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The Gaming Table: Its Votaries and Victims. Volume 2 (of 2)

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Title: The Gaming Table: Its Votaries and Victims. Volume 2 (of 2)

Author: Andrew Steinmetz


        
Release date: May 1, 1996 [eBook #531]
                Most recently updated: November 29, 2009

Language: English

Other information and formats: www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/531

Credits: Produced by Mike Lough, and David Widger


*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GAMING TABLE: ITS VOTARIES AND VICTIMS. VOLUME 2 (OF 2) ***




Produced by Mike Lough





THE GAMING TABLE: ITS VOTARIES AND VICTIMS,

In all Times and Countries, especially in England and in France.

IN TWO VOLUMES.--VOL. II.


By Andrew Steinmetz


Of The Middle Temple, Barrister-At-Law; First-Class Extra Certificate
School Of Musketry, Hythe; Late Officer Instructor Musketry, The Queens
Own Light Infantry Militia. Author Of 'The History Of The Jesuits,'
'Japan And Her People,' 'The Romance Of Duelling,' &C., &C.


     'The sharp, the blackleg, and the knowing one,
     Livery or lace, the self-same circle, run;
     The same the passion, end and means the same--
     Dick and his Lordship differ but in name.'



CONTENTS OF VOL. II.


I. CHEVALIERS D'INDUSTRIE, OR POLITE SHARPERS II. PROFESSIONAL GAMESTERS
AND THEIR FRAUDS III. ANECDOTES OF THE PASSIONS AND VICISSITUDES OF
GAMESTERS IV. ACTROCITIES, DUELS. SUICIDES, AND EXECUTION OF GAMBLERS V.
ODDITIES AND WITTICISMS OF GAMBLERS VI. THE GAMING CLUBS VII. DOINGS IN
GAMING HOUSES VIII. THE DOCTRINE OF PROBABILITIES APPLIED TO GAMBLING
IX. THE HISTORY OF DICE AND CARDS X. PIQUET, BASSET, FARO, HAZARD,
PASSE-DIX, PUT,      CROSS AND PILE, THIMBLE-RIG
 XI. COCK-FIGHTING XII. THE TURF, HISTORICAL, SOCIAL, MORAL XIII.
FORTUNE-TELLING BY CARDS (FOR LADIES) XIV. AMUSING CARD TRICKS





THE GAMING TABLE.



CHAPTER I. CHEVALIERS D'INDUSTRIE, OR POLITE SHARPERS.

Chevaliers d'industrie, or polite and accomplished sharpers, have always
existed in every city, from the earliest times to the present. The
ordinary progress of these interesting gentlemen is as follows. Their
debut is often difficult, and many of them are stopped short in their
career. They only succeed by means of great exertion and severe trials;
but they endure everything in order to be tolerated or permitted to
exercise their calling. To secure credit they ally themselves with men
of respectability, or those who pass for such. When they have no titles
they fabricate them; and few persons dispute their claims. They are
found useful for the pleasures of society, the expenses of which they
often pay--at the cost of the dupes they make in the world. The income
of chevaliers d'industrie is at first derived from those inexperienced
persons whom they get in their clutches by means of every kind
of enticement, in order to ruin them some day--if they have any
'expectations' or are likely to be rich; or in order to make accomplices
of them if they have only aptitudes for the purpose. After having led
them from error to error, after suggesting to them all sorts of wants
and vices, they make them gamble, if they are of age; they hold up play
to them as an inexhaustible source of wealth.

The 'protector' next hands over his 'young friends' to 'executioners,'
who fleece them for the common benefit of the confederates. They do
not always wait for the coming of age of their young dupes in order to
strike the grand 'stroke.' When they find that the father of a family
shudders at the idea of a public scandal, they immolate their victim at
once--for fear lest he should escape from their hands. Of course they
are always open to 'capitulate'--to come to terms; and if the aid of the
law is invoked they give in discreetly.

About a century ago there flourished at Paris one of these adventurers,
who made a great noise and did a vast amount of evil. This man of a
thousand faces, this Proteus, as great a corrupter as he was corrupted,
changed his name, his quarters, and field of operations, according to
the exigences of business. Although a man of ardent temperament and
inconceivable activity, his cold-blooded rascality was never in a hurry.
He could wait; he could bide his time. Taking in, at a glance, all the
requirements of a case, and seeing through all its difficulties, he
worked out his scheme with the utmost patience and consummated his crime
with absolute security.

Sometimes he gave a concert for amateurs, elegant suppers for gay
ladies, and special soirees for the learned and the witty. He was not
particular as to the means of doing business; thus he trafficked
in everything,--for the sale of a living, or the procuration of a
mistress--for he had associates in all ranks, among all professions of
men.

He had twenty Faro tables in operation every night, whilst his
emissaries were on the watch for new arrivals, and for those who had
recently come into property.

In general, rogues soon betray themselves by some stupid bungle; but
such was not the case with this man; he defended himself, as it were, on
all sides, and always kept himself in position so as to oppose to
each of his vices the proof positive of the contrary virtues. Thus, if
accused of usury, he could prove that he had lent, without interest,
considerable sums of money. Cowardly and base in a tete-a-tete, he was
bold and redoubtable in public; those who had made him tremble in secret
were then compelled to acknowledge him a man of courage. Even his more
than suspected probity was defended by such as believed themselves his
depositaries, whereas they were, in point of fact, only receivers of
stolen property.

Affable, insinuating to a degree, he might be compared to those brigands
of Egypt who embraced their victims in order to strangle them.(1) He
never showed more devotedness than when he meditated some perfidy, nor
more assurance than when convicted of the rascality. Playing fast and
loose with honour and the laws, he was sure to find, when threatened by
the arm of justice, the female relatives of the judges themselves
taking his part and doing their best to 'get him off.' Such was this
extraordinary chevalier d'industrie, who might have gone on with his
diabolical perpetrations had he not, at last, attempted too much,
failing in the grandest stroke he had ever meditated--and yet a vulgar
fraud--when he was convicted, branded, and sent to the galleys.(2)

(1) Senec., Epist. Ii. (2) Dusaulx, De la Passion du Jeu.

The following narrative elucidates a still more modern phase of this
elegant 'industry.' My authority is M. Robert-Houdin.

CAUGHT IN A TRAP.

