Front of the game card 29 from "Characteristics; An Original Game by a Lady"

Description

This is card 29 in the game, Characteristics, an Original and Amusing Game by a Lady, published by the firm W. & S. B. Ives of Salem, Massachusetts in 1843. The goal of the game was to collect cards by identifying famous personages by their personality traits. When a player failed to match the person to their characteristics, she or he had to read a pair of admonitory epigrams on the back of the card. The question on the front is: "England, died A.D. 901. He was distinguished for: genius for government and for war; learning; taste for poetry and music; beauty; energy, prudence; ingenuity; punctuality; piety." The answer is Alfred the Great, King of England, who died in 901. The epigrams on the back are: "O, foolish youth! Thou seek'st the greatness that will overwhelm thee" and "If human woes her soft attention claim, a tender sympathy pervades her frame." A pattern of palmettes decorates the edge of the card. W. & S. B. Ives, one of the firms of William and Stephen Bradshaw Ives, was bought out by Parker Brothers in 1887.