seem to have been imbued with the frivolity of the time, and to have had a taint of the prevailing vices pervading even their efforts at correction. John Wesley, the preacher, and Richardson, the novelist, though each in his way attempting reformation, still wrote and spoke in a spirit which, in our time at least, would be considered too tolerant.

Bath, or as it has been designated the City of the Sick, became, under the reign of Beau Nash, a fashionable resort for the gay and frivolous; he was the master-spirit by which all the little world of fashion congregated at this charming watering-place seemed to be ruled. The Beau was by nature adapted to the discharge of a duty so fraught with pleasure, and in which he was so admittedly the caterer to the happiness of others; he was an adept in the science of flattery, and could administer it most adroitly to a duchess, whilst affecting to reprove her, and could so cajole the little would-be fine ladies, as to persuade them they were honoured by his condescension, whilst drawing them out for the amusement of real ladies. His principal tact was displayed in bringing parties together who were desirous to be acquainted, or whose tastes assimilated. His dress, as master of the ceremonies, was particularly odd; he wore a large white hat, cocked, the buckle of his stock before instead of behind; and defying even the most bracing air his waistcoat was unbuttoned to display the bosom of his shirt. He drove six greys, and when he went in state to the rooms was always attended by a numerous escort, and a band of music, generally composed of French horns.

There was a marble statue erected to his memory on his death, which took place in 1761, by the corporation of Bath, in gratitude for the benefits conferred on them through his means. The statue was placed in the pump-room, between those of Newton and Pope; this remarkable posi tion was animadverted on in a witty epigram by his friend Lord Chesterfield :

"The Statue, placed these busts between,
Gives Satire all its strength;

Wisdom and Wit are little seen,

But Folly at full length.'

The Earl of Chesterfield was a constant habitue, at Bath,

where he indulged in play with a Mr. Lookup, one of the most notorious professional gamesters of the day; billiards was also a favorite amusement, and it is recorded that Lookup was a proficient in all those games; the money which he had at various times won from Lord Chesterfield at Piquet he expended in building some houses at Bath, and in compliment to the noble pigeon he had so well plucked, he humorously called them "Chesterfield Row." Lookup, however, got into a scrape which was near proving fatal to him; he was accused of unfair play by a gentleman who had lost heavily to him, and in the course of the law proceeding attendant on the matter, he, through the blundering of his attorney involuntarily committed perjury for which he was convicted, and merely escaped the pillory owing to a flaw in his opponent's indictment. He is said to have died with cards in his hand, whilst playing at his favorite game of humbug, which gave rise to the witty remark of Foote, that, "Lookup was humbugged out of the world at last."

The reign of George II. was remarkable as an era of vice, of which gaming took the lead, and though Colley Cibber sipped his wine at the table of "my lord;" and the great old Samuel Johnson behind a screen in Caves' back shop eagerly devours a plate of meat, which the thoughtful book-seller has sent him from his own table, still might be seen a batch of gambling senators hurrying down to the house from the club at White's to record their votes against gambling, whilst fresh from the act of indulging in the vice, against which their censure was thus passed.

This disgraceful inconsistency was cleverly shown up in an ironical pamphlet entitled, "A Letter to the Club at White's."

The gaming propensities of Lord Anson the circumnavigator were keenly satirised in a series of humorous and amusing prints levelled at the time against the ministry, Anson being a member of both the ministry and the club. The gamesters' coat of arms is represented in the same series. The shield is charged with cards, dice, and dice-boxes, and is surrounded by a chain, from which hangs a label inscribed "Claret," Supporters, two knaves. Crest, a hand holding a dice-box. Motto," Cog it AMOR NUMMI.'

The passion for gambling increased rather than decreased during the earlier part of the reign of George III. Preachers

were loud in their denunciations of this vice, and Dr. Rennell, master of the Temple, is reported to have with his own hand placed under the knocker of Mr. Fox's door a very animated sermon in which, whilst denouncing GAMING and GAMBLERS, he levelled his shafts openly at the great man himself.

Various species of cards have been represented as belonging to different periods; the two, however, most written about have been the Tarocchi or Tarots, and those consisting of the four suits, which are in common use throughout Europe. Some suppose the Tarocchi cards to have been of Egyptian origin, whilst others assume them to have been the invention of Jacquemiu Gringonneur for the amusement of the lunatic, King Charles VI. An Italian of the fifteenth century also gets the credit of originating them at Bologna; a pack of Tarots is at present used in France similar to those described by the writers of the sixteenth century; it consists of seventyeight cards, and four suits, the marks of which are swords, caps, batons and money.

