packs of cards are now made with coloured backs. The ground-tint
is laid on with a brush, and consists of dis-temper colour, or
pigments mixed with warm melted size. The device impressed on
this ground-tint is often very beautiful. Messrs De la Rue, the
leading firm in the manufacture, employ tasteful artists, and
invest a large amount of capital in the introduction of new
patterns. On cards sold at moderate prices, the colours at the
back are generally two--one for the ground, and one for the
device; but some of the choicer specimens display several
colours; and many of the designs are due to the pencil of Mr Owen
Jones. The printing of the design is done on the sheets of
paper, before the pasting to form cardboard. The pips or spots
on the faces of playing-cards are now spades, clubs, hearts, and
diamonds; but at different times, and in different countries,
there have been leaves, acorns, bells, cups, swords, fruit,
heads, parasols, and other objects similarly represented. In
English cards the colours are red and black; Messrs De la Rue
once introduced red, black, green, and blue for the four suits;
but the novelty was not encouraged by card-players. The same
makers have also endeavoured to supersede the clumsy devices of
kings, queens, and knaves, by something more artistic; but this,
too, failed commercially; for the old patterns, like the old
willow-pattern dinner-plates, are still preferred--simply because
the users have become accustomed to them. Until within the last
few years the printing of cards was generally done by
stencilling, the colour being applied through perforated devices
in a stencil-plate. The colour employed for this purpose is
mixed up with a kind of paste. When there is a device at the
back, the outline of the device is printed from an engraved wood-
block, and the rest filled in by stencilling. The stencilling of