As the distinctive marks of the suits on the oldest cards in existence are Hearts, Bells, Leaves, and Acorns, it may reasonably be supposed that these marks were used at as early a period as any of the others which occur on cards of a later date, but yet executed before the close of the fifteenth century. Next to these in point of antiquity, and perhaps of as early a date, are Swords, Cups, Batons, and Money, which would appear to have been the most common marks on early Italian cards, and to have been almost exclusively adopted in Spain. For the sake of distinction, in future, cards with these marks will be referred to as Spanish cards, as in Spain the suits are still distinguished by Swords, Cups, Batons, and Money; while cards having Hearts, Bells, Leaves, and Acorns, will be referred to as German cards, as such appear to have been the kind most generally used in Germany. Of the marks on what were more particularly called "French cards," in the sixteenth century,--CÅur, Trèfle, Pique, and Carreau, or as we call them, Hearts, Clubs, Spades, and Diamonds,--two of them at least, the CÅur and the Pique, are evidently derived from the Heart and the Leaf of the earlier pack, while there is good reason to believe that the form of the Trèfle was copied from that of the Acorn.[237]
The mark now called the _Trèfle_, in France, was formerly known as the Fleur. Peignot, referring to a poem entitled "La Magdaleine au Désert de la Sainte-Baume en Provence," printed at Lyons, in 1668, says: "We learn from this poem that, in 1668, the word _Trèfle_ was not yet in use, as the designation of one of the suits of cards; that suit was then called _Fleurs_. The Valets were also then termed _Fous_."
The type of the Carreau, or Diamond, is not to be found in any of the marks of the other two packs above noticed. In the time of Pietro Aretine, the suits of French cards appear to have been known in Italy by the names of Cori, Quadri, Fiori, and Cappari,[238] as we learn from his 'Carte Parlanti,' first printed in 1545, in which a Paduan card-maker holds a long dialogue, moral and entertaining, with his cards:
"_Paduan._ As French cards are used in Italy, tell me, I pray, what, amongst that people, may be the signification of Capers? [Cappari.]