LITMIR.BIZ

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des Fleurs de Lis.

[11] Etudes historiques sur les Cartes à jouer. Par M. C. Leber. Originally printed in the sixteenth volume of the 'Mémoires de la Société royale des Antiquaires de France,' and subsequently published separately. Paris, 1842.

[12] " … Ce n'est pas l'affaire de quelques années, ni des travaux, ni des sacrifices d'une seule vie, que de rassembler tant de chétifs débris, de pièces égarées, souillées, mutilées, informes, et dont la découverte n'est plus souvent qu'un caprice du hasard, une bonne fortune plutôt qu'une bonne action. Il faut donc attendre que cette œuvre du temps et de la persévérance soit accomplie."—Etudes Historiques, p. 60.

[13] Catalogue des Livres imprimés, Manuscrits, Estampes, Dessins, et Cartes à jouer, composant le Bibliothèque de M. C. Leber, tom. i, p. 238. Paris, 1839. This library, the Catalogue of which consists of three volumes, now belongs to the city of Rouen. The cards are described in the first volume, pp. 237–48.

[14] With the Latins, Ludere par impar; with the Greeks, αρτιαζειν; ραιζειν, αρτια η περιττα. "Nempe ludentes, sumptis in manu talis, fabis, nucibus, amygdalis, interdum etiam nummis, interrogantes alteram divinare jubebant, 'αρτια η περιττα'; paria, nempe, an imparia haberent."—Meursius, de Ludis Græcorum, p. 5, edit. 1622.

[15] Fortune is a parvenue, in the Olympian circle—of great means, but no family:

      Di chi figluola fusse, ò di che seme

      Nascesse, non si sa; ben si sa certo

      Ch'infino à Giove sua potentia teme.

      Macchiavelli, Capitolo di Fortuna.

[16] Dr. Thomas Hyde is inclined to think that the game of Astragali was known from the time of the general Deluge.—De Ludis Orientalibus. Oxon. 1694.

[17] The ancient Greek game of Astragali or Astragalismus—the Tali of the Romans—appears to have been played in a manner similar to that described in the text. The names given to the different casts are to be found in Meursius, De Ludis Græcorum, under the word ΑΣΤΡΑΓΑΛΙΣΜΟΣ.

[18]

      Πεσσοισι προπαροιθε θυραων θυμον ἐτερπον,

      Ἡμενοι ἐν ῥινοισι βοων οὑς ἐκτανον ἁυτοι. —Odyss. A. 107.

      The word used by Homer, ρεσσοι—which properly means the pebbles or pieces employed in the game—is here translated tables; a term, which having now become nearly obsolete as signifying draughts, may be used to denote an ancient cognate game.

      It might be plausibly urged by a commentator fond of discovering Homer's covert meanings, that the poet intended to censure the games of Astragalismus and Petteia—the former as a cause of strife, and the latter as a fitting amusement for idle and dissipated persons, like the suitors of Penelope. In the twenty-third book of the Iliad, v. 87, Patroclus is represented as having killed, when a boy, though unintentionally, a companion with whom he had quarrelled when playing at Astragali or Tali:

      … παιδα κατεκτανον Ἀμφιδαμαντος,

      Νηπιος, οὐκ ἐθελων, ἀμφ' ἀστραγαλοισι χολωθεις.

      It is not unlikely that an ancient piece of sculpture, in the British Museum—representing a boy biting the arm of his companion, with whom he has quarrelled at Tali—relates to this passage.

[19] See a work by the late Mr. James Christie—more generally known to the world as an auctioneer than as a man of learning and of great research—entitled "An Enquiry into the ancient Greek game supposed to have been invented by Palamedes antecedent to the Siege of Troy; with Reasons for believing the Game to have been known from remote antiquity in China, and progressively improved into the Chinese, Indian, Persian, and European Chess." London, 1801.

[20] Julius Pollux, Onomasticon, lib. ix, cap. 7.

[21] "As the military groundwork of the game of cards, and its similarity to chess, cannot be denied; so a closer examination of this affinity may readily lead to the origin of the change in their figures and colours."—Breitkopf, Ueber den Ursprung der Spielkarten, s. 30.

[22] "Le traducteur du Poëme de la Vielle, en décrivant les Echecs, s'exprime ainsi;

      'La Reyne, que nous nommons Fierge,

      Tient de Venus, et n'est pas Vierge;

      Aimable est et amoureuse.'" &c.

      —L'Origine du Jeu des Echecs, par Mons. Freret. Hist. de l'Académie des Inscriptions, tom. v, p. 255.

[23] "Comme c'est un jeu militaire, il y a dans chaque couleur un roi, un officier supérieur ou capitaine, nommé Ober, et un bas-officier appelé Unter. On appelait encore de nos jours dans l'Empire, où les mots François ne sont pas en vogue, les officiers supérieurs Oberleute, et les bas-officiers Unterleute"—Heineken, Idée Générale d'une Collection d'Estampes, p. 241. Leipsic, 1771.

[24] It would appear that the etymology of this name was a matter of great uncertainty even among people of oriental race. According to some, it was Sad-rengh, the hundred turns, or wiles of the players; according to others, it was Sad-rangi, the hundred vexations of the game. A third derivation was from Shesh-rengh, six colours, as if each of the six orders of pieces had been distinguished by a separate colour.—Hyde, De Ludis Orientalibus. Par. 1. Historia Shahiludii, cap. De Nomine Shatrangi. Oxon. 1694.

[25] That the suits of cards were formerly distinguished by an emblem which was suggestive of a particular colour, as well as representing a particular form, is certain. The Germans still call two of their suits Roth and Grün—red and green—and the emblems are a heart and a leaf.

[26] Observations on the Antiquity of Card-playing in England. In the Archæologia, vol. viii.

[27] "Edward the First, when Prince of Wales, served nearly five years in Syria, and therefore, whilst military operations were suspended, must naturally have wished some sedentary amusement. Now, the Asiatics scarcely ever change their customs: and as they play at cards, though in many respects different from ours, it is not improbable that Edward might have been taught this game, ad quatuor reges, whilst he continued so long in this part of the globe."—Archæol. viii, p. 135.

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