M. Olivier de ---- was a dissipated young gentleman. His family was
one of the oldest and most respectable of the country, and deservedly
enjoyed the highest consideration. M. Olivier de ----, his father, was
not rich, and therefore could not do much for his son; the consequence
was that owing to his outrageous prodigality the son was sorely pinched
for means to keep up his position; he exhausted his credit, and was soon
overwhelmed with debt. Among the companions of his dissipation was a
young man whose abundant means filled him with admiration and envy; he
lived like a prince and had not a single creditor. One day he asked his
friend to explain the mystery of the fact that, without possessing any
fortune, he could gratify all his tastes and fancies, whilst he himself,
with certain resources, was compelled to submit to privations, still
getting into debt.

Chauvignac--such was the name of the friend thus addressed--was a
card-sharper, and he instantly seized the opportunity to make something
out of the happy disposition of this modern prodigal son, this scion of
gentility. With the utmost frankness he explained to the young man his
wonderful method of keeping his pockets full of money, and showed that
nothing could be easier than for Olivier to go and do likewise in his
terrible condition;--in short, on one hand there were within his grasp,
riches, pleasure, all manner of enjoyment; on the other, pitiless
creditors, ruin, misery, and contempt. The tempter, moreover, offered to
initiate his listener in his infallible method of getting rich. In
his frame of mind Olivier yielded to the temptation, with the full
determination, if not to get money by cheating at cards, at any rate to
learn the method which might serve as a means of self-defence should
he not think proper to use it for attack--such was the final argument
suggested by the human Mephistopheles to his pupil.

Taking Olivier to his house, he showed him a pack of cards. 'Now here is
a pack of cards,' he said; 'there seems to be nothing remarkable about
it, does there?' Olivier examined the pack and declared that the cards
did not appear to differ in the least from all others. 'Well,' said
Chauvignac, 'nevertheless they have been subjected to a preparation
called biseautage, or having one end of the cards made narrower than the
other. This disposition enables us to remove from the pack such and such
cards and then to class them in the necessary order so that they may get
into the hand of the operator.' Chauvignac then proceeded to apply his
precepts by an example, and although the young man had no particular
qualification for the art of legerdemain, he succeeded at once to
admiration in a game at Ecarte, for he had already mastered the
first process of cheating. Having thus, as he thought, sufficiently
compromised his victim, Chauvignac left him to his temptations, and took
leave of him.

Two days afterwards the professor returned to his pupil and invited him
to accompany him on a pleasure trip. Olivier excused himself on account
of his desperate condition--one of his creditors being in pursuit of him
for a debt of one thousand francs. 'Is that all?' said Chauvignac; and
pulling out his pocket-book he added,--'Here's a bank-note; you can
repay me to-morrow.' 'Why, man, you are mad!' exclaimed Olivier. 'Be it
so,' said Chauvignac; 'and in my madness I give you credit for another
thousand-franc bank-note to go and get thirty thousand francs which
are waiting for you.' 'Now, do explain yourself, for you are driving
ME mad.' 'Nothing more easy. Here is the fact,' said Chauvignac. 'M. le
Comte de Vandermool, a wealthy Belgian capitalist, a desperate gamester
if ever there was one, and who can lose a hundred thousand francs
without much inconvenience, is now at Boulogne, where he will remain a
week. This millionnaire must be thinned a little. Nothing is easier. One
of my friends and confreres, named Chaffard, is already with the count
to prepare the way. We have only now to set to work. You are one of
us--that's agreed--and in a few days you will return, to satisfy your
creditors and buy your mistress a shawl.'

'Stop a bit. You are going too fast. Wait a little. I haven't as yet
said Yes,' replied Olivier. 'I don't want your Yes now; you will say
it at Boulogne. For the present go and pay your bill. We set out in
two hours; the post-horses are already ordered; we shall start from my
house: be punctual.'

The party reached Boulogne and put up at the Hotel de l'Univers. On
their arrival they were informed that no time was to be lost, as the
count talked of leaving next day. The two travellers took a hasty
dinner, and at once proceeded to the apartment of the Belgian
millionnaire. Chaffard, who had preceded them, introduced them as two of
his friends, whose property was situated in the vicinity of Boulogne.

M. le Comte de Vandermool was a man about fifty years of age, with
an open, candid countenance. He wore several foreign decorations. He
received the two gentlemen with charming affability; he did more; he
invited them to spend the evening with him. Of course the invitation
was accepted. When the conversation began to flag, the count proposed
a game--which was also, of course, very readily agreed to by the three
comperes.

While the table was prepared, Chauvignac gave his young friend two packs
of cards, to be substituted for those which should be furnished by the
count. Ecarte was to be the game, and Olivier was to play, the two other
associates having pretended to know nothing about the game, and saying
that they would content themselves by betting with each other. Of course
Olivier was rather surprised at this declaration, but he soon understood
by certain signs from Chauvignac that this reservation was intended to
do away with the count's suspicions, in case of their success.

The count, enormously rich as he was, would only play for bank-notes.
'Metal smells bad in a room,' he said. The novice, at first confused
at being a party to the intended roguery, followed the dictates of his
conscience and, neglecting the advantages of his hands, trusted merely
to chance. The result was that the only thousand-franc bank-note he had
was speedily transferred to the count. At that moment Chauvignac gave
him a significant look, and this, together with the desire to retrieve
his loss, induced him to put into execution the culpable manoeuvres
which his friend had taught him. His work was of the easiest; the count
was so short-sighted that he had to keep his nose almost upon the cards
to see them. Chance now turned, as might be expected, and thousand-franc
bank-notes soon accumulated in the hands of Olivier, who, intoxicated by
this possession, worked away with incredible ardour. Moreover, the
count was not in the least out of humour at losing so immensely; on the
contrary, he was quite jovial; indeed, from his looks he might have been
supposed to be the winner. At length, however, he said with a smile,
taking a pinch from his golden snuff-box--'I am evidently not in vein. I
have lost eighty thousand francs. I see that I shall soon be in for one
hundred thousand. But it is proper, my dear sir, that I should say I
don't make a habit of losing more than this sum at a sitting; and if
it must be so, I propose to sup before losing my last twenty thousand
francs. Perhaps this will change my vein. I think you will grant me this
indulgence.' The proposal was agreed to.

Olivier, almost out of his senses at the possession of eighty thousand
francs, could not resist the desire of expressing his gratitude to
Chauvignac, which he did, grasping his hand with emotion and leading him
into a corner of the room.

Alas! the whole thing was only an infamous conspiracy to ruin the young
man. The Belgian capitalist, this count apparently so respectable, was
only an expert card-sharper whom Chauvignac had brought from Paris to
play out the vile tragi-comedy, the denouement of which would be the
ruin of the unfortunate Olivier.

