his name should have been selected for the death place of the\ngreat prophet, Moses.\n\nIn the earliest histories of Assyrian mythology Nebo was not the\ninfluential personage that he became afterwards. But it was still early\ndays when he was accorded the honour of having one of the planets named\nfor him, which afterwards became identified with Mercury. When Nebo took\nhis place among the mystic seven great gods, he found associated with him\nMarduk (or Jupiter), Nergal (or Mars), Ishtar (or Venus), Nineb (or\nSaturn), the Sun, represented in a chariot drawn by horses, as copied in\nthe seventh card of the Atouts, and the Moon (Nan-nar), who was called the\n\"Heifer of Anu,\" and was the presiding genius. She received the name\nbecause the horns of the new moon resembled those of a cow. Her Assyrian\ntemple was at Ur of the Chaldeans, and she was also worshipped in Egypt\nand is represented by the eighteenth Atout. Her horns are always typical\nof wisdom and prophesy, and, as such, are used on Michael Angelo's famous\nstatue of Moses.\n\n[Illustration: EARLY ITALIAN TAROTS\n\nPip Cards of the Cup Suit\n\n    31 Ace of Cups\n\n    32 Deuce of Cups\n\n    33 Trey of Cups\n\n    34 Four of Cups\n\n    35 Five of Cups\n\n    36 Six of Cups]\n\nThe first month of the Babylonian year was sacred to Nebo and his\nfather, Marduk, and was called Nesan. The Egyptians made Thoth, or\nSeptember, the first month; that began August 29th, as we figure it, with\nthe rising of the Dog Star, which also was sacred to that god. This is\nsymbolised in the seventeenth Atout, called The Stars, represented by an\noblation to Osiris.\n\nDaily sacrifices were made to Nebo, the offerings being bulls, and other\nanimals, fish, birds, vegetables, honey, wine, oil and cream. Their\ntechnical term was Sattuku and Gina. It is probable that the wild boar was\nsacred to Nebo, as it was to Mercury, being one of the animals sacrificed\nto the latter, and the emblem is still found on the Two of Bells of the\nGerman cards. The boar was sacred among the Assyrians, and its flesh was\nforbidden on certain days in the Babylonian calendar. Its name was\nNin-shakh, or Pap-sukal, meaning \"Divine Messenger,\" the name that was\nsynonymous with that of Nebo.\n\nThere were many great ceremonies connected with the rites of Nebo, for the\nscientists, doctors, warriors and kings were all anxious to conciliate the\narbiter of their fate, and there were many statues erected in his honour\nall over the land. The one representing him that was kept in E-Sagila, at\nBorsippa, called by Nebuchadnezzar \"the house of the temple of the world,\"\nmeaning the lofty home, was yearly conducted with great ceremonies across\nthe Euphrates in a car, or ark, shaped like a ship, in order that Nebo\nmight pay homage at the temple of his father, Marduk.\n\nThe cult of Nebo reached its height when Nabu-polassar (626 B. C.),\nNebu-chadnezzar (605 B. C.), and Nabonnedos (556 B. C.), adopted his name,\nthereby throwing themselves on his mercy, or invoking his protection.\nNebuchadnezzar adopted it as signifying \"Oh, god Nebu, protect my\nboundaries.\"\n\nAbout the ninth century before Christ there were innumerable temples\ndevoted to the cult of Nebo dotted over the land, for those were troublous\ntimes, and, doubtless, the rulers and their people were anxious to have\nall the advice that they could obtain from the \"Arbiter of Fate.\" He was\nstyled \"the all-wise who guides the stylus of the scribes,\" as well as\n\"the possessor of wisdom,\" and \"the seer who guides all gods.\" These\ninscriptions are found in many places, not only on the temples but on clay\ntablets.\n\nAshur-banipal extols Nebo on many of the tablets found in his great\nlibrary at Nineveh, thanking him for his instructions and the inspiration\nthat enabled the king to record in writing his valiant deeds, that were\nthus preserved for the benefit of his subjects. One of them reads, \"write\nfor posterity.\"\n\nThe Assyrians invaded Egypt many times, and the Egyptians in return\noverran Palestine, Persia, Babylonia and Assyria, so that by intermarriage\nand constant intercourse the scientific attainments and the mythologies of\nboth became influenced or mingled.\n\nAlthough the capital of Menephtah, the Pharaoh of the Exodus, was at\nThebes, the site of the great temple of Thoth and the favourite residence\nof \"the Ruler\" was Zoan, or Sau, as it is now called, which is three miles\nfrom Goshen. It was there that Moses and Aaron had their interviews. From\nthat time on Thoth and Nebo became almost one god, and it is by no means\nstretching a point to connect the cults of Assyria and Babylonia with\nthose of Egypt. Isaiah xix:23 says: \"There shall be a highway out of Egypt\nto Assyria, and the Assyrian shall come into Egypt and the Egyptian into\nAssyria, and the Egyptians shall serve with the Assyrians.\" In the same\nchapter (third verse) we find: \"And they shall seek to the idols, and to\nthe charmers, and to them that have familiar spirits, and to the wizards.\"\nIt is, therefore, but a simple conclusion to suppose that the magi of\nEgypt adopted the great tablet writer of the Assyrians as one of their\ninspiring gods, and, that afterwards, when the pair were introduced to\nEuropeans, they were merged into Mercury, while \"The Book of the Writer\"\nbecame known as \"The Book of Thoth Hermes Trismegistus\" (three times\ngreat), now called the Tarot pack of cards.\n\n\"The Bearer of the Fate Tablets,\" dedicated to Nebuchadnezzar at Borsippa,\nhas been translated, \"Oh! Nabu! On thy unchangeable Tablets which\ndetermine the boundaries of Heaven and Earth, decree the length of my\ndays. Write down posterity.\" Which we would read, \"Tell me how long I am\nto live and bestow children upon me.\"\n\nThere is a colophon in Semitic Babylonian, written by Nabu-baladhsuigbi,\nson of Mitsircea (the Egyptian), probably during the reign of Nabonidus,\nthe father of Belshazzar, that is also an invocation in the same style.\nThe inscription of Tiglath-Pileser I, king of Assyria, which \"is the\nlongest and most important of early Assyrian records,\" says Professor\nSayce, dates from about 1106 B. C. This inscription was found under the\nfoundations of the four corners of the temple of Kileh Shergha, the\nancient city of Asshur, and is now in the British Museum. The one hundred\nand fifth sentence mentions divining rods as the \"Oracle of the Great\nDivinities,\" being placed within the temple. \"This Elalla,\" says Professor\nSayce, \"was a stem of papyrus covered with writing.\"\n\nMany tablets of Assyrian times have been deciphered from the cuneiform\ntext and are designated as \"Tablets of Grace,\" or \"Tablets of Good Works.\"\nThese are supposed to be those that Nebo wrote describing the virtues of\nmen. Besides these, the Babylonians mentioned tablets on which the sins of\nthe evil were recorded. The pious worshipper, therefore, prays that the\nTablet of his sins and iniquities may be destroyed, saying: \"May the\nTablet of my sins be broken,\" showing how prevalent was the belief that\nNebo controlled fate entirely, both when predicting the future and also\nafter death, and in this Thoth resembles him closely.\n\nSimilar connections are met with in the Old Testament, when Moses cries,\n\"Forgive their sins--; and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book\nwhich thou hast written.\" (Exodus xxxii:32.) The belief that such records\nare kept by the Almighty is referred to also in the New Testament. \"Your\nnames are written in Heaven.\" (St. Luke x:20.) The verse in Ezekiel ix:2,\n\"One man among them was clothed in linen, with a writer's inkhorn by his\nside,\" is supposed to refer to Nebo, \"the Heavenly Scribe.\"\n\nIn a long cuneiform text inscribed on a terra cotta prism found at\nNineveh, King Asshur-banapal glories in having received from Nebo and\nTashmitu (his consort) the power to understand \"the art of\ntablet-writing.\" In \"Babylonian Magic and Sorcery from the British\nMuseum,\" by Leonard W. King, M. A., Assistant in the Department of\nEgyptian and Assyrian Antiquities, British Museum, there are tablets\ninvoking the protection of Nebo as well as of other gods. One of them has\nbeen translated as follows:\n\n  \"Oh! Hero Prince, First born of Marduk;\n   Oh! prudent ruler of Spring of Zarpanitu;\n   Oh! Nabu, Bearer of the Tablet of the destiny of the Gods, Director of\n        Isagila,\n   Lord of Izida, Shadow of Borsippa,\n   Darling of Ia, Giver of Life,\n   Prince of Babylon, Protector of the Living.\"\n\nIt may be stretching a point to observe that the \"arrow-headed\" letters on\nthe tablets of Babylonia closely resemble a sheaf of arrows that have\nfallen haphazard. But this may be seen in the name of the god Nebo.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VI\n\nTHE ATOUTS OF THE TAROTS\n\n\nSince the creation of the world mankind has realized a divine power\nshaping his destiny, and has tried to conciliate the unknown god. Since\nlife is made up of happenings that are unforeseen, man believed that\ncertain occult powers directed and shaped them. It was natural, therefore,\nto try to ascertain the wishes of the controller of fate, so that they\nmight be complied with and misfortune thus averted.\n\nInvocations, sacrifices and queries, private or public in the temples, are\nrecorded from early days. Some have been found that date from at least\nfive thousand years before Christ. Directions for \"wave offerings,\" \"burnt\nofferings,\" etc., are frequent in the Old Testament. The commands for\nmarking the \"rods\" with the names of the twelve tribes of Israel, for the\npurpose of laying them on the altar and awaiting results when the wishes\nof the Lord would be revealed, are given in Numbers xvii. Prayers to Nebo,\nThoth, and Mercury are found everywhere in the countries where they were\nworshipped. The use of divining arrows (rods), when demanding the wishes\nof the gods, is a known historic fact, so it is readily seen whence the\nEgyptians received their inspiration to gather together the customs,\nceremonies and superstitions of alien religions, to absorb them in the\nworship of their god Thoth.\n\nThe temples of the Egyptian gods were generally gorgeously decorated, and\nthose of Thoth were filled besides with learned women and men who devoted\nthe result of their studies to the common good, without a thought of\nself-aggrandisement. They made themselves the go-between of Thoth and man,\nwhen revealing the wishes of the occult beings. The number of Hermetic\nBooks, written at Thoth's dictation, is given by Jamblichus as 20,000.\n\nNaturally, when sacrifices or offerings were made, the worshipper demanded\na reply to his inquiries, thus taxing the ingenuity of the prophets, who\nwere, in fact, no wiser than himself as to the predestinations recorded\nat birth. So, sometimes they found the desires of the gods hidden in the\nentrails of animals or in the palms of the hands.\n\nAstronomers and astrologers, observing that the heavenly bodies conformed\nto certain laws, decided that these laws also governed the lives of men.\nIn the worship of Ishtar, the great Babylonian goddess, who has been\nidentified with both Venus and Diana, the flight of birds had portent;\nwhile at the oracle of Delphi straws (a variant of the rods of Aaron or\nthe divining arrows of the Asiatics) were employed to ascertain the wishes\nof the gods, and it is the descendants of these that are now sometimes\nknown as Jackstraws, that came to us from the Chinese, and at others are\nidentified as the pip cards now in common use.\n\nA close study of each card of the old Tarots reveals much of the history\nof the book and its original intention, for the resemblance of the\ndifferent cards to the different Egyptian deities is clearly displayed to\nthe student. The attributes and costumes of Maut, Isis, Phthah, Neith,\nAmun, Thmei, Nepte, Seth, Anubis, and Ra are all to be traced on the\ndetached leaves of the ancient book. The costumes are those of Italians of\nabout the thirteenth century, it is true, but the caps, the girdles, the\npositions and the attributes, as well as the qualities assigned to each by\nthe fortune-tellers, are too apparent to be ignored. It would seem that\nthe cards were designed by some person to whom these different marks had\nbeen described, but who had no knowledge of the original pictures of these\ngods that are still so instructive in Egypt. While the attributes are\nretained, the pictures do not recall the old ones that can still be found\nin mummy cases or historic monuments. It was therefore impossible for\nthose who wrote on Playing Cards before the great discoveries in Egypt to\nrecognize the connection of the Tarots with the ancient mysteries,\nalthough the symbols of Mercury might have given a clue, had these been\nnoted.\n\nWithout declaring that the deductions connecting the Atouts with the\nEgyptian gods is infallible, the strong resemblance between them must be\ncarefully considered, and the intention of each card studied with all the\nobtainable history connected with it.\n\n\nI. LE BAGATLEUR (Il Bagattel)\n\nThis card, also known as the Juggler or Pagat, bears various names,\naccording to the locality where it was used. \"It is derived,\" says Count\nEmiliano di Parravicino, in the _Burlington Magazine_ for December, 1903,\n\"from Bagat or Paghead and Gad, that signifies fortune, and the card is\noften called Bagatto (or cobbler), since there are sometimes tools placed\non the board in front of the figure, one of which (in the corrupted\ndesigns of modern cards) resembles a cobbler's awl.\" The figure on this\ncard represents the Player or Inquirer, and when the cards are laid out,\naccording to the rules of prophesying, it is controlled by all that are\ndealt close to it. That is to say, the cards surrounding this figure tell\nthe events that are likely soon to befall the inquirer. The first Atout\nrepresents a young man standing behind a table. On his head is a hat of\nmystic meaning, for it is shaped like the sign of \"eternal life,\"\n[Illustration: infinity symbol]; his left hand carries a wand, called by\nde Gebelin \"_son B\u00e2ton de Jacob, ou Verges des Mages_.\" This magician's\nwand was readily recognized by the shrewd Frenchman, who evidently\nunderstood the symbolism of the rod of Aaron (or Jacob). The rod is really\nthe caduceus of Mercury that has so many significances. It is one of the\npip devices that has been reproduced in the Ace of Rods, Staves, or\nSceptres, as it is variously called, and, by placing it in the hand of the\ninquirer, it denotes that he has been given the power to consult the\noracle. The other articles placed on the table before the youth are the\nother devices that mark the suits of the cards, namely: Money, Cups and\nSwords, although on modern Italian Tarots these emblems are often changed\nfor others that lack significance. In \"the lottery chart,\" called\nTsz-fa-to, used by the Chinese fortune-tellers, there is a figure like the\nBagatleur, holding up his hand in the same way, which recalls the many\nmystic meanings attached to the \"blessing hand.\" The Pagat or Magician (as\nthis card is often called) is sometimes expressed merely by the Hebrew\nletter Aleph, which is placed beside the figure, or is used alone, when an\nInitiate understands the symbol as well as if the Pagat was in its place.\nWhat relation the Hebrew alphabet has to the Tarots is a matter for\nconjecture, but the characters are often placed on early packs, and some\nwriters have pointed out that, in their opinion, these letters offer fresh\nevidences of the origin of cards and their connection with divination. So\nPapus says: \"The first letters of the alphabet express hieroglyphically\nman himself as a collective unity--the Master principle--the ruler of the\nworld.\" In very old packs the earth is represented at the bottom of the\npicture, ornamented with its fruits. The centre is occupied with the man,\nwhose right hand bent towards the ground, the left hand raised towards\nheaven, thus representing two principles, the one active and the other\npassive, of the great All, and it corresponds with the two columns of\nJakin and Bohas of the temple of Solomon and of Freemasonry, as well as\nwith the great statues erected before the tombs of the Egyptian kings. The\nmeaning may be thus stated: \"Man with one hand seeks for God in Heaven,\nand with the other he plunges below to call up the demon to himself, and\nthus unites the divine and the diabolic in humanity.\"\n\nIt is well known that among primitive people, boys, upon arriving at\nmanhood, went through certain ceremonies with fasting and incantations so\nthis card also represents a youth making his first offering to the gods of\nthe temple, and consulting them as to his future life, or asking what Nebo\nor Thoth had written at the time of his birth on their \"Tablets of Fate.\"\nIn order to learn from the gods what his future occupation should be, one\nof the symbols of Mercury is lifted haphazard from the table before him.\nThus, if a sword be grasped, a man will be a soldier, and a woman will\nhave a person of rank for a husband. The Cup represents the Church or\nLove. In primitive nations various articles are still placed before a\nchild, and the one selected influences its occupations, when mature. In\nKorea a bundle of yarn, a handful of rice, a few coins, a cake of ink, a\nbrush, and some paper are placed before a baby, on attaining its first\nbirthday. If it selects the yarn, it denotes a long life; the money means\nprosperity; the writing materials signify that a scholar's life will be\nthe one followed, while rice means happiness. Hebrew letters can be\nexpressed by numbers as well as by the conventional characters; this is\nwell exemplified by the way they were used in making the fringes of the\ntemple of Solomon, the strands of which were peculiarly knotted in groups\nof different numbers, that, when deciphered, represented a text. A similar\nknotted fringe adorns the Taleth or praying scarf, worn by the Jews when\nworshipping in the synagogue, on which a text is typified by groups of\nknots expressing Hebrew letters. \"This fringe is made with four threads,\none of which is longer than the others. Two threads are bound together\nwith the longest one in a double knot, then it is wrapped seven times,\nthen eight, then eleven, followed by thirteen, with two knots separating\neach.\" \"According to the Kabbalah,\" states Professor Rosenau, in his book\nentitled \"Jewish Ceremonial Institutions,\" \"these knots and windings have\na secret meaning, making thirty-nine in all; they correspond to the\nnumerical value of the letters constituting two words, or 'the Lord is\none,' since each letter of the Hebrew alphabet has numerical\nsignificance.\"\n\nAmong uneducated people symbols took the place of written characters in\nearly days, so, since these knots conveyed a sound and a meaning, a number\nis also indicated by the letters of the Hebrew alphabet. These letters or\nnumbers that were occasionally placed on the early Atouts have the\ngreatest value when deciphering the attributes found on the Tarots, since\neach one has occult significance attached to it, evidently placed there\nwith the intention of assisting the early fortune-tellers to decipher\ntheir meaning, although omitted in the later books of Thoth-Hermes, when\nthey were used only for amusement or gambling.\n\n\nII. LA PAPESSA (THE FEMALE POPE)\n\nThis card is supposed to represent Isis. She is typified by a seated\nfemale figure with two pillars behind her, between which hangs a curtain\nindicating her temple. She is crowned with a triple tiara, and has an open\nbook in her lap. This goddess instructs and persuades. Law, erudition, and\noccult science are under her protection. As the first female figure among\nthe Atouts, she represents the priestess of the temple of Thoth, also Eve,\nalso the mother. When a woman is the inquirer, this card represents her,\ninstead of the Pagat, which represents a man inquirer. The name of\nPapessa, given to this card by the modern Italian card-painter, seems to\nbe a corruption of Isis. The former name is misleading, and has no\nconnection with the original meaning of the figure, for it has nothing in\ncommon with the mythical Pope Joan of the Roman Church, while all the\nattributes show that the figure represents Isis, or, perhaps, Tashitum,\nthe consort of Nebo, called \"the Interceder.\" \"The Italian card-makers,\"\nsays de Gebelin, \"named numbers II and V of the Atouts, mother and father,\nor Papessa and Papa;\" but he declares \"their emblems are Egyptian and the\ntriple phallus worn by number II is the one borne by Isis in the _F\u00eate des\nPampylies_, where Isis joyfully receives Osiris. It is the symbol of\nregeneration of plants, or spring.\" The card is also supposed to represent\nJuno in the Roman mythology. \"The attitude connects it,\" says the same\nauthority, \"with _la haute magic_, since it is the first of the symbols of\nthe Emerald Tablet, one of the books of Thoth, that was discovered on the\nmount of Nebo.\" Wiltshire says: \"Believers in magic find occult meanings\nin the hands of this figure.\" Roman women sacrificed to Juno on their\nbirthdays, as she was not only the goddess who presided over maternity\n(making Mercury her messenger, who carried the child to its parents) but\nshe was also the protector of women. Part of the great book of Thoth,\ncalled the Ritual of the Dead, said to have been written with the finger\nof Thoth, and generally placed with a mummy, says: \"I am yesterday.\nYesterday is Osiris. Phthah goes around. The divine Horus prefers Thee.\nThe god Set does so in turn, as well as Isis, whom thou hast seen.\" The\nHebrew letter on the second Atout is Beth, which hieroglyphically\nexpresses mouth or tongue, one of the things used in the sacrifices to\nNebo and to Mercury.\n\n\nIII. L'IMPERATRICE (The Empress)\n\nThis card betokens Venus Urania according to the Roman mythology, or Maut\naccording to that of Egypt. The vulture is its emblem, one of Maut's\nattributes signifying maternity. The mouse also represents her, and it\ntypifies fecundity. The card has many significances, such as speech,\naction, initiative, friendliness, protection, progress, production, and\nhelpfulness. The figure is that of a seated woman holding a shield and a\nsceptre. In old cards she is crowned with a diadem that has twelve stars\non its points. This card also symbolizes generation and productive\nforces. Its letter is Gimel, the meaning of which is the throat, or the\nhand of a man half closed; hence, it signifies that which encloses, that\nwhich is hollow, a canal, an inclosure. The card also represents a woman\nfriend, but not always one that is desirable. The Egyptian goddess, Maut,\nwears a cap and crown, and she bears a sceptre. Her flowing robes are\nconfined below the breasts with a girdle, the typical zone that has such\noccult meanings. Among the Persians and tribes of North Africa, the girdle\nis always removed from a bride, as part of the wedding ceremony, and\nneither is she nor the bridegroom allowed to wear one for seven days after\nthe marriage. Maut is called \"Lady of Heaven,\" and \"Giver of Life,\" and\nhas been identified by some as the Ishtar of the Babylonians.\n\n\nIV. L'IMPERATORE (The Emperor)\n\nThe fourth Atout shows in profile a male figure seated on a throne. He\nrepresents Jupiter or Amun, the Ammon of the Egyptians, the Marduk of the\nBabylonians, and the Merodach of the Bible. This letter is Daleth,\nsuggesting growth, nourishment, generation, divine will, long life,\nstrong character or personal ability and ambition. This card and number\nthree have similar representations on the Persian cards, which pack alone\nof those adopted by different countries retains the figure-pictures, to\nthe entire exclusion of the pip cards. This seems to point to the fact\nthat, while the Egyptians or Assyrians overran Persia and imposed some of\ntheir customs and religious beliefs on the people, the great gods were\nadopted reluctantly, and the key to their wishes was not bestowed on the\nconquered people, as would have been the case had their use, in\ncombination with the prophetic arrows or rods, been taught at the same\ntime. The great temple of Ammon was at Thebes, the southern Egyptian\ncapital. The name Ammon means concealment, to veil, to hide. \"His most\ncommon title,\" says Mr. Rawlinson, in \"Ancient Egypt\" (page 322), \"was\nSuten-Netern, king of the gods, also called Hek or Hyk, the Ruler, the\nEmperor, Lord of Heaven, strong bull.\" His image, like that of the fourth\nAtout, is represented as seated on a throne. He is crowned, and wears a\ncollar and bracelets. He bears the sceptre, the symbol of power and\nplenty. One of the invocations to Ammon begins \"Hail to thee, Lord of\nTruth, whose shrine is hidden.\"\n\n\nV. IL PAPA (The Pope)\n\nThe pronunciation of the name of this card alone proves its connection\nwith the Egyptian god, Phthah, but, besides this, it has many strange\nsignificances assigned to it, all of them pointing to the same conclusion.\nThe figure denotes the religious superior, as it wears the triple crown,\ncombined with the two pillars of the temple. The African god was greatly\nrevered and feared, while many temples were dedicated to his worship. Four\nfigures kneel before Il Papa, whom he blesses with uplifted palm, sacred\nto religious ceremonies, and inherited from the \"hand of the Cohen\" of the\nJews. In the old cemetery at Prague there are hundreds of tombstones, on\nwhich the uplifted hands are carved to represent ideographically the\ndescendants of Aaron, who alone can bestow benediction in this way. The\nhand plays an important part in heraldic emblems. \"The Ulster, or bloody\nhand,\" is a mark of rank, not only in English heraldry, but is venerated\nby Orientals as well. A bloody hand is frequently found stamped beside the\nlintel of the door among North Africans, and small silver or brass\nfacsimiles of the right hand are also fastened to the door or worn on the\nperson, to ward off the evil eye, when it is called the \"hand of Fatima.\"\nArabs frequently wear this hand, that is then covered with engraved\nquotations from the Koran. Their name for it is Kam or five fingers. The\nnumber five--Khamsa--is considered so powerful and mystic that it is\nbelieved to bring bad luck if it is mentioned, so the word is not\npronounced, but the Arabs say \"two-three\" instead. The Neapolitans\ngenerally wear a hand with one finger outstretched as a charm, one of the\nmany links connecting them with Egypt. The fifth Atout in its position and\nconsequence represents aspiration, health, intelligence, union, strength\nof will, religion and faith. The accompanying letter is He, the meaning of\nwhich is aspiration. The triple-barred sceptre is an especial emblem of\nPhthah, who was known as \"the revealer,\" the one who made hidden duties\nmanifest.\n\nThe first four figures of the Atouts are connected with family life. The\ninquirer in number one, the parents in two and four, and the influence of\nState and Church in three and five, forming a significant group when\nstudying the cards and their meanings.\n\n\nVI. GLI AMANTI (The Lovers)\n\nThe sixth card has not yet been connected with any of the occult gods of\nEgypt or Babylonia. The figures seem to belong solely to Cupid. The card\nshows a young man between two females, symbolizing virtue and vice. Cupid\nhovers overhead, blindfolded, and with bent bow, ready to \"shoot an arrow\ninto the air.\" When used for prophesying, this card is typical of a young\nman starting in life, whose future depends upon the choice before him,\nsince good and evil both seem to claim him. The card also denotes\naffection, love, friendship, charity, union and sight, the latter being\nindicated by the letter, which is Vau, the hieroglyphic sign for eyes,\nlight or brilliancy. The import of this figure is personal magnetism. This\ncard also indicates marriage, and is emblematic of the legal tie, as well\nas of luck and good fortune.\n\n[Illustration: EARLY ITALIAN TAROTS\n\nPip and Court Cards of the Cup Suit\n\n    37 Seven of Cups\n\n    38 Eight of Cups\n\n    39 Nine of Cups\n\n    40 Ten of Cups\n\n    41 Knave of Cups\n\n    42 Cavalier of Cups]\n\n\nVII. IL CARRO (The Chariot)\n\nThis is one of the most mystic of cards, its number being one that was\nregarded as occult by the ancients. It displays a picture of a king or a\nconqueror, in his car drawn by beasts, precisely as Nebo was frequently\nrepresented in the texts, \"when the gilt chariot never marks the way.\"\nSometimes the car is drawn by horses, frequently by oxen, sometimes by\nlions, and occasionally by black and white sphinxes. This car typifies\nMars, the god of war mentioned in Babylonian mythology and in the Bible,\n\"when every nation made gods of their own and the men of Cuth made Neral\n(Mars).\" (2 Kings xvii:30.) As has been mentioned, Nebo bore a sword and\nwas regarded as accompanying warriors, although he generally represents\nthe pestilence that follows in the wake of war. The Hebrew letter of the\nseventh Atout is Zain, that expresses an arrow, thus suggesting a weapon\nas well as a soldier, so it denotes victory, a ruling power, triumph,\nprotection, a domineering character. \"The arrows of divination\" are\nfrequently referred to in the Bible, for instance, when \"the king of\nBabylon stood at the parting of the way at the head of the two ways to\nuse divination. He made his arrows bright, he consulted with images, he\nlooked at the liver.\" The tablets found at Nippur frequently refer to all\nthe arts of divination, as when a text in cuneiform characters says: \"the\narrows were marked Yes and No,\" or, \"the king had shaken the arrows,\nquestioned the house gods, and looked into the liver.\" Mr. Culin, in his\n\"Korean Games,\" considers that divination by arrows is one of the most\nprimitive forms, and it is still kept up in Korea, China, Japan, etc. The\nsticks used for the purpose in China are in the form of arrows, and are\nkept in a cube-shaped box resembling a quiver. They are shaken in a\npeculiar way until one jumps out, when the design on it, and the direction\nin which it points to the shrine, are considered to have replied to the\ninquirer.\n\nThe Chariot of the Atouts was, under certain conditions, supposed to\nrepresent Osiris. It was also called \"the chariot of Mercury,\" in the\nsense that he was the messenger of Mars when war was to be proclaimed, or\nwhen his caduceus was used as a flag of truce. Seven was always considered\nby the Egyptian savants a mystical number, so this card played an\nimportant part in occult science. Count Emiliano di Parravicino, in his\nessay published in the _Burlington Magazine_, December, 1903 (page 238),\nsays: \"Mgr. Antonio Dragoni (1814) suggests that the Atouts, numbering\ntwenty-one [not counting the Joker (_Fou_), which has no number],\nrepresent the Egyptian doctrine beloved by Pythagoras, of the perfect\nnumber Three and the mythical number Seven. Hence, Thoth, the Mercury of\nthe Egyptians, forms with the pack of pip cards his book or picture of the\ncreation of three classes of images, which symbolize the first three ages\nof the world--_i. e._, the golden, the silver, and the bronze. Each of\nthese three classes is to represent in its seven divisions a greater\nreference or mysticism, a mysterious book of the highest value in the art\nof divination, since this book of unbound leaves contained the key to all\nmysteries, although its contents were undecipherable to all but those\ntaught in the temples of Thoth.\" This proves that other thinkers besides\nPapus and de Gebelin had come to the same conclusions from their study of\nthe Tarot pack, although without having the benefit of exchanging views on\nthe subject.\n\nThe Babylonians believed in seven evil spirits, as the following prayer,\ntranslated from a cuneiform tablet, will prove:\n\n  Seven are they. They are seven,\n    The same in the mighty deep;\n  And Seven are they in heaven,\n    'Though in water, sometimes they sleep.\n  They are neither male, nor female,\n    These awful spirits that fly,\n  But like destructive whirlwinds,\n    They swirl across the sky.\n\n  Without a home or offspring,\n    Compassion and mercy are nil,\n  Since prayers or supplications,\n    They neither hear nor feel.\n\n  Like wild beasts bred in the mountains,\n    They defy both gods and men,\n  Polluting even the fountains\n    The rivers, the marshes, the fen.\n  Evil are they, strangely evil,\n    In temples, in cities, in homes;\n  For Seven are they, cruel Seven,\n    With weird and terrible forms.\n\nMr. Willshire, in his \"Catalogue of the Playing Cards in the British\nMuseum,\" says: \"It hardly requires a reference to the Bible to notice the\nfrequency with which the number Seven is mentioned. Not only was the\nSeventh day to be kept holy, but, then, there was the mystery of the Seven\nstars, of which Nebo (Mercury) was one, the latter being the most rapid\nand brilliant. Also of the Seven golden candlesticks, and, in Zachariah\niii:9, we find that on the stone laid before Joshua there were Seven eyes.\nMercury invented the lyre, according to the Egyptians, in the year of the\nworld two thousand. At first it had only three strings, but in the hands\nof the Muses, Seven were adopted. Then also the Seven virtues were called\nthe Seven cords of the human lyre, having their analogies in the Seven\ncolours of the prismatic spectrum. Then there were Seven precious stones,\nnamely: Carbuncle (garnet), Crystal, Diamond, Agate, Emerald, Sapphire,\nand Onyx, besides the Seven chief metals.\" The emerald was considered the\nstone of Thoth, we may infer, since one of his books was entitled \"The\nEmerald Tablet.\" Among the Berber tribes, of North Africa, the women put\nseven marks on their foreheads, to protect them from the evil eye; this is\nalso done among some of the Negro tribes. When consulting the pip cards,\nthe Sevens have peculiar and occult values, marking the boundaries between\nthose lower and higher. They also make combinations that influence the\nconsideration of other cards.\n\n\nVIII. LA GIUSTIZIA (Justice)\n\nThe figure on the eighth card is represented in the most modern fashion,\nand yet, with its attributes and values, it is much as Egyptians would\nhave known it when the worship of Thoth was at its height. It is the\ngoddess of Truth or Ma. Her title was sometimes adopted by the kings, who\ncalled themselves the friends of Truth. Mr. Rawlinson, on page 385 of\n\"Ancient Egypt,\" says: \"The chief judge of every court is said to have\nworn an image of Ma around his neck, and when he decided a case he touched\nthe litigant with it, in whose favour the decision was made, in order to\ntestify that everything had been done with justice and truth. In the final\njudgment of Osiris, the image of Ma was placed in the scale, and weighed\nagainst the good actions of the dead.\" It may easily be perceived what a\nforceful figure the one of justice must have been to the people who\nconsulted the oracles in the temples of Thoth. Justice is represented on\nthe Atout as a seated female figure, on a throne bearing her usual\nheraldic marks of a sword and a pair of scales. Law and order are denoted\nby every line and emblem on the card, which, summed up, expresses\nconscientiousness, balance, power, and poise, in all their forms. The leaf\nalso corresponds with some of the attributes of the god Tiemei, and again\nrepresents one of the deities of Olympus. Heth, the letter corresponding\nto it, means a field, and from that springs the idea of anything requiring\nlabour and continued effort, the elements and existence. When it typifies\nCeres, of the Olympic gods, it denotes the mother as she is generally\nrepresented, with her daughter, Prosperpine, endeavouring (as the original\ntype of a mother-in-law) to keep her from the arms of Pluto, while Mercury\nleads the wife forcibly away. This card is the dominating one of Cups\n(meaning sacrifice) of the pip part of the pack.\n\n\nIX. L'EREMITA (The Hermit)\n\nThe Hermit is one of the most mysterious designs on the Atouts, and has\nnot yet acknowledged all its intentions. For the meaning assigned to it,\nand its value for soothsaying, hardly correspond with the personage\ndepicted, so it is supposed that the artist who modernized the ancient\ndesign has altered it too completely to be recognised by those\nunacquainted with the original intention. It shows an old man, holding a\nlantern aloft, and by some is regarded as a watchman calling the hours of\nthe night, and by others, as Diogenes searching for an honest man. But the\nattributes or values given to the card rather quarrel with the design, for\nthey signify friendship, protection, and wisdom. The rod or staff\nsignifies a pilgrim, certainly an overseer, and is a favourite emblem in\nthe Bible, as in Psalms xxiii:4, \"Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me,\"\nor, in Isaiah x:15, \"If the staff should lift up.\" It is the cane of the\nmedical man, and represents the Sceptre suit of the pip cards. This Atout\ntypifies strength of character, philanthropy, the wisdom of silence in\ndifficulties, circumspection, prudence, and sympathy; in short, all the\nqualities desirable in a friend. The letter is Teth, which represents a\nroof or place of safety, suggesting the idea of a shelter and protection\ngiven by wisdom and forethought. The card also typifies human love and\nhumanity.\n\n\nX. RUOTO DELLA FORTUNA\n\n(The Wheel of Fortune)\n\nThis Atout has many and various connections with the superstitions of\nancient days. It is the Wheel of Fortune, and, among other things,\nrepresents Osiris judging the souls of the dead. Anubis clambers up on one\nside, while Typhon descends on the left of the wheel. \"There are two\nideas,\" says Papus, \"expressed by this symbolic card. The first is that of\nsupremacy, the second of eternity.\" The former is typified by Anubis and\nTyphon climbing or falling, one reaching to overpower the other, while the\nwheel turns eternally, lifting first one and then the other. Thus it is in\nlife, for fortune changes from good to bad with unceasing regularity,\nsometimes slowly and sometimes rapidly, but always controlled by an\nunknown force, that is called luck. The circle signifies eternity, and the\nWheel of Fortune is one of the oldest known symbols in the world. It is\ndeemed by some to have its analogy in the \"Wheels of Ezekiel and of\nPythagoras,\" with all the significances attached to these emblematic\nfigures. Being numbered ten, its Hebrew letter is Yod, the hieroglyphic\nmeaning of which is \"the forefinger extended as a sign of command.