Curse of Scotland of 1715 and "became universally hated in Scotland". In 18th-century Scotland, the nine of diamonds was sometimes called the "Justice Clerk", and was considered to be the most unlucky card in the pack. James Mitchell's 1825 "Scotsman's Library" claimed that the expression originated from the Duke of Monmouth writing orders on such a card before the Battle of Bothwell Bridge (1679). Despite this, in "The Spectator", a reviewer of an 1885 book by George Gomme commented that the reviewer had believed that the phrase had started from an order written on a 9 by the Duke of Cumberland ("Butcher" Cumberland)
Playing card in two suits show they had a reverse ranking, a feature found in madiao, "ganjifa", and old European card games like ombre, tarot, and maw. A fragment of two uncut sheets of Moorish-styled cards of a similar but plainer style were found in Spain and dated to the early 15th century. Export of these cards (from Cairo, Alexandria, and Damascus), ceased after the fall of the Mamluks in the 16th century. The rules to play these games are lost but they are believed to be plain trick games without trumps. Four-suited playing cards are first attested in Southern Europe in