Show I The Origin of Playing Cards Card 1 Many all nations lations claim jm the JC's i le I honor of the lie invention ill of the hc devils devil's' I a as the Puritans of New I delight to lo call them the zenei zen gen I ei eli ty hc accepted cc view however lowe being q originated in in China Chiria or in 1 c 1 In hi Ii fa favor of Ch China Ina it i is asser asserted ted I t J re cards were invented A. A D. D Dj l ftfe amusement nt of the courtiers courtiers' i io o of ot th Juen I of ancient circular playing cara now in inthe the the British museum and i ll li h lie mi museums of Cairo Alexandria I Tj Calcutta g ita would indicate that that they te fn fh some hundred years the Christian era and other in I I af rs s' s their origination has been been i v variously a a assigned to the Per Persians ans an's the he Egyptians a and d the tle Arabs 1 f rJ J and nd manner cf of the tle mtr dU of cards carlls into Europe is equally y I J Many lany historians taking the th the twe twenty eighth canon of the council council f of j i Worcester as their authority assert i that card games were played in En- En Eng 1 land during the thirteenth century but butin butin in ill direct contradiction tion of this theory is the thc fact that Boccaccio Chaucer and i iother I other writers of that time m make no references references ref- ref J i inferential l or direct Ure t to this form formo of f gambling c I From the references contained in the I book bool of accounts kept by Charles pout Pou- Pou part t tre treasurer surel of the household of of i Cha Ifs VI of ir France in which refer refer- refer refer-I r nc iS ig l made acle t to the thc pure hasp 01 ola ofa a pack I j of painted cards canIs for fr th the amusement of the king Icing and again in th I memoirs rs of Joanna of Brabant it may be ass assumed med that that thou though h playing cards I were l known in a a. few of tho the European courts they did not come into popular I favor until the middle id le of the fifteenth century when we ve find the clergy of I IEn En England land and France simultaneously r uttering brimstone laden f fulminations I mention of t the e against gain t them The rhe fir first t into America is introduction o of nf cards I found in in hr the letters etters of or Herrera a companion companion com corn panion ot or Cortez Cortex who tells of the I f fv v rish interest taken talen h by lY th the Aztecs in inthe the th- card games g inEs of the Spanish soldiers The manufacture of playing cards hc beginning in Fra France ce as early as 1392 an and in Italy in 1425 had extended to England before 1450 ah ati a act t of parliament parliament parliament parlia parlia- ment of 1463 during the reign of Edward Edward Ed Ed- i iward ward TV IY forbidding bidding their importation I because of the obstruction to the home trade A And nd it is noticeable that queens which have so often enabled a broken player on his hi's l last st legs to complete a full house and gather in a fat jack jackpot jackpot pot had hall n no pl place cp- cp cpin in the original packs a fact would tend to es establish cs- cs s- s their Arabian origin The marks of on the earliest known cards are hearts hells bells leaves and ancl acorns the being of a slightly later date Next e t in iri antiquity are swords words batons and ups used by the Italians t The earliest b bearing aring the ilie distin distinctive dis dig tin t ve mark marks with which we are familiar d date te tr i the i eight of Charles VII of France l herts hs clubs d diamonds m and spades in th the c distinctive colors of red and black being then used for the first time Court cards ads of the earliest packs were the king icing chevalier and knave ve Throughout the fifteenth century the fever of card pl playing ying had t taken e possession posses posses- sion of the peoples of nearly every 1 country in Europe the clergy leading th the way way and ad nd in a manuscript of the date of 1450 1400 we are told toW how in the market marlet pia ce- ce of backgammon back j gammon hoards boards d P and several carloa carloads of of cards were vere publicly burnt by the burgomaster t. t Then in he earlier years of the sixteenth th century the mania had hal taJ taken en possession of the people people peo peo- pie of England the Italians being the first to substitute the queen for the chevalier |