At the moment when the latter left the card-table to go to Chauvignac,
the pretended millionnaire changed the pack of cards they had been using
for two other packs.

Supper went off very pleasantly. They drank very moderately, for the
head had to be kept cool for what had to follow. They soon sat down
again at the card-table. 'Now,' said the Parisian card-shaper, on
resuming his seat, 'I should like to end the matter quickly: I will
stake the twenty thousand francs in a lump.'

Olivier, confident of success after his previous achievement, readily
assented; but, alas, the twenty thousand francs of which he made sure
was won by his adversary.

Forty thousand francs went in like manner. Olivier, breathless, utterly
prostrate, knew not what to do. All his manoeuvres were practised in
vain; he could give himself none but small cards. His opponent had
his hands full of trumps, and HE dealt them to him! In his despair he
consulted Chauvignac by a look, and the latter made a sign to him to go
on. The wretched young man went on, and lost again. Bewildered, beside
himself, he staked fabulous sums to try and make up for his losses, and
very soon found, in his turn, that he owed his adversary one hundred
thousand francs(L4166)!

At this point the horrible denouement commenced. The pretended count
stopped, and crossing his arms on his breast, said sternly--'Monsieur
Olivier de ----, you must be very rich to stake so glibly such enormous
sums. Of course you know your fortune and can square yourself with
it; but, however rich you may be, you ought to know that it is not
sufficient to lose a hundred thousand francs, but that you must pay it.
Besides, I have given you the example. Begin, therefore, by putting down
the sum I have won from you; after which we can go on.' . . .

'Nothing can be more proper, sir,' stammered out young Olivier, 'I am
ready to satisfy you; but, after all, you know that . . . .

gaming debts . . . . my word . . . .'

'The d--l! sir,' said the pretended count, giving the table a violent
blow with his fist--'Why do you talk to me about your WORD. Gad! You are
well entitled to appeal to the engagements of honour! Well! We have
now to play another game on this table, and we must speak out plainly.
Monsieur Olivier de ----, you are a rogue . . . Yes, a rogue! The cards
we have been using are biseautees and YOU brought them hither.'

'Sir! . . You insult me!' said Olivier.

'Indeed? Well, sir, that astonishes me!' replied the false Belgian
ironically.

'That is too much, sir. I demand satisfaction, and that on the very
instant. Do you understand me? Let us go out at once.'

'No! no! We must end this quarrel here, sir. Look here--your two friends
shall be your "seconds;" I am now going to send for MINE.'

The card-sharper, who had risen at these words, rang the bell violently.
His own servant entered. 'Go,' said he, 'to the Procureur de Roi, and
request him to come here on a very important matter. Be as quick as you
can.'

'Oh, sir, be merciful! Don't ruin me!' exclaimed the wretched Olivier;
'I will do what you like.' At these words, the sharper told his servant
to wait behind the door, and to execute his order if he should hear
nothing to the contrary in ten minutes.

'And now, sir,' continued the sharper, turning to Olivier, 'and
now, sir, for the business between you and me. These cards have been
substituted by you in the place of those which I supplied . . . You must
do them up, write your name upon the cover, and seal it with the coat of
arms on your ring.'

Olivier looked first at Chauvignac and then at Chaffard, but both the
fellows only made signs to him to resign himself to the circumstances.
He did what was ordered.

'That is not all, sir,' added the false Belgian; 'I have fairly won
money from you and have a right to demand a guarantee for payment. You
must draw me short bills for the sum of one hundred thousand francs.'

As the wretched young man hesitated to comply with this demand, his
pitiless creditor rose to ring the bell.

'Don't ring, sir, don't ring,' said Olivier, 'I'll sign.'

He signed, and the villany was consummated. Olivier returned to his
family and made an humble avowal of his fault and his engagements. His
venerable father received the terrible blow with resignation, and paid
the 100,000 francs, estimating his honour far above that amount of
money.(3)

(3) This narrative is condensed from the account of the affair by
Robert-Hondin, Tricherics des Grecs devoilees.


AN ATTORNEY 'DONE' BY A GAMBLER.

A turfite and gambler, represented under the letters of Mr H--e, having
lost all his money at Doncaster and the following York Meeting, devised
a plan, with his coadjutor, to obtain the means for their departure from
York, which, no doubt, will be considered exceedingly ingenious.

He had heard of an attorney in the town who was very fond of Backgammon;
and on this simple piece of information an elaborate plan was concocted.
Mr H--e feigned illness, went to bed, and sent for a large quantity of
tartar emetic, which he took. After he had suffered the operation of
the first dose he sent for a doctor, who pronounced him, of course, very
languid and ill; and not knowing the cause, ordered him more medicine,
which the patient took good care not to allow to stay on his stomach.

On the second day he asked the doctor, with great gravity, if he
considered him in danger, adding, 'because he had never made a WILL to
bequeath his property.' The doctor replied, 'No, not in absolute danger,
but there was no harm in making a WILL.'

The attorney, accordingly, was sent for--of course the very man wished
for--the lover of Backgammon before mentioned. The good man came; he
took the 'instructions,' and drew up the last will and testament of the
ruined turfite, who left (in the will) about L50,000, which no man ever
heard of, living or dead.

The BUSINESS being done, the patient said that if he had a moment's
relaxation he thought he should rally and overcome the malady. The poor
lawyer said if he could in any way contribute to his comfort he should
be happy. The offer was embraced by observing that if he could sit up in
bed--but he was afraid he was not able--a hit at Backgammon would be a
great source of amusement.

The lawyer, like all adepts in such matters, was only too willing to
catch at the idea; the board was brought.

Of course the man who had L50,000 to leave behind could not be expected
to play 'for love;' and so when Mr H--e proposed 'a pound a hit or
treble a gammon,' the lawyer not only thought it reasonable, but,
conscious of his power in the game, eagerly accepted the terms of
playing. They played; but the lawyer was gammoned almost
incessantly, till he lost L50. Then H--e proposed 'double or quits to
L1000,'--thereupon the poor lawyer, believing that fortune could not
always forsake him, said he had but L2000 in the world, but that he
would set the L1000. He lost; and became almost frantic. In the midst
of his excessive grief, H--e said, 'You have a HORSE, what is it worth?'
L50 was the answer. 'Well, well, you may win all back now, and I'll set
L50 on your horse.'