\" This\nsign [Illustration: pointing finger] is recognised even by the\nuninitiated, and is one of the surviving attributes of Mercury in common\nuse to-day. It was placed under the head of Mercury, when he was erected\nby the roadside as Terminus to point out a road. In every synagogue is\nfound a pointer, called Yod, because its long arm terminates in a\nbeautifully modelled hand, with the forefinger outstretched. This is used\nby the reader of the Scriptures to keep the place, since the text is\nwritten in fine characters not easily followed without the pointing finger\nof the Yod. The Wheel of Fortune typifies magic power, fortune, expression\nof the will of the gods, or their commands, supremacy, superstition, and\nluck. Anubis was the conductor of spirits to the judgment seat (or\nMercury, as Chthonius); he also held the balance in the hall of the dead.\nHe is called \"Lord of the Burying-ground,\" and is represented as a\njackal. The Wheel of Fortune is derived from Osiris, on the judgment seat,\nwith Anubis as assistant.\n\n\nXI. LA FORZA (Strength)\n\nThis Atout shows a female figure, wearing the mystic hat, or vital sign\n[Illustration: infinity symbol], seen on the Pagat, or the first Atout.\nThe girl forces open the mouth of a lion, expressing vitality, force,\ncourage, daring. It would seem the ancients believed that, in suffering or\ntrouble a woman was superior to a man, for endurance and strength of mind.\n\nThe figure also typifies innocence, so the fable of Una and the lion seems\nto be depicted, whether intentionally or not. Another symbol is that of\nthe Amazons, who pretended, say modern writers, to great strength, in\nspite of being women, but the translations of some of the cuneiform\ntablets lead one to suppose that these female warriors were more noted in\ntheir own times for their wit than for their strength. The value given to\nthe card indicates it to be under the protection of Minerva. The Hebrew\nletter for this card is Kaph, which typifies a grasping hand. This card\nrepresents subtle and mystic occultism, with its influence over mankind;\nin fact, female charity. It recalls, by its costume and attributes, the\nEgyptian goddess Neith, whose temple was at Sais, the chief city of the\nDelta. She wears a peculiar emblem on her head, sometimes called a\n\"shuttle,\" recalling the device of the Atout. Mr. Rawlinson, in his\n\"Ancient Egypt\" (page 342), says the inscription on her shrine reads: \"I\nam all that was, and is, and is to be. No mortal hath lifted my veil.\" The\nlast expression would be understood in Egypt, for the lifting of the veil\nis the conclusion of the marriage service, when the bridegroom sees his\nwife for the first time. Therefore, one meaning of the card is a bride.\n\n\nXII. L'APPESO (The Hanged Man)\n\nThe hanged man is a remarkable figure on the twelfth leaf of the Book of\nThoth. The person is suspended by one foot from a gibbet that is crudely\nmade, by placing a bar in the fork of two opposite trees that have been\nlopped of other branches. The hands are tied behind, and the right leg\ncrosses the left, by which the figure is suspended. This peculiar form of\npunishment was at one time inflicted for certain kinds of crimes in\nEtruria, and was probably typical when it was adopted. It has been\nsuggested that one of the signs of recognition between Freemasons consists\nin crossing the legs, although these persons generally remain upright and\nare not contortionists, so it is difficult to concede this connection with\nthe figure on the Atout. It shows a young man, who is said to be the\nPagat, or inquirer, of the first Atout, who, having passed through the\ntemptations of youth, begins to aspire to an ethical future. This is\nexemplified by his position, indicating discipline, or submission to a\nsuperior will. Perhaps another idea is, that since all the blood has run\nto his head, the powers of knowledge are concentrated, and will be\nincreased. The card expresses equilibrium, charity, courage, knowledge and\nprudence; also wisdom and fidelity. Lamed is the corresponding Hebrew\nletter; it designates the arm, so is, therefore, connected with expansive\npower and movement, as applied to all ideas of extension, of occupation,\nof possession. The figure being raised above the earth, and in a position\nof pain, together with humility, typifies a mind withdrawn from temporal\nideas, or a martyr to science. Vulcan is supposed to be the Olympian god\ntypified by L'Appeso, not only on account of the strong arm, but also\nbecause he was thrown out of heaven and lamed for life.\n\n\nXIII. LA MORTE (Death)\n\nThis thirteenth Atout is represented on some cards as a skeleton mowing\noff the heads of men, on some as a rider on a white horse, and on others\non a black one. There is an old proverb: \"Death comes riding on a white\nhorse,\" and sometimes the clouds betokening rain are called \"the white\nhorses of death.\" One of the horses of Aurora was called Abraxas, the\nnumerical value of these letters summing up three hundred and sixty-five,\nor the number of the days of the year. The occult meanings attached to\nthis card and its number in the Atouts are well known, for the latter is\nconnected with bad luck or death in all European countries, and in every\nplace where the worship of Mercury or the Hermetic art, as connected with\ncards, has penetrated. It is not so regarded, however, by savage tribes,\nwho have not followed this cult. This superstition is, therefore, by many\ndeemed to be one of the proofs that the cards were descended from those\nmysteries. It is supposed that this image of Death was the half-way\nposition in the temple of Thoth, and therefore divided the Atouts to the\nright and to the left, since they were placed in sequence on both sides.\nThoth Hermes, the unnumbered Atout, was represented by a statue that\noccupied the centre of the building, under which stood an altar. On this\naltar the rods (or pip cards) were thrown when consulting the oracle. At\nany rate, the altar (or its remains) occupies the centre of the ruins of\nthe temple of Mercury, at Bai\u00e6. The central position of Death was deemed\nto indicate the dividing period of a man's life. The inquirer, after\nconsulting the pictured figures, representing the family, religion,\ngovernment, and friends of the beginning of his life, now learned of the\nmore serious affairs of later years, not necessarily death or bad fortune,\nbut, rather, a transforming force, since this Atout marked such a distinct\nepoch in the path of life, and was to be considered most seriously. Still\nthe card also portends sorrow, destruction, and death. The letter is Mem,\nmeaning fertility and formation, or the development of the being in an\nunlimited space, perhaps regeneration after destruction, or immortality in\nanother world.\n\n\nXIV. LA TEMPERAN (Temperance)\n\nIt is probable that this figure was intended for Nut or Nephthys. Of her\nbut little is positively known, and, so far, no temple erected to her has\nbeen discovered. She was called the wife of Seb, and the mother of Osiris.\nHer titles are \"the Elder,\" \"the Mother of the Gods,\" and \"the Nurse.\" She\nis usually represented as veiled and pouring a liquid from a vase. Her\nfigure frequently appears in tombs, as if she was the guardian angel or\nprotector of the dead soul. This idea of an oblation to the gods, through\npouring wine or oil before them, is found to be common among the\nBabylonians, and to \"pour oil on the troubled waters\" is no mere figure of\nspeech.\n\nThe fourteenth Atout is represented as a winged female pouring liquid from\none jug to another, signifying individual and corporeal existence,\nproduction, fruition, health, temperance, economy and offspring. Its\nletter is Nun, signifying fruit of any kind and all things produced.\nNeptune is typified by one of his nymphs offering an oblation when\nmingling the waters. There may be a remote and more occult connection with\nthis device and divination, for one of the earliest methods of consulting\nthe gods was through pouring water on oil, or oil on water, and\nprognosticating from the results. This process is found to have been used\namong the Babylonians as early as two thousand five hundred years before\nChrist. Two books have been discovered on this subject that give full\ndirections for consulting the wishes of the gods through those means, and\nthey have been fully translated by Dr. Arthur Ungnad. One is,\n\"Interpretations of the Future among the Babylonians and Assyrians,\" and\nin it are found many directions for discovering the wishes of the gods,\nsuch as: \"If the oil fills the cup, the person dies;\" \"If the oil floats\non water to the east, the person will die;\" \"If to the right, it is good\nluck, if to the left, it is misfortune.\" The name, Temperance, given to\nthis card, seems to be rather misleading and modern, since the picture\nevidently typifies this most ancient custom.\n\n\nXV. IL DIAVOLO (The Devil)\n\nSet, or Sutech, the principle of evil, who is connected with the myth of\nOsiris, needs but little explanation. Even moderns can comprehend at a\nglance all that it typifies. Mgr. Antonio Dragoni is one of the earliest\npersons to identify this card with Set or Typho, the son of Seb, who was\nthe brother of Osiris, and one of the geniuses of evil. Any one who has\nattempted to read the myth of Osiris will appreciate the difficulties of\nunravelling it. The Hyksos, or shepherd kings, selected Set as their sole\ndeity, and Seti I assumed his name, thus placing himself under the\nprotection of the evil one. Afterwards the worship of Set ceased entirely\nand he was abhorred. The long ears retained on the figure of the fifteenth\nAtout mark the connection with Set, for that was one of his distinguishing\nattributes. The Hebrew letter that represents this card is Zain, which\nmeans arrow, or any weapon of destruction. The intention of this Atout is\ndestiny, chance, fatality, superstition, illness, temptation; it\nrepresents a spirit of evil, hatred, jealousy, and suspicion.\n\n\nXVI. LA TORRE (The Tower)\n\nIn this leaf, a building struck by lightning is portrayed, through a\nthunderbolt shot by Jupiter, and conveyed by the \"Messenger,\" Mercury. The\n\"lightning god\" was one of Nebo's titles, and the mark is retained on the\nJapanese cards, although probably accidentally, since there is no\nconnection between their playing cards and the original Atouts. Some\nwriters call this tower the \"castle of Plutus\" (the Roman god of wealth),\ndeeming it a warning to misers, for it recalls the legend relating to an\nincident in the life of Rameses II, recorded in Herodotus. The Pharaoh\nordered a tower to be built for his treasures, and he alone had its key,\nbut daily he discovered that his valuables were disappearing, although\nthere was only one egress. A watch was set, and it was found that two of\nthe sons of the architect could enter by displacing a stone, that had been\nleft for the purpose of thieving, and when the men were entrapped inside,\nthey threw themselves headlong from the tower. This picture shows a\nconnection with Egyptian legend that must not be disregarded in seeking to\ntrace the Tarots to the mysteries of Thoth. Besides, some persons believe\nthat the card represents the destruction of the temples of Babylon, and\ndue weight must be given to the significance awarded by that people to\nlightning, when consulting the gods through divination, particularly as it\nwas the weapon of Jove (Merodach), who was connected with the Baal of the\nBible, and sometimes worshipped as Enlil, who was frequently implored not\nto destroy his people by lightning. But there are other legends connected\nwith the destruction of ancient temples that are even older than that of\nEgypt, and we are lucky to have access to one that has lately been\ntranslated from the Sumerian language, written in cuneiform characters on\none of the tablets discovered by Prof. Herman V. Hilprecht in the Temple\nLibrary of Nippur. Above two hundred of them were of a religious or\nhistorical character, which he set apart for the well-known scholar,\nDoctor Radau, to translate. These related chiefly to the worship of the\ngods of the second dynasty of Ur, or about two thousand five hundred years\nbefore Christ. \"Although the beginning of the Babylonian religion, as\nportrayed in these tablets,\" says Doctor Radau, in \"Miscellaneous Sumerian\nTexts from the Temple Library of Nippur\" (page 389), \"has to be sought\nsomewhere at about 5700 B. C., when the religions of Babylon were\nsystematized.\" One tablet relates how a king of that period conquered his\nenemies with the help of the chief god, who at that time was named Enlil,\n\"the Governor of the gods,\" \"the god who destines fate.\" It was his son,\nNebo, who was his confidential messenger, his \"lightning-rod,\" and who\nwrote on the \"tablets of Fate\" the decrees of the supreme being at the\nbirth of each mortal. It may be noted that Nebo is given a different\nfather at different times, but so it is in the mythologies as now\ninterpreted; the oldest accounts name the chief gods, whose qualities and\nsymbols later became merged in more modern ones, and they were given\ndifferent names at various times, which is most confusing. The great\ntemple consecrated to Enlil is called E-Kur, and is at Nippur. This name\nfor this particular tabernacle became the common name for temple in\ngeneral (page 411). No king of Babylon ventured to do anything or take\nany step without \"kissing the hand\" of Enlil, to obtain his consent and\napproval. According to Doctor Radau, Enlil was afterwards succeeded or\ndisplaced by Marduk (the Merodach of the Bible, and the Jupiter of the\nRomans), although the supremacy of Enlil lasted some three thousand five\nhundred years, quite long enough to leave an impression on the \"Book of\nFate.\" One of the tablets translated from the Sumerian language has been\ngiven almost literally, and is an invocation to Enlil, bewailing the\ndestruction and begging for the restoration of the principal cities of\nBabylonia, together with the temples that had been destroyed, which were,\nin fact, the homes of the priests, who always dwelt in the sanctuaries.\nDoctor Radau (page 444) calls the song, \"The Lamentation of the Goddess\nNin, of the City of Mar, who was called Nin-Mar.\" He gives a literal\ntranslation of the cuneiform text of the tablet that has a well-defined\nmetre, and is divided into sections. The first three verses are an\ninvocation to Enlil, the supreme god, by this goddess, Nin-Mar, who\ndeclares that she is \"Mistress of Mar,\" who, through the power granted to\nher by Enlil, was once able to destroy the enemies of her country and lay\nwaste their lands, but the power has left her, as her \"Master\" sleeps.\nNin-Mar gets a sympathetic god, named Nin-ib, to sing a hymn with her, in\nwhich the destroyed temples are recounted. Nin-ib was the solar deity of\nNippur, also a war god, but inclined to be beneficent to mankind. One of\nhis titles was \"the warrior,\" and he is identified as the planet Saturn.\nHis symbol was a man with a lion's head.\n\nTO ENLIL.\n\n  Oh, Enlil, who placed on the waters\n    A shelter for men and for all,\n  Great God, who creates and then slaughters,\n    Come, hark to the children's call.\n      Nin-Mar, the smiter of mountains, I sigh, I sigh;\n      Enlil, to thee I cry, cry, cry.\n\n  Shall the Mistress of Mar and his daughters,\n    His doves and the broods on their nests,\n  Shall their homes be cast out on the waters,\n    While their Master is lying at rest?\n      Nin-Mar, who was the destroyer of lands, I sigh, I sigh;\n      Enlil, to thee I cry, cry, cry.\n\n  Exalted one! Listen to pleadings,\n    For my Nippur now covers its face;\n  My E-Kur, my Ki-Ur have vanished,\n    May all be restored to their place.\n      It is Mar, the smiter of mountains, I sigh, I sigh;\n      Enlil, to thee I cry, cry, cry.\n\nTHE HYMN.\n\n  Great Nippur, and E-Kur and Ki-Ur with Girsu have perished in flame,\n  Then harken, oh, powerful Enlil, and restore them to greatness and fame.\n  Oh, then shall thy cities exalt thee, thy harems, thy children, thy\n        lands,\n  The doves which fly over the towers, the temples that rise from the\n        sands.\n  We pray that thy days may be lengthened, thy cities, like mountains,\n        arise;\n  Then open thy ears, mighty Enlil, to thy children's most sorrowful cries.\n      Listen to Nin-Mar, its Mistress, I sigh, I sigh;\n      Enlil, to thee I cry, cry, cry.\n\nThe Atout of the Tower typifies the money pip of the cards, with all of\nits mundane significances, so its meaning is easily translated as\nintending sorrow, destruction, vice, descent, perverseness, wickedness,\ndegeneration. Ayin is the letter of _la maison de dieu_, or _le feu de\nciel_, as the card is variously called, and both its design and its\ncomplementary letter express all that is crooked, bad, and false.\n\n\nXVII. LE STELLE (The Stars)\n\nThis Atout shows a young woman \"beneath the mystery of the stars,\" the\nseven stars of the Bible, that were the seven planets of antiquity. The\nname star is derived from that of Ishtar, the great Babylonian goddess.\nThe central and most brilliant star on the Atout represents Mercury as the\ngod of speech, or the transmitter of the wishes of gods to men, or Nebo,\n\"the writer on the tablets of Fate.\" The Dog Star was called Thoth by the\nEgyptians, who also considered this god the author of speech, language,\nand writing, like his predecessor, Nebo, whose mountain was at the plain\nof Moab, (Deuteronomy xxxiv:1), and he also had the same planet dedicated\nto him. He, the differentiating letter, means voice or speech, just as\nNebo, or Nabi, means prophet, proclaimer. Hebe, who succeeded Mercury, as\ncupbearer to the gods, represents him here dispensing the essence of life\nequally between two jugs; and, to carry the resemblance still further, the\npicture recalls oblations to Osiris, which were typical of the mingling of\nlife and power, as exemplified by pouring out water when standing on the\nearth. Thus, two of the elements are shown, a third one having been\nrepresented in the lightning of the preceding card. The different\nconnections between the ceremonies of the ancients with the Cup and the\ncupbearer have been described in the chapter relating to that emblem. On\nsome of the oldest of the Atouts, before their designs became confused by\nignorant artists, when some of the most distinctive emblems were omitted,\nor altered, a gazelle stands behind the woman. This still further shows\nthe connection of this card with old Egyptian legends, for it was said\nthat the gazelle gave warning of the rising of the Nile, by fleeing to the\ndesert, even before the inhabitants expected the flood. The gazelle is\nsacred to Osiris. This animal is also retained on one of the pip cards of\nthe Spanish pack. The Stars typify immortality, creation, hope, song,\nmusic, speech, and the connection between humanity and a supreme power. It\nwill be recalled that all these things were attributed to Mercury,\nThoth, and Nebo. A god pouring a liquid from one vessel to another is\nfrequently found on Egyptian seal cylinders. It is generally the sun god,\nalthough other gods are frequently represented.\n\n[Illustration: EARLY ITALIAN TAROTS\n\nPip Cards of the Rod Suit\n\n    43 Ace of Rods\n\n    44 Deuce of Rods\n\n    45 Trey of Rods\n\n    46 Four of Rods\n\n    47 Five of Rods\n\n    48 Six of Rods]\n\n\nXVIII. LA LUNA (The Moon)\n\nThe eighteenth Atout speaks for itself. The legends connected with it are\nfar spread, but all are practically the same. Two dogs bay at the moon,\nthat is represented at the top of the picture. They are symbols of Marduk,\nwhich seem to have little connection here. A crawfish crawls from the\nwater to land. The meanings are manifold, for the letter Tzaddi (although\nits hieroglyphic idea is similar to that of Teth on the ninth card) has\ndifferent significances, according to its position in a word. It chiefly\nmeans an aim, an end, a succession, and its value varies.\n\nThe occult significance of this Atout is the material body, with its\ngratifications, such as gourmandising, drinking, covetousness, gambling,\nselfishness, and the danger of self-indulgence. Then, also, the card warns\nof hidden dangers, enemies, and accidents, representing, besides the\nibis-headed Thoth, the god of letters. To discover all its significances,\nthe eighteenth card must be studied with due regard to conditions,\nposition, and the meaning of those adjoining it, all of which aid in\ndeciphering the obscure intentions of this leaf, that is assigned in\nmythology to Diana.\n\n\nXIX. IL SOLE (The Sun)\n\nA representation of the sun is the design on the nineteenth Atout, the\naccompanying letter of which is Zoph, signifying a defensive weapon. This\nAtout indicates the elements, precious stones, and minerals; an awaking,\nrevival, excitement, transition, nutrition and digestion; also\nself-esteem, indulgence, eagerness to make money, and probable success by\nself-exertion; also a worldly person, or a happy marriage. The god Ra is\nrepresented by the sun in Egyptian mythology. He was greatly revered by\nsome of the Pharaohs, such as Rameses, who adopted his name.\n\n\nXX. IL GIUDIZIO (The Judgment)\n\nThe Day of Judgment is the symbol of this Atout, and its letter is Resh,\nrepresenting typically the head of man. The picture shows an angel\nblowing a trumpet from the clouds, while below, the earth is yawning, to\nallow the dead to rise. This is a strange emblem to be placed among the\nheathen leaves, for it is peculiarly Christian in its significances; but\neven the oldest designs show it pictured in this way. As it stands, it\nexpresses motion, movement, travels, readjustments, originality,\ndetermination, respiration, and regeneration. Then, also, it typifies\nscenery, skill, and artistic capabilities. The Romans dedicated it to\nPluto, the ruler of the nether world. It has many of the attributes of\nIshtar, the goddess of the Babylonians, from whose name Easter is derived.\nShe represented spring, and was the protector of vegetation, growth, and\nagriculture. The angel blowing the trumpet is a very old design, and one\noften used on tombs or cenotaphs. It recalls Theodore Hook's witty epitaph\non Lord de Ros, of whom little good could be said, and who was accused of\ncheating at cards, but whose family erected a fine monument to his memory,\non which was the representation of the angel of the Resurrection. Under it\nHook wrote: \"Here _LIES_ England's Premier Baron patiently waiting the\nlast _trump_.\"\n\n\nXXI. IL MONDO (The World)\n\nThis card shows the nude figure of a woman, in an ellipse of leaves and\nflowers, the victor's wreath of the Grecians. She represents verity or\ntruth. In the four corners are the emblems of the apostles that St. John\nborrowed from Ezekiel, and the latter from Assyria and Babylonia. These\nare the Man, Lion, Bull and Eagle. Besides typifying the apostles, they,\nin a manner, suggest the four attributes of the pip suits, and also the\nfour elements. The inscrutable-looking man represents brain, knowledge,\nand mystery. The ox typifies strength, and the lion courage, while the\neagle suggests inspiration and the power of soaring above mundane affairs.\nThese four emblems represent also the four seasons, when the ox stands for\nautumn, the man for winter, the lion for summer, and the eagle for spring;\nso the complex meaning of the twenty-first Atout suggests that the head or\nwisdom of man prescribes the will of the ox, the courage of the lion, and\nthe aspirations of the bird, through the mouth of Truth. The attributes of\nthe designs on the cards are also included in this leaf from the book of\nThoth. The wand that the figure holds represents the Stave, or caduceus,\nor magic wand of Aaron, \"that was kept for a token,\" as well as fire. The\nCup betokens the south, and summer, and water. The Sword, earth, and the\nCoin (or Ring), eternity and air. Il Mondo's letter is Tau, which\nsymbolises perfection. The meaning of the whole card covers the elements\nof success, luck, happiness, marriage, contentment, bliss.\n\n\nXXII. IL MATTO (The Fool)\n\nThe twenty-second Atout has no number upon it, and is called Le Fou, Il\nMatto, or the Joker. It is the presiding deity himself, Thoth, Nebo, or\nMercury, in all his various moods, with all his many qualifications. These\nare denoted by the cards that fall near him, when being dealt, that are\ncontrolled or influenced by his overwhelming personality and\nqualifications. He generally brings news and good luck. Count Parravicino\ndeclares: \"the Italian name is derived from an Egyptian one, Mat, which\nsignifies beginnings or perfection.\" The card represents everything that\nis typical of Mercury, such as irresponsibility, with all its\nconsequences. The figure of Il Matto carries the attributes of Mercury:\nthe staff he holds in his hand, while a purse dangles from his side. He is\ntravelling or walking, as if carrying news, or a message, and also\nsuggests a wanderer, a pedler, or a merchant. Motion, energy, and luck are\nexpressed, as well as fickleness, inconstancy, and unconventionality that\nmay amount to insanity. The letter is Shin, and expresses cyclic movement.\nIn some of the old Italian Tarots, Il Matto is represented as being naked,\nor else in tattered garments, like a beggar, when he symbolises folly,\nfrivolity, or chance. In the Austrian Tarots he is dressed like a\nharlequin, or else simply with cap and bells. He is the gypsy wanderer, as\nwe know him, believed by some persons to be the descendant of the Egyptian\npriests of the temple of Serapeon, at Pozzuoli, who were forced to wander\nby the destruction of this temple.\n\nIt must be remembered that no Tarots have been discovered that are over\nfive hundred years old, and that a great gap exists between these and the\nmysteries of the temple of Thoth; therefore, some of the emblems or\nsymbols that we know may not resemble those of the originals. We must\nalso recall that there is more than one cult represented among the Atouts;\ntherefore, many of the attributes of different deities are mingled\nconfusingly, perhaps, on one and the same card. The student is necessarily\nlimited by conditions, for many of the virtues accredited to the\nemblematic figures have been received traditionally, or have been\ndiscovered by intuition, and are attributed first to one god, and then to\nanother, as the study of ancient myths or cults reveals a hitherto\nunexpected connection.\n\nThe intention of the Atouts, as a whole, is the representation of a youth\nand his parents or governors and sponsors. These are followed by\neverything that can express human life, such as ambition, love, marriage,\ntemptation, friendship, luck, trials, illness, hatred, jealousy, despair,\nhope, enemies, success, and death. When combined with the pip cards, the\nwhole makes an interesting game of life, presided over by the versatile\ngod, Mercury, \"the writer on the tablets of Fate.\"\n\nThe whole of the Tarot pack has been called \"the Bible of the Gypsies,\"\n\"the Athor of the Egyptians,\" \"the Thora of the Hebrews,\" \"the Great Book\nof Thoth Hermes Trismegistus,\" and \"the Key of Things Hidden from the\nBeginning of the World\"; so, how should poor mortals be able to unravel\nall its secrets and lay them bare before an uncrediting world.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VII\n\nTHE PIPS OF THE TAROT PACK.\n\n\nThe numbered or what are technically known as the pip cards of the Tarot\npack are divided like those of more modern ones into four sets, called by\nEnglish-speaking people \"suits.\" These are headed by four court, or\n\"coate,\" cards, namely, King, Queen, Cavalier, and Knave, making one more\nthan usual to each suit, or fifty-six in all. Besides this royal family,\nthere are the cards numbered from one to ten. In some of the games two or\nmore of the pip cards are dropped, but this was the original pack. In\nGermany there are only three court cards, like the French ones, but there\nis no female in the set. The German suits are Herzen, Gr\u00fcnen, Eicheln, and\nSchellen; the Spanish, Bastos, Otos, Coppas, and Espadas; the Italian,\nBastoni, Danari, Coppe, and Spade, and English, Rods, Money, Cups, and\nSwords. These pips are emblematically displayed through appropriate\nsymbols, and, besides, each of them represents an idea and a number, all\nof which are valuable assistants when grouping the cards, in order to\ndivine their hidden meanings that are almost lost to us, although quite\ndecipherable by those who held the key to the ancient mysteries.\n\nThe reason for invariably having four suits would be incomprehensible were\nit not recognised that there were four emblems that were peculiar to and\nalways represented Mercury, namely, his Caduceus, his Money, his Chalice,\nand his Harp\u00e9 or Sword, which also typify the four grand divisions into\nwhich the classes of people were divided all over the known world of the\nday, particularly in Egypt, for they were Workmen, Merchants, Churchmen\nand Soldiers, who were easily recognised through the symbols. If any man\nof one of these castes wished to consult the oracle he selected the emblem\nof his class and in this way communicated to the god his status in the\ncommunity.\n\nSince four was not a favorite number among the mystics, there could have\nbeen no other reason for selecting that number for dividing the pack into\nsuits, and none other has been suggested by students. As it stands, it\nshows that it was arranged scientifically and with a decidedly\nwell-considered purpose that met all the requirements of the worshippers\nat the temple of Mercury.\n\nThat the pips have this interpretation seems natural, for if it had been\nintended to select lucky devices common at the time it is more probable\nthat a swatzka, a circle for immortality, or a wheel or perhaps an ankh,\nthat were favourites among the Egyptians would have been chosen, since all\nthese devices are quite as old and significant as the ones adopted, being\nclosely connected with mysticism, it seems to be sufficient proof that the\nones selected were taken because they represented Mercury, so these pips\nmust be considered valuable links in the chain connecting them with his\nworship, even if they stood alone and were not supported by every card in\nthe Atout part of the Tarots.\n\nThat the religions, superstitions and deities of Asia, Africa and Europe\nhave mingled from time to time there is no doubt. E. Levi, in his \"Dogme\net Ritual\" (Vol. II, page 230), says: \"Passing from India to Egypt with\nits occultism, and then to the Hebrews and their theosophy, the stick (or\nthe wand) corresponds with the Phallus of the Egyptians and the Yod of the\nHebrews that is used to point to the sentence read from the Scriptures.\nThus the vase (or cup) of Mercury is the Cteis, and the primitive He, the\nSword, is the conjunction of the Phallus and the Cteis represented in\nHebrew anterior to the captivity by the Vau, while the Circle or Money\nthat may be vulgarly considered the emblem of the world is the final He of\nthe divine name. Thus we have Jod-He-Vau-He, or conventionally pronounced\nJehovah.\"\n\nThe wand or staff of the Tarots represents the cards as they were\noriginally used for divination, when a bundle of arrows, of rods, of\nstraws or of sticks were gathered together and cast down before the images\nin the temple, so that their direction might be noted and inferences drawn\nas to the wishes of the gods.\n\nDivination arrows with many mystic significances were common among all\nprimitive nations. The \"golden rod\" given to Mercury was evidently the\nmagician's wand used when the plagues of Egypt were overwhelming the\nland. The staff of Moses brought forth water, while that of Aaron curled\ninto a serpent when it symbolised eternity. There are few of the rock\npictures of Egypt that do not represent their Pharaohs, their gods, and\ntheir priests with a sceptre, a rod, or a staff as an emblem of authority.\nSo it was typical in ancient days, requiring then no explanation. It may\nbe noticed in the Atouts that the cards representing the divinities show\neach god carrying a staff or sceptre. This fact greatly aids in\nidentifying them, for the old Italian artists understood enough to place\nthe sceptre in the hand of the emperor, and give only a staff to the\nhermit or priest.\n\nDivining arrows have been connected with worship from very early days and\nprobably preceded the rods. The former are mentioned more than once in the\nBible, and the first verses of Numbers xvii are particularly interesting\nas being a historical reference to the divine commands to consult the\noccult, as well as marking the period when rods were substitutes for\narrows. \"The Lord spake unto Moses, saying, 'Speak unto the children of\nIsrael and take every one of them a rod according to the house of their\nfathers ... twelve rods: write thou every man's name upon his rod. And\nthou shalt write Aaron's name upon the rod of Levi: for one rod shall be\nfor the head of the house of their fathers. And thou shalt lay them up in\nthe tabernacle of the congregation before the testimony, where I will meet\nwith you.'\" It was Aaron's rod that put forth leaves and fruited, showing\nthat he was the one selected by the Lord, who conveyed his commands in\nthis way.\n\nIt would be interesting to know what were the distinctive symbols of each\ntribe, but the only trace of them is found in Genesis xlix, which\nindicates that Judah had a lion or a sceptre. The symbol of the uplifted\nhands still marks the Cohen or Aaron's descendant, while the \"Magen\nDovid,\" or the \"shield of David,\" the six-pointed star, has been so widely\nadopted by Freemasons as to have become almost identified with them. By\nsome people it is called Solomon's seal.\n\nThis record of \"marking\" or numbering the rods is most important, for\nthrough it we trace the origin of the marks which in the hands of the wily\nEgyptian priests were afterwards placed on material they deemed more\nconvenient than the primitive arrows, such as papyrus, or parchment, thus\nconverting the divining arrows of the past into pip cards as we now know\nthem. Rods with notched ends, and also some on which figures of men are\ncut, have been lately found in the tombs at Abydos. The divining rods of\nthe Alaskan Indians are given numbers by painting stripes of different\ncolours on them, while the rods of the Haida Island Indians, off the coast\nof North America, are differentiated by tribal distinctions, such as the\nBear, the Tortoise, and so forth. The names of the different families show\nhow little the savage people have parted from ancient customs. The long,\nthin, arrowlike paper cards of Korea show the same tribal marks.\n\nAs in Biblical times the rods were called after the men who used them as\nrepresenting the ruler of their families, so substituting their pictures\nwas probably the next step. The cards then were numbered up to ten, while\nthe father, mother, child, and servant were represented in what we name\nCourt cards. This enabled a man to ask queries of the gods in a most\nparticular way. Should he be a soldier he would select a Sword emblem to\ntypify him and his family, and then, laying the cards of that suit before\nthe testimony (which signifies the tables of stone or the commandments),\nhe awaited the answer that was conveyed to him after the priest had\nconsulted the cards with reference to the way they were dealt in\nconnection with the pictures on the walls.\n\nIn Chinese fortune-telling the gamblers resort to a \"shrine of the god of\nwar,\" says Mr. Culin, in \"Korean Games\" (page 23), \"and throw numbered\narrows or sticks to divine the wishes of the gods, while sometimes paper\nlots are employed.\" The arrows are kept in a tube like a quiver, or\ndicebox, and shaken out at random. The shrine is finely decorated,\ncontaining mystic figures and devices, and it stands upright against a\nwall. A table on which to shake the arrows is placed before the shrine. On\npage 26 of \"Korean Games,\" Mr. Culin states: \"In Japan fifty slender,\nrounded splints of bamboo, called Zeichiku, varying in length from two to\nfourteen inches, are used. The fortune-teller gathers them in his right\nhand, raising it reverently to his forehead, muttering incantations, then\nparts the sticks into bundles, prophesying good or evil according to the\nnumber in each, and it is said that each splint, having its value and\nmeaning, covers all events of a man's life as recorded in a book of\n'oracular responses' that the diviner keeps beside him for reference.\"\n\nMr. Culin also mentions the \"Meisir game of the Arabs,\" when seven arrows\nwere shaken from a tube or quiver. This old game was played before the\ntime of Christ, and Mahomet prohibited it, calling it \"the work of\ndevils.\" Arrows made of nab-a tree were used. (This name was seemingly\nderived from Naib or prophet.) They were of a bright yellow colour, and\nwhen shaken in the box gave a peculiar ringing sound, so arrows made of\nany other wood were considered undesirable and were discarded. Each arrow\nhad a name and was marked with a numeral.\n\nThe significant and historical Staff or Rod of the Tarots was replaced in\nthe French pack by the design of a clover leaf, or, as it is called,\n_Tr\u00e8fle_, which we name a Club, a cognomen that recalls the original\nintention, so would otherwise be meaningless. Nor does the Coin or the\nDenari take the place of the one that originally represented Mercury\nAgoneus, the protector of merchants and of commerce. This sign when\nconsulting the oracle denotes fair people and also the element of water,\nand anything floating on it or living in it, besides all things connected\nwith trade, mercantile transactions, or development.\n\nThe Coppas or Cup suit is appropriately typified by a Cup or Chalice or\nthe Vase of Mercury Chthonius. This device is superseded by the Hearts of\nthe French pack, which symbolise the passive principle of the universe.\nCorresponding as it does with the chalice of the clergy, it betokens not\nonly men of religious life, but those of knowledge and power through\nlearning, and also scientific men and those in the government and law.\nLove and instruction are typified by the symbolic Cup that denotes fair\npeople, who are also represented by the suit of Denari when the cards are\nconsulted about the affairs of life.