David, Alexander, Cæsar, and Charlemagne are at the head of the four suits at Piquet, because troops, however brave and numerous, yet require prudent and experienced leaders. The Queens are, Argine, for Trèfle; Rachel, for Carreau; Pallas, for Pique; and Judith, for CÅur. In Argine, Père Daniel finds the anagram of Regina, and having made this capital discovery, he is enabled to determine that this Queen was Mary of Anjou, wife of Charles VII. Rachel represents the fair Agnes Sorel, mistress of Charles VII; and the chaste and warlike Pallas is but an emblem of Joan of Arc. Judith is not the Jewish heroine who cut off the head of Holofernes, but the Empress Judith, wife of Louis le Debonnaire; but even this Judith is merely a representative of Isabel of Bavaria, wife of Charles VI. In David he sees a typification of Charles VII, in consequence of a conformity in their destinies: David, after having been long persecuted by Saul, his father-in-law, at length obtained the crown; but, in the midst of his prosperity, was troubled with the revolt of his son Absalom: and Charles VII, after having been disinherited and proscribed by his father Charles VI,--or rather by Isabel of Bavaria,--gloriously reconquered his kingdom; but the latter years of his life were rendered unhappy by the restless spirit and wicked character of his son, Louis XI.
In his account of the Valets, Père Daniel is not so imaginative as in the explication of the double and triple characters which he sees represented by the Kings and Queens. La Hire is the famous Stephen de Vignoles, surnamed La Hire, a devoted adherent of Charles VII; while Hector is supposed to be intended for Hector de Galard, another famous captain of the same period. Hogier and Lancelot are allowed to pass simply in their own proper characters, as heroes of romance.[242]
It would appear to be the opinion of Mons. Duchesne, that the oldest French Piquet cards that have been discovered, are those formerly belonging to a Mons. Henin, who found them in the cover of an old book. Mons. Henin having disposed of them to Messrs. Colnaghi, the well-known printsellers, of London, they were purchased of the latter for the Bibliothèque du Roi. They are engraved on wood, and coloured; and in the table of contents prefixed to the 'Jeux de Tarots et de Cartes Numérales,' it is asserted they were executed about 1425.[243] But whatever may be their date, they are not, in my opinion, of so early a period as either the old uncoloured cards, preserved in the British Museum, previously described at page 88; or as those formerly belonging to Dr. Stukeley. I indeed question much if they be really older than the coloured French cards, the four Valets, now in the British Museum, and of which some account will be found in a subsequent page.