THE KING.
“Behold four Kings in majesty rever’dWith hoary whiskers and a forky beard.The hoary Majesty of Spades appears,Puts forth one manly leg to sight revealed,The rest in many-coloured robe concealed.”
“Behold four Kings in majesty rever’dWith hoary whiskers and a forky beard.The hoary Majesty of Spades appears,Puts forth one manly leg to sight revealed,The rest in many-coloured robe concealed.”
“Behold four Kings in majesty rever’dWith hoary whiskers and a forky beard.
“Behold four Kings in majesty rever’d
With hoary whiskers and a forky beard.
The hoary Majesty of Spades appears,Puts forth one manly leg to sight revealed,The rest in many-coloured robe concealed.”
The hoary Majesty of Spades appears,
Puts forth one manly leg to sight revealed,
The rest in many-coloured robe concealed.”
EVEN Pope in his description of the game of Ombre has thought it not beneath his notice to describe the appearance of the monarchs of the cards; indeed theirs is no uninteresting history, and although but slightly alluded to by the chroniclers of their day, they have many a time played quite as important a part and had as much influence in their way as the monarch who was seated on a more stable throne than a paper one, and who sometimes himself yielded to the fascinations of his rival of cards.
That the dress worn by the Kings in the English court cards is a rude copy of that of the notorious Henry the Eighth of England is not only a matter of tradition, but is also supportedby a reference to the existing portraits of that monarch.
Notwithstanding the fact that the crowns of the card Kings are “fleurdelisés,” which seems to point at first to a French origin, the dress in other respects bears a close resemblance to that of bluff King Harry.
In French and German packs the Kings generally bear sceptres, globes, and other insignia of their exalted rank; but those of the English cards are warriors to the core, and throwing aside the emblems, which only show their rank, they arm themselves and stand ready for the fray. Their Majesties of Spades, Clubs, and Hearts hold up their trusty double-edged swords like the brave men that they are; the King of Hearts being in a most warlike attitude, with his uplifted sword held ready for a blow. The King of Spades alone carries a battle-axe; but why he in particular adopted this weapon in preference to any other, history does not declare.
Among the French packs the royal family are always distinguished by names which are plainly written on some part of the card; and these names vary according to the date of the pack, and seemingly through the caprice of the card-maker. French authors have traced the origin of these names to various celebrated personages, and find that they were assumed to do honour to the reigning monarchs of the period, their queens or mistresses, or some favourite hero of the hour, either real or fictitious; and the only limit to the variety of these names was the imagination of the designer.
A glance over any old collection of French cards will verify this assertion; but the fashion does not seem to have been followed in other countries, even in England, where the symbols of the French were adopted in preference to those used in Spain, Germany, and other places. Their Majesties of Cards were not dubbed with names, and if originally intended to represent some particular person (as some of them, notably the Kings and Queens, undoubtedly were), the names were not placed on the cards, and we have only tradition on which to rest the presumption that they were intended for any celebrated character either in history or fiction.
To return to the French cards, those for example which are supposed to have been made for Charlesthe Seventh bear no inscriptions but that of the maker’s name; but in a nearly contemporaneous pack the King of Diamonds is namedCorsube, the King of ClubsSans Souci, and he of SpadesApollin. This collection of names, says one writer, shows a triple influence,—the Eastern origin of the cards, in the first place, as they bear strange cognomens which are not French; in the second, the impression that the old romances of chivalry had made on the mind of the designer; and third, the reflection in them of contemporaneous events.
Many persons point to this pack as being the very one that was designed by Étienne Vignoles, or, as he was usually called, La Hire, or Chevalier, and declare that they are the oldest examples that bear the symbols of Hearts, Diamonds, Clubs, and Spades. Going back to the names borne by the card Kings, we fancy that we see that the one assumed by his Majesty of Spades (Apollin) was derived from that borne by an idol adored by the Saracens, which is mentioned in an epic poem of the period; and Corsube was a knight of Cordue (Corsuba), who was glorified by the romancers of that day. The names of the Queens and Knaves of this pack are those of celebrated historical characters.
Another old pack which belongs without doubt to the reign of Louis the Twelfth contains a King of Hearts named Charles, a King of Diamonds Cæsar, one of Clubs Artus, and of Spades David; and in a later one belonging to the commencement of the reign of Francis the First the King of Clubs has become Alexander.
About the time of the battle of Pavia and the captivity of the French King (Francis) in Spain and his marriage with the dowager Eleanor, the influence of Spanish and also of Italian fashions shows itself in many ways in the cards, and the names of the Kings are changed to Julius Cæsar, Charles, Hector, and David.