\n\nThe Cup plays a prominent part in the symbolism of ancient days. In\n\"Records of the Past,\" by Professor Sayce (Vol. III, page 86), is a letter\nfrom Dusratta to Amenophis III, translated from a cuneiform tablet\ndiscovered at Tel-el-Amarun, in Upper Egypt:\n\n  \"And to my father did thou send much gold,\n   An oblation dish of solid gold and a Cup of solid gold,\"\n\nshowing that the Cup symbolised not only a connection with sacrifice, but\nwas also a bond of friendship. Votive cups are found in the temple of\nOsiris, showing that they were used in his worship. Some are very small,\nas if intended for children to use.\n\nThe \"Cupbearer\" to Royalties in Babylonia and Egypt was a most important\npost, for the person was chosen for faithfulness, since poison could be so\neasily conveyed in wine and drunk unsuspectingly by the king. The\n\"Sakibearer\" or Butler of Persia became one of the heroes or gods. He was\nalso called \"the Spiritual Instructor,\" showing a connection with the\npriesthood, or \"He who hands a Cup of Celestial Love,\" which is typified\nby the wine as well as the Cup. \"Jamshid, one of the greatest rulers of\nIran\" (Persia), says Major Sykes, in \"The Glory of the Shia World\" (page\n139), \"was able by means of his seven-ringed Cup not only to predict the\nfuture, but also survey the entire world.\" This Jamshid had many of the\nqualities of Thoth Hermes attributed to him, for he introduced into his\ncountry the use of iron, the arts of weaving, wine-making, and healing,\nwith many other arts and sciences, his memory is greatly revered. Omar\nKhayyam sings of him\n\n  \"Iran, indeed, is gone with all his Rose\n     And Jamshid's sev'n ring'd Cup,\n   Where? No one knows.\"\n\nThe Cup placed in the sack of his brethren by Joseph was no mere accident,\nas it had for them a most important and symbolic meaning that is indicated\nbut not enlarged upon in the Bible. Babylon is called \"A golden Cup in the\nhand of the Lord.\" (Jeremiah li:7.) That it was a symbol connected with\npower, priesthood, sacrifice, and friendship is indicated whenever it is\nmentioned in the Bible--for instance, Psalms lxxv:8, where it is said:\n\"For in the hands of the Lord there is a Cup\"; or the thirty-seven other\ntimes it is again spoken of in the Old Testament, and the thirty-two\nreferences to it in the New. The cups discovered in Babylonia and Egypt\nare of many different shapes that indicate the particular uses to which\nthey were to be put. Those intended for holding the sticks when consulting\nthe oracle of Thoth resemble a modern dicebox, as well as the box still\nused for sticks in China and Japan.\n\nIn Egypt immediately after death the soul was supposed to descend to the\nLower World, and was then conducted to the Hall of Two Truths, where it\nwas judged in the presence of Osiris and the forty-two D\u00e6mones (the Lords\nof Truth) and Judges of the Dead. The Director of the Weights was Anubis,\nwho placed in one of the scales of Justice (or Ma) a figure of Truth, and\nin the other a Cup containing the good actions of the deceased, while\nThoth stood by, tablet in hand, to record the result. This shows the\npositive connection of Thoth with the emblems that afterwards became one\nof the devices of Mercury when he succeeded Thoth in both the upper and\nthe lower worlds.\n\nLate discoveries in Crete show frescoes representing handsome youths as\ncupbearers to King Minos.\n\nThe Espadas or Sword suit speaks for itself, and here, as well as in the\nname of the Club suit, the origin of the Spade is preserved, for _Les\nPiques_ of the French pack (that represents the Halbert of medi\u00e6val times\nor the guardians of the person of the king), resembled garden spades to\nthe English, who called them by that name, that when spoken recalled the\npronunciation of the Spanish pip _Espadas_. A Harp\u00e9 or Sword was presented\nby Jupiter to his son Mercury as a token of bravery and skill when he was\nthe Messenger who killed Argos, or the herald of Mars. His title was then\nMercury Argiphontes when he represented the best qualities of the warrior,\nsuch as courage, bravery, decision, and temperance. The suit typifies dark\npeople and the element of air, and protects those who fly, whether birds\nor men. Altercation is also denoted by the Sword suit, as are troubles,\nsorrows, transformations, lawsuits, hatred, enemies, spies, or rivals. The\nword in Hebrew signifies lightning, brightness--as in Job xx:25, \"the\nglittering sword cometh out,\" which is particularly typical of the bright\nplanet and the god of lightning. The Sword as \"Messenger\" is frequently\nreferred to, as in Numbers xxii:31, \"The angel of the Lord standing in the\nway and his sword drawn in his hand.\"\n\nThe Cup and the Sword pips are recalled by a game played in Korea called\nPitch-pot, one of the oldest games known to history. Arrows are thrown\ninto a vase of water placed two and a half lengths from the player, who\nkneels on a mat to throw his weapon into it. After all the arrows have\nfilled the cup the loser must drain it at one swallow.\n\nThe Money suit not only recalls the connection with merchants, with\nMercury as their protector, but probably had an earlier origin in the\nmystic circle so beloved by occults. Isaiah xl:20 mentions the one \"that\nsitteth upon the circle of the earth,\" which quotation is fraught with\nsymbolism. The royalties on the Egyptian tombs always wear a broad collar\nor necklace, the narrow cord being the emblem of the slave; but the King\nwears it as denoting his submission to the gods, while claiming to be\nsupreme among men. The circle placed on their heads was a sign of\nunceasing power, and the zone or belt worn by female goddesses or\nprincesses signified maidenhood or supremacy and had other mystic\nmeanings. The coin placed on the cards signified many things besides\nmerchants and their occupations, but it was generally connected with the\nmaterial things of life. The Chinese coin still retains the hole in the\ncentre, making it a hollow round. It is supposed by some that the coin\nwas originally the mystic serpent with tail in mouth, thus completing the\ncircle. Zwvoi meant the Serpent which girdles the globe and represents the\nZodiac or Ecliptic line denoting the path of the sun.\n\nThe four Court cards dominate and control the pips of their own suits and\nplay an important part wherever placed. The suits of Money and Cups denote\nthe home and family life and are considered benign, while Money represents\nfriends, partners, or strangers, and Swords may mean any one of them as\ndesired by players; but the last two suits are usually deemed material or\nmalignant, being the opposite to the benign suits. In general, Rods\nrepresent enterprise and glory; Coins denote investments or transactions;\nCups typify love and happiness; while Swords seem to call for hatred and\nmisfortune.\n\nThen the number of each of the cards betokens something, for, dealt in\nfour packets with three cards in each one of the heaps, a singleton is\nleft for the fourth packet. The first pile should contain an Ace, Deuce,\nand Tray, which portend commencement. That is to say, if Rods are the suit\nthese three cards tell of the beginning of an enterprise. If the suit\nis Cups they mean the beginning of a love affair, and in the same way\nhatred or a quarrel is denoted as beginning if the Sword suit is used,\nwhile Ace, Deuce, and Tray of Money announce the inception of a business\ntransaction.\n\n[Illustration: EARLY ITALIAN TAROTS\n\nPip and Court Cards of the Rod Suit\n\n    49 Seven of Rods\n\n    50 Eight of Rods\n\n    51 Nine of Rods\n\n    52 Ten of Rods\n\n    53 Knave of Rods\n\n    54 Cavalier of Rods]\n\nThe second packet includes the Four, Five, and Six, which denote inertia,\nstoppage, opposition, concentration.\n\nThe Sevens, Eights, and Nines represent balance, poise, or result, and the\nTenth card means uncertainty.\n\nEach number has the same value or meaning. That is to say, an Ace of Rods\nmeans the beginning of an enterprise, the Deuce that the enterprise is\narrested, while the Tray signifies that the enterprise having been\nestablished, can be continued.\n\nThe Ace of Money is the commencement of fortune, the following two cards\nmean opposition and good fortune. The Ace of Cups the dawn of a love\naffair, the Deuce opposition to it, and the Tray consent. The Ace of\nSwords means enmity, the Deuce that the enmity is arrested, and the Trey\ndeclares open rupture or war.\n\nTherefore the packets of three with the singleton may be classified as,\nfirst, commencement; second, opposition; third, balance. The first three\nindicate dawn, the second three noon, while evening is represented by the\nSeven, Eight, and Nine, and the Ten card shows bewilderment or night.\n\nThe court cards in the Tarots have four to each suit that are named King,\nQueen, Cavalier, and Knave, and they represent man, woman, child, and\nservant. The male figure denotes enterprise, the female characterises\naffection or love, the youth typifies conflict, strength, struggle,\nrivalry, or hatred, while the Knave means transition. The court cards also\nexpress pointedly the meanings of the suit that they represent. They\nbetoken family life, with the King as father, the Queen as mother, the\nCavalier as son, and the Knave as daughter, child, or servant.\n\nThe King of Rods or Staves is a dark, kind friend; his Queen represents an\namiable, good, charitable, or friendly person. The Cavalier is dark and\ngood; the Knave is a dark messenger or child.\n\nThe court cards of Money typify fair people who are friendly, kindly\ndisposed, or indifferent; the King representing the male, the Queen the\nfemale. The Cavalier portends strangers, and the Knave messages or news.\nThese figures of the Rods and Cups bear inverse value to the Swords and\nMoney, for the latter do not belong to the family, but indicate outsiders,\nstrangers, or the world in general.\n\nThe King of Cups is a fair man and frequently means a lawyer, a councillor\nor a clergyman. The Queen is a blonde friend, perhaps the best beloved,\nand the Cavalier is sometimes a fair-haired lover, while the Knave is an\ninfant, a messenger, or a birth.\n\nThe Suit of Swords always is unlucky, and its King betokens a dark, bad\nman, an enemy or some one to be mistrusted. The Queen represents a\nbrunette who is wicked and to be feared, a gossip, a treacherous\ncharacter. The Cavalier is an enemy or a spy, and is dark; while the Knave\nis bad news, delay, or malice. The whole group indicates opposition raised\noutside of the home.\n\nIt will be seen that if each one of the seventy-eight cards belonging to\nthe Tarots be given the meaning assigned to it in the foregoing rules,\nnearly every emotion, every incident, every characteristic of man is\ntypified, and the combinations are as endless as are the chances of life.\nAs the cards are dealt and fall together, one balances or controls the\nother, so that when their meaning is deciphered as a whole there is a most\ninteresting picture of ordinary life.\n\nThe game is played by two persons, one who deals and one who reads the\ncards, or rather interprets with superior knowledge the meaning of the\ngreat Book of Thoth Hermes Trismegistus. It can readily be seen how the\ngame could be taken advantage of by the unscrupulous, who induced\ncredulous persons to believe that the leaves of the book revealed the\nfuture. This faith, indeed, was inherited through generations, who\nreceived it from Moses and many of the Hebrew prophets, as well as from\nthe priests of the temple of Thoth and those of Mercury; so it is small\nwonder that the mysterious leaves were regarded with awe, and that their\nrevelations are received with implicit obedience, since the orders of the\ngods could be transmitted through the rods of Moses and Aaron that became\nthe pip leaves, and the message was exemplified through the emblematic\nfigures on the walls. The pips translated the meaning of the Atouts,\nwithout which neither part or volume of the book could be fully\nunderstood. Therefore all fortune-telling with packs of Hearts, Diamonds,\nSpades and Clubs is nonsense, since these cards were invented for games or\ngambling and have nothing occult or prophetic about them.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VIII\n\nSOME OLD ITALIAN TAROTS\n\n\nIt is practically impossible to bridge the chasm between the abandonment\nof the actual and open worship of Mercury in his own temples to the\ntransference of his heraldic emblems to the unbound leaves of a book that\ncould be concealed on the persons of his priests, for doubtless the rites\nof Mercury were practised privately for many years by people who had every\nmotive for concealment; and since there was no law against these secret\npractices, there is no record of their having been broken, no ordinance\nconcerning games of cards or fortune-telling, and no official record\npointing directly to cards under the name now generally given them. What\nmay be recorded concerning the priests of the cult of Mercury remains to\nbe discovered.\n\nNor can we date the period when these same leaves came to be regarded as\naffording amusement, or from being wholly in the hands of initiated\npersons and regarded as a vehicle for consulting the wishes of the\ndeities, they fell into the possession of soothsayers or unscrupulous\nfortune-tellers, who did not hold the interpreting key and made improper\nuses of the ancient Book of Thoth.\n\nNor, again, is there any record of when cards became the tools of\ngamblers, who used them for games of chance, although their consultation\nmight always have partaken of the elements of \"chance,\" but in a very\ndifferent way.\n\nHowever, it is well known that the introduction of Christianity into Rome\ngradually caused the deities of Olympus to be disregarded, so that those\nwho still worshipped the gods of their ancestors did so in secret, and\nwhen St. Paul set foot at Pozzuoli, close to the temples of Osiris and\nMercury, the first step was taken towards the downfall of the ancient\nrites.\n\nIt is quite natural, therefore, that writers on the origin and history of\nPlaying Cards have found no record of their invention, no monument to\ntheir inventor, and no cradle at their birthplace, since they looked\nsolely for the cards that were familiar to them and for games played with\nthose cards, while they failed to recognise that the cards were part of a\ncult and were the heraldic emblems of Mercury (as displayed on the pip\ncards) and those of ancient Egyptian gods (as depicted on the Atouts),\nand, therefore, these writers declare that no link exists between the\nItalian Tarots of the present day and the great Book of Thoth Hermes\nTrismegistus, while they acknowledge that Playing Cards owe their\ninvention to the Egyptians, who, having inherited the \"men portrayed upon\nthe walls\" from the Babylonians and the traditions of Nebo, \"the one who\nwrites the tablets of fate,\" elaborated the ceremonies, simplified their\ncode, and introduced them to Europe, first through the priests of the\nSerapeon, and then, by means of the Tarots, to other parts of the world.\n\nSome claim that the gypsies were originally the initiates of the temple of\nThoth, and that it was they who carried Playing Cards as a means of\ndivination through Europe. One of their customs is to demand that the palm\nof the right hand be crossed with a piece of money before beginning to\nread a fortune; and by some this custom is supposed to date from the time\nwhen the fortune-teller demanded from his clients an oath of secrecy,\nwhich was ratified by making the sign of the cross. Unless there was some\nsuch meaning originally attached to the custom, there would seem to be no\nreason for this performance being enacted in connection with\nfortune-telling with cards, and as far as is known with no other\ntransaction in the commercial or nomadic world.\n\nThere are many signs suggesting that the gypsies were able to translate\nthe symbols on the cards at an early date, soon after they appeared in\nEurope, and it is certain that for several centuries these nomads have\nused Playing Cards for telling future, past, or present events, and have\ndone it with so much self-confidence that it would seem that they\npossessed a key to the occult mysteries. It is, therefore, unwise to\ndiscard this theory entirely, for the gypsy tribes scattered over Europe\ncertainly aided in widely distributing the cards. Nor does the connection\nof gypsies with the ancient mysteries quarrel with the statement that\ncards were part of the worship of Mercury, since no man can say that these\npeople were not the original priests of the temple who were cast out of\ntheir shrines and forced to wander about the world. In England these\nnomads are frequently called the Egyptians, while their own name for\nthemselves is Romany.\n\nSpain has contended with Italy for the honour of originating Playing\nCards, but without proving her case, for Spain preserved only a mutilated\npack of pip cards, showing the symbols of Mercury, indeed, but\nunaccompanied by the emblematic Atouts that were the first volume of the\nbook; these have never been known in that country. But, then, Spain was\nnot the home of the gods of Olympus, nor was that country in close contact\nwith Egypt, as was Italy. There is no historic record of yearly\ncommunications between the two opposite shores of the great sea, as is the\ncase with Italy, for Seneca has left an interesting description of the\ngreat fleet from Alexandria that yearly visited Pozzuoli, on the bay of\nNaples.\n\nThese vessels carried not only wares, but merchants and missionaries, from\nthe great seats of learning at the temples of Egypt. The priests of those\ndays were not necessarily religious men, but they were scholars and\nscientists, who thought that their best use in the world was the\ndiffusion of their learning and knowledge.\n\nSince it is clearly established that the worship of Serapis, Thoth, and\nMercury was followed at Pozzuoli from a very early date, preceding\nChristianity, it may be conceded that the people there were imbued with\nthe appreciation of its mysteries and adored them. When Christianity\nrefuted the doctrines of the heathen gods, those who followed the ancient\nrites were forced to conceal them. Hence it is that if Playing Cards are\nderived from this mysterious worship, through which they consulted the\nwishes of their gods, no trace of them can be found in the legal records\nbefore the middle of the fourteenth century, when the cards were\nestablished as a game but not as a cult.\n\nCount Emiliano di Parravicino, in his essay on Tarocco cards in the\n_Burlington Magazine_ for December, 1903, declares that professional\nplayers or teachers, known as _barrattieri_ or _rabildi_, were organized\nin guilds that were recognised by law as early as the beginning of the\nthirteenth century, which seems as if the deposed initiates, or the\npriests of Mercury, were still vital and a recognised necessity, although\nunder a new title.\n\nHappily for the card student, there still remain several packs of Italian\ncards that link the present ones with the ancient emblems of Mercury. The\nducal family of Visconti inherited sixty-one cards that originally\nbelonged to Duke Filippo Maria Visconti, having been executed for him by\nMarziano da Tortona early in the fifteenth century. These were mentioned\nby Breitkopf in his work published at Leipsic in 1784. This pack differs\nfrom its compatriots and successors in having five, instead of four, court\ncards. The Atouts are beautifully painted with all the attributes\nconnected with Mercury. That of \"the Lovers,\" No. VI, represents Duke\nFilippo Maria wearing a broad-brimmed hat on which is inscribed \"_A bon\nDroit_\"; the female figure is dressed as a bride and is probably a\nlikeness of the Duke's first wife, Beatrice di Tenda, the widow of\nFrancisco Cane. These figures are surrounded with small shields blazoning\nthe arms of Visconti and Pavia.\n\nAmong these Atouts No. XIII, Death, is represented on a black, instead of\non a white, horse. The figures on the other cards resemble those still\ncommonly used, but, unfortunately, there are fifteen cards missing from\nthe pack. This historic collection of Tarots has been frequently described\nand reproduced, since Marziano da Tortona, who executed the pictures, was\na scholar, as well as a skillful artist. He introduced some original\nfeatures in his treatment of the pictures while strictly conforming to the\nheraldic devices that marked their origin, for no man living at that time\nwould be ignorant enough to change the devices, since they still told\ntheir story to the people of the day, who understood heraldry even if they\ncould not decipher written words.\n\nThis celebrated pack of cards was probably a wedding gift to the\nillustrious couple, since the artist was also their secretary. That it was\nprized, but little handled, and kept as a work of art is proved by the\ngood condition of the pictures, which are almost as fresh as when they\nleft the hands of the designer. They are treasured possessions of the\ndescendants of Duke Filippo Maria Visconti and are seldom allowed to be\nseen or exhibited.\n\nAnother interesting collection of early Tarocci (little Tarots) is\ndescribed by Count di Parravicino, who states that the pack was painted\nearly in the fifteenth century by a Ferrarese artist named Antonio\nCicognara. These cards have been owned in one family several centuries\nwith an authentic history of them, for in the annals of Cremona, written\nby Domenico Bordegallo, is found the following reference to the pack:\n\n\"1484. In this year our townsman, Antonio di Cicognara, a most skillful\npainter of pictures and an admirable miniaturist, designed and illuminated\na magnificent pack of cards called Tarots, which have been seen by me, and\nhe made a present of them to the most honorable, reverend, and illustrious\nLord Ascanio M. Sforza, Cardinal of the Holy Church, Bishop of Pavia and\nNovara, at one time dean of our cathedral and now commendatory of the\ncanons of St. Gregory, and son of the most illustrious and excellent\nFrancesco Sforza and the Lady Bianca Visconti, born here in Cremona.\"\n\n\"The same artist,\" states Count di Parravicino, \"illustrated other packs\nfor the sisters of this Cardinal. They were nuns in the Augustine Convent\nfounded in this town by the aforesaid Madonna Bianca.\"\n\nThis na\u00efve record of the amusements of the religious communities of the\nfifteenth century presents a novel picture to the minds of those who\nsuppose that cards were not permitted within the sacred precincts,\nalthough such was not the case, as is confirmed by a proverb of the day\nthat says \"Mind what the friar says, not what he does.\"\n\nThe Tarocco cards were thus called from the game \"Little Tarots\" or\n\"Tarocci,\" played at the time, said to have been invented by Francis\nFibbia. Thus the older name of Tarots became corrupted to Tarocco,\nalthough the number and value of the original pack remained unaltered.\n\nThe cards painted for Cardinal Sforza are still in existence. Some are\nshown in the Carrara Museum at Bergamo; others are in the possession of\nCount Alessandro Colleoni; while thirty-five cards of this pack are owned\nby Mr. Pierpont Morgan and are exhibited by him in the Victoria and Albert\nMuseum in London.\n\nIt is impossible to do justice to the beauty of this set of cards that are\npainted in the most delicate manner. The background is of gold picked out\nor embossed with a diapered pattern dotted in raised designs on a smooth\nsurface; the figures are cleverly moddeled and beautifully executed; the\nfaces are painted with the delicate touch of an accomplished miniaturist.\nThat of the Knave of Money is seen in profile, and is so expressive that\nit is probably a likeness, since the treatment is even more careful and\nthe features better drawn than those of most of the Atouts.\n\nThe Knight of Cups in the pack (originally owned by Count Alessandro\nColleoni, now owned by Mr. Morgan) is mounted on a white horse and is\ndressed in an embroidered coat, with white leggings and pointed shoes. The\nhair is parted and falls in waves on either side of the face, which is\nthat of a very young boy and rather effeminate. There is a crown on the\nsaddle-cloth of the horse that probably denotes the rank of the rider.\n\nThe King of Swords also seems to be a likeness. He wears black armour, and\nhis shield displays armorial bearings. The Queen of Money has a\nbeautifully embroidered robe with a regal mantle falling from her\nshoulders. Her hands are particularly well drawn and her attitude is\nremarkably graceful.\n\nTemperance, Death, and Strength are among this pack, the former pouring\nthe water and oil together, which is one of the earliest known devices for\nconsulting the wishes of the gods. Death is the usual skeleton, who in\nthis case bears a sceptre, and Strength also repeats the emblem of the\nsceptre or the caduceus.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IX\n\nHEARTS, DIAMONDS, SPADES, AND CLUBS\n\n\nIt is probable that one of the oldest existing packs is the Tarot pack now\npreserved in the Cabinet des Estampes in Paris. Others discovered in the\nback of a book in Florence in 1910, also Tarots, have not been open to the\ninspection of students. They are valued at two thousand dollars, but the\npack is not complete, nor on record, so the cards painted for Charles VI\nmay still claim to be the oldest known. The d\u00e9bris of this pack was also\ndiscovered in the binding of a book of the fifteen century. The heraldic\ndevices on the cards and the detail of the costumes, which are essentially\nFrench, point to their having been produced in the time of Charles VI. The\nrobes, beards, etc., of three of the Kings are similar to the portraits of\nCharles or his courtiers. The velvet hats are surmounted with crowns and\nthe robes are trimmed with ermine. The dress of the Knaves corresponds\nwith that of the pages, or else with that of the _sergents d'Armes_ of the\nday, while the Queens are dressed like the portrait of Isabella of\nBavaria. The court cards of the fourth suit show a marked contrast to the\nrichly bedecked ones of the three other suits, for the figures are habited\nlike savages, which is supposed to recall a f\u00eate given on the occasion of\nthe marriage of one of the queen's maids of honour to the Chevalier de\nVermandois, that had such a horrible termination.\n\nCharles VI had had attacks of mania, but was at that time more reasonable.\nHugonin de Janzay, one of his favourites, planned to entertain him by\ninducing him to take part in a mummery, for which the king and five other\nmen were to be dressed as savages, and were to enter the f\u00eate to surprise\nthe guests. The party were dressed in linen soaked with tar and covered\nwith fur, so were completely disguised. They rushed into the ballroom\nshouting and rattling their chains, when the Duc D'Orleans, brother of the\nking, seized a torch from an attendant to look more closely at the\nstrangers, and by mischance set the inflammable clothes on fire. Most of\nthe men were chained together and could not escape, but one of them freed\nhimself and saved his own life by plunging into a cistern of water which\nwas placed in the buttery for the purpose of rinsing the drinking cups.\n\nThe king, who was standing at a little distance talking to the Duchess de\nBeri, was saved by that lady, who, with great presence of mind, wrapped\nher velvet cloak around her royal master. This gruesome incident brought\non another attack of mania, that lasted until his death on the 21st of\nOctober, 1422, after a reign of forty-two years. It is presumed by M. Paul\nla Croix, in his essay on \"Cartes a Jouer\" (1873), that this celebrated\nincident was perpetuated in the French cards that he thinks were invented\nand painted at about that time.\n\nThe fragments of the second pack, that apparently belong to the same\nperiod, closely resemble those with which we are familiar, since they are\nnot Tarots but bear the pips invented by the French, and M. la Croix\nstates (page 241) that he \"credits the tradition declaring that these\nparticular cards are the first Piquet pack, and that these were the\noriginal cards that dethroned the Tarots of the Italians to become the\nfavorites of the French nation.\"\n\nThese French pips were afterwards adopted by the less ingenious English,\nwhile the Germans invented devices of their own, called Gr\u00fcnen, Eicheln,\nHerzen, and Shellen, at about the same period. Although the Spaniards\nremained faithful to the Tarots, they discarded the Atout part of the\npack, retaining only the suit cards with the pips of Cups, Money, Swords,\nand Staves. The emblems adopted in the several countries nearly five\nhundred years ago (when a wave of card playing seems to have swept over\nEurope), have retained their hold on the affections of those who adopted\nthe individual devices, for each nation still clings to the pips that were\nthen chosen, and it is only by degrees that the French designs are\nemigrating to different parts of the world.\n\nThe \"Jesse\" pack of cards, now to be seen in Paris, are painted on\ncardboard, and the figures are dressed in the fashions of the day. The\nemblems recall the heraldic tokens of two of the courtiers of Charles VI,\nas well as the one identified with one of the most beautiful and learned\nwomen of her day. It is said that the invention of these pips was due to\nthe anxiety of Queen Isabella and her ministers to divert the unfortunate\nmonarch, so as to prevent his interfering with their schemes.\n\nIt was with the alteration of the pips, the adoption of _Coeurs_ (Hearts),\n_Carreaux_ (Diamonds), _Tr\u00e8fles_ (Clubs), and _Piques_ (Spades), the\ndistinctive use of red and black unmingled with other colours, and the\ndiscarding of the fourth court card, together with the Joker, and the\nAtout part of the old pack, that the fortune-telling Book of Thoth became\ntransformed into a set of toys or gambling instruments. It is little\nwonder that their original intention, purpose, and history became\nobliterated and finally almost forgotten, so that when a French writer\nventured to state that cards were part of the Egyptian mysteries he was\ntreated as a foolish dreamer.\n\nThe invention of the French pips is attributed to two persons, both of\nthem courtiers of the king, who probably worked together to produce a\nsimple and convenient set of devices that should be easily recognised and\nas well adapted for playing, as were the original Tarots suited for\ndivining the lives and characteristics of mankind. One of the inventors\nof the French pips was Etienne Vignolles, whose nickname was La Hire, and\nthis name has been found on some of the old cards, as if he wished to be\nperpetuated in this way, and not as the brave old soldier who was well\nversed in chivalric customs, and who, according to historians, had always\nhis sword drawn against the English. The second person to whom is credited\nthe invention of the Piquet pack is Etienne Chevalier, secretary to the\nking, and his treasurer, who was noted for his original and inventive\ngenius and his quick wit. It is more than probable that to his facile\npencil the new designs should be attributed. The men who formulated the\nrules of the game for which they invented the cards must have been clever,\nas it is arranged with such care that these rules have remained\npractically unaltered for five hundred years, and Piquet is still a\nfavourite in men's clubs and the best t\u00eate-a-t\u00eate game known.\n\nThe Piquet pack contains five pip cards, Ace, Seven, Eight, Nine, and Ten,\nwith three court cards, King, Queen, and Knave, called by the French names\nof Le Roi, La Reine, and Le Valet or varlet. With this handful of cards\nwe are all familiar. Here was a great modification of the old suits with\ntheir heraldic devices. The Cavalier of the Tarot pack was discarded, thus\nreducing the court cards to three instead of four, while five of the pip\ncards were also omitted. The game was thoroughly scientific, needing close\nattention and discretion even with the curtailed pack of cards. It showed\nthe soldier's hand in its stratagem, and that of the artist in its simple\ncolours.\n\nThe king's banker was Jacques Coeur, whose beautiful palace in Bourges\nshows a pun on his name in every lintel, door or window where a heart is\ncut in stone or wood to remind one of the owner. Tradition states that it\nwas in honour of Jacques Coeur that his heraldic emblem, _Coeurs_\n(Hearts), was placed on the cards to perpetuate his memory, to the\nexclusion of that of his patron, Mercury, the god of merchants.\n\nThe Money emblem was changed to _Carreaux_ (Diamonds). This device may\nhave been inspired by the little lozenge panes of glass in the windows of\nCoeur's palace, or by the tiles in the floors, or perhaps by \"_les fers de\nfiche_,\" which would have retained the original idea of the \"divining\narrows\" from which the old cards came. M. la Croix says: \"The Sword of the\nancients became _Pique_ (Spade), to do honour to the two soldier brothers,\nJean and Gaspard Bureau.\" The _Tr\u00e8fle_ (Club) was the heraldic device of\nAgnes Sorel, a greatly accomplished woman who displaced the queen in the\naffections of her husband. Sorel is the French for what we call shamrock\nor clover, and was a pun on the name of the lady.\n\nM. la Croix thinks that these cards were devised some time between the\nyears 1420 and 1440. If so, they could only have been born at the very end\nof the mad king's life.\n\nThe distinctive marks of the French pack are the two dominating colours,\nred and black, that strongly contrast with the various and mingled colours\nseen in the Tarots. The reason for simplifying the pips in this way is not\nrecorded, although the change makes it much easier for players and was a\nclever idea, but no sharp division like this is called for when playing\nthe game of Piquet (or little Pique), for which these cards were primarily\nused. It was probably intended to simplify the work of the card maker, as\nit demanded only the two colours commonly used by printers, black and red.\n\nIt was about the year 1785, over three hundred years after the French had\nbecome accustomed to their new cards, and had entirely forgotten that\nthere were any others, that Court de Gebelin, a French writer, published\nhis essay on Tarots, which he calls \"that strange collection of unbound\nleaves that are the parents of all modern playing cards.\" It is entitled\n\"Extr\u00e0it du Monde Primative Analys\u00e9 et compar\u00e9 avec le Monde Moderne, Tome\nI, Du Jeu des Tarots.\"\n\n[Illustration: EARLY ITALIAN TAROTS\n\nPip Cards of the Sword Suit\n\n    55 Ace of Swords\n\n    56 Deuce of Swords\n\n    57 Trey of Swords\n\n    58 Four of Swords\n\n    59 Five of Swords\n\n    60 Six of Swords]\n\nThe account begins with the announcement that the origin of the Tarots and\ntheir allegories will be traced and explained, as well as their connection\nwith the cards of the day. The essay being in French, a free translation\nwith necessary omissions must be given, while the curious are referred to\nthe original. M. de Gebelin begins:\n\n\"If it were announced that one of the ancient books of the early Egyptians\nthat contained most interesting information had escaped the flames that\nconsumed their superb libraries, every one would doubtless be anxious to\nsee such a precious and rare work. If added to this information it was\nstated that the leaves of this book were scattered over Europe, and\nthat for centuries they had been in the hands of all the world, surprise\nand incredulity would greet the suggestion. Yet when, to crown all, it was\nrealized that no one had even suspected the connection of the scattered\npages in their possession with those of Egyptian mysteries, nor had any\nperson deciphered a line on them, and that the fruit of an exquisite\nwisdom is to-day regarded as a collection of extravagant pictures without\nany significance, the world would be surprised at its own supineness or\nignorance. Despite incredulity on these points, a great Egyptian book, the\nsole survivor of a valuable library, is still in existence, and, what is\nmore strange, this book is so universally used and seems to be so\ninsignificant that no savant has condescended to study its unbound pages,\nnor has any student suspected its illustrious origin. Composed of\nseventy-eight leaves that are divided into five classes, this book is, in\none word, what is commonly known as the Tarot pack of cards. Of ancient\norigin, the bizarre pictures that they display do not betray the intention\nor motive for assembling together such peculiar figures and emblems.\nThese pictures, that seem to be incongruously mingled, call for an answer\nto the enigma, and they should not be treated as trifles or merely for\namusement.\" Such is the opinion of a scholar who lived over one hundred\nyears ago, and this opinion has survived the ridicule, abuse, and disdain\nshowered on de Gebelin after he had pointed out that the Tarots were in\ntruth the Book of Thoth Hermes Trismegistus.\n\nThere is only one spot in the world where these cards remain in their\npristine condition and are played with to-day, and where they are offered\nfor sale, and it is interesting to note that it is close to the place\nwhere the worship of Thoth first made its appearance in Europe.\n\nThe Tarots are now used for playing several games, and these, if analysed,\nwill show marks of the ancient mysteries. Through them can be traced not\nonly a birthplace, but a history declared by de Gebelin to hark back to\nthe borderland of civilization. He points out that the writers of his day\nhave confined their studies to French cards used in Paris, when they were\nlooking for the origin of playing cards, entirely ignoring, or at least\nnever referring to, the Tarots, of which probably they had never heard.\n\nThe history of French cards was not hard to relate, since it goes back\nlittle over three hundred years. There is a record of their birth, and, as\nhas been mentioned, there are survivors of the original pack now to be\nseen in Les Cabinet des Estampes in Paris, which display Hearts, Diamonds,\nClubs, and Spades.