They began again. Lost! 'You have a COW in your paddock, haven't you?
What's that worth?' asked Mr H--e. The attorney said L12. 'Well, I'll
set that sum by way of giving you a chance.' The game proceeded, and the
poor lawyer, equally unfortunate, raved and swore he had lost his last
shilling. 'No, no!' said H--e,' you have not: I saw a HAY-RICK in your
ground. It is of no use now that the horse and cow are gone--what is
that worth?' L15, replied the attorney, with a sigh. 'I set L15 then,'
said H--e.

This seemed to be 'rather too much' for the lawyer. The loss of
the hay-rick--like the last straw laid on the overladen camel's
back--staggered him. Besides, he thought he saw--as doubtless he did
see--H--e twisting his fingers round one of the dice. Up he started at
once, and declared that he was cheated!

Thereupon the sick man forgot his sickness, jumped out of bed, and gave
the lawyer a regular drubbing, got the cheque for the L2000,--but the
horse, cow, and hay he said he would leave 'until further orders.'


A VERY CURIOUS STORY.

An Archbishop of Canterbury was once on a tour, when a genteel man,
apparently in earnest conversation, though alone in a wood, attracted
his notice. His Grace made up to him, and, after a little previous
conversation, asked him what he was about.


  Stranger.  'I am at play.'
  Archbishop.  'At play?  With whom?  I see nobody.'
  Sir.  'I own, sir, my antagonist is not visible: I am playing
  with God.'
  Abp.  'At what game, pray, sir?'
  Str.  'At Chess.'
  Abp.  'Do you play for anything?'
  Str.  'Certainly.'
  Abp.  'You cannot have any chance, as your adversary must be so
  superior to you.'
  Str.  'He takes no advantage, but plays merely as a man.'
  Abp.  'When you win or lose, how do you settle accounts?'
  Str.  'Very exactly and punctually.'
  Abp.  'Indeed!  Pray, how stands your game now?'
  Str.  'There!  I have just lost!'
  Abp.  'How much have you lost?'
  Str.  'Fifty guineas.'
  Abp.  'How do you manage to pay it?  Does God take your money?'
  Str.  'No!  The poor are his treasurers.  He always sends some
  worthy person to receive it, and you are at present his
  purse-bearer.'


Saying this, the stranger put fifty guineas into his Grace's hand, and
retired, adding--'I shall play no more to-day.'

The prelate was delighted; though he could not tell what to make of this
extraordinary man. The guineas were all good; and the archbishop applied
them to the use of the poor, as he had been directed.

The archbishop, on his return, stopped at the same town, and could
not help going in search of the chess-player, whom he found engaged as
before, when the following dialogue ensued:--


    Abp.  'How has the chance stood since we met before?'
    Str.  'Sometimes for me--sometimes against me.  I have lost and
    won.'
    Abp.  'Are you at play now?'
    Str.  'Yes, sir.  We have played several games to-day.'
    Abp.  'Who wins?'
    Str.  'The advantage is on my side.  The game is just over.  I
    have a fine stroke--check-mate--there it is.'
    Abp.  'How much have you won?'
    Str.  'Five hundred guineas.'
    Abp.  'That is a large sum.  How are you to be paid?'
    Str.  'God always sends some good rich man when I win, and YOU
    are the person.  He is remarkably punctual on these occasions.'

The archbishop had received a considerable sum on that day, as the
stranger knew; and so, producing a pistol by way of receipt, he
compelled the delivery of it. His Grace now discovered that he had
been the dupe of a thief; and though he had greatly bruited his first
adventure, he prudently kept his own counsel in regard to the last.

Such is the tale. Se non e vero e ben trovato.


SKITTLE SHARPERS.

'I know a respectable tradesman,' says a writer in Cassell's
Magazine--'I know him now, for he lives in the house he occupied at the
time of my tale--who was sent for to see a French gentleman at a tavern,
on business connected with the removal of this gentleman's property from
one of the London docks. The business, as explained by the messenger,
promising to be profitable, he of course promptly obeyed the summons,
and during his walk found that his conductor had once been in service
in France. This delighted Mr Chase--the name by which I signify the
tradesman--for he, too, had once so lived in France; and by the time he
reached the tavern he had talked himself into a very good opinion of
his new patron. The French gentleman was very urbane, gave Mr Chase his
instructions, let him understand expense was not to be studied, and, as
he was at lunch, would not be satisfied unless the tradesman sat down
with him. This was a great honour for the latter, as he found his
employer was a baron. Well, the foreigner was disposed to praise
everything English; he was glad he had come to live in London--Paris was
nothing to it; they had nothing in France like the English beer, with
which, in the exuberance of his hospitality, he filled and refilled Mr
Chase's glass; but that which delighted him above all that he had seen
"vos de leetle game vid de ball--vot you call--de--de--aha! de skittel."
Mr Chase assented that it was a very nice game certainly; and the French
gentleman seeming by this time to have had quite enough beer, insisted,
before they went to the docks--which was essential--that they should see
just one game played.

'As he insisted on paying Mr Chase for all the time consumed with him,
and as his servant, of course, could not object, the party adjourned
to the "Select Subscription Ground" at once. In the ground there was a
quiet, insignificant-looking little man, smoking a cigar; and as
they were so few, he was asked to assist, which, after considerable
hesitation and many apologies for his bad play, he did. The end is of
course guessed. The French gentleman was a foolish victim, with more
money than wits, who backed himself to do almost impossible feats, when
it was evident he could not play at all, and laid sovereigns against the
best player, who was the little stranger, doing the easiest. What with
the excitement, and what with the beer, which was probably spiced with
some unknown relish a little stronger than nutmeg, Mr Chase could not
help joining in winning the foreign gentleman's money; it seemed no
harm, he had so much of it.

'By a strange concurrence of events, it so happened that by random
throws the Frenchman sometimes knocked all the pins down at a
single swoop, though he clearly could not play--Mr Chase was sure
of that--while the skilful player made every now and then one of the
blunders to which the best players are liable. That the tradesman lost
forty sovereigns will be easily understood; and did his tale end here
it would have differed so little from a hundred others as scarcely to
deserve telling; but it will surprise many, as it did me, to learn that
he then walked to and from his own house--a distance of precisely a
mile each way--fetched a bill for thirty pounds, which a customer had
recently paid him, got it discounted, went back to the skittle-ground,
and, under the same malignant star, lost the whole.

