Very soon, however, the evil consequences of their introduction
became apparent. One would have thought that in such a
tumultuous reign at home as that of our sixth Henry, there could
not have been so much use made of cards as to have rendered them
an object of public apprehension and governmental solicitude; but
a record appears in the beginning of the reign of Edward IV.,
after the deposition of the unfortunate Henry, by which playing
cards, as well as dice, tennis-balls, and chessmen, were
forbidden to be imported.
If this tended to check their use for a time, the subsequent
Spanish connection with the court of England renewed an
acquaintance with cards and a love for them. The marriage of
Prince Arthur with the Infanta Catherine of Arragon, brought on
an intimacy between the two nations, which probably increased
card-playing in England,--it being a diversion to which the
Spaniards were extremely addicted at that period.
Cards were certainly much in use, and all ideas concerning them
very familiar to the minds of the English, during the reign of
Henry VIII., as may be inferred from a remarkable sermon of the
good bishop Latimer. This sermon was preached in St Edward's
church, Cambridge, on the Sunday before Christmas day, 1527, and
in this discourse he may be said to have 'dealt' out an
exposition of the precepts of Christianity according to the terms
of card-playing.
Pages:
239
240
241
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260
261
262
263