Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1872-01-30
PLAYING CARDS.

To Whom the Players of Whist and
Cribbage are Indebted-Ace-King
Queen-Iaek-FrOm the Cradle to
Their ApOgee.
Few who sit down to pleasant game at
whist Or piquet, have any idea how many
centuries these painted bits Of cards have
furnished amusement to the human race.
Far away into the times of unwritten his
tory the Chinese, Hindus, and Arabs were
making their different combinations of a
wa.like game, bearing many relations to its
sister, chess. On thin slips Of ivory,
mOther-of-pearl, or wood the devices were
painted for the hands of oriental depots;
no less than eight armies and
eight players struggled for the
victory, under the command of king,
vizier, and an elephant. China seems to
have been the home of their invention;
from thence they passed on to Iddia about
1,120, and were soon adopted by the Arabs.
The Crusaders in their turn learned the
game of their foes; and from the number of
DEGREES fOrbidding their use issued by the
church, we may believe that they were soon
opl eau dll OfEl GIiOHCs ArC ii ~ dAAAAAC4
tic mention that occurs of them is in a
chronicle of Nicolas de COvelluzzo, a native
of ViterbO, which says: ''In 1879 the game
Of cards was introduced at Viterbo, from
the land of the SaraCens, and which is called
by them ndib."
Nor can we suppose, with some learned
critics, that cards were but the amusement
of children. ST. Bernard, Of Sienna, and
St. Anthony, of Florence, would scarcely
have used such strong language against
their use had it been so. On the 9TH of
May, 1923, the former, standing on the steps
of the church of St. PetrOnius, spoke TO an
immense crowd assembled round him,
poured forth his Examinations against games
of chance, and exercised so much power
over his audience that every one ran to fetch
his cards, dice and chess, and having
brought them to this public place, burned
them with his own hand, in the pres
ence of the chief Of the republic.
This terrible dWO-dd-fe brought a card
maker, who was ruined by st.
Demands sermon to the holy man, saying,
with tears, "Father, l am manufacturer
Of cards; have no other trade By which
can live; by hindering me from doing my
work you condemn me to die Of hunger
'If you know how to paint was the re-
ply, ''copy this image" And he showed
him sun surrounded by rays Of glory, in
the centre of which was the monogram OF
Christi. II. S. The card-maker followed
his advice, and very soon enriched himself
by this painting, which st. Bernard adopted
for his symbol.
THE FIRST PRINTED CARDS
probably came from Germany. A pack
these are still in existence, engraved with
the BURN, which are supposed 10 be the
work of Finiguerra or Mantegna, and at any
rate belong to this period of Italian art.
This design is at once simple and good in
outline, the engraving fine and harmonious;
they are divided into five series, each OF ten
cards, and bear the names Of the muses.,
the sciences, the heavenly bodies, and the
virtues. The sO-called cards Of Charles VI.
of France, which are now in the BibliO-
theque du Roi, in Paris, are probably
the most ancient of any that are pre-
served in the various collections OF
Europe. There are but II, painted with
ell the delicacy of the miniatures Of the IL
Illuminated manuscripts of the period on a
gold ground, and surrounded by a silver
border, in which is a ribbon rolled spiraLly
round done in points. There is the en-
perOr in silver armor, diadem of teurs-de-
lis on his head, and holding a globe and
sceptre; the Pope with his triple crown,
the gospels and keys of st. Peter
in his hands, and seated between
two cardinals; the crescent moon rises
above two astrologers in long furred robes,
who are measuring the cODjunctions OF the
planets with compasses; the fool wearing a |
L ODD a. .
round his neck, while four children are
stones a. him; death, mounted on
a white horse, is throwing down kings,
pOpes, and bishops; the house OF God seems
half devoured by flames; and, finally, the
last Judgment shows the dead rising from !
their tOmbs to the sound Of the trumpets. /
AS time passed on the figures on the cards |
changed with the costume Of the time, &C |
cording to the cag9ces Of the court or the
Of the maker. The pointed |
beard, heavy collar, and plumed hat ap- !
Deared as the dress of the kings; the hair |
turned back and crimped, the lace collar, |
and the farthingale as that Of the queens.
As regards Englsad, though it received |
The game from very early period through |
the trade it carried on with the Han5eatlc |
and Dutch towns, yet it does not appear |
That any CdTQ9 were manufactured LllClC |
before the end Of the sixteensh century,
since, under the reign of Elizabeth, the gov
,rnment reserved to itself the monopoly
If playing cards imported from abroad. The
oldest which are known, and which closely
approach the early Italian packs, were dis
covered by DR.. StukSly in the binding If
book. They mark very early period,
when the arts of drawing, engraving, and.
painting were in their infancy. Spain res
,eived from the Arabs and the Moors the
Eastern game of Nab long before cards
we're made at VIterbO but when the
after were introduced they excited
he utmost enthusiasm in the cOun-
nv, and passion for the play becomes gen.
raj; so much so that when the companions
f Christopher Columbus, after their dis
overy of America, formed the first estab-
shment in the island of San Domingo,
hey found nothing better to do than at
nee to manufacture cards from the leaves
f trees.