The earliest known specimens of what are called the Tarocchi cards are those preserved in the Imperial library at Paris, and are supposed to be one of the three packs painted for Charles VI., 1393. They originally belonged to Mons. de Gaignières, governor to the grand-children of Louis XIV., and who bequeathed them with his entire collection of prints and drawings to the king in 1711. Dr. Martin Lister thus alludes to them in an account of a journey he took to Paris in 1698: "I waited upon the Abbot Droine to visit Mons. Guanieres (de Gaignières) at his lodgings in the Hostel de Guise. One toy I took particular notice of, a collection of playing cards for 300 years. The oldest were three times bigger than what are now used, extremely well limmed and illuminated with gilt borders, and the pasteboard thick and firm, but there was not a complete set of them."

Mons. Duchesne in his "Observations sur les Cartes à jouer," published in the "Annuaire Historique" for the year 1837, thus writes, "there are seventeen of them, and there can scarcely be a doubt of their having formed part of a set of what are called Tarocchi cards, which when complete, consisted of fifty. They are painted on paper, in the manner of illuminations in oid manuscripts, on a gold ground, which is in other parts marked with ornamental lines, formed

by means of points slightly pricked into the composition upon which the gilding is laid. They are surrounded by a border of silver gilding, in which there is also seen an ornament, formed in the same manner, by means of points, representing a kind of scroll or twisted riband. Some parts of the embroidery on the vestments of the different figures are heightened with gold, while the weapons and armour are covered with silver, which, like that on the borders, has for the most part become oxydized through time."

The ancient Tarocchi cards are not supposed to have been intended for games of chance, but rather of instruction. In this game, consisting of five classes, we find the planets representing the celestial system, the virtues which constitute the basis of all morality, the sciences, the muses, and finally, the several conditions of life in which man may be placed, from the very highest to the lowest position.

The oldest specimens of undoubted playing cards are either stencilled or engraven on wood, and judging by the style of their execution one would take them to have been executed early in the fifteenth century.

The invention of cards, with the suits now in use, has been claimed by the French, as also the substitution of the queen, as a second court card, instead of a male figure. This arrangement has been considered by several French writers as typical of the gallantry of their nation. The French were also the first who gave historical names to their court cards, though the court cards were named as follows in the time of Pere Daniel; we have this moment before us a pack of French cards bearing precisely the same names and devices:

In the reign of Henry IV. these names were changed, the kings were Solomon, Augustus, Clovis, and Constantine; and the queens, Elizabeth, Dido, Clotilde, and "Pantalisca;' whilst the knaves had no particular names, but were designated from their office, and all the characters were in the costume of the period.

Père Daniel gives a rather romantic explanation of the

suits and titles by which they are designated; the ace, as taking precedence in the game of piquet, he assumes to represent money. The trèfle, or clover plant, which abounds in the meadows of France, denotes the rich and fertile spot. where a wary general should encamp, in order to provide forage for his army. Piques signified magazines of arms which ought to be well stored. The carreaux were a species of heavy arrows shot from a cross-bow, and which were so called from their heads being squared. Cœurs-heartssignified courage amongst commanders and soldiers.

David, Alexander, Cæsar, and Charlemagne, are at the head of the four suits of piquet, as representing prudent and experienced leaders. Pére Daniel seems to have discovered in Argine the queen of clubs, the anagram of Regina, and at once jumps to the conclusion that Mary of Anjou, wife of Charles VII. is intended. Rachel represents Agnes Sorel, the mistress of Charles VII.; and Joan of Arc is shadowed forth by the chaste and warlike Pallas. Judith is not the Jewish heroine, but the wife of Louis le Debonnaire.

David he typifies as Charles VII., from a seeming similarity in their destinies; Charles, like the king of old, having been persecuted by his father, or rather by his father's wife, Isabel of Bavaria, is proscribed and disinherited, but afterwards regains his kingdom; whilst the restless and wicked character of his son, Louis XI., is emblematic of Absalom's revolt.

In the latter part of the fifteenth century, several packs or sets of cards were engraven on copper; as those cards were necessarily of high price, they were, of course, meant for the wealthier classes. Mons. Leber avers that these cards were not intended for play; however correct or incorrect that opinion may be, yet it is certain that they were available as playing cards, having the same number of suits as the ordinary playing cards of the period, and being in every respect arranged for play. Mons. Leber's notion concerning them was imbibed from the idea, that as they were colourless, they were consequently unsuitable; they were, however, so well defined, that this objection becomes merely an erroneous supposition.

The form of these cards was circular, and each suit contained four court cards, namely, a king, queen, squire, and knave; the four aces formed one plate; the highest of the