\n\nMerlin, Chatto, Singer, and Breitkopf look farther afield than de\nGebelin's predecessors, whose writings are now forgotten, but all of them,\nwhile acknowledging that the images or the pips of the Tarots with which\nthey are familiar have some connection with an old condition of affairs,\nfail to trace it, since no reliable historical or legal record of cards\nthat are called \"Playing Cards\" can be discovered prior to the Middle\nAges, so they assumed that cards could not have existed before that date,\nbut the possibility that they might have lived and flourished under\nanother name is overlooked.\n\nThese authorities acknowledge that the shape, the sequence, and the\ngrouping of the Tarots display system, which they decide is interesting\nbut incomprehensible, yet they fail to unravel the significance of these\narrangements. They touch upon the strange resemblance of various figures\nand their value in the game of _L'Ombre_ (The Man) to the civil law,\nphilosophy, and religion of the ancient Romans, Greeks, or Egyptians. Mr.\nSinger points to one of the Atouts that he says \"resembles the attributes\nof Osiris,\" and other cards impress him as recalling those of Mercury, as\nwell as other mythological personages that he writes \"seem to be found\namong the Atouts.\" But all the authors arrest themselves at this point\nwithout inquiring if these ancient gods whom they recognised were placed\nwith intention or by chance on the cards, and, although they concede that\nthe cards were used for divining purposes, they fail to connect them\ndistinctly with the mysteries of past ages.\n\nDe Gebelin declares that \"the Tarots could only be the outcome of the work\nof sages,\" and that \"these cards were intended for the use of initiates\nand not for gamblers.\" He alone pierces the mystery of the origin of the\nTarots, while the others content themselves with supposing that cards\nsprang in their present form into use precisely as Minerva emerged fully\nequipped from Jove's head; they write that cards had no existence, no\nform, and no record, previous to those accorded to them about the\nthirteenth century.\n\nTo call an antagonist \"a dreamer\" or \"a fool\" is an unconvincing form of\nargument. To declare that a proposition is untrue because it is presented\nfor the first time and has not been looked into is absurd; so to-day, over\none hundred and twenty-five years after Court de Gebelin spread his pearls\nbefore the uncomprehending students of Playing Card lore, it may be well\nto recapitulate his theories and study his conclusions with minds opened\nby latter-day revelations of the ancient rites, mysteries, and cults, and\nnot to reject them without investigation.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER X\n\nCOURT AND POINT CARDS WITH FRENCH PIPS\n\n\nAs early as 1656, according to the writers of the day, a pack of cards was\ncalled in England, \"a pair of cards,\" which was evidently derived from the\nItalian, Paio, as the combined Atout and numbered cards, or the two\nvolumes of the book of Thoth Hermes Trismegistus, were occasionally called\nin Italy. The importation of cards was prohibited in England in 1463, by\nAct 11, Henry VII, as local productions were to be encouraged, so foreign\ncards are seldom found in England.\n\nSometimes the collection of fifty-two cards, adopted from the French, was\ncalled \"a stock,\" notably in the play of \"The Three Ladies of London,\"\nwhere one of them says: \"Now, all the cards in the Stock are dealt about.\"\nBut the word is now only applied when it is wished to designate those\ncards left after a hand has been dealt, although they are more commonly\ncalled \"the widow,\" or \"the forsaken one.\" In Queen Elizabeth's day, a\npack of cards was called \"a bunch,\" and Shakespeare terms them \"a deck,\"\nwhich designation is still used in Scotland and in parts of the United\nStates.\n\nThe designs on the cards representing the numbers are technically termed\npips, or peeps, perhaps from the seeds of apples, pears, and oranges, that\nare so called in England; and they are also called spots.\n\nIn the \"Metamorphosis of Ajax,\" by Sir John Harrington (1615), he says:\n\"When Brutus had discarded the kings and queens out of the pack, and shown\nhimself sworn enemy to all the Coate cards, there crept in many new forms\nof government.\" This rather unique and old-fashioned way of designating\nthe figures in the pack leads some persons to suppose that the name\nimplied \"coated figures, that is to say, men and women wearing coats, in\ncontradistinction to the other devices of flowers or animals.\" The term\ndoes not seem to have been general, however, and it is more probable that\nthey were called \"court cards,\" since these representative persons are\ndressed in ermine, with rich embroideries and jewels, and two of each suit\nare crowned, so that they were recognised as \"coated,\" or fashionably\ndressed. It has been pointed out that the original French court cards were\nprobably likenesses of the kings of France of the day, as well as their\nconsorts and mistresses; while in England, they were copies of well-known\nportraits of Henry VIII and his beautiful mother, Queen Elizabeth of York,\nso that they were rulers of the card kingdom, as well as of their\nrespective countries. The cards were, therefore, called \"of the court,\" or\n\"court cards.\"\n\nThe collection necessary for most of the games played with the French\ncards vary in number, but this is merely a matter of local preference, as\ndemanded by the games in vogue. In Paris, a Piquet pack requires only\nthirty-six cards, while, in the United States, Nonsuch Euchre calls for\nsixty-one, including the Joker, which card is unknown in France. A\nstandard French or English pack contains fifty-two cards, divided into\nfour suits, like their forefathers, the Tarots. The distinguishing feature\nof the junior pack is the two colours into which it is parted, for two of\nthe suits are painted black, and two are red; this distinction marks the\ndifference between the French cards and those of all other nations, where\nlocal pips are used.\n\nThe Tarots had four court cards to each suit, while the French and Spanish\npacks have only three members of the court world. The Spaniards omit the\nwoman from their cards, while the French drop one of the men, the\ncavalier, a mounted figure that gives variety and value to the royal\nfamily in other countries, and makes the game more like one of war, and\nnot merely a compliment to a distinguished lady. However, the King, Queen,\nand Knave are now the only ones with the French emblems, and these are\nfollowed by ten pip cards, in which number one, or the Ace, is sometimes\nthe highest, and, at others, the lowest in the pack, according to the game\nto be played.\n\nIn the United States, a pack is incomplete without the Joker, which then\nmakes fifty-three cards to a standard pack. Many writers have tried to\nconnect the number fifty-two with the weeks of the year, but, as can\neasily be seen by studying the Tarots, this was not the original number,\nand the French, when inventing their new set of cards, probably had no\nsuch connection in mind, and the Piquet, which is the earliest French\npack, contains less than fifty-two cards.\n\nThe Joker did not make its appearance in the United States until about the\nmiddle of the nineteenth century, and then for a rather strange reason.\nThe cards used in the Northern States were those inherited from France or\nEngland, while those used in the extreme South-western States were of\nSpanish origin, but the packs of none of these countries had retained the\nold figure of Mercury. The Joker, however, suddenly appeared in the\nAmerican packs, the reason for this being as follows, cards are printed or\nstamped on large sheets of paper, which are afterwards cut apart to the\nrequired size. When arranged on the sheet, one space in a corner was not\nused, and, therefore, left blank, although the back was printed exactly\nlike all the rest of the pack. Having no need for this card, the makers\ngenerously threw it in, and placed it on the outside of the wrapper, so as\nto show the colour and design of the back. The value of the new card was\nrapidly recognised by players, who, impelled by some unknown power,\nassigned to it the position originally occupied by Il Matto of the Tarot\npack, with all its old privileges of taking every other card. It was\nparticularly valuable in the game of Euchre, that sprang into popularity\nat the same time that the Joker (or the one who played tricks and took\nthem) was adopted. So, through this accidental appearance of a blank card\nin the pack, Mercury suddenly asserted his old supremacy, and cunningly\nresumed his wonted place and power in the card world, although his\noriginal prominence and his cult had been entirely overlooked and\nforgotten for over five hundred years, except in one particular town in\nItaly, where the old Tarots are retained in their pristine condition.\n\nInstead of using a blank card on the outside of the pack, some of the\nEuropean card manufacturers make a hole in the wrapper, through which may\nbe seen the Ace of Hearts, stamped with the government revenue stamp. In\nEngland and the United States, the name of the manufacturer is printed on\nthe Ace of Spades, and the revenue stamp is pasted on the wrapper of the\npack. German card makers often place a blank card in their wrappers, but\nit has not been incorporated into any of the local games, nor does it bear\na revenue stamp or the maker's name upon it.\n\nAs soon as American manufacturers discovered that card players considered\nthe odd card of value, the Joker was quickly represented by various\ngrotesque figures, that differ in every pack, and are somewhat confusing\nto players. It, therefore, seems a pity that a uniform design is not\nagreed upon, as is the case with the court cards. Any deviation from the\ndress of the figures on the latter meets with instant opposition from\nplayers. It seems peculiar that the card is never represented by Mercury,\nor a fool, or a clown, or perhaps, a red devil, which would make it easy\nto distinguish from the Ace of Spades, which is often, and sometimes\ndisastrously, mistaken for the more powerful Joker. The most desirable\nimage that might now be used would be a reproduction of the beautiful\nflying figure of Mercury, carrying the caduceus, by John of Bologna.\n\nNo French packs, and very few English ones, contain a Joker, since the\ngames that call for its use are not favourites in those countries.\nHowever, the Joker, with all its inherited value, is known in the\nJapanese and Korean packs of cards, where it seems to be of sporadic\ngrowth, and is apparently not connected with the ancient god, Mercury, the\nquondam ruler of the cards.\n\nNor are the makers of the French packs wedded to one costume for the court\ncards, as are those of England, where the slightest change in the dress,\nemblems, or colours, causes a remonstrance from players, who insist on\nretaining everything as they have been accustomed to it for several\nhundred years. The English people, however, do not reverence the images\nbecause they are those of their own royal families, for it remained for an\nAmerican to identify the origin of the pictures, and to connect them with\nthe originals.\n\nEnglish players even resented the alteration made about 1870, when the\ncards were cut in two, and reversed, making what are known as \"double\nheaders.\" These are sometimes declared to be an American innovation, but\nin \"Cartes a Jouer,\" by M. Merlin, a pack of Venetian cards, dated 1602,\nis illustrated, the court cards of which are so divided.\n\nAnother novelty invented and introduced in America, is the \"index,\" or\nthe number of the card printed in the upper left-hand and lower right-hand\ncorners. This was necessary for playing Poker, where the players keep the\ncards squeezed together as closely as possible, to prevent other players\nlooking into their hands. These useful little numbers have given their\nname of \"squeezers,\" or \"indexed cards\" to this fashion. English clubmen,\nhowever, absolutely refused to adopt cards printed in this way.\n\nThe costume of the King in English and American packs is a grotesque\nreproduction of that of Henry VIII of England, and that of the Knave is\nlike the dress of the page of his day. The long sleeves were nicknamed\n\"pokeys,\" since food or precious articles might be concealed in them, so\nthese bag sleeves were the ancestors of pockets and reticules.\n\nIt is quite as important to retain the position as the dress of each\nfigure, if the wishes of players are to be respected. Thus, the King of\nHearts holds the sword of Mercury uplifted in his left hand. It is an\nheraldic weapon, and not a rapier, or what is known as a dress sword, that\nwould have been usual with the costume of the period. His mate on the\nEnglish cards, the red King of Diamonds, has a battleaxe displayed in the\nupper left-hand corner, and he is the only king whose face is in profile.\nHis right hand is raised, as if bestowing a blessing.\n\nThe two black kings each hold uplifted swords. That of Clubs faces towards\nthe left, as does the King of Hearts, but Clubs holds an orb in his right\nhand. The King of Spades faces towards the right. All the kings have long\nhair, resting on the shoulders, and curling upwards at the ends. They wear\nsmall, pointed moustaches (with the exception of Hearts), and all have\nbeards divided in the middle and curled. Crowns and long, flowing robes,\ntrimmed with ermine, complete the costume, excepting on the modern,\ndouble-headed cards, where their royalties are curtailed of half of their\nsplendour.\n\nIt was once fashionable to assign names to the royal family of cards. This\ncustom has been retained in France, and is the only one, with the\nexception of the colour and designs of the pips, that has been kept, for\nthe early dresses have been entirely discarded, and fantastic ones, with\nno heraldic meaning and no inherited intention, have been substituted.\nThe revolution that overturned the throne of France also upset the\ncostumes of the card world, that had closely resembled the original\ndesigns up to that date, but when royalty was banished, the cards followed\nmany and various fashions.\n\nIn the originals, the Knave of Clubs was named Roland, for one of the\nheroes of French literature in the time of Charlemagne. The king of that\nsuit has a legend printed beside his name, \"_faut sou_\" or \"lack penny.\"\nThe Queen was called Tromperie.\n\nThe King of Diamonds received the historical name of Corsube, and the\nmotto of his Queen was \"_en toi te fie_,\" or \"self-trust.\" The King of\nSpades was Apollin, a Saracenic hero, and the Queen of Hearts bears the\nmotto, \"_La foie etsp. d. u._,\" or \"lost faith.\" The date of these cards\nis about 1450.\n\nIn another pack, of probably nearly the same date, the King of Hearts is\nnamed La Hire. This was the nickname of the warrior who was said to have\nassisted in the invention of the game of Piquet, and the pips unalterably\nconnected with it. The King of Diamonds has, beside his name, that of\nHector of Troy, said to have been the ancestor of the kings of France. The\nKnave of Spades is Ogier the Dane, reminding the players of one of the\npeers in the time of Charlemagne. The kings of this historic pack were\nAlexander, C\u00e6sar, David, and Charlemagne. The queens were Judith, Pallas,\nArgine, and Rachel. Judith was intended for Isabella of Bavaria, mother of\nCharles VII, and a very disreputable person; Pallas typified Joan of Arc,\nwho gave her life for her nation; Argine was supposed to represent the\nwife of the king, Marie of Anjou; and Rachel was Agnes Sorel, whose\nemblem, the sorrel or clover leaf, had been placed among the pips.\n\nThe Knaves in the card kingdom of England wear battlemented caps of red\nvelvet, shaped like those worn in that country by the servant class in the\nmiddle of the sixteenth century, when the dress of each man and woman\nmarked his or her position with peculiar distinctness. To be quite\ncorrect, the caps should be black, but the touch of colour is well-liked\non the cards. The warriors or police of the pack are the black knaves who\nhold pikes as weapons. The Knave of Clubs looks to the right, and his\ncomrade to the left. These cards typify Boaz and Jakin, or the pillars of\nthe Temple of Solomon, revered by Freemasons.\n\nThe Knave of Hearts is a soldier, like his comrades, but of a somewhat\nhigher grade, and he carries on his right arm a halberd \"at rest.\" In his\nleft hand is a branch of olive, representing the messenger of peace,\nclearly descended from the emblem of Mercury, whose wand was often used as\na flag of truce. The Knave of Spades carries a twisted ribbon, strongly\nsuggestive of the caduceus; and he is supposed to represent Patch, the\nfavourite court fool of Elizabeth of York. Both the Knave of Hearts and\nthe Knave of Spades are in profile, and look over the left shoulder. The\nhair of all is long and curly. With the exception of Clubs, all of the\nKnaves wear moustaches, but no beards. Diamonds once sported a quiver with\narrows, but this has now become part of the dress, and is difficult to\nseparate from its trimmings. Before they were so ruthlessly cut in half,\nthese Knaves had funny short, fat legs, with broadtoed shoes.\n\nThe names given to the knaves in different localities and in different\ngames are not written on the cards, as is the case in France, but they\nreceive them from the players, and are sometimes historical and rather\naffording. In the old game of Gleek, they were nicknamed Tom. In other\ngames, the Knave of Clubs was designated Pam, and in Germany, he is called\nWenzel, Wencelaus, or _der Treffle-Bube_.\n\nJack was the name given to all the Knaves in All-Fours, which cognomen has\nclung to them. In Euchre, the Knaves of Trumps are called Bowers. The\nrules of that game make the Joker the highest card, followed by the Knave\nof the suit declared to be trumps, and the Knave of the suit of the same\ncolour. Thus, if Hearts are trumps, its Knave is called \"the right bower,\"\nand the Knave of Diamonds becomes \"the left bower.\" This word is a\ncorruption of a dialect word, meaning \"young man,\" and was given to the\nKnaves when Euchre was invented, about the middle of the last century, at\nthe same time that the Joker was reappointed to his old place in the pack.\n\nIn Skat and the games from which it has been adapted, such as Tapp\u00e9 Tarot,\nof the Austrians; L'Ombre, of the Italians, and Primero, of the Spaniards\nand English (to all of which the German game bears a strong resemblance),\nthe Knaves are called \"Matadores.\" In France, the Knave is called Varlet,\nor Valet; in Italy, Fant\u00e9; in Spain, Soto; but there are local nicknames\nfor all the Knaves in different countries and in different games. Obermann\nand Untermann, or, for short, Ober and Unter, are printed on the two male\nfigures in the German packs, where three court cards are retained, but\nwhere no Queens are to be found, although the Tarots had four royal\npersonages, including a Queen.\n\nThe attributes, dresses, and devices of the queens of the card kingdom are\nhistorical and most interesting, for, like their kings and valets, their\nfashions have survived unchanged for practically four hundred and\ntwenty-five years, since the French cards were introduced into England.\n\nNone of the faces are in profile, but the Queens of Diamonds and Clubs\nincline to our right, while the Queens of Hearts and Spades look towards\nour left. The robes are trimmed with ermine and are confined at the waist\nby jeweled buckles. A wimple or veil floats from the fair hair that is\nparted over the brow and crowned with a diadem, worn quite far back\ninstead of on the top of the head.\n\nThe representation of the Queens on the cards is a close copy of the\ncostume of the many portraits extant of Elizabeth of York, daughter of\nEdward IV of England, wife of Henry VII and mother of Henry VIII. Some of\nher likenesses are in different collections in England, the most\ninteresting one being in the National Portrait Gallery in London.\n\nThe picture of Henry VII, which hangs as a pendant to that of his lovely\nwife, is marked 1505, or four years before his death, and looks like an\nelderly, careworn man, but that of his consort was probably painted at the\ntime of her marriage, as she is portrayed as a young, sweet-faced woman.\nIt is this picture that has been placed on the cards, where it has\nremained practically unaltered for four centuries, while her husband's\nlikeness has not been perpetuated among the court cards.\n\nThe reason for placing the likeness of Elizabeth of York on the cards may\nbe briefly stated. She was born in the palace of Westminster, February\n11, 1466, and was the eldest child of Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville.\nFor some years the little royal princess was heiress to the throne. When\nhis daughter was about nine years of age, King Edward made an expedition\ninto France, and war with that country was averted only by her submitting\nto become tributary to the invaders. In the articles of peace, the\nPrincess Elizabeth was contracted to the Dauphin Charles, the eldest son\nof Louis XI and the great-grandson of the crazy Charles VI, for whom the\nFrench pips were said to have been invented.\n\n\"From the hour of her contract with the heir of France, Elizabeth was\nalways addressed in the palace,\" says Miss Strickland in her \"Lives of the\nQueens of England,\" \"as Mme. la Dauphine,\" so \"the most illustrious Maid\nof York\" (as she was also called) was taught to speak and write French by\nladies sent to England by Louis. They also dressed the princess in the\nlatest French fashions. The simple veil of fine white muslin, that had\nbeen the customary court dress, was replaced by a velvet hood with long\nlapels heavily jeweled. Flowing sleeves trimmed with ermine took the\nplace of the tight ones with broad lace cuffs that had formerly been the\nstyle in England, and a robe confined at the waist by a girdle and jeweled\nbuckle took the place of the stiff, tight bodice. All these items of dress\nhave been closely copied in the cards, where they may be easily studied.\n\n[Illustration: EARLY ITALIAN TAROTS\n\nPip and Court Cards of the Sword Suit\n\n    61 Seven of Swords\n\n    62 Eight of Swords\n\n    63 Nine of Swords\n\n    64 Ten of Swords\n\n    65 Knave of Swords\n\n    66 Cavalier of Swords]\n\nElizabeth was also taught embroidery by her French _dame d'honneur_, but,\nabove all, was instructed to play with the cards bearing French pips\ninstead of those with German emblems, showing Acorns, Leaves, Hearts, and\nBells, that were probably used before that time in England, since they are\nthe only ones found in that country.\n\nThe marriage contract was treacherously broken by the French king, who\nmarried his son to Anne of Bretagne, and this slight to the Princess\nElizabeth so infuriated her father that it caused his death.\n\nAfter years of sorrow and vicissitudes, Elizabeth married Henry VII,\nJanuary 16, 1486, thus uniting the houses of York and Lancaster, and her\nheraldic rose remains on the cards to remind us of this important event.\n\nJohn de Gigh, a prebendary of St. Paul's, wrote a Latin epithalamium on\nher marriage, and a part of it describes this exalted lady on her wedding\nday. A free translation of it may be given as follows:\n\n                      Oh! royal maid,\n  Put on your regal robes in loveliness.\n  A thousand fair attendants round you wait,\n  Of various ranks, with different offices,\n  To deck your beauteous form. Lo, this delights\n  To smooth with ivory comb your golden hair,\n  And that to curl and braid each shining tress,\n  And wreathe the sparkling jewels round your head,\n  Twining your soft, smooth locks with gems. This one shall clasp\n  The radiant necklace framed in fretted gold\n  About your snowy neck, while that unfolds\n  The robes that glow with gold and purple dye,\n  And fits the ornaments with patient skill\n  To your unrivalled limbs, and here shall shine\n  The costly treasures from the Orient sands.\n  The sapphire, azure gem that emulates\n  Heaven's loftly arch, shall gleam, and softly there\n  The verdant emerald shed its greenest light,\n  And fiery carbuncle flash forth its rosy rays\n  From the pure gold.\n\nThis graphic description of hair, costume, and ornaments seems to be still\nrepeated in the cards of to-day that closely resemble the portraits of\nthis dainty queen.\n\nElizabeth was a believer in fortune-telling and consulted an astrologer on\nmany occasions. It was predicted that all sorts of good fortune would\nbefall her in 1503, on the day that she completed her thirty-seventh year.\nThis is alluded to in the elegy that Sir Thomas More wrote on his royal\nmistress, describing in it the folly and vanity of such divinations and\ntheir untrustworthiness, as follows:\n\n  Yet was I lately promised otherwise\n  This year to lie in weal and in delight;\n  Lo! to what cometh all thy blandishing promises,\n  O false astrology and divinitrice,\n  Of God's secrets vaunting thyself so wise?\n  How true is for this year the prophecy?\n  The year yet lasteth, and lo, here I lie.\n  It booteth not for me to wail and cry,\n  Pray for my soul, for lo, here I die.\n\nFor, after a short and sad married life, Queen Elizabeth died on her\nbirthday, February 11, 1503. \"She was,\" says Miss Strickland, \"one of the\nmost beautiful of our queens. Her portraits are numerous and her\nmonumental statue is in King Henry's Chapel at Westminster Abbey. It was\ndesigned by Torregiano and shows the sweet expression of her mouth.\"\n\nThe portrait of this lovely, gentle lady may well remain as queen of the\nCard Kingdom, with that of her son, Henry VIII, as king. In England the\nQueen of Hearts is still frequently called \"Queen Bess.\"\n\nThe plaid or chequered backs fashionable at one time on cards were later\ndiscarded, since they could so easily be used by gamblers, who put marks\non the cards that could not readily be discerned by unaccustomed players.\nThe chequered backs gave rise to the supposition that the board for\nplaying chess had been transferred to the backs of the cards, and the\nchessmen had been converted into printed figures on the faces of the\ncardboard. This idea has been proved incorrect, since cards are in no way\nderived from the game of Chess.\n\nIn France the backs of the cards are highly glazed and are of a plain,\nuniform colour, generally red or green. In Spain card makers use speckled\nbacks. The modern Tarots have designs engraved on a very thin paper that\nis pasted on the back, the edges of which are turned over the face of the\ncard, making a narrow border. These designs are sometimes \"the woman of\nSamaria,\" and at others a Hercules throwing rocks down a precipice. The\nbacks of old English cards were generally plain, and when paper was scarce\nor expensive, old cards were too useful to be destroyed, and were used for\nvarious purposes; hence we find them in the bindings of old books.\n\nSometimes they were cut up for paper dolls. The richly dressed figures of\nthe court cards were ingeniously put to this purpose, while a skillful\ncutter could with a pair of scissors fashion sleds, chairs, tables, etc.,\nfrom the pip cards.\n\nIn \"Henry Esmond,\" Thackeray mentions that an invitation was sent on a Ten\nof Diamonds, and this was a common practice in America before the\nRevolution. There are several cards preserved in different families on\nwhich invitations have been written or printed. One of them is as follows:\n\"Sir Jeffery Amhurst's compliments to Mrs. Paul Miller, and desires the\nFavour of her Company to a Ball at the New Assembly Rooms on Saturday the\n23d inst., being the Anniversary of St. George. Head Quarters April 18th,\n1763, New York.\"\n\nIn the days of Charles I and the Commonwealth, there was a Sir John\nNorthcote, ancestor of the present peer, who took the Parliamentary side\nagainst the king. His father was Justice Northcote, who at a game of cards\nwon an estate in Devonshire from a Mr. Dowrish. The game played was\nPiquet, and to commemorate this transaction, the hands held by the players\nwere afterwards inlaid upon the table they used, that is still preserved\nby the family.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XI\n\nPOINT CARDS WITH FRENCH PIPS\n\n\nWhen Mercury's emblems were discarded by the French, some four hundred\nyears since, to be replaced by local designs, it was but natural that the\npoints should be accorded original and appropriate significances at their\nbirthplace, as well as in the alien countries where these new pips were\nadopted. Names were suggested by the shape or usage of the device in\ndifferent games or under noteworthy occasions.\n\nThus, the Pique of the French (the shape of which was derived from the\noutline of the _hallebarde_ of the soldiers who were on guard about their\nking) received from the English the name of Spade, and for this several\nderivations have been given. One of them is that the shape resembled that\nof the shovel or spade common among miners, but the more probable origin\nis the one that is suggested from the Tarot pip called by the Spaniards\nEspadas, the name of which was transferred to the new emblem, which is a\nsuggestion that the Tarot cards were not unknown in England before the\narrival of the French pack, although no cards of this period have been\nfound in England.\n\nThis is strange, for fragments of an old pack called Dr. Stukley's cards\nare now in the British Museum, bearing Bells and other German emblems.\nThey are of about the date of the invention of the French pips, but since\nthey were found in the binding of a Latin book that may have been imported\ninto England, the originals may never have been used in that country.\n\nIn Yorkshire, the common people call a Diamond a \"Picke,\" says Mr. Taylor,\n\"because it is picked or sharp-pointed as the diamond stone.\" Other\nauthorities declare that \"it is to be gathered from its resemblance to a\nmill-pick,\" and others assume that the small window frames of early days\nare responsible for the name Diamond, as they were generally lozenge or\ndiamond-shaped. The name \"Picke\" may also have been a corruption of the\nFrench Pique, assigned from the original to the pip of another colour.\n\nThe name Club by no means describes the clover or sorrel leaf that was\nthe emblem adopted by Agnes Sorel, but was probably the name originally\ngiven to the Rod or caduceus of the Tarots, again showing that these cards\nwere probably known in England before the French pips became fashionable.\nThey may have appeared first at court, and then among the noblemen and\nupper classes, although it was probably a hundred years before these\nemblems became common, as fashions moved slowly in those days and cards\nwere not cheaply reproduced, but for some time were expensive luxuries\nonly to be found among the rich.\n\nHearts are the only pips whose emblem is correctly described by its name.\n\nThe name of Ace seems to have been derived from As or Asso, which was the\nunit of the Roman coinage. It is represented by a single device, placed in\nthe centre of the card, a fashion followed in all countries.\n\nA nickname for the Ace of Diamonds in Ireland is \"the Earl of Cork.\" This\nis explained by Mr. Taylor, who says: \"It was because it is the worst Ace\nand the poorest card in the pack, and the Earl of Cork was the poorest\nnobleman.\"\n\nThe Spaniards call the Ace of Money _Le Borgne_, or \"the one-eyed.\" The\nTrey of that suit is _Le Seigneur_. The Trey of Cups is named _La Dame_,\nor the Lady, and the Deuce of that suit _La Vache_, or the Cow. The Nines\nof Cups and of Money are \"the great and little Nines,\" while the Ace of\nSticks is \"the serpent.\" This is the caduceus of Mercury, around which\noriginally were wound the two heraldic snakes, which have now degenerated\ninto two strips or ribbons.\n\nThe Aces of the Swiss pack have flags wrapped around the central pip, and\nthose of Germany have beer mugs and kindred subjects printed on them. In\nEuropean countries, cards can only be purchased from tobacconists or in\nbeer gardens.\n\nThe Spaniards call the Two spot Dos, the Germans name it Daus, and the\nFrench and English dub it Deuce. Although it is always the lowest in the\npack, since in almost all games the Aces are \"high,\" there is an old\nproverb which says, \"There's luck under the black Deuce,\" and old whist\nplayers had a habit of trying to prevent the good fortune from falling to\nan adversary when they turned it up for trumps by saying, \"Not when the\nright elbow is on it,\" and suiting the action to the word.\n\nIn England, at one time, the Nine of Diamonds was called \"the curse of\nScotland,\" or \"the cross of Scotland,\" referring to the arrangement of the\npips, which, with the addition of a few connecting lines, can be made to\nlook like the heraldic St. Andrew's cross on the arms of Scotland. Mr.\nTaylor quotes on page 235 from \"The Oracle or Resolver of Questions\"\n(1770), saying \"the Crown of Scotland had but nine diamonds in it, so that\nwas the origin of the name for that card.\"\n\nAn explanation is given for calling the card \"a curse,\" as there is a\ntradition that it was on this card that \"the Butcher Duke of Cumberland\"\nwrote his sanguinary order after the battle of Culloden, and yet another\nreason given is that, in the game called after her, the Nine of Diamonds\nis named Pope Joan, to whom a large forfeit must be paid. Old Chinese\nlaquered boxes, that also contained beautifully carved mother-of-pearl\ncounters (chips), always had several little trays in them, which obviated\nthe necessity for spoiling a fresh pack of cards and folding them for the\nnecessary trays. The Chinese boxes had the Kings, Queens, Knaves, and\nNines of Diamonds painted on their bottom. These were placed in the centre\nof the table and the forfeited counters paid into them. The game called\nfor one chip to be paid to the King, two to the Queen, three to the Knave,\nand four to Pope Joan (the Nine of Diamonds), causing this card to be\ndisliked by players, who considered it \"a curse.\"\n\nWe call the Three spot a Trey, which name is probably derived from the\nSpanish Tres or the French Trois.\n\nThe Four of Hearts is sometimes called Bob Collingwood, and is by some\nconsidered an unlucky card, while the Four of Spades has received the name\nof Ned Stokes; but these are probably localisms and have but little\ninterest for the general public. The Four of Clubs is nicknamed \"the\nDevil's bed-posts,\" and in the old game of Gleek all the Fours were named\nTiddy. The Four of Money frequently bears the emblem of the double star,\nsignifying the \"house of David,\" that was one of the signs adopted by\nFreemasons.\n\nIn the game of Gleek the Fives were called Towser, and the Sixes Tumbler,\nand these were lucky cards, as they counted double when they were turned\nup as Trumps.\n\n\"In Ireland,\" says Mr. Taylor, \"the Six of Hearts is called 'Grace's\ncard,' from the spirited answer returned by one of that family to Marshal\nSchomberg, who sent to tempt Grace to espouse the cause of William of\nOrange. A reply was written on the Six of Hearts as follows: 'Tell your\nmaster that I despise his offer, and that honour and conscience are dearer\nto me than all the wealth and titles that a prince can bestow.'\"\n\nLady Dorothy Nevill, in her interesting book, \"Under Five Reigns,\" says\n(page 320): \"Visiting cards, it is not generally known, originated from\nordinary playing cards, which were used as such as late as the end of the\neighteenth century. A proof of this is that when, some time ago, certain\nrepairs were being made at a house in Dean Street, Soho, a few playing\ncards were found with names written on their backs behind a marble chimney\npiece. One of the cards in question was inscribed Isaac Newton, and the\nhouse had been the residence of his father-in-law, Hogarth, in one of\nwhose pictures of Marriage a la Mode, Plate IV, several 'playing card'\nvisiting cards may be seen lying on the floor on the right side of the\npicture. On one of them is inscribed, 'Count Basset begs to no how Lady\nSquander slept last nite.' As time went on, specially devised visiting\ncards with somewhat ornate calligraphy took the place of playing cards,\nand these, in time, developed into the small and simple pieces of\npasteboard in use to-day.\"\n\nAlthough the Tarots and the cards of many nations have well-decorated\nengraved backs, these sometimes were simply chequered or covered with tiny\ndots, which made some writers believe the name Tarot to be derived from\n_tarot\u00e9_, or spotted; but this was not the case, since the original name\nfor cards was the \"Book of Thoth.\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XII\n\n\"ACCORDING TO HOYLE\"\n\n\nThe ancestor of all our common games of cards is probably L'Ombre, El\nHombre, or The Man, sometimes also called La Beste, the origin of which\nhas been traced to the middle of the fourteenth century in Italy, where\nthe original Tarots were used as they are to-day. A modification of the\nold game is called Tarroco, the rules for which have been altered during\nthe centuries that have passed since the game was first taken to the\nhearts of the gamblers, who succeeded the fortune-tellers or the priests\nof Mercury. The game having now but few interpreters, the cards have\nnearly ceased to bear the messages of the gods, and the cult of Mercury is\nforgotten.\n\nL'Ombre was played during the fourteenth century in Spain, and wandered to\nEngland, France, Germany, and Austria. It still receives its original\ntitle in the first two countries, and is played by country folk, but in\nFrance it seems to have been discarded.\n\nUnder the name of Skat, and played with the pips of that country, a\nmodified form of the game is known in Germany. In Austria the game is\ncalled Tapp\u00e9 Tarok, and the ancient names are assigned to strangely\ndesigned cards quite foreign to the original Tarots, although the pack\nincludes twenty-two Atouts and fifty-two pip cards that bear the French,\nbut not the Italian or German, designs. For this game the old rules are\nlargely retained, and it is considered difficult and highly scientific, so\nthis rearranged pack has taken the place of the old Tarots in Austria.