See how the cherub children play
And force the bubbles on their way,
Which, as in various course they sail,
Borne by the zephyr’s gentle gale,
Catch the tints which Phœbus gives
While the aërial globule lives;
But soon it bursts, and all is gone,
The children mourn their pleasure done.
Say, do we not too often see
Mankind in this same sport agree;
Who their intrinsic good forego,
For the bright gleams of outward show.
This amusement did not last longer than the morning, and at night our
juvenile group were again at a loss for something to do. Adriana was
once more the first to find out a new species of amusement. In hunting
about, she, at length, discovered some cards, and immediately began,
with great alacrity, to arrange files of soldiers and to build houses
with the cards. The elder girls found a malicious pleasure in throwing
down her houses, just as she had brought them to the last story; and
in blowing upon her soldiers in order to make them fall, just before
the file was properly arranged. As Adriana was good-tempered, she put
up with their tricks quietly, though she meditated perhaps in her own
mind some method of soon taking her revenge.
Madame D’Hernilly seized the occasion which the cards presented to
her, to give the young people some account of the manner in which they
were first introduced. Almost all historians agree in saying, that
they imagine games with cards were first invented in the reign of
Charles the Sixth of France, in order to procure that prince some
amusement during his long illness. As a proof that this is the fact,
they cite the register of the chamber of accounts, in which there is
the following passage: “the sum of fifty-six _sous Parisis_, (which
was a very considerable sum in those times), was paid to Jacquemin
Gringonneur, a painter, for three packs of cards, adorned with gold
and divers colours, and different devices.” This passage proves
nothing more than that Gringonneur was a card-maker, but not the
inventor of any game. In making further researches, we find that
Charles the Fifth, predecessor of Charles the Sixth, had prohibited
the playing at cards, and that they were already known in Spain
towards the year 1330, under the name of _Naipes_.
All the European nations give to the four principal cards of each
suit, the names of ace, king, queen, and knave, according to the
denominations which correspond in each language; but the names of the
four suits vary; hearts and spades are pretty nearly the only ones,
the appellations of which are analogous in the different languages.
The diamond is called _carreau_ in French, and _oros_, which means
jewel, in Spanish. The club called in French _trèfle_, and in Spanish
_bastos_, has, like the diamond, a corresponding signification in the
Spanish and English languages, because the name in both signifies a
stick. In Germany, it was formerly made like a cross, and it still
retains the name of _kreuz_. These little hints may be found worthy of
the attention of those persons who seek to discover the origin of
cards.
The young ladies questioned Madame D’Hernilly about the rules of the
different games at cards: but, upon this point, she did not think it
right to satisfy their curiosity. “It must be owned,” she said, “that
we find fewer examples among women than men, of an inordinary fondness
for cards, but we cannot be too much upon our guard against the love
of play: recollect, besides, the observation, unfortunately too just,
which one of our poets makes upon the avidity with which people
sometimes give themselves up to gaming:――‘We begin by being dupes, and
end by being cheats.’”
“Long live our childish games!” cried Ernestina, “these at least do
not occasion any remorse.”