'It was the only case in my experience of the work going on smoothly
after such a break. I never could account for it, nor could Mr Chase.
Great was the latter's disgust, on setting the police to work, to find
that the French nobleman, his servant, and the quiet stranger, were all
dwellers within half a mile or so of his own house, and slightly known
to him--men who had trusted, and very successfully, to great audacity
and well-arranged disguise.'

A vast deal of gambling still goes on with skittles all over the
country. At a place not ten miles from London, I am told that as much as
two thousand pounds has been seen upon the table in a single 'alley,'
or place of play. The bets were, accordingly, very high. The instances
revealed by exposure at the police-courts give but a faint idea of the
extent of skittle sharping.

Amidst such abuses of the game, it can scarcely surprise us that the
police have been recently directed to prohibit all playing at skittles
and bowls. However much we may regret the interference with popular
pastimes, in themselves unobjectionable, it is evident that their
flagrant abuse warrants the most stringent measures in order to prevent
their constantly repeated and dismal consequences. Even where money was
not played for, pots of beer were the wager--leading, in many instances,
to intoxication, or promoting this habit, which is the cause of so much
misery among the lower orders.



CHAPTER II. PROFESSIONAL GAMESTERS AND THEIR FRAUDS.

A gambling house at the end of the last century was conducted by the
following officials:--

1. A Commissioner,--who was always a proprietor; who looked in of a
night, and audited the week's account with two other proprietors.

2. A Director,--who superintended the room.

3. An Operator,--who dealt the cards at the cheating game called Faro.

4. Two Croupiers, or crow-pees, as they were vulgarly called, whose duty
it was to watch the cards and gather or rake in the money for the bank.

5. Two Puffs,--who had money given to them to decoy others to play.

6. A Clerk,--who was a check on the Puffs, to see that they sank none of
the money given to them to play with.

7. A Squib,--who was a puff of a lower rank, serving at half salary,
whilst learning to deal.

8. A Flasher,--to swear how often the bank had been stripped by lucky
players.

9. A Dunner,--who went about to recover money lost at play.

10. A Waiter,--to fill out wine, snuff candles, and attend the room.

11. An Attorney,--who was generally a Newgate solicitor.

12. A Captain,--who was to fight any gentleman who might be peevish at
losing his money.

13. An Usher,--who lighted the gentlemen up and down stairs, and gave
the word to the porter.

14. A Porter,--who was generally a soldier of the Foot Guards.

15. An Orderly-man,--who walked up and down the outside of the door, to
give notice to the porter, and alarm the house at the approach of the
constables.

16. A Runner,--who was to get intelligence of the Justices' meetings.

17. Link Boys, Coachmen, Chairmen, Drawers, and others, who brought the
first intelligence of Justices' meetings, of constables going out, at
half a guinea reward.

18. Common Bail, Affidavit Men, Ruffians, Bravos, Assassins, &c. &c.

It may be proper to remark that the above list of officials was only
calculated for gambling houses of an inferior order. In these it is
evident that the fear of interruption and the necessity for precaution
presided over the arrangements. There were others, however, which seemed
to defy law, to spurn at justice, and to remain secure, in every way, by
the 'respectability' of their frequenters. These were houses supported
at an amazing expense--within sight of the palace--which were open
every night and all night--where men of the first rank were to be
found gambling away immense sums of money, such as no man, whatever
his fortune might be, could sustain. 'What, then,' says a writer at
the time, 'are the consequences? Why, that the UNDONE part of them sell
their VOTES for bread, and the successful give them for honours.

'He who has never seen the gamblers' apartments in some of the
magnificent houses in the neighbourhood of St James's, has never
seen the most horrid sight that the imagination of a thinking man can
conceive.

'A new pack of cards is called for at every deal, and the "old" ones are
then thrown upon the floor, and in such an immense quantity, that the
writer of this letter has seen a very large room nearly ANKLE-DEEP, in
the greatest part of it, by four o'clock in the morning! Judge, then, to
what height they must have risen by daylight.'

It is a melancholy truth, but confirmed by the history of all nations,
that the most polite and refined age of a kingdom is never the most
virtuous; not, indeed, that any such compliment can be paid to that
gross age, but still it was refined compared with the past. The
distinctions of personal merit being but little regarded--in the
low moral tone that prevailed--there needed but to support a certain
'figure' in life (managed by the fashionable tailor)(4), to be
conversant with a few etiquettes of good breeding and sentiments of
modern or current honour, in order to be received with affability and
courteous attention in the highest circles. The vilest sharper, having
once gained admission, was sure of constant entertainment, for nothing
formed a greater cement of union than the spirit of HIGH GAMING. There
being so little cognizance taken of the good qualities of the heart in
fashionable assemblies, no wonder that amid the medley of characters to
be found in these places the 'sharper' of polite address should gain too
easy an admission.

(4)

 'How shalt THOU to Caesar's hall repair?
     For, ah! no DAMAGED coat can enter there!'

     BEATTIE'S Minstrel.

This fraternity of artists--whether they were to be denominated
rooks,(5) sharps, sharpers, black-legs, Greeks, or gripes--were
exceedingly numerous, and were dispersed among all ranks of society.

(5) So called because rooks are famous for stealing materials out of
other birds' nests to build their own.


The follies and vices of others--of open-hearted youth in
particular--were the great game or pursuit of this odious crew. Though
cool and dispassionate themselves, they did all in their power to throw
others off their guard, that they might make their advantage of them.

In others they promoted excess of all kinds, whilst they themselves took
care to maintain the utmost sobriety and temperance. 'Gamesters,' says
Falconer, 'whose minds must be always on the watch to take advantages,
and prepared to form calculations, and to employ the memory, constantly
avoid a full meal of animal food, which they find incapacitates them for
play nearly as much as a quantity of strong liquor would have done, for
which reason they feed chiefly on milk and vegetables.'

As profit, not pleasure, was the aim of these knights of darkness, they
lay concealed under all shapes and disguises, and followed up their game
with all wariness and discretion. Like wise traders, they made it the
business of their lives to excel in their calling.

For this end they studied the secret mysteries of their art by night
and by day; they improved on the scientific schemes of their profound
master, Hoyle, and on his deep doctrines and calculations of chances.
They became skilful without a rival where skill was necessary, and
fraudulent without conscience where fraud was safe and advantageous; and
while fortune or chance appeared to direct everything, they practised
numberless devices by which they insured her ultimate favours to
themselves.