\nTapp\u00e9 Tarok is a fashionable game in Vienna, where the \"Hoyle\" of the day\ncalmly announces that it originated in that city with the cards invented\nfor it, totally ignoring the lineage of the true Tarots, of which their\nTarok pack is simply an alteration, with the French pips exchanged for\nCups, Money, Swords, and Staves. That the new symbols were adopted at the\nsame time that the emblematic figures of the Atouts were cast aside, to be\nreplaced by meaningless pictures, is most probable, and one author\ndeclares that the change was made \"lately,\" but a pack in the writer's\npossession proves that such was not the case, for the designs are those of\nthe old Tarots.\n\nAfter the fortune-telling pack had been adopted for a t\u00eate-a-t\u00eate game, it\nspread rapidly from Etruria to other places, and L'Ombre is mentioned in\nearly Italian books of history, romance, and poetry, where the game is\nfrequently called Tarroco or Minchiate. In England the Poet-laureate\nWaller immortalized \"a card torn at L'Ombre by the Queen,\" who was\nCatherine of Braganza, the wife of Charles II. It is Belinda's game in\n\"The Rape of the Lock,\" and in many pictures of that time players are\ndepicted either t\u00eate-a-t\u00eate, or else three persons are seated at\nthree-sided tables that were particularly fashioned for this game; these\nare still treasured in old mansions, where they are called Ombre or\nPreference tables.\n\nThe Spanish nickname for L'Ombre is Manilla, which is also that of one of\ntheir favourite cards. Some of their towns have had this name given to\nthem, one of which is in the Philippine Islands and one on the African\ncoast. La Manilla is one of the \"Matadores,\" the name given the four\ncards that are selected to outrank all the others, and so called because\nthey are \"killers\" or \"slaughterers,\" since they kill or take all other\ncards.\n\nThe Ace of Espadas (Swords) is the first Matador, nicknamed Espadilla, or\nlittle Sword, after the Harp\u00e9 of Mercury that is represented on this card,\nthe suit being called after its emblem. In England the card is called\nSpadille.\n\nThe second Matador is the one named Manilla or Malilla, and is the Nine of\nMoney. The third Matador is the Ace of Sticks, called Basto, \"he who\nknocks or beats.\" It is the Caduceus, or Rod, and the suit takes its name\nfrom it. In certain parts of the game it is played with great effect, as\nis mentioned in \"Cranford,\" by Mrs. Gaskell, where is a description of\nsome ladies playing a game that was then called \"Preference\"; where Miss\nBarker at the card table was \"basting most unmercifully, although she\ndeclared that she was too ignorant to know Spadille from Manille.\" The\nfourth Matador is the Ace of Cups, and is called Punto, which means the\npoint or spot.\n\nPlayers of Skat will readily recognize these terms and the value of the\ncards. Rules and play vary in different countries, so it would take close\nstudy of each game to point out the various rules, names, etc., that\nconnect the games of the day with their five-hundred-year-old ancestor.\n\nIn England the eldest descendant of L'Ombre seems to be Primero, Prime,\nPrima-sta, or Preference, for all are the same game. Some writers claim\nthat when Philip of Spain was wooing Mary of England he taught her the\ngame fashionable at the court of his father, Charles V, but Primero was in\nvogue among the people from the days of Henry VIII to that of James I, so\nmuch so that Piquet, the French game taught to Henry's mother when the\nFrench pips were introduced into England, was greatly neglected except in\ncourt circles.\n\nIn the Earl of Northumberland's letters we find a reference to the game,\nas in one of them is the following sentence: \"Jocelyn Percy was playing at\nPrimero on Sunday in Essex House, when his uncle the conspirator called on\nhim.\"\n\nIn the Sidney Papers, Vol. II (page 83), there is an account of Sir Walter\nRaleigh, William Ambrose Willoughby, and Mr. Parker \"being at Primero in\nthe Presence Chamber, the queen was gone to bed. Lord Southampton, as\nSquire of the Body, desired him, Willoughby, to give over. Soon after he\nspoke to them again that if they did not leave he would call in the Guard\nto pull down the board, which Sir Walter Rawley seeing put up his money\nand went his ways.\" This occurred in 1598.\n\nIn Marcus's \"Life at Primero,\" many of the terms used in the game are\nmentioned, such as Prime, Rest, Eldest Hand, Flush, Stop, Pack, etc., all\nof which have been adopted in one or more modern games. In Minshew's\nSpanish Dictionary there is an illustration of players at Primero in the\ntime of Queen Elizabeth.\n\nIn \"Capitolo del Gioco della Primera,\" by Berni, the game is thus\nmentioned: \"To describe what Primera is would be little less than useless,\nfor there can scarcely be any one so ignorant as to be unacquainted with\nit, although played differently in Florence from Venice, Naples, France,\nor Spain, but none of these various ways of playing the game are superior\nto the Rules of Rome, where the game principally flourishes.\"\n\nIn one of the works of Rabelais, edited by M. le Duchat, two kinds of\nPrimero are described called \"the lesser\" and \"the greater.\" In the former\nonly pip cards are required, but in the latter the whole Tarot pack is\nretained, as in Austria, where Atouts and pip cards belong to Tapp\u00e9 Tarok.\nThe Germans play \"the lesser Primero\" and call it Skat. This shows how\nwidely the rules of the game have parted from the original laws, which is\nthe reason that it is now almost impossible to harmonize it with the\nfortune-telling game that it was primarily. In Italy it is called\nMinchiate, Tarocco, and Tarocconi. These now differ as much from the\noriginal as bridge whist does from these games.\n\nThe terms of the different games were frequently used in old plays or\nromances in England, as well as in other places. Shakespeare mentions\nPrimero in \"Henry VIII\" (v:1): \"I left the king at Primero with the Duke\nof Suffolk.\" Again, in \"The Merry Wives of Windsor\" (iv:5), Falstaff says:\n\"I never prospered since I foreswore myself at Primero.\"\n\nSir Harry Wildair (1701) says: \"The Capot at Piquet, the Paroli at Basset,\nand then Ombre. Who can resist the charms of Matadores?\"\n\nLady Lurewell answers: \"Ay, Sir Harry, and the 'Sept le va, Quinze le va'\n[of Basset], 'the Nine of Diamonds at Comet' [or Pope Joan], 'three Fives\nat Cribbage and Pam,' the 'Queen to the Knave of Clubs in Loo.'\"\n\nThe terms in Primero have been so generally adopted in modern games that\nthey are familiar to all players, although as a collection they are no\nlonger used for one game. Primero is played by dealing four cards, at\nwhich the players look, and, if they are unsuitable, they say \"Pass.\" The\nSevens are the highest cards and are worth twenty-one points. The other\nnumbers have values that differ according to the locality where the game\nis played. Quinola, or the Knave of Hearts, represents the Joker, and the\ncards left after dealing are not called the Widow or the Stock, as in some\ngames, but the Rest. Punto, or \"point,\" is not the Ace of Cups, as in\nSpain, for in England it is the Quinola. Flushes are four cards of the\nsame suit, and Prime is a hand in which there are four cards of the same\nvalue, but each one of a different suit.\n\nCard games followed each other, first one and then another becoming the\nfashion, only to be replaced by a new one or a modification of some old\none, and after L'Ombre and Preference came Mawe, Post, Lodam, Noddy,\nBarkerout (probably Baccarat), and countless others, to the now\nall-important Bridge or Auction Whist.\n\nMawe is described in Mr. Singer's \"History of Playing Cards\" (page 258)\n\"as a playe at cards grown out of the country from the meanest into credit\nat court with the greatest.\" The game is frequently referred to by name in\nbooks or plays written about 1580. The Ace of Hearts is called Rumstitch\nor Romstecq, the name given to Mawe in the Netherlands. In Germany the\ngame is played with a Piquet pack of thirty-six cards, and any number of\npersons from two to six may form the party. The Italians call a similar\ngame Romfa.\n\nNoddy is a childish game, but it was fashionable in the seventeenth\ncentury, and is frequently referred to by writers of that time.\n\nGleek is described in Cotton's \"Complete Gamester,\" where it is called \"a\nnoble and delightful game or recreation.\" It is also mentioned by Villon,\nwho wrote in 1461, and other contemporary authors. M. le Duchat, the\neditor of Rabelais, declares that the name is derived from the German word\n_Gl\u00fcck_, meaning chance or luck. It is played by three persons only, each\nof whom is dealt twelve cards, eight being left in the widow, that is\ncalled the \"stock.\" The Deuces and Treys are taken from the pack. If the\nFour is turned up as trump, it is called \"Tiddy,\" and each player pays\nfour counters to the dealer. A Mourival is a hand holding all the Kings,\nQueens, Knaves, or Aces. The players bid for the stock, as is done in\nNonsuch Euchre. The eldest hand says, \"I'll vie the Ruff\"; the next, \"I'll\nsee it\"; the third, \"I'll see it and revie it,\" or, \"I'll not meddle with\nit,\" which terms are closely copied in modern games. The Ruff is the\nhighest flush, or else four Aces. The game of Ruff seems to have succeeded\nGleek, and many games have been evolved from it, including Bridge, Poker,\nand Euchre, each one of which has adopted certain rules to the exclusion\nof others, in this way making such different games that few people can\ntrace them to the originals. To ruff is a term still used by provincials,\nby which they mean to revoke.\n\nThe steps from Ruff to Bridge are called by different names, such as Trump\nor Triumpo by the Italians and Spaniards. \"Ruff and Honours, Alias Slam,\nwas once a favourite in England,\" says Cotton in 1680.\n\nIn 1737 Richard Seymour published some rules, in which he says: \"Whist, or\nthe silent game, vulgarly called Whisk, is said to be very ancient among\nus, and the foundation of all the English games upon the cards.\" Dean\nSwift declares that in his time \"Whisk was a favourite among the clergy.\"\n\n\"His pride is in Piquet,\" says Lord Godolphin in Pope's \"Moral Essays,\"\nshowing the position that this game occupied in England in 1733, about\nthree hundred years after its introduction to the English court. It is\nstill played at the clubs to-day, showing what a strong hold it has upon\nthe affections of card players, and its original rules are hardly altered,\nwhile the cards remain practically the same as when invented by La Hire,\nEtienne Chevalier, and Jacques Coeur.\n\nIt is supposed that the first reference to Piquet in print is in the works\nof Rabelais, already quoted from (1533). Probably the earliest book of\nrules is the one published at Rome in 1647, and translated into English in\n1652. The rules were very much the same as those laid down afterwards by\nCavendish in 1882. The \"point\" was called the \"ruffe,\" or, in French,\nRonfl\u00e9.\n\nIn \"Les Facheux,\" by Moli\u00e8re (1661), there is an interesting Piquet hand\ndescribed by Alcippe, one of the players. In 1646 a _Ballet du Jeu de\nPiquet_ was produced, in which the dancers were ranged according to their\ncolours, the blacks opposite to the reds and both sides headed by the\ncourt cards. This ballet became a great favourite and was often produced,\nas it interested the audiences, who appreciated the various movements of\nthe dance that reproduced and corresponded with the play of the game.\n\nEnglish and French plays frequently refer to the card games of their day,\nand Piquet is often mentioned. In the Epilogue to \"Sir Harry Wildair\"\n(1701) is the following:\n\n  Vat have you got of grand plasir in dis town?\n  'Tis said Vidont is come from France, dat vil go down.\n  Piquet, Basset, your vin, your dress, your dance,\n  'Tis all you see tout a la mode de France.\n\nJohn Hall was one of the early writers in England who referred to\nPiquet, originally called Cent in that country. He says, in 1646, \"a man's\nfancy (or character) would be summed up at Cribbage; Gleek requires a\nvigilant memory, Mawe a pregnant agility, Picket a various invention,\nPrimero a dexterous kind of rashness.\"\n\n[Illustration: EARLY ITALIAN TAROTS\n\nPip Cards of the Money Suit\n\n    67 Ace of Money\n\n    68 Deuce of Money\n\n    69 Trey of Money\n\n    70 Four of Money\n\n    71 Five of Money\n\n    72 Six of Money]\n\nIn 1659 a curious pamphlet was published called \"Shuffling, Cutting, and\nDealing in a Game at Pickquet,\" a political squib which used the terms of\nthe game to describe the politicians.\n\nHamlet says: \"How absolute the Knave is. We must speak by the card or\nequivocation will undo us. By the Lord, Horatio, these three years I have\ntaken notice of it, the age is grown so picked (piqued).\"\n\nAs the French cards, with the game of Piquet for which they were invented,\nwere introduced into England in the time of Edward IV, it is possible that\nHamlet used a familiar term when he declared the age was picked, as this\nis an expression frequently used in the game.\n\nIt is generally supposed that Euchre is a variant of the French game\nEcart\u00e9, the name of which is taken from one of the rules, meaning \"to put\naway or discard.\" In the United States, Euchre was adopted about 1840,\nappearing first in the Middle West. It was for this game that the Joker\nwas reinstated in the pack, a card that at first was a blank one left\nimprinted, but its adoption was accomplished very slowly, and it did not\nchange the games or completely dominate the packs until within the last\nfew years.\n\nOthers assume that the game had a nautical derivation and was invented by\nold salts, as the names given to the commanding cards have reference to\nthe forward anchors of a ship.\n\nIn the year 1870 the first celebrated and authentic illustrated history of\nthe game of Euchre was published by Bret Harte:\n\n  Which we had a small game,\n    And Ah Sin took a hand;\n  It was Euchre, and the same\n    He did not understand;\n  But he smiled as he sat by the table\n    With a smile that was childlike and bland.\n\nThe verses continue describing the game, in which all cheated, and its\ndisastrous termination, \"When we went for that Heathen Chinee,\" is too\nwell known to require repetition.\n\nIn early editions of \"The American Hoyle,\" as the book is called which is\nthe acknowledged authority on card games in this country, the history of\nEuchre is given tentatively, but the account is rejected by later\neditions, or, at least, not republished. Although the compilers of these\nlater editions evidently did not value, or perhaps credit, the history\ngiven by their predecessors, it may well be quoted, since no other has\nbeen advanced. The edition of 1864 says:\n\n\"The origin of this fascinating game is somewhat uncertain. From the fact\nthat the word Bauer (a peasant) is pronounced similarly to the names of\nthe leading cards of the game, some have supposed it to be a German\ninvention, yet the game is unknown in Germany except in those parts where\nit was introduced by wandering Americans.\" Nor do the German pips and\ncards lend themselves to the chief features of the game, particularly\nsince they have no Joker, which is the most important card in Euchre.\n\nIn speaking of this game, Hoyle writes as follows: \"As it has been traced\nto the counties of Bucks, Lancaster, and Lehigh, in the State of\nPennsylvania, where it first made its appearance about forty years ago,\nit is not difficult to conjecture how it arose. Some rich farmer's\ndaughter of those American Teutonic regions had occasion to visit\nPhiladelphia, and carried back to her home a confused memory of Ecart\u00e9.\nFrom her dim account one of her ingenious rustic beaux created the\nrudiments of the original game of Euchre, which it is claimed is a\ncorruption of Ecart\u00e9, which by alterations and additions grew to what it\nis. Conjectural as this is, a number of corroborative facts seem to\nindicate that it is the fact.\"\n\nSo far \"according to Hoyle,\" but any one who has studied games and their\nsequences may also suppose that among the descendants of the Prince of\nHesse's soldiers who were left after the war with England to spend the\nremainder of their lives in exile, the old games common in their country\nwere remembered, and a game was evolved that suited the cards with the\nFrench pips, which were the only ones obtainable in this country, even\nalthough they differed from those of the Fatherland. Euchre resembles\nGleek or Gl\u00fcck, a game well known in Germany, so the tradition of the\nfarmer's daughter, although ingenious, is probably without foundation.\n\nMany of the terms used in Euchre and Nonsuch Euchre are probably derived\nfrom the dialect spoken by German immigrants and their children. The name\nBower is the American-German word signifying \"youngster,\" which may well\ndescribe \"the Knave child,\" as it was at one time called in England. This\nword was naturally bestowed by Pennsylvania Germans on the card, for they\nstill speak a _patois_ peculiarly their own and clearly derived from their\nancestors. It was probably they who gave this name to the Knave, and it is\nretained for the aforementioned game, where certain Knaves have a\nparticular value.\n\nThe word Euchre seems likely to have been derived from the shout of\nexultation usual when playing certain games of cards in Germany, although\nthe evil tendencies of the imp who presides over the spelling of English\nwords has altered the original word _Juch_ to the peculiarly unmeaning one\nof Euchre.\n\n_Juch_ pronounced Yuch, is a cry of exhultation. There is not only a verb\nto cry out, _Juch_, but a somewhat unusually constructed noun made from\nthat verb, which is _Jucheier_; whereas _Jucher_ would be the normally\nconstructed noun made from that verb. Therefore, it seems quite natural to\nassume that _Jucher_, describing a player shouting with exultation when\nwinning a point, must have been used unconsciously, whether this word is\nto be found in the dictionary or not, for it is certainly this exclamation\nthat is used as the player throws down the card winning the third trick in\nEuchre when the opponent has ordered or taken up the trump card or made\nthe suit. The words Keno or Domino are commonly used to declare winning\none of those two games, particularly in foreign countries, and since\nEuchre is evidently derived from alien games, and was introduced by\npersons speaking a _patois_ of English and German, the name is probably\ntaken from the verb mentioned. Ch is pronounced in German like K, so\n_Jucher_ has the sound of Euchre. In Grimm's \"Deutsches Woerterbuch,\" we\nfind the following definition:\n\n    JUCH (interjection).--A loud burst of joy. As example, \"The good man\n    dreamed as if he were still at the card club, shouting, 'Juch, Juch,\n    Grun (the leaf suit in the German cards) is chosen.'\"\n\n    JUCHEN (verb).--To shout \"Juch.\"\n\nIn the New English Dictionary, commonly called the Oxford Dictionary\n(1905), we find the following:\n\n    EUCHRE or UKER or YUKER.--Of uncertain origin, supposed to be German.\n    As Bower, one of the terms used in this game, is of German origin, it\n    has often been supposed that the word Euchre is also from the German,\n    but no probable source has been found in that language. Can it be that\n    it is the Spanish Yuca, in the sentence \"Ser yuca,\" given by Cabillero\n    as an American expression for \"cock of the walk,\" meaning to \"get the\n    best of anything\"? In 1847 Euchre was common in Mississippi, and is\n    alluded to in various celebrated lawsuits growing out of disputes over\n    the game.\n\nIt would seem that the compilers of the English dictionary had not given\nenough weight to the localisms of Pennsylvania when they could discover\nonly a Spanish derivation for the terms used in Euchre, a game unknown in\nSpain. The game that apparently started in the western part of that State\nseems to have travelled down the Ohio and the Mississippi rivers, for the\nearliest mention of it comes through the boatmen on those great streams.\n\nPoker seems also to be a game evolved by gamesters of the United States\nfrom the old Primero, with its ancient derivations, for so many of the\nrules and expressions common in the modern game may be traced to the\nfourteenth century. It is played by four or more persons, who bet on the\nvalue of their hands, a pair being the lowest and a straight flush being\nthe highest hand, the names of which were inherited and explain\nthemselves. Jack Pot, Widow, and Kitty are some of the cant words used in\nthe game, the derivations of which are evidently from Primero. The first\nsignifies the Pool under certain circumstances. The Widow (or the\nforsaken, the discarded one) was originally called the Stock, or the cards\nunused after dealing. The Kitty is the name for the forfeit paid at the\nend of each game by its winner to the gambling house, that frequently\namounted to a considerable sum of money.\n\nIn 1908, a variation of Poker was arranged in England, although one writer\nthinks that it originated in China, but without giving any authority for\nthe statement. The game is called Poker Patience. It can be played by one\nor more persons, who are supplied with a board on which are twenty-five\nsquares that, when covered with the cards, according to the rules, will\ncount ten poker hands, five horizontally and the other five vertically.\n\nThe first card is placed on square No. 13, directly in the middle of the\nboard, and the next card played must touch the first one on one of its\neight adjoining squares. The third card should touch either the first one\nor the second, and so on until the twenty-five squares are covered. The\nhands are counted exactly as in Poker, a straight flush being the highest,\nand counting thirty points, while a pair is rewarded with only one point.\nThe flushes are not of much scoring value, being only five points, but\nthey are not difficult to make. This game is easy and interesting when\nused as a solitaire, but when two or more players are pitted against each\nother and bent on preventing the score of the opponent, it will be seen\nthat there is a great deal of \"play,\" for there are so many cards left in\nthe Widow that the game is uncertain until its finish, as a card that is\nmost desirable may never turn up, and, therefore, there is much chance as\nwell as skill in the baby prodigy.\n\n\"According to Hoyle\" has become a proverb among card players, most of whom\ncould give no more explanation for the term than they could for the origin\nof Playing Cards, although it trips so readily from the tips of their\ntongues. But whenever a play at cards is disputed, the justification is\nthat it is \"According to Hoyle,\" which leads to the query of how and where\nthe sentence originated that is freighted with so much weight and\nexpression. With this cant phrase goes another, that was once frequently\non the lips of card players, which condemned an unlucky player or a\ncareless partner to \"go to Halifax.\"\n\nThese proverbs will be explained by a cursory glance backwards over the\nlife story of Edward Hoyle, born in England, in 1672, near the little town\nof Halifax, in Yorkshire. He was of a good family and was educated for the\nlaw, for which his clear, analytical, and logical mind seemed to be\nparticularly adapted. Living in London, he amused himself in the evenings\nby meeting some friends at what was the precursor of men's clubs, the\nCrown Coffee House, in Bedford Row, to play Whist or Triumph, a title that\nwas about that time shortened to Trump, a name that is retained to\ndesignate the highest suit elected by the players at the beginning of each\nhand, either by turning up the last card of the deal or by electing a suit\naccording to the preference of the players. The French retain the old name\nof Atout for that purpose, although those picture cards have not been used\nin that country for centuries.\n\nThe first mention of Whist under the revised name is in \"The Compleate\nGamester,\" which was published in 1674, and was intended to supply\nstandard rules for the fashionable games of the time. But Cotton's laws\nwere confusing, and the game was played in various ways in different parts\nof England, since this standard was not universally accepted, and it is\nsaid that Whist was a favourite only in the servants' hall, so that these\nunarbitrary rules led to quarrels and sometimes even to bloodshed.\n\nBut when Edward Hoyle became interested in the game of Whist, he had for\npartners or opponents some of the deepest players and most distinguished\nmen about town, and the gamesters gradually adopted regular rules for\ntheir own guidance, which usually originated with Hoyle, so the fame of\nhis decisions about disputed points was noised abroad throughout London.\nThis led to his taking pupils at a guinea a lesson, and finally Hoyle\nwrote out his rules for their benefit, distributing them first in\nmanuscript, but finally publishing them in \"A Short Treatise on Whist,\"\nfor which he received one thousand guineas. Hoyle's rules were adopted by\nthe clubs and players throughout England, so, when any dispute arose, his\nbook was consulted, and, instead of the players saying, \"It is the wish\n(or the voice) of the gods,\" as had been the original custom when\nconsulting the oracles of Mercury, and continued by card votaries, it\nbecame customary to say, \"It is according to Hoyle.\"\n\nThat gentleman lived until 1769, and his rules remained unaltered for over\none hundred years. In 1864, however, the Arlington and Portland Clubs,\nfinding that modifications were needed, revised the rules, after which the\n\"Cavendish rules\" became the mode, but books on card rules are still\nissued under the name of Hoyle's \"Games of Cards,\" so \"According to Hoyle\"\nis still a fashionable saying among the votaries of the card table.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIII\n\nENGRAVED CARDS\n\n\nThanks to the lovers of woodcuts, prints, and engravings, the history of\nEuropean Playing Cards has been preserved. Through these it has been\ninvestigated, as it would have been impossible in any other way, since the\nmen who are devoted to the card table are not usually of an investigating\nturn of mind, while those who prophesy with cards prefer the occult and\nmysterious to the scientific.\n\nIt was far otherwise with the _dilettanti_, who recognised the master hand\nthat had produced beautiful pictures, intrinsically valuable, although put\nto what, in the opinion of connoisseurs, was a debased use. Since the\ncards, as gamblers' tools, or the instruments of diviners, had little\nattraction for print lovers, the latter traced the origin of the cards\nfrom an interest in the method of their production. But the history of\nthese instruments followed, since it was an integral part of the story of\nthe pictures that had at first been produced by hand, and then by\nmechanical arts. This led to an awakened desire to understand the\nconnection of the gambling toys with the period when prints were first\nissued. But when these learned men studied the histories of the European\ncountries for the first printed or legal record of Playing Cards, and\ndecided on the fourteenth century as the date of their birth, they never\nlooked into the haze of the past to the period when cards were not bits of\npasteboard, but of very different character. So the mystery of their\norigin was not unfolded, although all of the written records mentioned\nthat cards were called the Book of Thoth Hermes Trismegistus, who was\nevidently an unknown person.\n\nIt was owing to the necessity of producing cards cheaply, on account of\ntheir widespread use, that xylographic arts were invented and perfected,\nthus leading the way to printing, that art which has enlightened mankind\nas nothing had done before in the same space of time.\n\nMr. Singer states that \"the earliest examples of woodcuts were intended\nfor Playing Cards,\" although it is generally believed that the earliest\nexample of a woodcut that survives is the picture of St. Christopher,\nwhich was discovered pasted inside of the cover of an old book. Many\nPlaying Cards have been preserved in the same way, since frugal persons\nutilized the precious paper on which the cards were printed, and did not\nwaste it, as is done in this extravagant age.\n\nThat the oldest known print is that of a saint does not disprove Mr.\nSinger's statement, for many of the rude figures produced by the first\nengravers served a double purpose, being equally well adapted for court\ncards or as representations of historical or saintlike characters, they\nwere often adopted first for the games, and then transferred to the homes\nof peasants, where the pictures were accorded the name of a patron saint\nand revered accordingly, so in many such places priceless cuts and\nengravings have been found, and from there have been transferred to\nmuseums or to private print collections, where they are recognised as rare\nand valuable specimens of the art of the graver's tool.\n\nThese old figures and the cards that followed them are not classed under\nthe head of games or Playing Cards, so students wishing to examine\nexamples of early European Playing Cards must seek the print rooms of the\nBritish Museum, or the Nuremburg Museum, and the national libraries of\nVienna, Bologna, and Paris.\n\nSince among the first productions of the graver's tools were gambling\ncards, Mr. Singer and others have studied the games for which so much time\nand labour were devoted. \"It is evident,\" he says, \"that since the\nearliest specimens of engraving on steel and on copper both in Italy and\nGermany are cards, there must have been a great demand for them, and that\ntheir cheap production was eagerly seized upon by the card makers, who\nthrough it considerably shortened their labours and increased their\noutput, so from this moment games with cards rapidly spread over Europe,\"\nwhile the Book of Thoth was abandoned to gypsies and fortune-tellers.\n\nThe cards painted under Grigoneur for the French king, and now in Les\nCabinet des Estampes, Paris, are probably the oldest extant, and are about\ncontemporary with the Italian packs in Bologna and those in Mr. Morgan's\ncollection, that are painted, but not engraved.\n\nA pack in the British Museum goes by the name of Doctor Stukley's cards,\nfor he was the first to exhibit them. They are stencilled and have German\npips. There is no Queen among the court cards, but her place is taken by a\nmale figure called Ober, accompanied by a King and Unter. There are no\nAces, so the cards were probably intended for the popular game of\nSixty-six. These cards were rudely printed and coloured with stencils.\nThey were first shown to the society of Antiquarians, London, November 9,\n1763, and have been frequently exhibited and discussed. They were found in\nthe binding of an old book, supposed to be Claudian, printed before 1500,\nand to these we owe a debt of gratitude for exciting an interest in\nPlaying Cards, to which much of their history is due. The supposition that\nthe German pips were used in England before the French cards were\nintroduced is sustained only by finding this solitary pack. The book\nitself was not printed in England, while the name assigned to the suit of\nSpades is clearly derived from the Spanish Espadas, which points to the\nprobability of the Swords, Rods, Cups, and Money pips having been known in\nEngland. The Tr\u00e8fle of France was called a Club, as had probably been\ndone with the Rod suit of the old cards.\n\nA nearly complete pack bearing these designs and almost facsimiles of the\nStukley pack is in the Historical Society of New York.\n\nAmong the earliest specimens of ornamental engraved cards are some that\nwere executed at Cologne, the different cards of which are so widely\nseparated that the complete pack can nowhere be found. Solitary examples\nare scattered in different museums, where they are treasured as beautiful\nrepresentations of \"the master's\" art, although no person knows his name.\nThe wrapper of these cards has been found, and on it is a well-executed\ndesign of three ornamental crowns, placed inside of Gothic arches, that\nare connected by a gracefully twisted ribbon on which is the inscription\n\"_Salve Felix Colonia_\" which is the only remaining clue to the engraver,\nthe date of execution, and the birthplace of the pack.\n\nIn it are five suits instead of four, and these have original emblems\nthat, however, never seem to have been popular or intended for gambling,\nor even for divination, but they were probably the invention of the\nartist, who had little idea of the significance of the original emblems\nof Cups, Swords, Staves, and Money, for not only was a fifth and\nunprofitable suit added to the pack, but the pips were changed to artistic\ndesigns that may delight the senses of the connoisseurs, but fail to\nappeal to a card player, since the designer was evidently not as clever as\nthe Frenchmen, who invented a new set of emblems for their royal master,\nand through constructing the game Piquet, that could only be played with\nthese cards, clinched their adoption by players. The five suits of these\nGerman cards were Hares, Parrots, Pinks, Roses, and Columbines, with four\ncourt cards to each suit, and they are illustrated in \"Playing Cards,\" by\nMr. Singer (page 47), and are attributed by him to Martin Schoen, or\nSchongaur. \"The costume of the figures,\" he says, \"belongs to the\nfifteenth century, and seems conclusively to establish the fact.\" To this\nstatement other authorities do not agree.\n\nOne of the earliest examples of Playing Cards executed on copper was\nproduced in Germany before 1446. The artist is known only by his initials,\nand is called \"The Master E. S.\" His cards are original and finely\nexecuted, although his emblems stray as far from the ancient ones\npeculiar to Mercury as the games to be played with them differ from\ndivination. The devices are Roses, Cyclamen, Savages, Birds, Stags, and\nLions. This \"Master E. S.\" seems to have copied most of his designs for a\nsmaller set of cards, and he also executed a pack that had Shields,\nFlowers, Animals, and Helmets for pips. These are artistically grouped,\nand the escutcheons display coats-of-arms of the nobility that go far to\nestablish the date of those that are not marked. But the pips, although\nthey were gracefully marshaled, were troublesome and confusing to the\nplayers, which has caused these cards to be chiefly valued as examples of\nthe graver's art, lacking the simplicity of the French pips, with their\nharmonious red and black colours, these peculiar designs failed to\nrevolutionise the Playing Cards in common use, as had evidently been the\nintention of \"The Master.\"\n\nThe little that is known of \"E. S.\" points to his having been the\nimmediate predecessor of Martin Schongaur, of Colmar, who was the\nunrivalled engraver of his time, and has been described as the Van Eyck of\nengraving. He was \"the actual creator of the art as practiced in modern\ntimes,\" says Max Lehrs in his essay on the Playing Cards engraved by this\nmaster. \"To him we owe the technical method of producing the appearance of\nrelief and solidity on a flat surface by the combination of a number of\nparallel lines on transverse lines, which effect had only been obtainable\nbefore his invention by the addition of colour to the finished prints.\"\nHis home was probably in the vicinity of Freiburg, or Breisach, and it is\nsupposed that he died in 1467.\n\nThe cards attributed to \"E. S.\" are scattered over Europe, but they seem\nto be universally acknowledged as the first specimens of _engraved_\nPlaying Cards. The dainty pictures served as models to the students of the\nMaster, and have often been copied or adopted as accessories to other\npictures. The Four of Men and the Ober Knave of the same suit, the Four of\nDogs, and the Three of Birds were used to adorn the cover of a Bible that\nis now in the University Library of Erlangen. These designs were also used\nin the tooling of other books.\n\nAugsburg may lay strong claim to be considered the first seat of the art\nof engraving on wood, as a Guild of Card Makers is mentioned in the Town\nRoll of 1418. Sheets of cardboard on which the pack was printed from the\nblock, but not yet coloured by hand, are to be found in museums, and it is\nsupposed that the celebrated woodcut of St. Christopher, dated 1423, was\nproduced in Augsburg, which about that time became the great exporting\ncentre of card makers, against whom the manufacturers of Vienna, Venice,\nand Viterbo caused ordinances to be passed in their respective cities,\nforbidding the Augsburg and Nuremburg cards to be sold within their\nboundaries. This law is enforced to-day, which has prevented the\nintroduction of foreign or French pips into Austria and Italy.\n\nAn interesting sheet of cards produced by the tool was acquired by the\nwriter in Nuremburg in 1910. It is about ten by twelve inches in size, and\nis made of several sheets of paper pasted together. The reverse side shows\na lozenge pattern, and each one of the spaces contains a _fleur de lis_,\nemphasised at the corner by a square. The sheet has not been cut apart,\nand there are eighteen cards printed on it, comprising all those belonging\nto the court, and six pip cards bearing the usual German devices. The\nfigures do not include a Queen, but have the King, the Ober, and the\nUnter. The King of Eicheln (or Acorns) is seated, wears a crown on top of\na turban, and holds a sceptre. His Ober and Unter both carry two swords.\nTheir dresses are richly trimmed and they wear lace at the neck and\nwrists.\n\nThe King of Gr\u00fcnen (or Leaves) also wears a crown on top of a turban, but\nholds his sword in his right hand instead of his left, as is the case with\nhis brother of Acorns. His chair is more ornate than that of any of the\nother kings. He wears at his neck two muslin lapels, such as were once\nworn with black silk gowns by ministers when preaching. One of his Knaves\nplays a flute, the other beats a drum. The King of Bells wears a\nfive-pointed coronet and has a book on his knees. His Ober has a wig and a\nrichly embroidered coat, but is bareheaded, as is his Unter, who is a\nludicrously stout figure, parrying a thrust with his sword from an unseen\nwarrior. The King of Hearts has a crown with _fleurs de lis_, and on the\nside of his chair is an anchor with the initials M. S., leading to the\nsupposition that these cards were engraved by Martin Schongaur, the\nsuccessor to the \"Master E. S.