Under the reign of Henry the Second the names bestowed upon the cardboard sovereigns begin to resemble those borne by them in the French pack of the present day. The King of Diamonds is Cæsar; of Spades, David; and of Clubs, Alexander.
During the period when Henry the Third governed France the cards became the reflectors of the extravagant fashions of that effeminate reign. The Kings in card-land wore pointed beards, like the reigning monarch; their collars,like his, were stiffly starched; they had hats bearing long plumes, and their breeches were puffed out at the hips in a most extraordinary way; while, as if to make the figure look as slender and as womanly as possible, the doublet was pinched in at the waist; and they had peculiar boots, which were then the mode.
Henry the Fourth mounted the throne of France, and the card Kings immediately altered their costumes and their names, and reflected the aspect of his court, and the names of the heroes of the day were given to the gentlemen of the card circle.
The paper sovereigns generally mirrored the characteristics of the day; and when the successors of Henry the Fourth mounted the throne the change is at once shown in the cards, either by the names, the dresses, the weapons, or by all these. At one time Italian fashions and customs, imported by Marie de’ Medici, influenced them, and the names became Carel, Capet, Melun, etc.; and they change with amusing rapidity after her death.
A most interesting and almost boundless field of research opens before the student who wishesto trace in these seemingly meaningless variations the prominent events and fashions of the period, which are stamped on the cards, and can be easily traced. This has induced many persons to make elaborate studies from them; and one in particular, Père Daniel, declares that he can detect the fact thatDavid, one of the original names of the King of Spades, is intended to represent Charles the Seventh of France; and he draws an elaborate parallel between the character of the real king and the characteristics of the mimic one as represented on the cardboard. Other authors demur at this, but it is at least worthy of note.
During the time of the French Revolution it was not only the royal family who were deposed and beheaded; but the same fate also followed their Majesties of Spades, Clubs, Diamonds, and Hearts.
“The King was slyly fingered from the deck;”
the sovereigns were banished, and their places supplied by pictured representations of sages and philosophers. The Reign of Reason did not last long; and the royal family were recalled in 1813,and established more firmly than ever on their ancient thrones, from whence even the republicancartiersof the present day in France have not desired to depose them, to replace their serene highnesses with presidents, senators, and other rulers of the revised republic.
Some attempts have been made in the United States of America to supplant the kings in their government of the card world, by placing the pictures of prominent generals in their place; and after the triumphant termination of the war with Mexico in 1848 a pack was issued on which Generals Scott, Bragg, Wool, and Twiggs took the place of the sovereigns of the packs as rulers of the card suits. But these peculiar cards, handsome as they were in their details, did not meet with popular favour, and are only found in some collections, while the “Great Republic” meekly bows its head, and submits to the dominion of the Kings of Diamonds, of Hearts, of Clubs, and of Spades, who rule triumphantly over it as well as the greater part of the civilized world, dressed, as they have been for hundreds of years, like their brother Henry the Eighth of England; and every deviation from this quaint garb is frowneddown at once by their loyal subjects, who detest all changes in card-land, and cling to the obsolete costumes and quaint figures with unswerving loyalty.
It is worth while to note the interesting fact that the first sovereigns of the French cards are still in existence, and are now preserved in Paris in the Cabinet des Estampes. These are the cards which have already been mentioned as having been the identical ones invented for the amusement of Charles the Seventh by one of his courtiers. That they are the same is not doubted by any authorities.
The names of the Kings of this pack—Corsube, Apollon, etc.—have already been dwelt upon, and their probable origin traced. They are minutely described by Mr. Taylor in his “History of Cards,” who says: “The figures are engraved on wood, printed with a pale ink of a brownish tint, and afterwards coloured with stencil in the usual manner. The crowns of the kings are formed of fleurs-de-lis, and the costumes are those of the period of Charles the Seventh.”
These cards were discovered in Lyons by aM. Henin, who found them pasted in the cover of a book of the fifteenth century, of which they formed part of the binding. Their fortunate discoverer well understood the value of this prize, and they were carefully removed, and are now treasured as the first specimens of cards which were divided into suits with the symbols which they now bear. The book-binder’s knife has shaved off the title of the King of Hearts, or rather his name; otherwise the principal court cards are almost uninjured, and are preserved with the respect they deserve to have as the oldest surviving monarchs of the world,—their age being nearly five hundred years, the date of their invention being about 1425.