Of these none were more efficacious, because none are more ensnaring,
than bribing their young and artless dupes to future play by suffering
them to win at their first onsets. By rising a winner the dupe imbibed a
confidence in his own gambling abilities, or deemed himself a favourite
of fortune. He engaged again, and was again successful--which increased
his exultation and confirmed his future confidence; and thus did the
simple gudgeon swallow their bait, till it became at last fast hooked.

When rendered thus secure of their prey, they began to level their
whole train of artillery against the boasted honours of his short-lived
triumph. Then the extensive manors, the ancient forests, the paternal
mansions, began to tremble for their future destiny. The pigeon was
marked down, and the infernal crew began in good earnest to pluck his
rich plumage. The wink was given on his appearance in the room, as
a signal of commencing their covert attacks. The shrug, the nod, the
hem--every motion of the eyes, hands, feet--every air and gesture, look
and word--became an expressive, though disguised, language of fraud and
cozenage, big with deceit and swollen with ruin. Besides this, the
card was marked, or 'slipped,' or COVERED. The story is told of a noted
sharper of distinction, a foreigner, whose hand was thrust through with
a fork by his adversary, Captain Roche, and thus nailed to the table,
with this cool expression of concern--'I ask your pardon, sir, if you
have not the knave of clubs under your hand.' The cards were packed,
or cut, or even SWALLOWED. A card has been eaten between two slices of
bread and butter, for the purpose of concealment.

With wily craft the sharpers substituted their deceitful 'doctors' or
false dice; and thus 'crabs,' or 'a losing game,' became the portion of
the 'flats,' or dupes.

There were different ways of throwing dice. There was the 'Stamp'--when
the caster with an elastic spring of the wrist rapped the cornet or box
with vehemence on the table, the dice as yet not appearing from under
the box. The 'Dribble' was, when with an air of easy but ingenious
motion, the caster poured, as it were, the dice on the board--when, if
he happened to be an old practitioner, he might suddenly cog with his
fore-finger one of the cubes. The 'Long Gallery' was when the dice were
flung or hurled the whole length of the board. Sometimes the dice were
thrown off the table, near a confederate, who, in picking them up,
changed one of the fair for a false die with two sixes. This was
generally done at the first throw, and at the last, when the fair die
was replaced. The sixes were on the opposite squares, so that the fraud
could only be detected by examination. Of course this trick could only
be practised at raffles, where only three throws are required.

A pair of false dice was arranged as follows:--

               {Two fours
   On one die, {Two fives
               {Two sixes

               {Two fives
 On the other, {Two threes
               {Two aces

With these dice it was impossible to throw what is at Hazard denominated
Crabs, or a losing game--that is, aces, or ace and deuce, twelve, or
seven. Hence, the caster always called for his main; consequently, as he
could neither throw one nor seven, let his chance be what it might,
he was sure to win, and he and those who were in the secret of course
always took the odds. The false dice being concealed in the left hand,
the caster took the box with the fair dice in it in his right hand,
and in the act of shaking it caught the fair dice in his hand, and
unperceived shifted the box empty to his left, from which he dropped
the false dice into the box, which he began to rattle, called his main
seven, and threw. Having won his stake he repeated it as often as he
thought proper. He then caught the false dice in the same way, shifted
the empty box again, and threw till he threw out, still calling the same
main, by which artifice he escaped suspicion.

Two gambling adventurers would set out with a certain number of signs
and signals. The use of the handkerchief during the game was the
certain evidence of a good hand. The use of the snuff-box a sign equally
indicative of a bad one. An affected cough, apparently as a natural one,
once, twice, three, or four times repeated, was an assurance of so
many honours in hand. Rubbing the left eye was an invitation to lead
trumps,--the right eye the reverse,--the cards thrown down with one
finger and the thumb was a sign of one trump; two fingers and the thumb,
two trumps, and so on progressively, and in exact explanation of the
whole hand, with a variety of manoeuvres by which chance was reduced to
certainty, and certainty followed by ruin.(6)

(6) Bon Ton Magazine, 1791.


CHEATING AT WHIST.

In an old work on cards the following curious disclosures are made
respecting cheating at whist:--

'He that can by craft overlook his adversary's game hath a great
advantage; for by that means he may partly know what to play securely;
or if he can have some petty glimpse of his partner's hand. There is a
way by making some sign by the fingers, to discover to their partners
what honours they have, or by the wink of one eye it signifies one
honour, shutting both eyes two, placing three fingers or four on the
table, three or four honours. FOR WHICH REASON ALL NICE GAMSTERS PLAY
BEHIND CURTAINS.

'Dealing the cards out by one and one to each person is the best method
of putting it out of the dealer's power to impose on you. But I shall
demonstrate that, deal the cards which way you will, a confederacy of
two sharpers will beat any two persons in the world, though ever so good
players, that are not of the gang, or in the secret, and "THREE poll
ONE" is as safe and secure as if the money was in their pockets. All
which will appear presently.

The first necessary instructions to be observed at Whist, as principals
of the secret, which may be likewise transferred to most other games at
cards, are:--

Brief or short cards,

Corner-bend,

Middle-bend (or Kingston-bridge).

'Of brief cards there are two sorts: one is a card longer than the
rest,--the other is a card broader than the rest. The long sort are such
as three, four, five, six, seven, eight, and nine; the broad sort are
such as aces, kings, queens, and knaves. The use and advantage of each
are as follows:--

'Example:--When you cut the cards to your adversary, cut them long, or
endways, and he will have a three, four, five, six, seven, eight, or
nine at bottom. When your adversary cuts the cards to you, put them
broadside to him, and he will naturally cut (without ever suspecting
what you do) ace, king, queen, or knave, &c., which is sufficient
advantage to secure any game.

'And in case you cannot get cards of proper sizes ready-made to mix with
others, you may shave them with a razor or penknife from the threes to
the nines each side, and from the aces to the knaves each end; then put
them up in the same case or cover, and if they are done as they ought to
be, they will pass upon anybody.

'As Whist is a tavern-game, the sharpers generally take care to put
about the bottle before the game begins, so quick, that a BUBBLE cannot
be said to see clearly even when he begins to play.

'The next is the corner-bend, which is four cards turned down finely at
one corner--a signal to cut by.

'The other is vulgarly called Kingston-bridge, or the middle-bend. It is
done by bending your own or adversary's TRICKS two different ways, which
will cause an opening, or arch, in the middle, which is of the same use
and service as the other two ways, and only practised in its turn to
amuse you.