\" The execution, however, is far inferior to\nhis usual delicate work. The Ober of Hearts is armed with a pike and his\nhair is tied with ribbons, the two ends of which float carelessly down his\nback. He and the Unter of his suit can \"ruffle with the best of them,\" for\nboth have side arms as well as long pikes, and their coats are handsomely\nembroidered, while they wear lace at the throat and wrists.\n\nThe four Deuces are on this sheet. That of Hearts has an escutcheon on\nwhich is a lion rampant. The Two of Leaves shows a deer and a unicorn\nrampant regardant. The Two of Acorns has a Bacchus astride of a beer\nbarrel, holding up the Cup of Hermes, and the Two of Gr\u00fcnen has the sow\nsacred to Prosperine and Mercury, that was always sacrificed to them at\nthe feast of Hermes, on the thirteenth of May, when Spring commenced, and\nMercury led Prosperine from Pluto back to earth and to her Mother, Ceres.\nThe pig was also sacred to Nebo, so its position on the cards is fraught\nwith meaning. The Ten of Leaves and the Seven of Hearts complete this\nvaluable sheet that shows an early process of card production.\n\n[Illustration: EARLY ITALIAN TAROTS\n\nPip and Court Cards of the Money Suit\n\n    73 Seven of Money\n\n    74 Eight of Money\n\n    75 Nine of Money\n\n    76 Ten of Money\n\n    77 Knave of Money\n\n    78 Cavalier of Money]\n\nA beautiful pack of cards was engraved by Jost Ammon, who was born in\nZurich in 1539. His wood engravings are very numerous. He died in\nNuremburg in 1591. The interesting cards attributed to him were published,\nit was said, to inculcate \"Industry and Learning\" rather than \"Idleness\nand Debauchery,\" so may be placed under the head of Educational Cards.\nEach one shows a pip, under which is a clever sketch that is fully\ndescribed by some appropriate Latin verses. The pips are Books, Winepots,\nCups, and Printer's Balls. One of the cards represents a wood carver at\nwork, supposed to be a likeness of the artist. Another shows a printer. A\nthird has on it a bibliomaniac surrounded by flies that he is striking at\nwith a flapper, and the accompanying verses are forcible, if inelegant. On\nthe Three of Printer's Balls are a lady and gentleman playing cards. The\nSix of Winepots shows two men at a game of Draughts. Some of the cards\nhave pictures of men and women playing musical instruments, while others\ndepict various homely occupations.\n\nThese symbols did not take the place of those simple devices that convey\nat a glance to a player the suit or number of a card, so necessary from a\ngambler's point of view. Their authorship has been disputed, but the cards\nremain as interesting specimens of wood engraving.\n\nThe greater part of the early Italian cards are printed with a pale ink of\na grayish tint. The earliest specimens are a set of Tarots that are much\nlarger than the standard size of Playing Cards, being about four by six\nand a half inches. These cards are finely executed, and are one of the\nfirst of the educational packs, since the emblematic figures of the Atouts\nare Rhetoric, Arithmetic, etc.\n\nThe specimens of engraved cards of the Netherlands are of a later date,\nbeing about the middle of the eighteenth century. They are carefully done,\nand the two red suits are distinguished by being printed with a pale red\nink, while the Spades and Clubs are printed in black. These cards are\npretty miniature pictures, with local figures and landscapes, while the\npips are French and are placed in the upper left-hand corner.\n\nThe Dutch have also several educational packs of cards. Some are\nhistorical, with Kings, Queens, and Knaves representing their royalties.\nThere is also one showing the chief products of their kingdom and its\ndependencies. A third pack illustrates the costumes of the different\nprovinces.\n\nGermans, French and English were very fond of teaching children through\neducational games of cards, and a great collection of these may be found\nin the print room of the British Museum under the head of Lady Charlotte\nSchrieber's Collection, but it is carelessly kept in drawers, the packs\ntied with bits of string or worsted, and it is difficult to study on this\naccount.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIV\n\nPLAYING CARDS FOR EDUCATIONAL AND OTHER PURPOSES\n\n\nIt was but natural that, from the very date of the readjustment of the\nBook of Thoth, when it was deposed from its high position of being the\nvoice of the gods to become the tool of gypsies or the toy of gamblers,\nthat invectives should be hurled at it from the pulpit, from whence the\nearly war is continued, as well as from the government, for when pleasure\nbecomes a vice it behooves those in authority to repress it, so as to\nprotect the unwary or the ignorant from traps laid for gain against them.\n\nCardinal John Capistran, who visited Nuremburg in 1452, found the\ninhabitants devoted to all games of chance, and so addicted to gambling\nthat the prosperity of the town was threatened.\n\nThe good Cardinal preached against the vice of gambling with such fervor\nand eloquence that the cathedral could not contain the crowds who went to\nlisten to him, so a pulpit was erected before the church, in the great\nsquare or Market Place, under the clock, where a procession of wise men\nbowing before the King still takes place daily at noon, and from this\nrostrum the Cardinal ordered that all cards, dice, chessmen, draughts\n(checkers), etc., should be brought before him and publicly burned; an\norder that was implicitly obeyed.\n\nHow well the good man succeeded in obliterating games of chance or hazard\nmay be questioned, since Nuremburg is still one of the chief centres of\ncard making, the descendants of the original makers being in active\nbusiness to-day, who sell sheets of cardboard that were concealed for many\nyears, on which the cards are printed, but not cut apart, for probably the\nmanufacture was checked at the time, but never entirely suppressed. The\ncelebrated museum of the town has one of the best collections of native\nPlaying Cards to be found, while the dramatic holocaust is recalled with\npride by the inhabitants, who value the woodcut that is commemorative of\nthe event.\n\nEnglish preachers denounced card playing, and the Scotch dubbed the packs\n\"The Devil's Picture Books.\" Robert Burns says:\n\n  The Ladies, arm in arm, in clusters,\n  As great and gracious a' as sisters,\n\n    *       *       *       *       *\n\n  On lee-lang nights, wi' crabbit leuks.\n  Pore owre the devil's pictured beuks.\n\nThe Sunday before Christmas, 1529, Bishop Latimer preached a sermon\nagainst gambling at St. Edward's Church, in Cambridge, taking for his text\n\"Who art thou?\" and filling his sermon with phrases that were culled from\nPrimero, which was the favourite game of his day. This knowledge showed\nsuch an intimate acquaintance with the game that his offended hearers used\nit with great effect against him. The sermon is now remembered only\nbecause of these phrases and expressions that give students a clue to the\nrules and play of the old game.\n\nOne ingenious preacher took for his text: \"As God has dealt to every man\"\n(Romans xii:3), implying that the Almighty had sorted and distributed the\ncards of life. This practical allusion to gambling so horrified his\ncongregation that they nearly pulled the minister from the pulpit. Yet\nSt. Paul evidently referred to the \"tablets of fate,\" on which the\ndestinies of men were written at birth as \"the measure of fate,\" since\nthese traditions must have been active in the mind of the apostle. Modern\npeople seldom place themselves in the atmosphere of Biblical times, which\nleads to much misconstruction and misunderstanding.\n\nThe various proclamations and edicts passed against Playing Cards are a\nhistory in themselves, although it is a pity that they are of too late a\ndate to throw much light on the first alteration of the cult of Mercury\ninto games, a change that was probably gradual, and so insidious or secret\nas to have no public record. Still, it is through these legal papers that\nwe get authentic dates and the earliest mention of cards as gambling\ninstruments or toys; but at the end of the fourteenth century, at a time\nwhen cards were denounced as such, and by name there is still no\ninterdiction of fortune-telling, which may have been conducted too\nsecretly to occasion attention, or, perhaps, the general law against\nvagrants or gypsies may have been deemed sufficient protection.\n\nM. la Croix says: \"The Germans were the first to apply cards to\ninstructing young persons, by endeavouring to teach them different\nsciences illustrated by the cards, that had printed on them historical\ntales, sums of arithmetic, heraldic devices, astronomical symbols, bars of\nmusic, or quotations from the poets, with the pips displayed in the\ncorners to deceive people into imagining that they were enjoying a play,\nwhen in reality they were being gently led along the paths of learning,\nand that this idea seems to have found favour in other countries,\nparticularly in Great Britain and France.\"\n\nIn this list of countries that adapted cards to purposes of instruction\nmight have been included China and Japan, had M. la Croix studied the\ngames of those nations. The latter country has two packs that are devoted\nto quotations from the poets, or historical tales.\n\nNumerous specimens of these educational cards are now to be found in all\ncard collections, although to those who regard Playing Cards as part of\nthe cult of Mercury these instructive bits of pasteboard are no more\nrelated to the Tarots than are advertisements or school books.\n\nThere are some puritanical persons who regard Playing Cards with horror,\nand will not touch \"the devil's picture books\" that display the symbols of\nHearts, Clubs, etc.; but these same people adopt with avidity these\neducational cards that sometimes have the pips slyly tucked into a corner.\nOr, perhaps, they use cards that have numbers printed on them to indicate\nthe pips, with other marks to show the suits and the court cards, so these\ngood people play Grabouche, Pinocle, Bezique, Flip, and other games that\nare, in truth, recognised as games of chance.\n\nIn 1507 a set of instructive cards was invented by Dr. Thomas Muruer, the\ncelebrated opponent of Martin Luther. The pack was printed at Cracow and\ncalled _Chartiludui Logicae_, and these were intended for the use of the\ninventor's pupils in the art of reasoning. At first people were delighted\nwith them and their novelty, and then they turned against this method of\ninstruction and threatened to burn the doctor for inventing them.\n\nThis pack was an imitation of the Tarots, and was composed of ten logical\ncards with sixteen suits of emblem cards, the pips being the German Bells,\nAcorns, Leaves, and Hearts, with additional symbols of crayfish,\nscorpions, etc.\n\nWhen Louis XIV was eight years old, it was necessary to educate him, but\nhe was a dull and reluctant pupil, so Cardinal Mazarin invented some\n\"instruction cards\" for the youthful king that illustrated fables and\nproved attractive to others besides the agrammatist.\n\nA little later, some cards depicting the history of France were designed\nby the artist Desmarits, who, finding that they were received with favour,\nfollowed them with a geographical set, and then with one called harlequin,\nin which the figures of well-known persons were grotesquely dressed.\n\nThere are later French packs illustrating the kings and queens of France,\nand also some that commemorate the Revolution, the Empire, the reign of\nthe Orleans family, and that of Napoleon III; for in that country not only\nwere the cards used for illustrating their historical events, but the\ncourt cards changed their dress with the rulers, not keeping to the\ncostumes of the fifteenth century, as the English cards have done.\n\nThe French also issued a pack of cards to teach heraldry as early as 1680,\nand one for music in 1808, while in 1820 two instructive sets were\nissued, one of them on botany and the other one on astronomy.\n\nHeraldic cards were published by M. Claude Fin\u00e9 in 1659, and others were\nissued in 1725. This idea was followed in England in 1675, when some\nGerman cards were adapted to the needs of the other country. The Germans\nissued another pack on which were heraldic devices in 1700, and a similar\none came out in Venice in 1707. The cards are not useful for gambling or\nfortune-telling, but they are ornate, and are fine examples of print work,\nand as such find places in collections.\n\nIn 1656 practical cards for teaching spelling, arithmetic, etc., were\nissued in London by F. Jackson, and at about the same time satirical and\npolitical cards were published. Those interested in full descriptions of\nthese packs can find a list in \"The Catalogue of Playing and Other Cards\nin the British Museum,\" by Mr. Willshire.\n\nCards for divination have appeared from time to time, but the emblems were\nso fanciful and so unauthoritative that the unhistoric designs have not\nfound favour. One of them in the British Museum shows traces of being\nderived from the Tarots, as Mercury is seen hovering over a sailing\nvessel under his guise of protector of merchants. It is to be remarked\nthat it is the Seven of Bells and is called Commerce. The Eight of Bells\nis the Wheel of Fortune. The Two of Leaves is Hope, and the Six of that\nsuit is the Death card. It is evident that the artist picked out at\nhaphazard certain designs on the Tarots for imitation, and that he had no\ncomprehension of the meaning or value of the numbers, such as three,\nseven, or thirteen, accorded to them by mystics.\n\nHumourous, or what are known as harlequin, cards have been published in\nall countries, where the emblems themselves have been taken for the\nfoundation of fantastic figures. One of these packs was designed by Mr.\nWilliam Thackeray. There are several French and Belgian packs, but far the\nbest one was designed by Mr. Charles Caryl and issued by Messrs. Tiffany &\nCo., New York.\n\nMusical cards are ingenious, and, by following the rules, several pretty\nairs may be played. Cards for the game of Authors were lately popular, and\nthe game called Doctor Busby was a capital one for teaching children\nobservation and concentration.\n\nThe Japanese cards, that have been referred to, are original in conception\nand design. The pack emblematic of the weeks of the year seems to be\nintended for gambling, although it shows no traces of a descent from the\nTarots, for the cards display no suggestion of the pips or emblems of\nMercury. Nor are there any emblematic figures like those of China, where\nthe cards show evident imitations of the Stave, Money, and Sword pips,\nwith some court cards. The Japanese themselves declare that Portuguese\nsailors introduced gambling cards into the country, but the only proof\nlies in the tradition and in the name by which cards are known in Japan,\nwhich is _Karta_, for the Portuguese use cards with the Cup, Money, Sword,\nand Stave pips, and no traces of these are to be found on any of the\nJapanese packs. In that country divining cards or sticks are used, which\nseem to have been inherited from China, and the methods of using them\nfollow closely the rules adopted in all primitive countries, where the old\nsuperstitions referred to in the Bible are still active and in force.\n\nA chap book of the late seventeenth or early eighteenth century had a\nlarge circulation, for it described one Richard Middleton, who, being\ncaught playing with a pack of cards in church, was haled before a\nmagistrate, who was amused when the soldier declared that he looked upon\nthe cards as his Prayer Book, and described what they conveyed to him as\nhe ingeniously connected each one with some Biblical reference.\n\nThis original description led to his release, and it has frequently been\nquoted. A variant of the story appeared in \"The American Hebrew\" that is\nworth repeating, as the original Christian ideas have been altered to suit\nthe synagogue. It says: \"The Ace is the only God. The Deuce, the two\ntables of stone that Moses broke at one blow. Try to keep them. The Trey\nis the three patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The four is our four\nancient mothers, Sarah, Rachel, Leah, and Rebecca. The five, the books of\nMoses. The Six, the six days of the week, and the Seven is the Sabbath,\nwhen God rested and the seven-branched candlestick was made. Eight\nrighteous persons were saved from the flood, Noah, his wife, three sons,\nand their wives. Joab came to Jerusalem at the end of Nine months. Ten\nCommandments are the cornerstone of the jurisprudence of the civilized\nworld. The Knave is the constable who took me up. He was a fool, or he\nwould not have disturbed me at my devotions. Queen Sheba and King Solomon\nare the Royal family. The former dressed fifty boys and fifty girls alike\nin male attire, and, to test the king, asked him to tell which were which.\nThe wise one ordered water to be brought, and then quickly picked them\nout, greatly to the astonishment of the queen; but the children had\nbetrayed themselves, as the boys only washed their wrists, while the girls\nwashed to their elbows. Furthermore, there are three hundred and\nsixty-five spots in a complete deck of cards, corresponding to the days of\nthe year, fifty-two to a pack corresponding to the weeks. Twelve picture\ncards, one for each month. Four suits, Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter.\nDiamonds represent wealth, Hearts love, Spades health and labor, and Clubs\npower.\"\n\nIn the British Museum is a pack of grammatical cards printed by Jane, June\n1, 1676. A small treatise of instruction that went with the cards begins\nas follows: \"To all ingenious gentlemen the Purchasers of these Sciential\ncards. It was Plato's custom, after he had ended his disputation, as he\nwent forth from his school, to give this admonition to his scholars,\n'_Videte ut ocium in re quapiam honesta collocetis_,' or, 'Nothing is more\nirksome to nature than not to know how to spend one's time,' and if the\nmind have not some relaxation from its grave and Serious Employment it\ncannot endure. I should have been very injurious to you if I should have\nObscured this Grammatical Epitome and Deprived you of that which will make\nmuch both for your Leisure and Profit.\"\n\nThere is another pack in the same collection with \"a short tract\" teaching\ntheir use, saying: \"For as your cards are entitled Hearts, Diamonds,\nSpades, and Clubs, so ours are to be called by the names of Orthographie\n(Spades), Etymologie (Clubs), Syntax (Hearts), and Prosodie (Diamonds).\"\nBy such gentle paths were men lured from vice to literature!\n\nAstronomical cards were early adopted in Nuremburg, as was natural, for\none of the most celebrated astronomers lived in that town, and the Tarots\ncertainly lent themselves more easily to conceptions based on astronomy\nthan to any other science, since so many of the Atouts have derivations\nfrom the planets. There are also French cards that are dated 1620, and\nItalian ones of about fifty years earlier, all of them being on the same\nsubject.\n\nMany of the Atouts in the Tarots are connected with the signs of the\nZodiac, but the emblems on them are not clearly displayed, so inferences\nfrom them are mere guesswork.\n\nThe astronomical cards of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, showing\nthe signs of the Zodiac, are clearly inspired by the Tarots, but the\ndesigns are supplemented by figures that show no connection with the Book\nof Thoth.\n\nAn English pack, dated 1700, called Virtues and Vices, has the former so\nrepulsively and the latter so attractively displayed that they can serve\nno good purpose.\n\nHistorical cards are interesting to students of costume. In the United\nStates one pack commemorates the war of 1848 with Mexico, and the Kings\nrepresent the generals of the day. On the Aces are views of well-known\ncountry places, One is of the headquarters of General Washington at\nNewburgh; another is Highwood, on the Hudson River at Wiehawken, opposite\nForty-second Street, New York, the residence of Mr. James Gore King.\n\nA pack of cards of 1863 represents the battle between the \"Monitor\" and\nthe \"Merrimac,\" and the court cards are soldiers in the uniforms of the\nday, such as zouaves, etc.\n\nA pack in the British Museum displays small and very indecent pictures\nwith descriptive legends. Some of the latter are amusing, such as, \"Hee\nthat has no Head wants noe Hatt.\" Under the picture of a bachelor maid is:\n\n  I know well how the world waggs,\n  He's most beloved that has most Baggs.\n\nUnder the sketch of an old woman with her pet is written: \"Two heads are\nbetter than one, which made the old woman carry her dog to Market with\nher,\" and its mate has: \"Men and Doggs may goe abroad, but Women and Catts\nmust stay at home.\" Another reads: \"Two Doggs and a Bone, Two Catts and a\nMouse, Two Wives in a House can never Agree.\"\n\nThe picture of three doctors entering a room with their sticks to their\nnoses and approaching a sick man bears the legend:\n\n  If you'll avoid old Charon, the Ferryman,\n  Consult Dr. Dyett, Dr. Quiett, and Dr. Merryman.\n\nThe following card has on it: \"An Ounce of Mirth is worth a Pound of\nSorrow.\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XV\n\nEUROPEAN PLAYING CARDS\n\n\nAccording to Spanish writers, the authentic history of Playing Cards in\nEurope begins about 1332, for they point with triumph to an order issued\nby Alphonse of Castile, presumed to be of that date, forbidding his\nsoldiers to play games or to gamble. It is pointed out by disputatious\nwriters that the command was not directed against Playing Cards, since\nthey were not expressly mentioned by name, as are the other prohibited\ngames of chance. Then there is a second statement that Charles V of Spain,\nin 1369, denounced cards, calling them by the local name of Naipes, or\nprophets; and also a third record that, in 1387, dice, cards, and chess\nwere banned by John of Castile.\n\nIt is evident through these trustworthy records that gambling was widely\npractised in Spain, and that, even if cards were not particularly named in\nthe first-mentioned edict, it was but little more than eighteen years\nlater that they had become so common it was necessary to forbid their use\nthrough an official decree.\n\nIn 1395 the Provost of Paris issued a proclamation against Playing Cards,\nshowing that their abuse in the capital of France had become intolerable.\nWith these and other evidences, it may well be asserted that by the\nbeginning of the fifteenth century Playing Cards were commonly known in\nthe capitals of Europe, where they were publicly used for games and\ngambling, as well as for fortune-telling.\n\nIt has already been mentioned that there are records of Playing Cards in\nthe \"Red Book of Ulm,\" of 1397, and an account in Nuremburg, dated 1384,\nwhen a monk preached against the inordinate love of gaming among his\ncongregation.\n\nAretino assigns the invention of cards, as well as of chess, to Palamedes,\nin the Grecian camp before the wall of Troy, thus claiming a very early\ndate for their introduction to Europeans; but, while little credence has\nbeen placed on this record, it is more than probable that Tarots were part\nof the equipment of the camp if the soldiers wished to have their future\nforetold by the messenger of the gods, and gambling sticks, made of ivory\nand marked with men's heads, have been found in the tomb of King Qa, at\nAbydos, Egypt.\n\nHistory states that the Crusaders played at \"tables\" (as draughts or\ncheckers were then called), and also that King Richard Coeur de Lion was\nfond of chess; but the English histories do not mention cards at that\ndate. German authors infer that cards were introduced into Europe by the\nCrusaders, who, finding the Tarots common among their enemies (or\nprisoners), the Saracens, learned to play from them, and as the pictures\non the cards were attractive, they used them to send home as missives to\ntheir families, and these authors support their theory by pointing out\nthat cards are still called \"briefe,\" or letters, in Germany, while we\nmight say that these pictures were the ancestors of the postal cards of\nthe present day.\n\nWriters harp on the lack of historical data concerning Playing Cards\nbefore the middle of the fourteenth century, oblivious of the fact that\nprevious to that time it is probable that Tarots would not have been\nclassed with games, and that educated people had not learned to use the\npack for amusement, nor had the lower classes grasped the fact that they\ncould be converted into a means for gambling, so they disregarded the\nancient symbols, which they considered only useful for fortune-tellers, so\ncards at that date would not have been classed as gambling tools.\n\nAs soon as a game was arranged for the cards, however, they were eagerly\nadopted by all classes of society as a welcome diversion. From that time\non, numerous descriptions are to be found in the archives of European\ncountries, appearing almost simultaneously. Gough (a writer mentioned by\nthe Rev. Edward Taylor in his \"History of Playing Cards,\" page 187)\nexpressly states that \"the Italian game called La Minchiate, which was\nplayed with the ancient Tarot pack, was invented at Sienna by Michael\nAngelo to teach children arithmetic.\" It would seem that the writer was\nslightly confused in his ideas, for the cards invented for teaching\narithmetic were not true Tarots. He may be correct, however, in supposing\nthat cards were arranged by the painter for educational purposes, and that\nthey followed closely the number and arrangement of the older pack, for\nthere are such cards still to be found in collections, although hardly of\nso early a date.\n\nThere seems no reason to doubt the record that \"Francis Fibbia, of Pisa,\ninvented the game of Tarrochino (or little Tarots), in 1419, receiving as\nreward the permission to place his own coat-of-arms on the escutcheon of\nthe Queen of Staves, and that of his wife on the Queen of Money,\" as\nstated by Leopold Cicognara, for we are told that there is a picture\nextant showing this prince with a number of cards scattered before him, on\nwhich are these arms, so it may be that he arranged a game for common use\nfrom the more ancient one of L'Ombre, since the games closely resemble\neach other, and the former is popular to-day in parts of Italy, where the\nancient Tarots are still used.\n\nRafael Maffei, who lived at the close of the fourteenth century, has left\na description of what he calls \"a new invention,\" or a game played with\nTarots. A Bolognese gentleman named Innocento Renghierri, who lived in\n1551, declared that \"cards were invented in days of yore, and by an\nindustrious and very learned person.\" Unfortunately, neither the name of\nthe inventor nor the date is mentioned, for, if given correctly, it might\nhave saved much trouble and dispute.\n\n[Illustration: GAMBLING AND EDUCATIONAL CARDS\n\n    79-80-81 Swedish Cards for old Cucu game. No. 80 is the Joker.\n\n    82-83 Korean Cards showing numeral and suit marks with feather design\n    on reversed card.\n\n    84-85-86 Japanese Educational Cards with quotations from favorite\n    poets, for game of Hayku-Niu-Isshu.]\n\nIn the \"History of Viterbo,\" by Feliceano (1742), there is a statement\nquoted from Covelluzzo that cards called Naib were introduced into that\ncity in 1279 from a Saracenic source. This name given to the cards in\nItaly is interesting, since it is the one used to-day in Spain, for which\nvarious derivations have been given. It was probably derived from the\nHebrew word for prophet, emphasising the original intention of cards for\ndivination purposes. It seems strange that one of the best known and most\nwidely spread cults has received so little recognition or study among\nthose who have interested themselves in the religious progress and\ncivilization of mankind. Even if regarded as toys or gambling instruments,\nPlaying Cards certainly fill a great part in the lives of men, while their\norigin and the influence they have wielded in the past should surely have\ncreated more interest than has been the case.\n\nA Frenchman, P\u00e8re Menestrier, studied the history of the cards that were\nknown to him as early as 1704, when he published \"Des Principes des\nSciences et des Arts Dispos\u00e9 en Forme de Jeux.\" Others followed his\nexample, but they all looked upon cards simply as gambling instruments, or\nregarded them as interesting historical fashion plates picturing French\ncelebrities, or else as rare engraved plates; so they treated the cards of\ntheir own countries only from this point of view. Of course, most of the\nwriters knew only the cards of their immediate surroundings, and, if they\never were cognizant of the ancient Tarots, disregarded them entirely.\n\nWhen, in 1836, Samuel Weller Singer published his \"History of Playing\nCards,\" he was interested in engraving, with its kindred arts, and he\nfound that the earliest work on wood or metal had been done to reproduce\ncards. This book was followed by the \"History of Playing Cards,\" by\nWilliam Andrew Chatto; \"Origin of Playing Cards\" (1865); \"History of\nPlaying Cards,\" by Rev. Edward Taylor, and many others. Although two\npersons in the priesthood devoted time to studying cards, they did not do\nso with reference to their religious influence on their congregations.\nStill, they acknowledged with surprise that these unbound leaves offered\nan interesting study, and, while each one pointed out the probable\nconnection of Playing Cards with the Book of Thoth and the cult of\nMercury, not one of them proved the statement, but slurred it over, as if\nrather ashamed of the idea, although the fact could easily have been\nproved through a careful examination of the marks, the pips, and the\nemblems on the cards themselves, that are so undoubtedly the heraldic\ndevices through which Mercury is always recognised, and which he received\nfrom the most ancient forms of worship in Babylonia.\n\nThese authors, with other German, French, and Spanish writers, unanimously\ndecided that, since there is no legal record or trustworthy mention of\ncards intended for use in games before the year 1392 (the one that they\nseemed to agree upon, ignoring the account given of the martyrdom of St.\nCyprian in 258, who was killed for remonstrating against playing cards),\nand since chance has not disclosed a hitherto unknown monument to their\nbirth and cradle, that these playthings were suddenly invented just about\nthe date when they appeared simultaneously all over Europe for the\namusement of pleasure-loving mortals. However, they quarrelled a bit as to\nwhether cards were first known in the Occident or in the Orient, but none\nof the authors studied divination, and the rules known to astrologers,\nfortune-tellers or gypsies that are carefully preserved, as well as the\nevident connection of Playing Cards with the tools of the diviners of\nancient days.\n\nThese authors proved entirely too near-sighted and would not read what the\ncards themselves displayed before their semi-opened vision, probably\nbecause they despised the professional prophets. Besides, the French,\nSpanish, German, and English writers each claimed for his own country the\nfirst knowledge of Playing Cards used for games, without recognising that\ntheir bantlings all came from a common mother stock, the great Tarot pack.\nThus the arguments, deductions, and theories of these writers can command\nrespect only to a limited degree.\n\nMerlin and Chatto have treated cards as interesting examples of the\nxylographic art, and it is certainly true that they were an important\nfactor in developing it; but this period in the history of Playing Cards\nwas by no means its childhood, as the writers seem to consider. Many of\nthem did not know that almost every one of the European countries had\nemblems peculiar to the locality, which is also the case in Asia. None of\nthe museums have even now any packs except those peculiar to their own\nState.\n\nIn the Middle Ages games became necessary amusements in camp and home, so\nthere was a demand for a rapid and inexpensive form of reproduction that\nshould take the place of the expensively painted replicas of the Book of\nThoth, which before had been within reach only of the wealthy.\n\nOf course, the original emblems had never been entirely lost or forgotten,\nbut had been concealed in the hands of the initiates, who regarded them\nwith reverence and transmitted them secretly from one to the other, but\ndid not use cards for gambling or amusement. These persons did not reveal\nthe history or import of the Book of Thoth to the triflers of the outside\nworld, and had no desire to see their treasured secrets cheaply\nreproduced, to be carelessly handled by curious or pleasure-loving\npeople.\n\nThe author of \"The Game of Gold,\" published at Augsburg in 1472, says he\nhas read that \"the game of cards was introduced into Germany in 1300.\"\nThis is one of the first written accounts of Playing Cards used for games.\nIt was pointed out by Chatto that there is a Chinese legend claiming\nPlaying Cards as being used in China some two thousand years before\nChrist. Doubtless the Chinese recognized that their games of divination,\nas still commonly played, were identical with the cards used for chance,\nas the little flat cards are still used for both purposes.\n\nWhen Columbus made his first voyage across the Atlantic, his men gambled\ncontinually, and, although the superstitious sailors threw the cards\noverboard when they feared that they would never reach land, they\nmanufactured new ones immediately on their arrival in America, and taught\nthe savages their game, so we know without question that cards reached\nAmerica in 1492. They were called Naypes and bore the emblems of Swords,\nMoney, Cups, and Rods.\n\nAfter these records of Playing Cards come some that are of later date. In\n\"Capitolo del Gioco della Primera,\" by Berni, published in Rome in 1526,\nthe author claims that \"playing cards were invented by King Ferdinand,\"\nwhich statement may be regarded with amusement, since other Italian\nrecords prove an earlier date.\n\nThere is an interesting invective against cards published in 1550, called\n\"Il Traditor,\" which may be translated:\n\n  What is the meaning of the female Pope,\n  The Chariot and the Traitor,\n  The Wheel, the Fool, the Star, the Sun,\n  The Moon, and Strength, and Death,\n  And Hell, and all the rest\n  Of these strange cards?\n\nShowing that the Egyptian temples had not disclosed their secrets that\nidentified these pictures on the Tarots common in Italy with the cult of\nThoth, Mercury, and Nebo.\n\nPainters have transmitted to us pictures of many games of cards, and\nperhaps one of the earliest is the one ascribed to Van Eyck, of Philip the\nGood, Duke of Burgundy, about the year 1493. The early Dutch painters\noften depicted boors playing cards, and those by Jan Steen, the two\nTeniers, and others are well known. Hogarth devoted a series of\nengravings to depicting grotesque figures playing chess, draughts, and\ncards.\n\nAfter the fourteenth century, it is easy to learn the important position\nthat Playing Cards reached in Spain, Italy, Germany, France, and England\nthrough the works of other painters, miniaturists, and engravers, while\nbooks such as \"Fortune-Telling,\" by Francisco di Milano, published in\n1560, or the one by Francisco Marcolini, published in Venice in 1540,\nprove the hold that the new amusement had taken on the people at that\ntime.\n\nProclamations against cards followed each other rapidly from State and\nChurch, so histories are filled with the denunciations of the clergy of\nthe fourteenth and fifteenth centuries against the old sin that had\nreappeared under a new form for them to combat. Mercury was as active as\never, and had quite as strong a hold on the affections of the people as he\nhad in the days when St. Paul landed in Italy, close to the Temple of\nMercury, and it was quite as hard to overcome his influence as it had been\nwhen Christianity first began to overthrow the heathen gods. Perhaps the\nday may come when those who believe in fate and predestination will\nconfront these preachers with the divine commands to consult the prophets\nso often mentioned in the Bible, notably when the Rods of the Israelites\nwere marked and laid before the testimony.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XVI\n\nASIATIC PLAYING CARDS\n\n\nIt has long been the opinion of students that the key to many things that\nare mysterious to Europeans could be found through studying the habits,\ncustoms, games, or cults of Asia and Africa, whose people cling to ancient\nideas and habits, so through looking at things with their eyes, and\nlistening to their views or opinions on the everyday happenings of life,\nthat the tangled skeins that puzzle our academically trained minds would\nbe unravelled.\n\nMuch has been done in this direction by Mr. F. H. Cushing and Mr. Stewart\nCulin, who have discovered, by patient research in America and the Eastern\npart of Asia, the value of the arrow in divination, in music, in\nmoney-making, and in symbolism, as well as in war, for which purpose it\nwas primarily intended. It was put to minor uses by its simple\nadaptability to the needs of the people, who were direct in their\npurposes, and who used the tools that were at hand no matter for what\nthey were originally intended.\n\nAny student of the Bible knows how often the gods were appealed to, not\nonly through the different offerings, but also for the purposes of\ndirectly divining their wishes, which was done most frequently through a\nsimple stick that could be cut from any sapling. This became in turn a\n\"divining arrow,\" or a magician's wand when in the hands of the Egyptian\nmagi. \"The staff of Moses\" as used during the plagues of Egypt, or the rod\n\"that put forth leaves\" when marked with Aaron's name. Small wonder, then,\nthat the \"golden-leaved rod,\" or _Aurea virga_, given by Apollo to\nMercury, was a venerated symbol, probably derived from the Egyptians, and\nby them from the Assyrians, where it was symbolically used in the worship\nof the gods, and when it was placed on the cards all persons could\nunderstand at a glance the intention and meaning of the Rod. It was not\nonly adopted from the Babylonians, who used it with the serpents twining\naround it exactly as it is seen in Mercury's hands, but the people had\nseen it put to practical use by the great marshal of the Israelites, who\nconfounded their wise men, or magi, with their own weapons. \"And the Lord\nspake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying: ... Take thy rod and cast it\nbefore Pharaoh, and before his servants, and it became a serpent. Then\nPharaoh also called the wise men and the sorcerers; now the magicians of\nEgypt, they also did in like manner with their enchantments, for they cast\ndown every man his rod, and they became serpents; but Aaron's rod\nswallowed up their rods.