Pen wrote:
And I found some funny little faces just below the King of Sword's knees (De Pee's knees...!), see below, enlarged the correct way up (for the faces), and reversed (as on the card).
Pen
Is our King here a Chief Pedicurist (Roy de Pee*) ?
Or a 12" ruler (12" = a king's foot).
Roy de Pee = "pied-du-roi" (a measure used in Paris**) - a) twelve-inch rule or measuring stick b) carpenter's square c) carpenter's folding ruler.
Thus it may be said, that he seeks to know the true measure of things.
"The measure of a man is what he does with power." (Plato)
"The measure of a man is the way he bears up under misfortune" (Plutarch).
“The best measure of a man's honesty isn't his income tax return. It's the zero adjust on his bathroom scale.” (Arthur C. Clarke)
SteveM
*Pee= Norman french spelling for foot (pied) e.g., serjanzt de pee = foot-soldiers, men serving on foot; or, as in when the Lord Mayor of London in 1314 (when Norman French was the language of officialdom) forbid:
rageries de grosse pelottes de pee (rumpusses with large footballs).
**Les uns & les autres font réduits au pied de roi , qui est une mesure établie à Paris & en quelques autres villes de France; elle contient 144 lignes. Ce pied est divisé en douze pouces, le pouce en douze lignes, &Ia ligne en douze points.