'The next thing to be considered is, who deals the cards, you or your
adversary; because that is a main point, and from whence your advantage
must arise. Suppose, for example,


               {Sharpers,
     A and B   {
               {Partners,

               {Bubbles, or Flats,
     C and D   {
               { Partners.

After a deal or two is formally played, A and B will begin to operate in
the following manner:--

'When A or B is to deal, they observe the PRECEDING DEAL to take up the
tricks thus:--


     1.  A bad card.  2.  A good card.
     3.  A bad card.  4.  A good card.

(Meaning the best and worst that fall in that list).

'When C or D deals, they must be taken up thus:--


     1.  A good card.  2.  A bad card.
     3.  A good card.  4.  A bad card.

'By this rule it is plain that the best cards fall to A and B every
deal. How is it possible, therefore, that C and D should ever win a game
without permission? But it would be deemed ill policy, and contrary to
the true interest of A and B, to act thus every deal. I will, therefore,
suppose it is practised just when they please, according as bets happen
in company; though the rule with gamesters, in low life, is at the first
setting out to stupify you with wine and the loss of your money, that
you may never come to a perfect understanding of what you are doing. It
may be truly said that many an honest gentleman has been kept a month in
such a condition by the management and contrivance of a set of sharpers.

'Now you may imagine it not in the power of A and B to cause the tricks
to be taken up after the manner aforesaid: there is nothing so easy nor
so frequently practised, especially at Three poll One; for in playing
the cards the confederates will not only take care of their own tricks,
but also of yours, for the cards may be so played, and shoved together
in such a manner, as will even cause you to take them right yourself;
and if a trick should lie untowardly on the table, A or B will pay you
the compliment of taking it up for you, and say--"Sir, that's yours."
This operation will the more readily be apprehended by seeing it
practised half a score times; when once you are aware of it, it will
otherwise (I may say fairly) pass upon any person that has not been let
into the secret. This being allowed, the next point and difficulty is to
shuffle and cut.

'I say, that either A or B are such curious workmen, and can make a sham
shuffle with a pack of cards so artfully, that you would believe they
were splitting them, when at the time they will not displace a single
card from its order! Such is the SHARPER'S shuffling.

'Now, to cut the cards, a BEND is prepared for you to cut to--the middle
is the best; and it is odds but you unwarily cut to it; if not, SLIP is
the word; but if you have no opportunity to do that neither, then deal
away at all hazards, it is but an equal bet that they come in your
favour; if right, proceed; if otherwise, miss a card in its course, and
it brings the cards according to your first design; it is but giving two
at last where you missed; and if that cannot be conveniently done, you
only lose the deal, and there is an end of it.

'But when A or B is to cut, they make it all safe; for then they make
the CORNER-BEND, which any one that knows may cut to, a hundred times
together.

'Piping at Whist. By piping I mean, when one of the company that does
not play, which frequently happens, sits down in a convenient place to
smoke a pipe, and so look on, pretending to amuse himself that way. Now,
the disposing of his fingers on the pipe whilst smoking discovers the
principal cards that are in the person's hand he overlooks; which was
always esteemed a sufficient advantage whereby to win a game. There is
another method, namely, by uttering words. "Indeed" signifies diamonds;
"truly," hearts; "upon my word," clubs; "I assure you," spades. But as
soon as these methods become known, new ones are invented; and it is
most curious that two persons may discover to each other what sort
of cards they have in hand, and which ought first to be played, many
different ways, without speaking a word.'

There can be no doubt that the act of sorting the cards is capable of
giving an acute observer a tolerably accurate idea of his partner's or
either of his opponents' hands; so that where cheating is suspected it
would be better to play the cards without sorting them. The number of
times a sorter carries a card to a particular part indicates so many of
a suit; your own hand and his play will readily indicate the nature of
the cards in which he is either strong or weak.

I now quote Robert-Houdin's account of

CARD TELEGRAPHY.

Although there are 32 cards in the game of Piquet, all of them may be
designated by twelve different signs, namely, eight for the nature of
the cards, and four for the colours.

At Ecarte, the number of the signals is still less, as it is only the
figures that require indication: but to make these indications it is
necessary to execute a sort of pantomime, according to certain authors,
such as blowing the nose, coughing, drumming on the table, sneezing, &c.
Such evolutions, however, are totally unworthy of your modern Greek, and
would soon be denounced as gross fraud. The signals which he employs are
only appreciable by his confederate,--as follows:--

If he looks

1. At his confederate, he designates A king.

2. At the play of his adversary . . . A queen.

3. At the stake . . . . . . . . . . . A knave.

4. At the opposite side . . . . . . . An ace.

And whilst he indicates the nature of the cards he at the same time
makes known the colour by the following signs:--

   1. The mouth slightly open . . . . . Hearts.

   2. The mouth shut . . . . . . . . . . Diamonds.

   3. The upper-lip slightly pouting
             over the lower . . . . . . .  Clubs.

   4. The lower-lip drawn over the
             upper  . . . . . . . . . . .  Spades.

Thus, if the Greek wishes to announce, for instance, the knave and
ace of hearts, he successively directs his looks upon the play of his
adversary, upon the stake, and to the opposite side, whilst keeping his
mouth slightly open.

It is evident that this telegraphy may be employed at all games where
there is a gallery. In effect, nothing is easier at Piquet than to
indicate, by the aid of these signals, the colour in which the player
should discard and that in which he should keep what cards he has.

These are the simplest signs; but some of the Greeks have a great number
of them, to designate everything; and even sometimes to communicate
and receive intelligence, when necessary. This telegraphy is so
imperceptible that it is difficult to describe it, and altogether
impossible to detect it.(7)

(7) Tricheries des Grecs devoilees.


Robert-Houdin has exhausted the subject of card-trickery, in connection
with that prestidigitation which, it seems, all card-sharpers cultivate,
the description of which, however, is by no means so entertaining as the
visible performance. I find, nevertheless, in his book, under the title
of 'Small Trickeries made innocent by Custom,' certain things alluded to
which I can attest by experience.

I. At Whist, no communication whatever must be made by a player to his
partner, excepting those authorized by the laws of the game; but some
persons go further, and by the play of their features 'telegraph' to
their partners the value of their hands.