\" (Exodus vii:9.) Then Aaron was commanded to take\n\"the rod which was turned to a serpent,\" and to \"smite the waters that\nwere turned into blood\"; but the magicians did the same thing, and again\nwere able to produce the next plague by imitating Aaron's rod when it was\nstretched forth. But these wise men failed with their enchantments to\nproduce lice at their biding, saying: \"This is the finger of God.\" It is\nmore than likely that these magi were priests of the temple of Thoth, who\nwere the learned men of that day.\n\nMoses was also commanded \"to lift up thy rod,\" so that the children of\nIsrael should \"go on dry ground through the midst of the sea\" (Exodus\nxiv:15), and to use the same rod to \"smite the rock in Horeb\" (Exodus\nxvii:6). These examples may be multiplied, but enough has been quoted to\nshow the importance of this symbol in the minds of primitive people.\n\nLooking next to a people of this century who have retained almost\nunchanged their inherited customs, Mr. Culin has dwelt at length on the\npeople of Korea, who with the culture inherited from their neighbours, the\nChinese, have still a childlike simplicity and follow in the footsteps of\ntheir ancestors in their habits, games, and heraldic devices.\n\nIn \"Korean Games,\" Mr. Culin traces the origin of Playing Cards directly\nto \"practical arrows bearing cosmical or personal marks used by primitive\nman.\" See also Numbers xvii:3. He says: \"The pack of cards used to-day\nstands for a quiver of arrows with the emblems of the world's quarters,\"\nand further states that the most primitive Playing Cards of Asia, the\nHtou-Tjyen of Korea, still bear the marks of their origin. This confirms\nthe opinion already formed by the writer, who studied the subject from the\nBiblical and African point of view, concluding that the pips on the Tarot\ncards had a meaning that could be traced to the diviners of a period much\nearlier than the fortune-tellers or gypsies of Europe; that the cards\nthemselves were not intended for a game, but were originally devoted\nentirely to consulting the wishes of the gods; and that it was more than\nprobable that the cult of Thoth Hermes was a scientific adaptation of the\narrow worship of early man; and that the gift of speech that Mercury was\ncredited with bestowing on humans was the comprehension of the signs and\nthe ability through them to transmit to men the wishes of the gods.\n\nThe Korean cards are printed on paper, and are, therefore, one step higher\nin the scale than those found among the Alaskan Indians. These are simple\nround sticks on which are painted stripes of red and black, to denote\ntheir value. In some sets the ends are notched like arrows, which probably\nadds to the numerical value of the card. The Indians keep their sticks in\na sealskin pouch wrapped around with a thong of leather, on the end of\nwhich is a shark's tooth that is passed under the wrappings to hold them\nin place and secure the contents. A handful of oakum accompanies the bag.\nThis is needed during the consultation of the wishes of Manitou, for\nthese sticks are used for divination purposes as well as for play. A heap\nof oakum is placed on the ground, under which the sticks are hidden. The\nplayers squat in a circle around and draw from under the pile one stick\nafter the other, the meaning of which is interpreted by one of the party.\n\n[Illustration: GAMBLING CARDS\n\n    87-88-89 English Court Cards with French pips. About 1840.\n\n    90-91-92 German Cards, showing Six of Acorns, Six of Leaves, and Six\n    of Hearts.\n\n    93-94 Chinese Cards showing Money and Rod emblems.]\n\nThe Alaskans also have a game somewhat like the Mora of the Egyptians and\nthe Italians, only it is the value of the sticks or the stripes painted on\nthem that must be guessed.\n\nOne step higher are the sticks used by the Hidah Indians, the natives of a\nlittle group of islands in the Pacific Ocean off the west coast of North\nAmerica. These sticks show the totem marks of the tribes or families, such\nas the Bear, the Tortoise, etc. They are clearly derived from arrows, and\nsometimes have notched ends, and are still used for divination, although\nalso for games. Taken with those from Alaska, they are the most primitive\npacks known.\n\nThe next step forward is from the wooden shafts or rods to thin slips of\nyellow oiled paper, narrow and long, that belong to the Koreans. The use\nof these \"cards\" is still the same, and the close resemblance to the\nNorth American packs is marked, showing that all came from a common\nsource. These Korean cards serve as a link connecting the primitive arrow\nor rod with the step that follows, from which come the Chinese gambling\ntools.\n\nThe Korean cards are made of strips of paper about eight inches long by\nthree-quarters of an inch wide. They are uniformly decorated on the\nreverse side with a feather, which Mr. Culin considers important as\nattaching the cards to the original winged shaft. There are eighty cards\nin the pack, divided into eight suits of ten cards each, numbered from one\nto nine with numerals peculiar to these cards, which, like the device on\nthe other side, come from arrow feathers. The suit marks correspond to the\ntotemic emblems of the Koreans.\n\nThese cards are a vital bridge between the primitive traps for divination\nand the more enlightened devices of the canny Egyptian priests, for it was\nthrough the use of strips of bamboo, simple straws, or the arrows of the\nperiod that the priests first transmitted the wishes of the gods to\nmankind. But whether the cult of arrows originated in Egypt and travelled\nfrom that centre both east and west, being modified, simplified, or\nelaborated by every nation through which it passed, or whether it started\non the Pacific Ocean, to sweep across Asia to Africa and Europe, has not\nbeen made clear.\n\nIt is more than probable that the simple art of divining through the fall\nof arrows is due to the primitive tribes of Asia, and certainly in Exodus,\nNumbers, and others of the books of Moses, there are many records of the\ndirect command of the Almighty to his people to carry out his wishes\nthrough using the \"rods,\" or to consult his orders through occult means to\nbe revealed by the rods. These are authentic records on the subject, and\nare supported by the tablets found at Babylonia, so we may suppose that\n\"the arrows of divination\" spread gradually from this Asiatic centre,\nbecoming altered from time to time, until in many places all traces of the\noriginal purpose was lost, and the art of consulting the wishes of the\ngods through them lapsed into the pleasure of gambling.\n\nThe Korean name for their pack of cards is Htou-Tjyen, signifying\n\"Fighting Arrows,\" according to Mr. Culin in \"Korean Games\" (page 128).\n\"The suits,\" he says, \"represent Man, Fish, Crow, Pheasant, Antelope,\nStar, Rabbit, and Horse, the name of the card being written on it in\nChinese characters in some packs. Six Generals, or Court cards,\nrepresenting the heads or the chiefs of the different families, and two\nentirely blank cards, or Jokers, complete the set.\"\n\nOther packs have different totemic marks, but all agree with each other in\ngeneral appearance. It is said that there are a number of games that are\nplayed with these cards, but they are difficult for a foreigner to\nunderstand or learn.\n\nA close connection exists between the Korean pack and the lots used by the\nChinese to divine the lucky numbers in the game called Pak-Kop-Piu, as\nthese cards retain the feather device, and the names of both are nearly\nidentical with the word for arrows.\n\nThe most common packs of Chinese cards are narrow, like those of the\nKoreans, but are less than half the length, sometimes only about two and a\nhalf inches long by a quarter of an inch wide. These packs generally have\nplain red or black backs with no designs on them, and are printed with\nblack ink on white paper. There are at least twenty-five different kinds\nof Playing Cards common in China. Some of them are intended simply for\ndivination, others are for gambling, and some for the amusement or\ninstruction of children.\n\nSome are very primitive in their markings; others closely resemble\ndominos, having similar spots on them denoting their value; while the\ncards in common use have distorted emblems that are clearly derived from\nthe Sword, Stave, and Money pips of the Tarots, although the Cup of Hermes\nis not retained. It is noticeable that the Money emblem has a design upon\nit, and is not the simple ring of primitive times. This leads to the\nsuggestion that these particular cards were devised from those of Mercury.\nSince there are Court cards and a Joker, it would seem as if the Chinese\nhad adopted part of a pack of Tarots, omitting the Cup suit, since it had\nno meaning for them, but copying the other emblems in their own peculiar\nway; but this is only a guess as to the origin of this particular set of\ncards, and only those used for divination bear these devices.\n\nThe Chinese also have Actors' cards, bearing portraits of the heroes and\nheroines of certain favourite plays. These have three Jokers, that in\nChina bear the name of \"Blessings.\" Then there are flower packs and\neducational packs, Proverb cards, and cards to teach writing, so that the\nChinese have in their own original way marched step by step with\nEuropeans, but on parallel lines that have not met. The Chinese declare\nthat they have known and used Playing Cards for two thousand years, in\nwhich statement they are probably correct, as certainly the Rod, the\nSword, and Money emblems were known and used by the Babylonians in their\nreligious rites two thousand five hundred years before Christ.\n\nOwing to cards having been introduced into Japan by Portuguese traders,\nthe packs are called by the Portuguese name of Karta, as has been\nmentioned. But the resemblance to European cards stops there, for the\n\"shut-in nation\" invented designs and games for themselves, keeping them\ndistinct from divining instruments, of which they have a full share, some\nof them being identical with the Chinese rods for divination.\n\nOne Japanese game is historical, and the packs are beautifully painted in\nminiature, with gold backgrounds and gold backs. The cards are three by\nthree and a half inches in size. Two sets always come in one box, and the\ngame is played by matching cards. They far surpass European ones, for they\nare most carefully designed and painted. The two sets in the writer's\npossession resemble dainty miniatures, and the small figures might almost\nbe taken for likenesses of living people.\n\nThen there are other sets of cards of the same size as those described,\nbut differently marked, as they have three suits indicated by the colour\nof the emblems, blue, green, and red. There are two emblematic Court\ncards, one of them the picture of a house, the other one showing a stream\nover which a bridge is thrown. The pack in the writer's collection is\nrare, for none like it has been described, and there are none in the\nforeign museums.\n\nAnother set of cards is called Bakuchi-No-Euda, or gambling cards. Those\nin common use are of cardboard about two to two and a quarter inches\nsquare, with black backs and flowers painted or stencilled on them,\nrepresenting the weeks of the year. The game played with them is called\n\"flower matching.\" January is represented by a Matsu or Pine tree,\nfollowed by the Plum, Cherry, Wistaria, Iris, Peony, and Clover. The\neighth suit has a sketch of a volcano, representing August, which is the\nsacred month; during it pilgrimages are made to the mountain. The card\nwhich follows represents a Chrysanthemum; then comes a Maple for October.\nNovember is represented by rain, sometimes with a little man scampering\nthrough the driving storm with a half-opened umbrella over his head, his\nshoes flying off in the mud, with the symbol of thunder and lightning\nplaced in one corner of the card. December has the flower sacred to the\nMikado, the Kiri.\n\nEach card shows the flower representing it in different stages of\ndevelopment, according to the four weeks in the month. Each has a definite\nvalue, and the game is played by three persons, who match cards to make\ndifferent combinations. The Joker is blank, so these cards were never\nintended for divining, but were prepared solely for amusement.\n\nDivining arrows, represented by bamboo splints, are used in Japan as well\nas in China, and are nearly identical in both countries. Fifty sticks are\nkept in a quiver or a tube of cane, resembling the shape of the modern\ndicebox. \"The splints vary in length,\" says Mr. Culin, who describes them\nin \"Korean Games\" (page 26), \"from two to four inches.\" One person\nconsults the oracle, which is interpreted by a \"Baru,\" or fortune-teller,\nas described in \"Our Neighbourhood,\" by Mr. Purcell: \"Having rattled his\nrods together by rolling them between his palms, he raises them to his\nforehead.\" The sticks are then laid out in order on a table, and their\nmeaning is deciphered through referring to the \"Book of Oracular\nResponses,\" or through the \"inspiration of the magi, who declares that he\npasses one hour daily in a trance, during which he receives instruction as\nto the prognostication he must deliver.\"\n\nThere is another Japanese game called Hayku-Niu-Isshu, or the Poems on One\nHundred Arts. For this there are two hundred cards, that are kept in boxes\nespecially provided for them. On each card is printed or written either\nthe first or the last half of one of the hundred poems that give their\nname to the game, which all well-educated Japanese are supposed to know\nby heart. \"The one hundred cards having the latter half of the poems\nwritten on them are dealt and are laid out in rows, face upwards, before\nthe players, one of whom is appointed reader. He holds the remaining\nhundred and reads them aloud in whatever order they fall. Skill in the\ngame consists in remembering the line following the one read and rapidly\nfinding the card on which it is written. Especially must each one watch\nhis own and pick it up before it is seized by another. If an opponent is\nnimble he snatches the card from the careless player, giving several from\nhis own hand, and the one who is first able to match and discard all of\nhis cards wins the game. The players usually range themselves on opposite\nlines and play against each other.\" Such is the account of the game given\nby Miss Alice Mabel Bacon in \"Japanese Girls and Women\" (page 22).\n\nThe cards of this set in the author's possession are rather small, being\ntwo by two and a half inches, or a trifle larger than the Flower pack.\nThey are arranged in small wooden boxes, with a description of the rules\nof the game printed on the top; the lid moves up and down in a groove.\nThe verses are written in fine running characters on a white ground.\n\nIn Hindustan we find strange circular cards that have strayed far from the\narrow shape, and seem much more to resemble the European pips. There are\neight suits, indicated by the colour of the background, on which are\ndepicted Men, Bullocks, Elephants, and Tigers. The Money and Cup suits may\nbe traced in two of the emblems, the former painted like a double ring,\nand it is questionable if these cards were ever intended for divining\npurposes, since they seem to be used purely for amusement.\n\nPersian cards are about two inches by one and a half square. The suits are\nshown, like those of Cashmere, by the colours of the background. They have\nnothing in common with the arrow-shaped Korean, Chinese, or North American\ndivination cards, but rather incline to the emblematic figures of the\ntemple of Thoth as retained by the Tarots, for every card displays a\nsymbolic representative figure. These cards are rare even in Persia, and\nonly two incomplete sets are in the writer's collection, one of which\ncontains six, and the other eighteen, cards.\n\nThree of these cards have black backgrounds on which is displayed a white\nand yellow animal of a species unidentified. The third card of the set\nshows a great dragon with a forked tail twisted around a lion. Three of\nthe cards have green grounds, on which are seated figures, and one of them\nso closely resembles the Emperor, or Osiris, of the Tarots in position and\ndesign that it seems it must have been derived from that figure. Of the\nother two, one resembles the Atout called the Empress, and the other is a\nseated male figure, in the attitude of some of those in the Tarot pack.\nFour cards have black grounds sprinkled with dots of yellow. These four\nall show dragons or mythical animals, and are alike in every respect,\nwhich is not always the case with the other designs even when of kindred\nsuits. As none of the Atouts have animals depicted on them except in a\nsubordinate way, it would seem that some of the Persian cards are\noriginal, while others may have been copied. Another green suit has only\ntwo cards, although there might be more if the pack were complete. The\nground is _sem\u00e9_, like the last, with orange-coloured flecks, and displays\na seated figure with an attendant, its peculiarity being that this King\nhas his legs folded under him in Oriental fashion, while the figures on\nall the other cards are seated like the Egyptian gods. Two cards have gold\ngrounds, and on them are two standing figures, one beating a drum, the\nother man holding what may be a magician's rod or, perhaps, a flute. There\nare three cards of a dull yellow hue flecked with brown dots. These\nclosely resemble the Atouts, as one of the seated figures holds up a\ncircle or the Money mark, like the Queen of Dinari; and against the knees\nof the other a child leans, recalling Isis with Osiris. The eighteenth\ncard is the Joker, and shows a likeness of the late Shah of Persia. It was\nbrought from that kingdom in 1904. These cards do not seem all to have\nbelonged to the same pack, for five of them have been much more used than\nthe others. The Persians are secretive about their games, probably because\nthe religion of Mahomet, following that of the Jews, forbids any\nrepresentation of the human form. Therefore, games bearing such an emblem\nmust be used in private, and descriptions of them are not readily obtained\nby foreigners. The cards themselves offer an interesting problem, since\nthey retain the emblematic figures without any pip cards, and they stand\nalone in this respect in Asia, where the pip or arrow cards are more\ngenerally to be found than the figure cards. But, then, the Persians use\nthe cup or vase for divining purposes, as a rule, although in some parts\nthe arrows or rods of divination are common. There are also \"sticks\" found\namong the common people that seem to be used in this way, but the natives\nare chary of describing their purpose, so no trustworthy account of them\ncan be offered.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XVII\n\nCHESS AND OTHER GAMES\n\n\nMany writers have thought that Playing Cards were simply an evolution of\nChess, and the features connecting them have been widely discussed, since\nthere are strongly marked attributes common to both. But, as far as is\nknown, Chess has never at any time been used for divination, and there are\nno traditions connecting it with prophesying, while from time immemorial\ncards have been used for fortune-telling by almost all nations, either\nthrough the complete pack of Tarots, or the Book of Thoth, their\nsuccessors, the Playing Cards, or their predecessors, the divining arrows.\n\nOn the other hand, Chess is distinctly a mimic battleground, with armies\nof warriors drawn in serried ranks, defying each other to mortal combat,\nwhether there are only two armies, as in the modern games, or four, as on\nsome of the Asiatic boards. The figures are the rank and file of the\narmy, with their castles for base and retreat, their cavalry, their\nexecutive officers, and generals, with the monarch to preside over the\nfield. That in Europe one of the figures is called a Queen is strangely\nout of place, for her actions and moves during the game are those of an\nactive lieutenant or aide-de-camp. The name has been given to the piece in\nmodern days, for originally and in the East it is called the Vizier. That\nthe piece may be called after the dame who invented the game, as is said,\nseems improbable.\n\nSome writers declare that Chess came from Southern Africa, where it is\nwell known; but it is also found in primitive form in Korea and throughout\nEastern Asia, and traces of it have been seen in Central Asia, where (in\nBabylonia) stones have been discovered that are marked in squares, as if\nintended for Draught or Chess boards.\n\nA pretty legend is told of the Emperor Akbar, of India, for whom his\ncountrymen declared that the game was invented by one of his wives, who\nwanted to amuse her husband, after the manner of wives, and to keep him at\nhome, particularly as the king was suffering from a sunstroke that made\nit inadvisable for him to venture to head his army. With this end in view,\nshe ranged the courtiers on the black and white squares in the courtyard\nwithin the precincts of the palace, in order that the king might amuse\nhimself fighting his battles in a harmless way from his divan, that was\nplaced in one of the balconies overhanging the enclosed space. A graphic\ndescription of the palace is given in \"Our Vice Regal Life in India,\" by\nLady Dufferin (page 150). Referring to the legend, she says: \"There is a\ncurious place which is a five-storied open court, each platform getting\nsmaller, till the top one is a mere little summer house. Each one is\nsupported on rows and rows of pillars, from them one looks down into a\ncourt, where the Great Mogul used to sit and play Chess with live pieces.\"\n\nIn \"India, China, and Japan,\" by Bayard Taylor (page 108), the author\nsays: \"This palace of Sheesh Mahal (or Palace of Glass), with its\ncourtyard paved with squares of black and white marble, has an open\nterrace in front, where is the throne of Akbar, which is a block of black\nmarble about six feet square. It is said that when any one seats\nthemselves on it, blood gushes from a split in the side, and red stains\non the surface support this tradition. Opposite the throne is a smaller\none of white marble, where the emperor's fool sat and burlesqued his\nmaster.\" This fellow carried a staff of office and conducted the pieces to\ntheir positions as indicated by Akbar and his opponent.\n\nThe game of chess, with living pieces, became a favourite with the Rajahs\nof India, so many of the courts of different palaces were also arranged\nfor Chess or Parchesi, a game played with pieces, but with less\ncomplicated rules than for Chess. Though the court jester was the master\nof ceremonies, he has not taken his place permanently among the chessmen,\nalthough he may be sometimes found among them, notably in a beautiful gold\nand silver set of men made for one of the kings of Bavaria and now in the\nMuseum at Munich. In this set there are two Jokers, who are placed in\nfront of all the others in the middle of the board as at present arranged,\nbut their value and moves seem not to have been recorded and are now\npractically unknown.\n\nIt was at one time supposed that the figures of the chessmen were\ntransferred to pasteboard cards, thus making a masked army instead of one\nthat was on an open field, and that Playing Cards originated in this way;\nbut this theory is no longer tenable. Mr. Wiltshire, in \"Playing Cards,\"\nderides the idea that they are derived from Chess, saying: \"Chess is a\ngame of calculation and combination, and cards are purely chance,\" which\nopinion is sustained, for up to this time the history of the two games\npoints to no common derivation.\n\nIt is claimed that Chess was first played before the walls of Troy, having\nbeen invented by Palamedes to amuse the Greeks, who were tired of the\nmonotony of the siege. This is probably one of the first records of games,\nalthough it is not certain that the one referred to was Chess any more\nthan that it was a game of cards, which some writers have supposed.\n\nIn \"The Sea Kings of Crete,\" by Rev. James Baikie, is an account and an\nillustration of a gaming board just discovered in the palace of Minos,\nwhich certainly dates from one thousand four hundred years before Christ,\nbut it resembles a Draught board more than one for Chess.\n\nThere is an Egyptian caricature of a lion and a unicorn playing a game on\na table with men, which, however, are too indistinct to describe as\nchessmen. There is a set of chessmen in the British Museum, the date of\nwhich is uncertain, that are by some considered to have been of such early\norigin that they prove that the Egyptians had the game, although\ndeductions of this kind are sometimes overthrown by subsequent\ndiscoveries.\n\nThat chessmen of the conventional type are by no means absolutely\nnecessary for a game is shown by the Korean Tjyang-Keui, whose figures\nclosely resemble the pieces used by the Chinese. The men of the set in the\nwriter's collection are of wood about the thickness of an ordinary checker\nor draughtsman, but they are octagonal in shape, and the size of the\npieces varies, since it is indicative of the value. Sometimes the pieces\nare circular in shape, and have their value painted in incised characters\non both sides in red, blue, or green, according to the side they\nrepresent. The King or General is much the largest piece and about an inch\nand a half in diameter. The Chariot, Elephant, Horse, and Cannon are of\nmedium size, while the Pawns and Councillors are the smallest. The pieces\nin the writer's collection were kept by the original owner in a netted\nstring bag. The board differs from those of Europe, as the men are placed\nat the intersections of the squares, and not in their centres, as is\ncustomary in other places. The game, as played in Korea, is logical, and\nwas the inspiration of various games played in Germany, where marbles are\nplaced in stated positions on boards made for the purpose, with rounded\nholes, and marked off with diagrams. In some games the board represents a\nfort to be defended; in others, a series of positions to be captured by\none or other of two armies of equal value.\n\nA very interesting set of chessmen in the British Museum was found at Nig,\nin the Isle of Lewis, and is described as \"North European, Twelfth\nCentury.\" The backs are carved with intricate interlacing designs like\nthose on the reverse of the old Tarots. The Queens rest their cheeks on\ntheir right hands. The Kings have swords laid across their laps. The\nBishops are mitred, and all are seated.\n\nAn anonymous writer declares: \"The most probable conjecture is that Chess\ndescended from the Brahmins, through Persia, to Arabia, about the sixth\ncentury, and passed into Europe two or three hundred years later.\"\nContinuing, the writer says: \"A mathematician named Seffa originated the\ngame for his master, Ravan, King of Ceylon, who was so pleased with the\ndevice that he asked the inventor to name his own reward. The cunning sage\ndemanded enough wheat to cover the board, starting with a single grain for\nthe first square, two for the second, and so on, doubling the grains until\nthe sixty-four squares were covered, finally adding the whole amount\ntogether, so when computed, it was found that more wheat would be required\nthan the world produced in ten years.\"\n\nThe Persians claim that Chess was invented in their country, pointing out\nthe retention of some of their names and expressions in the English game,\nsuch as \"Check,\" from the Persian Sciack or King, and \"Mat,\" signifying\n\"dead,\" hence \"Checkmate,\" or \"The King is dead.\" These words may well\nhave their derivation from the Persian or Arabic, but they are not\nuniversally employed, although Chess is of ancient origin and has been\nplayed for centuries in Africa, Asia, and Europe. The term Rook, that is\nsometimes used instead of Castle, is undoubtedly of Indian origin,\nderived from Rokh, and signifying dromedary. In China this piece is called\nKu, and in Korea Tcha, words in no way connected with the Arabic.\n\nThere are many historical descriptions of Chess in Europe too well known\nto be repeated; besides which, there are numerous copper, steel, and wood\nengravings showing persons playing Chess.\n\nIn \"A History of the Moorish Kings\" (1396), there is an account of a game\nplayed when Jussef, the heir to the throne, was ordered to be beheaded by\nhis usurping brother. An alcade was sent to the prison for the purpose of\ncarrying out the command, but, finding Jussef playing Chess, and becoming\ninterested in his skill, he waited until the game terminated to dispatch\nthe prince. However, before it was finished, the usurper, Mehemed, was\nmurdered, so Jussef succeeded to the throne and rewarded the kindly\nexecutioner with money and honours.\n\nOne of the earliest descriptions of Chess in the English language was\nwritten by Thomas Hyde in 1694, at about the time that Cotton's \"Complete\nGamester,\" on the subject of gambling and its tools, appeared. There is a\nrare book, entitled \"The Game and Playes of the Chess,\" that, strange to\nsay, contains little or nothing concerning the game beyond its title.\n\n\"It is remarkable,\" says Sir Gardiner Wilkinson, in \"Ancient Egyptians\"\n(Vol. II, page 415), \"that a game so common as Mora among the lower order\nof Italians should be found to have existed in Egypt from the earliest\nperiod of which their paintings remain, even in the reign of the First\nOsirtasen.\" The game, which requires no accessories, is skillfully played\nby holding up certain fingers to an opponent, who tries to guess the\nnumber; it was probably carried to the Southern ports of Italy by the\nEgyptians, when the yearly voyage was made to the Bay of Naples, at the\ntime that the great Temple of the Serapeon was erected at Pozzuoli and the\ncult of Thoth Hermes introduced.\n\nDraughts were also found in early days at or about the same place, and\nthat game is represented as being played on the sculptures of Beni Hassan\nin grottoes on the east bank of the Nile. The same authority says: \"This\nwould be coeval with Joseph, or 1740 B. C.\"\n\nAn anonymous writer in an English paper states that one of the frescoes of\nthe palace of Rameses II shows the mighty Pharaoh himself playing against\nsome of the beauties of his harem.\n\nMany writers consider that the Roman Latronculi and the Greek\nDigrammisnios were games of Chess or Draughts. A Spaniard, named Antonio\nTorquemada, published rules for the latter as early as 1547, and a\nFrenchman, named Pierre Malet, described the Parisian game in 1668. The\nlatter called for a board of sixty-four squares, the men moving but one\nblock at a time, and the crowned pieces having the right to move\nbackwards. The game was not popular in France until the days of the\nRegency, when the Polish game, that is played on a board with one hundred\nsquares, each player having twenty pieces, became the vogue.\n\nThis variation of the old game of Draughts was introduced by a man named\nManoury, who started life as a waiter in one of the caf\u00e9s. He gave lessons\nto Marshal Saxe and Jean Jacques Rousseau, besides writing out the rules\ngoverning the game for the use of his pupils.\n\nIn France and England players use the black squares on the Checker board,\nbut in Holland and Russia the white ones are those that are favoured, and\nit is strange how puzzling this slight change is to unaccustomed players.\n\nDraughtsmen or checkers are made of many different materials, such as\nclay, bone, wood, and ivory. Some old ones in the British Museum are of\nivory, two inches in diameter, and were found in Leicestershire. On one of\nthem is a figure like Il Pendu, or the Hanged Man, of the Atouts. In the\nwriter's collection there are some draughtsmen of unpainted wood most\nbeautifully carved. One of them displays a winged figure with a cap of\nMercury hanging over his head, on top of which is perched a die, a Four\nSpot on one side of it, while the other displays an Ace. The cap is\nsuspended in the air over a table covered with a fringed cloth, on which\nrests a rose and a laurel wreath. A motto surrounding the checker reads:\n_Fert Praemia Favsta_. On the reverse is a hand emptying a purse on a\nBackgammon board, the legend being _Freqvens Tibidissipat Avrum_. Another\nchecker, a mate to the above, shows a table on which is a Backgammon board\nand two players busy over the game. The man is seated, while the woman is\nstanding with arms upraised, and having evidently just lost a game, is\nupbraiding her companion. The motto is _Ars Sortem Corrigat Astx_. The\nreverse shows a draped Cupid opening a money chest, the motto being _Sat\nLoevlo Havt Ocvio_. A black man of this set shows a warrior talking to a\nharpist, the motto being _Juam Rari Amici Chari_. The reverse shows a\nfigure of Mercury, as Luck, with a philosopher and a courtier trying to\nhold the flying figure with ropes that have been thrown around the waist\nof the flitting god. The motto is _Ah Fortuna Bona Me Condona_. These\ncheckers are part of a set that was once in Lady Charlotte Schriber's\ncollection of games. They are probably of German manufacture, as they\nclosely resemble sets of draughtsmen that are in the Nuremburg and Munich\ncollections.\n\nIn Korea the game of Draughts is a favourite one. The pieces are not flat\nand round, like those of Europe, but the \"horses,\" as they are named in\nKorea, have shanks about two inches long, with round, solid bases, making\nthem easy to pick up and move, but they would be awkward if the game\ncalled for \"jumping,\" as does that of European players. With this\nexception, the rules for playing resemble those common in Europe.\n\nThe Japanese, the Siamese, and the Chinese all play the game with the\nassistance of dice, and the men as well as the boards show an origin\ncommon with those already mentioned. They are games of luck or chance, but\nare not used for fortune-telling, and have nothing in common with cards,\narrow divination, or prophesying, unless students can hereafter trace them\nto the Urim and Thummim of the Bible.\n\nGames with dice are favourites in all Asiatic countries, but the men\nthemselves and the games played with them are far more elaborate and\nscientific than those of Europe, and capable of a great variety of\ncombinations quite unknown to English-speaking nations. The mathematical\ncalculations necessary for the Asiatic games are intricate and\ncomplicated, but well worthy of adoption.\n\nAbout 1815 the Germans issued a pack of cards that had dice on them\ninstead of the commonplace pips. The set in the writer's collection is\nincomplete and incomprehensible without the rules, that have been lost.\nThe cards have the dice on the lower half, while the upper part displays\ndifferent designs, such as a diligence, a ship, a bookcase, and an easy\nchair. The two designs last mentioned have \"doctor\" printed under them.\n\n[Illustration: GAMBLING, HISTORICAL AND EDUCATIONAL CARDS\n\n    95-96 Spanish Cards showing Four of Cups (with name Naypes, meaning\n    prophetical) and Knave of Money (with the gazelle of Osiris).\n\n    97 English Educational Cards--historical. One of the Jubilee pack\n    containing Queen Victoria and all her descendants.\n\n    98 Netherlands Domino Card for teaching music.\n\n    99 United States Domino Card.\n\n    100 United States Numbered Card for game of Grabouche or Flinch.\n\n    101 United States Educational Card for game of Authors.\n\n    102 English Educational Card for teaching arithmetic.]\n\nGames of dice are probably the oldest known, and are found in all Asiatic\ncountries. The evolution from them to dominos is easily traced, for the\nlatter is evidently a pair of dice placed together. The pieces in a Korean\nset of dominos in the writer's collection are of the size that a pair of\nEuropean dice would make if glued side by side. Besides the games of\nchance, dice are used for divining purposes all over the world, but\nparticularly in Africa and Asia.\n\nJackstones, or Knuckle-bones, is another old game. There is in the British\nMuseum a most interesting marble group of boys playing Jackstones. A\nlively dispute, if not an active fight, over the result of the game is in\nprogress, and the little men are scattered over the ground while the boys\nwrestle.\n\nJackstones may be of many different materials, although those most\ncommonly used are the simple round pebbles found by any roadside. A set\nin the writer's collection is of bone, which was common in New York about\n1850. Others are of glass and are said to be Phoenician. Ivory and sheeps'\nknuckles are favourites with children, who in modern times have added a\nsmall rubber ball for a Jack.\n\nThe game seems to be universal, for children on the Nile, in Hungary,\nAustria, France, England, and the United States all seem to play the same\nprimitive game that is common in Asia. In \"Korean Games\" (page 58), Mr.\nCulin calls it Kong-Keui, and says it is played by boys with five or six\nstones or pieces of bricks. When girls play, they use cash or coins, and\nthen the game is called Tja-Ssei. When played with stones, it is called\nIshi-Nago, or throwing stones, and ten of these are used. The Chinese call\nthe game Chaptsz, or picking up stones.\n\nNo rules for the Western game seem ever to have been written, but they are\ntransmitted from one generation to another with almost no difference,\nwhatever the country may be, although it is noticeable that the innovation\nof the rubber ball for a Jack seems to have been introduced by the Polish\nor Russian Jew children to the New Yorkers, as it is chiefly played by\nthese little immigrants. The game has nothing to do with divination, and\nis one merely of skill, as it is a simple amusement of the most primitive\nkind, for, given a handful of stones, any one can learn the game, and,\nwith a moderate amount of practice, can play it with more or less skill.