evident, and the collector has a wide and diverse area in extending his studies in the European field.

The Queen was introduced into the pack by the French, and incidentally it may be mentioned that in chess the Queen was unknown in the old oriental form. The pieces were King, General, Elephant, Horseman, Camel (Ruch), Footsoldier. The European form retains the King, the General becomes the Queen, the Elephant becomes the Bishop, and the Horseman remains as the Knight, the Camel or Ruch becomes the Castle or Rook, and the Footsoldier is the Pawn in the game.

Oriental Cards. In regard to oriental cards even greater perplexities arise as to the suits, of which there are or may be as many as ten, and of the titles and subjects applicable to each suit. The cards are usually circular and are of papier maché with the design painted and decorated in gold and varnished with a lac surface. The packs of eight suits of Hindustanee cards contain ninety-six, and those with ten suits have one hundred and twenty cards. The suits appear to have a relationship with the ten avataras or incarnations of Vishnu, and the following symbols represent each avatar: Fish, Tortoise, Boar, Man-lion, Dwarf or Monkey, Hatchet, Bow or Umbrella, Goat, Buddha, and the White Horse. But all Hindustanee cards do not bear this affinity with the symbols of Vishnu; others have a slight suggestion of the early European forms, and

others again appear to have no connexion with any stage in evolution.

The cards illustrated (p. 185) are from a pack of eight suits illustrated and described in the Calcutta Magazine, 1815. The coat cards consist of eight knights, or valets" as the French termed them, and eight kings. In the illustration, one king is seated on his throne, the other is riding on an elephant. The other two cards are knights.

In regard to Chinese playing cards, as may be imagined they have an intricacy and individuality which does not suggest any connection with cards of other countries. They are long and narrow and consist of three suits of nine cards each, with three superior cards. The Chinese name for the pack is shen, meaning a fan. Fantan is a Chinese game of cards often heard of in connection with legal prosecutions in Chinese gaming houses. There are cards with chariots and horses, some with strings of beads, and others with cakes. The Chinese seem to have anticipated the modern French pack by having a set with the names of great historical Chinese persons.

Fifteenth-Century Playing Cards.-The playing cards of this period have marked an epoch. It was then that they were established in Europe. The British Museum possesses a valuable collection of playing cards, and an exhaustive catalogue was made by William Hughes Willshire, M.D. Edin. This was published in 1876–7,

and in conjunction with Samuel Weller Singer's Researches into the History of Playing Cards, 1816, will provide sufficient data to guide the collector in his further researches.

Among the cards preserved, there are some packs, or portions of packs, which have been executed by masters of the graver. Playing cards apparently were not always coloured, and although late examples have been engraved for sets not designed for actual use in playing, earlier engraved packs were for practical use. In a measure some of these designs may be compared with Chippendale's Director, where the illustrations are of examples of furniture yet unmade, or with Conder's delightful fan-mounts never cut up. The designs therefore of great draughtsmen for playing cards were not necessarily used. They have remained as designs; but they have been left to posterity as examples of what was thought ideal for playing cards. Of the actual cards which were in use in early days, as may be imagined, few have come down to add to the collector's cabinet. Those that have survived have been abstracted from old bindings, where they have served the menial purpose of stiffening the backs. But the collector of old bindings will not thank the collector of playing cards to disturb his bindings to hunt for stray playing cards.

Early cards were stencilled and crude in design. But engravers soon turned their attention to such pictorial subjects. Italian, French, and German

INDIAN CIRCULAR PLAYING CARDS.

From a pack of eight suits, the coat cards consisting of eight knights and eight kings. The two upper cards are of two kings, one riding on elephant and one seated on throne. The two lower cards represent two knights.