\n\nThere are five pieces to a set; four are of equal value, and the fifth is\ncalled the Jack. Any one of the five may be used for the Jack, which is\nsimply the stone that is tossed into the air while the others are gathered\nin the hand.\n\nThe sets (or their order) are agreed upon beforehand by the players. Any\nnumber can take part, for each one plays for himself, and the winner is\nthe one who independently executes all the difficult sets without failing.\nAny place is convenient for the game, and the stones are generally thrown\non the lap, the ground, a pillow, a doorstep, or even the pavement.\n\n\"Muggins\" is the name of the first set, which consists in gathering all\nfive stones in the palm of the right hand and throwing them into the air\ntogether, then catching all five on the back of the hand. Without\nstopping, the stones must be thrown again in the air and all five caught\ntogether in the hand. This makes all the stones of equal value and all of\nthem Jacks (the technical name for the stone thrown in the air while\ndifferent movements are being done). The Muggins set requires considerable\ndexterity, and a player dropping any one of the stones loses his turn,\nwhich passes to the player on the left. The next set is not started until\nall the players have successfully accomplished their turn of Muggins,\nwhich must be done five times in succession without failing.\n\n\"Milking the Cow\" is the name of the second set. The stones are gathered\nin the hand and the Jack is thrown into the air, and while it is \"up,\" one\nstone is quietly and gently placed upon the table from the palm, but must\nnot be thrown or dropped, and the Jack caught as it comes down. This is\nrepeated until all the stones are discarded one after the other, the art\nbeing to do this without letting more than one escape at a time. If this\nis not done, the turn passes to the next player on the left; but, if\nsuccessfully accomplished, the stones are swept into a heap and caught up\nin the hand while the Jack is in the air. All the players must do this in\nsuccession or lose their turn. Those who have not completed the first\nMuggins take their turn here, and must do it five times without fault\nbefore beginning to milk.\n\n\"Grab\" is the name of the third set, and it is difficult. It is called\n\"Laying Eggs\" in Korea. It is done by laying four stones about two inches\napart in a row, tossing the Jack and picking them up one by one. The first\nstone is kept in the hollow of the palm of the right hand while the Jack\nis tossed and the second stone is picked up. This is retained, and the\nthird stone is picked up in the same way, and so on until all are caught\nin the right hand. Then all are placed in a heap and are gathered while\nthe Jack is tossed. The left hand is not used at all in these two sets.\n\n\"Peas in the Pot\" is the first set of the second part of the game. The\nleft hand is partly closed and four stones are placed about an inch apart\nin a row, the first one touching the thumb. Players, to show their skill,\nwill often make the spaces wider, but they must not throw the Jack any\nhigher than is usual, which is about a foot and a half. The play consists\nin throwing the Jack, and, while it is in the air, one stone after\nanother is picked up and put in the pot (which is the left hand). Some\nplayers push the stones into the pot. To do so, the thumb and forefinger\nof the left hand are opened to allow the stones to pass in, but this is\nconsidered unworkmanlike by good players. The stones, after being placed\nin the pot and the left hand removed, are gathered with one swoop as the\nJack is tossed.\n\n\"Horses in the Stable\" is played with the fingers of the left hand\noutstretched to form stalls. The stones are placed about four inches away\non the table, and must be pushed into the stalls one by one while the Jack\nis aloft. Then all are gathered up at once in the right hand while the\nJack is tossed. In Hindustan the native girls have their photographs taken\nwhen playing this set of Jackstones.\n\n\"Horses out of the Stable\" follows. The stones are pushed out with one\nmotion, one beside the other, and then caught up with one sweep as the\nJack is tossed. The art consists in getting the stones close together when\nthey leave the stalls, so that they can be grabbed with one sweep while\nthe Jack is up.\n\n\"Sweeping the Floor\" comes next. The stones are placed four inches apart\nin a square, and the third finger of the right hand must sweep inside two\nof the stones without touching them while the Jack is aloft. They must\nthen be gathered and caught with one sweep of the hand.\n\n\"Spreading the Table\" is done by arranging the square with four stones, as\nin the preceding set, after which they are pushed together with one sweep\nand caught in the right hand while the Jack is up.\n\n\"Laying Eggs,\" called Al-Nat-Ki in Korea, is the next set. American\nchildren play it exactly in the same way as do the Asiatics. Four stones\nare placed on the table, the Jack is tossed, one stone is picked up and\nlaid down while the Jack is in the air. Then another stone is picked up as\nthe Jack is tossed and laid down as before, until all are used. In \"Korean\nGames,\" Mr. Culin describes this play, but no reference is made to the\npreceding sets, although they are played in Europe.\n\n\"Setting the Eggs,\" or Al-Houm-Ki, calls for four of the stones being\nplaced beside the left hand and pushed under it, as is done in \"Peas in\nthe Pot.\"\n\n\"Hatching the Eggs,\" or Al-Kka-Ki, consists in holding all the stones in\nthe right hand, with one tucked under the little finger. This is then\ndropped gently on the table while the Jack is tossed, the other stones\nbeing held in the hand, and this is repeated until all are down.\n\nA good player may work right through the whole number of sets before the\nopponents have a chance to play at all. Children often arrange handicaps\namong themselves to prevent this. One peculiarity of the game seems to be\nthat it is a point of honour among the children to take no unfair\nadvantage of each other, but to try to assist and make the others win if\npossible, and it is one of the few games played by children that seldom\nlead to quarrelling. There are variations of the sets, but the above is\nthe standard game.\n\nQuite different from the last, which is simply one of skill, is the game\nknown as Jackstraws, which is a primitive game, but it is played all over\nthe world, and is evidently derived from the \"arrows of divination.\" A set\nof Chinese Jackstraws in the writer's collection was made about the middle\nof the last century, probably for exportation, for some of the straws are\nEuropean in character. They are of ivory, which is most delicately\ncarved, and are not coloured, as are some of the sets of Chinese\nJackstraws that are carved out of bone. They were imported by a naval\nofficer who was on the expedition under Commodore Perry which opened the\ntreaty ports of Japan to American trade.\n\nIn this set there are two hooks, for separating the pieces one after\nanother without shaking any of the bunch. The long, slender \"straws\" are\nfour inches in length. There are eight that are carved to represent\nJavelins, and eight carved like Spears. They count, respectively, one and\ntwo marks if taken from the rest of the pile without shaking. Then there\nare twenty Straws, counting ten apiece, that are delicately carved, each\none entirely different from any of the others. There is a Spade, a hooked\nSpear, an Arrow, an Axe, a Flag, a Standard, a Halberd, a war Hammer, a\nJavelin, a Sabre, a Lance, a Sword, a Trident, and a Pitchfork. These all\nseem to be intended to represent weapons familiar in the antiquated\nwarfare of China. The five European implements are a long-handled Shovel,\na pair of Tongs, a Bodkin, a Pen, and a Musket. The skillful player who\ncaptures the Tongs counts twenty, since it is twice as difficult to\ndisentangle as any of the other Straws, that are valued at ten marks\napiece.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XVIII\n\nFORTUNE-TELLING THROUGH THE CARDS\n\n\nWithout in the least crediting that cards that are derived from ancient\nmysteries are able to reveal the incidents connected with human life, many\npeople consider the trial an interesting amusement.\n\nWhat were the methods used by the ancients for divining the wishes of the\ngods? Truly this opens a vast field of inquiry that ranges through every\ndevice and symbol ever invented by man.\n\nWithin a few years various plans have been suggested for reading the fate\nthrough the hand, as is done by the Gypsies, or by the cards, as practised\nby the priests of Mercury; but these are only a few hundred years old, and\nprobably have but little relation to the actual rites that have left no\nauthentic record and now can only be guessed.\n\nConsultation of the cards serves to amuse the idle, the curious, and the\ncredulous, so a brief recapitulation of the two methods most in vogue may\ninterest readers, who can try for themselves to read what the divining\ntools say through the interpretations used by two of the most celebrated\nfortune-tellers of the past century, namely: Etteila and Mlle. le Normand.\nThe latter used modern French cards, while the former required a complete\nTarot pack that is not easy for most people to obtain.\n\nCardmakers have not been unready to invent for their customers various\nfantastic packs with weird symbols, and to bestow on these modern\ncreations various significances that have no relation whatever to the old\nTarots; therefore they are valueless in the eyes of those who believe in\nthe ancient mysteries, which have been implicitly credited for ages, and\nhave a significance that is not difficult to understand, although the\ndifferent shades of meaning attributed to them by the Initiates have been\nlost.\n\nThe fortune-telling packs issued by the card makers of the day generally\nbear French pips, since these symbols are the ones familiar to\nmanufacturers in France, England, and America. They have, in addition,\nbadly drawn, inartistic pictures that are foolish and meaningless, since\nthey are neither heraldic nor symbolic, and they are only intended for\namateurs, since the true fortune-teller or Gypsy of to-day prefers the\ncards with the ancient pips of Money, Swords, Rods, and Cups, together\nwith the Atouts.\n\nA pack published in Frankfort-on-Main has the French, not the German,\npips, as would seem natural, and the cards are named \"Le Normand Karten.\"\nThey are great favourites in Europe, where they are used for foretelling\nthe future and describing the past or present by credulous persons who\nfollow the rules laid down in the accompanying book or key, believing that\nthe cards were originally arranged and interpreted by the celebrated\nFrench _cartomancie_, Mlle. le Normand herself, who had wonderful luck in\nher business and has had many successors.\n\nThis pack is one and a half by three inches in width, which is smaller\nthan ordinary Playing Cards, and more convenient for laying out on a\ntable. The pack contains only thirty-six cards, with three court cards to\neach suit, namely: King Queen, and Knave. The six pip cards are Ace, Six,\nSeven, Eight, Nine, and Ten. Each one has a meaningless picture on it,\nsuch as a coffin, birds, flowers, or keys, and male or female figures\ndressed in the fashion of 1850. In the upper centre of each card is a\nsmall space, on which are the court figures or the pip symbols that are\nrepresented on an ordinary pack of French cards.\n\nThe directions for consulting the cards are printed in German and French\nin a small book accompanying them, so, since any pack with French pips\nwould serve for the same amusement, the rules and interpretations may well\nbe here given, as many persons enjoy consulting the cards to discover\nthrough them, if they may, the past, present, and future.\n\nShuffle and cut the cards, and then hand them to the Inquirer to cut three\ntimes. Deal one at a time, placing them face upward on the table in rows\nfrom left to right. The first four rows each should have eight cards, and\nthe fifth row only four cards, which should be placed in the middle under\nthe others. These signify the end of life, and the row is, consequently,\nshorter than the others. The cards for this row must be put so that there\nare two outside of them on either side, both left and right on the row\nabove them, which makes the two outside lines count only four cards from\ntop to bottom, while the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth lines have five\ncards under them.\n\nIf the inquirer is a female, she is represented by the Ace of Spades, and\nif a male, he is betokened by the Ace of Hearts. These cards also\nrepresent husband and wife, or two lovers, and great attention must be\npaid to the place where they fall in dealing, for all the other cards are\ndominated and controlled by one of these two, taking their significance\nfrom them. The portent of the other cards is great or less in degree\naccording to their position, whether it be near or far, above or below,\nthese two representative cards. Those touching them are supposed to show\nthe events that are happening at the present moment, those far from them\nare in the past, or the future, depending whether they are above or below\nthe two important ones.\n\nThe meaning of the thirty-six remaining cards is explained as follows:\n\n    KING OF SPADES.--Great happiness. A journey. A voyage on business. A\n    happy life.\n\n    QUEEN.--Happiness throughout life in every way.\n\n    KNAVE.--A birth. A child. A sweet disposition. Affability.\n\n    TEN.--Inherited wealth. Business. Fortune. Journey on account of\n    business. Travel.\n\n    NINE.--Successful voyages. Commercial enterprises. Faithfulness.\n    Illusions. Flirtations.\n\n    EIGHT.--Social position. Constant love. Unimportant position. Bad\n    companions.\n\n    SEVEN.--Good news. A letter from a distance. Bad news. An invitation.\n\n    SIX.--Long life. Sad life. Sickness. Death.\n\n           *       *       *       *       *\n\n    KING OF CLUBS.--Trouble. Happiness. Disaster to friends. Good news of\n    friends.\n\n    QUEEN.--Misfortune. Bad friends. Slander. Loss.\n\n    KNAVE.--Discord in family. Unhappiness between lovers. Illness.\n    Protracted sufferings.\n\n    TEN.--Happiness. Indifference. Trouble from outsiders. Slander.\n\n    NINE.--Annoyances. Troubles from friends. Quarrels. Lawsuit.\n\n    EIGHT.--Friendship. Faithful lover. Powerful enemy. Enemy overcome.\n\n    SEVEN.--Loss. Thief. Loss recovered. Loss irreparable.\n\n    SIX.--Disagreeable news. Slight trouble. Bad news. Trouble for\n    friends.\n\n    ACE.--Engagement. Happy marriage and riches. Broken engagement.\n    Separation of lovers.\n\n           *       *       *       *       *\n\n    KING OF DIAMONDS.--Fortune from the sea. Enterprises successful.\n    Misfortune. Loss.\n\n    QUEEN.--Unhappiness averted. Danger escaped. Sorrow. Trouble.\n\n    KNAVE.--Chagrin. Misfortune averted. Danger. Unhappiness averted.\n\n    TEN.--News. Secret intelligence. Gossip. Scandal.\n\n    NINE.--Illness. Sorrow. Accidents. Danger.\n\n    EIGHT.--Invitations. A love affair. Pleasure for the beloved. A love\n    affair in the family.\n\n    SEVEN.--Happy journey. Arrival of friends. A short trip. A journey.\n\n    SIX.--Pleasure. Good news. Annoyances overcome Good fortune.\n\n    ACE.--Prosperity. Good luck. Discouragement. Misfortune.\n\n           *       *       *       *       *\n\n    KING OF HEARTS.--Reunion. Prosperity. Fidelity. Endurance.\n\n    QUEEN.--An excursion. A journey. A prevented visit. Delayed journey.\n\n    KNAVE.--Love. Happiness. Pleasure. Concord.\n\n    TEN.--Fidelity. Lovers. Friendships. Treachery.\n\n    NINE.--Good news. Tidings. Letters. Visits.\n\n    EIGHT.--Honours. Approbation. Jealousy. Misery.\n\n    SEVEN.--Pain. Slight illness. Recovery from illness. Health.\n\n    SIX.--Good fortune. Happiness. Reverses. Troubles.\n\nWith this key to the interpretation of the cards, as arranged according to\nMlle. le Normand's theory, they may be read as follows, counting on the\ncards as they fall near or far from the Ace of Hearts. If they are above\nor close to and on the right, they mean the first description; if on the\nleft, they signify the second one. If below on the right, the third\ndescription is the one to be taken, and if below on the left, the fourth.\n\nSuppose a young man is the inquirer, and the cards be dealt as follows:\n\n    FIRST ROW.--Six of Diamonds, Nine of Clubs, Seven of Hearts, Seven of\n    Diamonds, Ten of Spades, Queen of Clubs, Ace of Hearts, Ten of Clubs.\n\n    SECOND ROW.--Six of Spades, Seven of Spades, Eight of Clubs, Six of\n    Clubs, Nine of Spades, King of Clubs, Ace of Clubs, Seven of Clubs.\n\n    THIRD ROW.--King of Hearts, Knave of Hearts, King of Diamonds, Queen\n    of Spades, Knave of Spades, Queen of Diamonds, Six of Hearts, Ten of\n    Diamonds.\n\n    FOURTH ROW.--Queen of Hearts, King of Spades, Ace of Spades, Eight of\n    Diamonds, King of Clubs, Eight of Hearts, King of Diamonds, Nine of\n    Hearts.\n\n    FIFTH ROW.--Ten of Hearts, Nine of Diamonds, Eight of Spades, Ace of\n    Diamonds.\n\nThis could be explained through the key as being a young man who from\nbirth had been surrounded by envious, jealous, and quarrelsome persons,\nwho formed his character, leading to the greatest unhappiness in the\nfamily life. The marriage of his parents having been unfortunate, it\nreacted on the boy's welfare. A trusted friend or guardian stole the\nfortune that had been left in trust. But, endowed with good health, these\ntroubles were disregarded in youth. His character being unbridled,\ncapricious, frivolous, inconstant, peevish, and given to imagining\ngrievances, although affectionate to his friends, his disposition made him\nuncongenial to most persons.\n\nSecret enemies, who had been trusted as friends, embittered his life in a\nway that nothing could overcome. A long journey undertaken for the sake of\nforgetfulness was filled with annoyances and mishaps. Some brightness\nentered into it through the companionship of a charming woman, which might\nhave resulted in a happy marriage had not the jealous spirit that\ncontrolled the young man's career prevented. An early death is\nprognosticated.\n\nLet us now consider the other method of fortune-telling, which was\nfollowed by Etteila, a celebrated French fortune-teller, who lived in\nParis about one hundred years since, who wielded a vast influence over his\ncompatriots, who firmly believed, as, indeed, he did himself, that he had\ndiscovered the key to the Book of Thoth Hermes Trismegistus through an old\npack of Tarots that fell by chance into his hands.\n\nIt is said that Napoleon Bonaparte had great faith in the deductions and\nrevelations of this _ci-devant_ hairdresser's apprentice, to whom\nJosephine presented him. The empress was an ignorant and credulous woman,\nowing to her education in the West Indian island of her birth, the society\nof which was corrupted by Negro superstitions of a most complicated and\nfar-reaching character.\n\nEtteila published a book called \"Collection sur les Hautes Sciences\"\n(1780). It included an essay on \"The Sublime Book of Thoth\" that is now\nvery rare, but he saw what few others had seen, that Playing Cards were of\nEgyptian origin, although he failed entirely to trace their progress\nthrough the temples of Nebo and Thoth to the Mercury of the Romans, so, of\ncourse, never connected the pips with the emblems of Mercury or\ndiscovered that they originated from the divine commands given to the\nIsraelites, as well as to the desire of primitive people to consult the\nTablets of Fate that were inscribed by Nebo, the great god of Babylonia.\nMany of the statements and beliefs of Etteila would have doubtless been\nreceived with greater credence if these tokens had been pointed out. But\nEtteila declared that he had discovered the different subtle meanings\nconnected with the Tarots, and that he had elucidated many of the points\nthat had previously been obscure. He certainly obtained astonishing\nresults when consulting the Tarots, or a set of cards that were probably\ninvented by himself, and which are now rare. They were adorned with\nfigures of men and women dressed in the fashion of his day, with numbers\non them, but with no pip marks. They were printed on a yellow-tinted\npaper, and when issued were accompanied by a small book of rules for their\nuse in divining.\n\nPapus, in his \"Tarots of the Bohemians,\" having digested various works on\nthe Gypsies, kabalism, and occultism, worked out many rules for divining\nwith the Tarots. He places great reliance on magnetic currents, the\nposition of the stars, and the signs of the zodiac, suggesting astrology,\nbut he finds these symbols in the Tarots. He also gives value to the\nletters of the Hebrew alphabet in connection with the Atouts, but, after\nall, he declares that intuition plays a most important part when reading\nthe Tarots.\n\nAs has been pointed out, the Book of Thoth, or the Tarot pack, is divided\ninto two volumes, twenty-two leaves of which are called Atouts and bear\nsymbolic figures more or less correctly described by the names written on\nthem. The fifty-six leaves of the second volume are divided into four\nsuits, namely: Cups, Swords, Rods, and Money, with four court cards to\neach suit: King, Queen, Knave, and Cavalier, followed by nine numbered\ncards headed by the Ace.\n\nPapus (page 308) defines the meaning of the suits as follows:\n\n    RODS.--Enterprise, glory.\n\n    CUPS.--Love, happiness.\n\n    SWORDS.--Hatred, misfortune.\n\n    MONEY.--Money, commerce, mercantile interests.\n\nThese four sets of principles must be remembered. The four court cards\nrepresent people in general or particular who come in contact with each\nother during the events of life. The Kings represent men, the Queens\nwomen, the Cavaliers youths, and the Knaves children.\n\nThe court cards of the Rod and Sword suits represent dark people, while\nthose of the Cup and Money suits represent light or fair people. The\nlatter are benign, the former indifferent or malignant.\n\nThe key to the pip cards as given by Papus is as follows:\n\n    RODS.\n\n    Creation. Enterprise. Agriculture. Fire.\n\n    KING.--A dark man. A friend. Generally married. The father of a\n    family.\n\n    QUEEN.--Dark woman. A friend. A serious person. A very good\n    counsellor. The mother of a family.\n\n    CAVALIER.--A dark young man. A friend.\n\n    KNAVE.--A dark child. A friend. Also represents a message or letter\n    from a near relation.\n\n    ACE.--Commencement of an enterprise.\n\n    TWO.--Opposition to the beginning of an enterprise.\n\n    THREE.--Realization of the commencement of an enterprise. The basis of\n    the work is now definitely established, and the undertaking can be\n    fearlessly continued.\n\n    FOUR.--Obstacles to be prepared for.\n\n    FIVE.--Obstacles surmounted.\n\n    SIX.--Failure.\n\n    SEVEN.--Certain success.\n\n    EIGHT.--Partial success.\n\n    NINE.--Great success.\n\n    TEN.--Uncertainty.\n\n\n    CUPS\n\n    Preservation. Love. Instruction. Earth.\n\n    KING.--A fair man. A friend. A barrister, judge, or ecclesiastic. A\n    bachelor.\n\n    QUEEN.--A fair woman. The loved one. The mistress of a house.\n\n    CAVALIER.--Young, fair man. A friend. The lover or the loved one.\n\n    KNAVE.--Fair child. A messenger. A birth.\n\n    ACE.--Commencement of a love affair.\n\n    TWO.--Opposition. Unimportant obstacles raised by one of the lovers.\n\n    THREE.--Mutual love.\n\n    FOUR.--Serious obstacles from others.\n\n    FIVE.--Obstacles overcome.\n\n    SIX.--Obstacles insuperable. Widowhood. Separation.\n\n    SEVEN.--Success and happiness.\n\n    EIGHT.--Jealousy and trouble.\n\n    NINE.--Children.\n\n    TEN.--Uncertainty.\n\n\n    SWORDS\n\n    Transformation. War. Hatred. Lawsuits. Air.\n\n    KING.--Dark bad man. A soldier, an enemy, or one to be mistrusted.\n\n    QUEEN.--A dark wicked woman. A gossip. A calumniator. Jealous.\n\n    CAVALIER.--Young dark man. An enemy. A spy.\n\n    KNAVE.--A child. An enemy. Bad news. Delay.\n\n    ACE.--Commencement of enmity.\n\n    TWO.--Enmity does not last.\n\n    THREE.--Hatred.\n\n    FOUR.--Enemy defeated.\n\n    FIVE.--Enemy triumphs at last moment.\n\n    SIX.--Enemy powerless.\n\n    SEVEN.--Enemy successful.\n\n    EIGHT.--Enemy only partially successful.\n\n    NINE.--Duration of hatred.\n\n    TEN.--Uncertainty in the hatred.\n\n    The court cards generally indicate an opposition raised outside of the\n    home.\n\n\n    MONEY\n\n    Development. Money. Trade. Commerce. Journeys. Water.\n\n    KING.--Fair man. Inimical or indifferent.\n\n    QUEEN.--A fair woman. Indifferent.\n\n    CAVALIER.--A young, fair man. A stranger. An arrival.\n\n    KNAVE.--A fair child. A messenger. A letter.\n\n    ACE.--Commencement of good fortune. Inheritance. Gifts. Economy.\n\n    TWO.--Difficulty in getting inheritance or good fortune.\n\n    THREE.--A small sum of money.\n\n    FOUR.--Loss of money.\n\n    FIVE.--Success coming that will balance loss.\n\n    SIX.--Ruin.\n\n    SEVEN.--A large fortune.\n\n    EIGHT.--Partial success. Great loss of money at last moment.\n\n    NINE.--A durable fortune.\n\n    TEN.--Great successes and great reverses.\n\nThe pips of the Rod and Cup suits indicate that which comes from within or\nat home. The pips of the Money and Sword suits indicate that which comes\nfrom outside or abroad.\n\nIn order to practise card-reading with success, the Book of Thoth must be\nmastered in every detail, and every significance of each of the\nseventy-eight leaves must be committed to memory. After this the laying\nout of the cards and the reading of their meaning would become mechanical,\nwere it not that the position of each one, as well as of the surrounding\ncards, is capable of such subtle and illusive connections that only those\nwell versed in cartomancy, or, perhaps, inspired by the dominating genius\nof Mercury, can translate their import.\n\nFirst, then, the direct meaning of each card must be remembered, and then\nits significance when it is reversed; thirdly, its value owing to its\nposition on the table and when in contact with other cards must be known.\nThe card is read in one way when it is required to reveal the character,\nand in another when the social position or the thoughts of the inquirer\nare to be revealed. The same card signifies, under other circumstances,\npast or future events according to its position. A malignant card may be\nentirely changed if surrounded by benign cards. Thus each condition must\nbe given due weight when the cards are being consulted.\n\n\"Human life,\" says Papus, \"passes through four great periods, namely:\nchildhood, youth, maturity, and old age; so, when the Tarots are being\nread with regard to the past, present, or future, this is the first thing\nto be dwelt upon to the exclusion of every other significance that may be\nseen in the cards. If, however, they are being read regarding events, it\nwill be seen that commencement, apogee, decline, and fall are\nrepresented.\"\n\nIf a business transaction is the subject of inquiry, the suit of Rods must\nbe the one selected, since it indicates creation, enterprise, agriculture,\nart, and the element of fire.\n\nIf a love affair is being inquired about, Cups must represent it. The Cup\nindicates instruction, preservation, the earth, and affection.\n\nA lawsuit, quarrel, or trouble has Swords for an emblem, as they denote\ntransformation, hatred, war, trouble, and the air.\n\nBusiness calls for the Money suit; that typifies development, trade,\ncommerce, and water, with ships, travelling, and all that is connected\nwith movement. The Money suit is sometimes named Pentacles.\n\nThe Cups and Staves denote the house or the home, the family or near\nrelatives and friends. Money typifies outsiders, or the world in general,\nor unknown persons. Swords may be either close relations or the public,\nwhichever is indicated by the surrounding cards.\n\nThe Atout cards may be divided so that the first seven cards refer to the\nintellectual life of man. The next seven cards point to his moral\ncondition, and the last seven of the Atouts declare the various events of\nhis life. Taken with the pip cards, a fair narrative of all concerning the\nordinary events of life may be read in the cards, that is at least curious\nand amusing, even if no credence is placed in the revelations, and this is\nsupposed to be what the ancients meant when they declared that Mercury had\ninvented \"speech, letters, and books.\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIX\n\nREADING THE BOOK OF THOTH\n\n\nTo consult the Tarots, the Initiate must invite the Inquirer to designate\nwhat the cards are to be asked to reveal, and, as has been mentioned, this\ncalls for the selection of one of the four suits that in this case must be\nseparated from the other leaves. The suit selected must be shuffled\nthoroughly and cut by the Initiate, who then passes them to the Inquirer,\nwith the request that they be shuffled and cut three times. The cards are\nthen ranged or spread out on a table, after which the Atouts are shuffled\nand cut according to the above directions, to be dealt according to the\nrules of the game, remembering that the first card to the left indicates\ncommencement or childhood, the second one to the right and above it is\nyouth or apogee, the third on the right signifies decline or maturity,\nwhile the fourth position means old age or fall; in short, past, present,\nand future.\n\nA simple way of reading the cards is as follows: With the pip and Atout\ncards shuffled and cut separately, the Juggler, or first card of the\nAtouts, must be taken from the pack and laid in the middle of the table,\nso that the other cards may be dealt around it; for it represents the\nInquirer, and the cards that fall close to it reveal the events in life\nmost nearly connected with him.\n\nAfter the cards are cut, the Inquirer may select seven cards from the\nAtouts without looking at them. The Bagatleur represents the Inquirer.\nDeal four of them one by one, beginning at the left side, so as to fill\nthe following diagram:\n\n        II\n  I            III\n        IV\n\nThen take three Atouts, selected without looking at them, and place them\nin the centre, as follows:\n\n          II\n  I   V   VII   VI   III\n          IV\n\nThe last three show past, present, and future; the other four indicate\nthe character of the person or the events about which the cards are being\nconsulted. The diagram demands seven Atouts besides the Bagatleur or\nInquirer.\n\nThen, without seeing them, twelve pip cards must be taken by the Inquirer\nfrom the suit that has been selected, and these must be laid in a circle\naround those already in place, commencing on the left and working\ndownwards and towards the right. The first card should be next to No. I;\nthe fourth should be under No. IV; the seventh should be opposite to the\nfirst one and next to No. III; the tenth should be on the top, above No.\nII, while the twelfth card falls beside the first one, completing the\ncircle. The Juggler is then supposed to be placed in the middle of the\ndiagram or laid above the circle.\n\nThe twelve pip cards indicate the different phases through which the\nperson will pass, or the evolution of the events during the four great\nperiods of life. Commencement is indicated by the Atout in position No. I;\napogee, by the Atout in position No. II; decline or obstacle, by the Atout\nin position No. III, and fall, by the one in position No. IV. Then the\nthree other Atouts indicate the special character of the person; in the\npast by No. V, in the present by No. VI, in the future by No. VII.\n\nThe pip cards should be studied where the future is indicated by the cards\nin the circle occupying places from seven to twelve, the present by those\noccupying positions from four to seven, the past by those occupying\npositions from one to four. (These numbers refer to the positions\noccupied, and never to the number of the pips on the cards, or to the\nnumbers placed on the Atouts.)\n\nThe above is a short and hurried method of consulting the cards, but\nEtteila had a second one that was used when a whole career was to be\nrevealed, as well as the character, or the influence of education,\nfriends, and family. It also indicated the future position and chief\nevents of life. In short, it was supposed to be a repetition of the scene\nwhen a young man, on reaching maturity made a solemn sacrifice in the\ntemple, when the \"Tablets of Fate,\" that had been inscribed by Nebo,\nThoth, or Mercury at his birth, were consulted. In this way their wishes\nwere obtained that should govern his career in life. This ceremony was\nnever repeated, although the orders of the gods were often requested on\nparticular occasions without going through the entire performance or the\nfull consultation that had been made at maturity.\n\nAccording to Papus, four deals are required for this process of\ndivination, but his methods are unnecessarily complicated, so they may be\nsimplified without altering the results.\n\nShuffle all the Tarots without making any distinction between the Atout\nand the pip cards. Let the Inquirer cut them three times, and then cut\nthem in three packets of about equal size. Take the central heap, deal out\ntwenty-six cards, and lay them to the right in a pile. Shuffle those\nremaining with the rest of the pack, and let them again be cut, and then\nagain cut into three piles. Select the centre and deal seventeen cards,\nplacing them in a pile beside the one containing the twenty-six cards.\nShuffle the stock again together, and let them be shuffled and cut as\nbefore, taking again the centre packet and dealing eleven cards. Collect\nthe remaining twenty-four cards and put them aside. This is the Widow, or\nStock, and these cards represent the events that might have happened in\nthe life of the Inquirer, but were eliminated by luck or chance, and\nthese often prove most interesting.\n\nThe first packet, containing the twenty-six cards, represents the soul or\nthe character of the Inquirer, and of those most closely connected with\nhim. The pile containing the seventeen cards represents his mind or the\nevents controlling him. And the pile of eleven cards represents the body,\nthe ills or annoyances of life, or the events to take place, such as the\nprofession to be chosen, the journeys to be taken, with other happenings.\n\nThe cards should be spread out on a table, so that they can easily be seen\nand interpreted according to their value, as given on pages 000-000, the\nupper row containing the \"soul\" pile, the second row the \"mind\" pile, and\nthe third row containing the \"body\" pile.\n\n\"From this system,\" says Papus (page 330), \"Etteila deduced his subtle\narguments upon the creation of the universe, the Kabbalah, and the\nPhilosopher's stone.\" If any person can emulate him in these deductions,\nthey must be \"wise in their generation,\" and must have established direct\ncommunication with the great god Nebo himself, the \"writer of the Tablets\nof Fate.\"\n\nFor the second deal, the whole pack of seventy-eight cards must be\nshuffled and cut three times. Deal seventeen cards, laying them on the\ntable face up. Then take the eighteenth card and the seventy-eighth card\nthat should be on the bottom of the pack, and \"the meaning of these two\ncards,\" says Papus, \"will tell you whether any fluidic sympathetic\ncommunication is established between the Initiate and the Inquirer.\" Then\nthe seventeen cards laid out can be deciphered and disclosed.\n\nThe third deal is \"Etteila's great figure,\" which gives the key to the\npast, present, and future of the person about whose fate inquiry is being\nmade.\n\nTake out the Atout numbered One, or the Juggler. Deal ten cards side by\nside on the left of the table. Shuffle and cut three times, and then deal\nten more across the top. Then shuffle, cut, and deal ten more on the right\nside, thus forming a hollow square, with the thirty Atout and pip cards\nfalling indiscriminately, but arranged side by side.\n\nDeal thirty cards in a ring in the centre, leaving seventeen cards besides\nthe Juggler, or on one side for the stock, which has the meaning ascribed\nto it in the other deals.\n\nTo read the cards, they must be picked up one by one, beginning with the\nlast one dealt on the right side of the open square and the last one of\nthe ring, explaining their meaning and significance as they are placed\ntogether in pairs, and then discarding them entirely. The twenty cards\nthat are first taken up relate to the past.\n\nThe next twenty should be lifted in the same way, starting with the top\ncard of the square, and mating it with the one nearest it of the centre\ncircle, which should be the eleventh one dealt. These twenty cards\nrepresent the present.\n\nThe remaining twenty cards, that should be selected in the same way,\nforetell the future.\n\nThe fourth deal is simple, and through it answers may be obtained to any\nqueries that are put that have not been covered by the three preceding\nrevelations. Shuffle all the cards together and cut three times. Then deal\nseven cards from right to left and read the answer.\n\nPapus declares that the above system of fortune-telling is based upon\nEtteila's method \"as given in his Book of Thoth that is very rare,\" and\nthat his method has \"never before been seriously elucidated by any of his\nnumerous disciples.\" Papus, therefore, is one of the first to explain it\nupon \"simple principles,\" which, however, require further simplification\nto be practical, probably owing to some misprints in his volume.\n\nThe manner of telling fortunes by cards, according to the supposed rules\nof the priests of the temple of Thoth, requires a complete pack of Tarots\nthat are at present difficult to obtain. Spanish, French, or picture cards\nissued for games are without real value or connection with one of the\nearliest cults of the world. Fortune-telling with cards is useless unless\ndivined through the emblems of Mercury or his predecessor, the great\nEgyptian god Thoth, by reading the signs and symbols pictured in his Book\nof Thoth Hermes Trismegistus called\n\nTHE TAROTS.","title":"Prophetical, Educational and Playing Cards","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":72439}