II. Any one with a good memory and endowed with quick perception may
form a very accurate estimate of the hands held by all the players by
remembering THE TRICKS AS THEY ARE PLAYED AND TURNED DOWN--all of a
suit, or trumped. Cards 'stick together' most lovingly, and the ordinary
shuffling scarcely alters their sequence; and so, if a trick has been
taken by an ace over a king, for instance, and in the next deal you get
the same king, you may be sure that the ace is either on your right or
your left, according to the deal; of course, if you get the ace, then
the same probability, or rather necessity, exists as to the king; and
so on. Knave, queen, king, ace, of the same name, are almost sure to be
separated in the deal between the four players, or one player will have
two of them. The observation is a tax upon the faculties; but I am sure,
quite sure, that the thing can be done, and is, when done, of material
service; although, of course, the knowledge can be turned to account
only by an expert player, with a partner who can understand the game
which he wishes to play.

Whist is, decidedly, one of the fairest of games; but for that very
reason, it is open to the greatest over-reaching, or, if you like,
cheating.

With regard to dice, of course, they were and, doubtless, are still
loaded. Such were formerly called 'dispatches,' because they would
'in five minutes dispatch L500 out of the pocket of any young man when
intoxicated with champagne.'

Roulette and Rouge et Noir tables were and are so arranged as always to
make the bank win at the will of the attendant, regulating them with a
touch.

At Hazard, they used 'low or high dice,' that is, with only certain
numbers on them, high or low,--a pair of which every sharper always had
in his possession, changing them with great dexterity. They also used
'cramped' boxes, by which they 'cogged' or fastened the dice in the box
as they dropped them IN, and so could drop them OUT with the required
face upwards.



CHAPTER III. ANECDOTES OF THE PASSIONS AND VICISSITUDES OF GAMESTERS.

Although all the motives of human action have long been known--although
psychology, or the science of soul and sentiment, has ceased to present
us with any new facts--it is quite certain that our edifice of Morals is
not quite built up. We may rest assured that as long as intellectual man
exists the problem will be considered unsolved, and the question will
be agitated. Future generations will destroy what we establish, and will
fashion a something according to their advancement, and so on; for
if there be a term which, of all others, should be expunged from the
dictionaries of all human beings, it seems to be Lord Russell's word
FINALITY. Something NEW will always be wanted. 'Sensation' is the very
life of humanity; it is motion--the reverse of 'death'--which we all
abhor.

The gamester lives only for the 'sensation' of gaming. Menage tells us
of a gamester who declared that he had never seen any luminary above the
horizon but the moon. Saint Evremond, writing to the Count de Grammont,
says--'You play from morning to night, or rather from night to morning.
All the rays of the gamester's existence terminate in play; it is on
this centre that his very existence depends. He enjoys not an hour of
calm or serenity. During the day he longs for night, and during the
night he dreads the return of day.'

Being always pre-occupied, gamesters are subject to a ridiculous absence
of mind. Tacitus tells us that the Emperor Vitellius was so torpid that
he would have forgotten he was a prince unless people had reminded him
of it from time to time.(8) Many gamesters have forgotten that they were
husbands and fathers. During play some one said that the government were
about to levy a tax on bachelors. 'Then I shall be ruined!' exclaimed
one of the players absorbed in the game. 'Why, man, you have a wife and
five children,' said the speaker.

(8) Tanta torpedo invaserat animum Vitellii, ut si principem eum fuisse
non meminissent, ipse oblivisceretur. Hist., lib. iii.


This infatuation may be simply ridiculous; but it has also a horrible
aspect. A distracted wife has rushed to the gaming table, imploring her
husband, who had for two entire days been engaged at play, to return to
his home.

'Only let me stay one moment longer--only one moment. . . . . I shall
return perhaps the day after to-morrow,' he stammered out to the
wretched woman, who retired. Alas! he returned sooner than he had
promised. His wife was in bed, holding the last of her children to her
breast.

'Get up, madam,' said the ruined gambler, 'the bed on which you lie
belongs to us no longer!' . . .

When the gamester is fortunate, he enjoys his success elsewhere; to his
home he brings only consternation.

A wife had received the most solemn promise from her husband that he
would gamble no more. One night, however, he slunk out of bed, rushed
to the gaming table, and lost all the money he had with him. He tried
to borrow more, but was refused. He went home. His wife had taken the
precaution to lock the drawer that contained their last money. Vain
obstacle! The madman broke it open, carried off two thousand crowns--to
take his revenge, as he said, but in reality to lose the whole as
before.

But it is to the gaming room that we must go to behold the progress of
the terrible drama--the ebb and flow of opposite movements--the shocks
of alternate hope and fear, infinitely varied in the countenance,
not only of the actors, but also of the spectators. What is visible,
however, is nothing in comparison to the secret agony. It is in his
heart that the tempest roars most fiercely.

Two players once exhibited their rage, the one by a mournful silence,
the other by repeated imprecations. The latter, shocked at the
sang-froid of his neighbour, reproached him for enduring, without
complaint, such losses one after the other. 'Look here!' said the other,
uncovering his breast and displaying it all bloody with lacerations.

It is only at play that we can observe, from moment to moment, all the
phases of despair; from time to time there occur new ones--strange,
eccentric, or terrible. After having lost quietly, and even with
serenity, half his fortune, the father of a family staked the remainder,
and lost it without a murmur. Facere solent extrema securos mala.(9)
The bystanders looked at him; his features changed not; only it was
perceived that they were fixed. It seemed that he was unconscious of
life. Two streams of tears trickled from his eyes, and yet his features
remained the same. He was literally a weeping statue. The spectators
were seized with fright, and, although gamesters, they melted into pity.

(9) 'Great calamities render us CARELESS.'


At Bayonne, in 1725, a French officer, in a rage at billiards, jammed a
billiard-ball in his mouth, where it stuck fast, arresting respiration,
until it was, with difficulty, extracted by a surgeon. Dusaulx
states that he was told the fact by a lieutenant-general, who was an
eye-witness.

It is well known that gamblers, like dogs that bite a stone flung at
them, have eaten up the cards, crushed up the dice, broken the tables,
damaged the furniture, and finally 'pitched into' each other--as
described by Lucian in his Saturnalia. Dusaulx assures us that he saw
an enraged gambler put a burning candle into his mouth, chew it, and
swallow it. A mad player at Naples bit the table with such violence that
his teeth went deep into the wood; thus he remained, as it were, nailed
to it, and suddenly expired.

The other players took to flight; the officers of justice visited the
place; and the corpse was deprived of the usual ceremony of burial.(10)

(10) Gazette de Deux-Ponts, du 26 Novembre, 1772.


The following strange but apparently authentic fact, is related in the
Mercure Francois (Tome I. Annee 1610).

'A man named Pennichon, being a prisoner in the Conciergerie during the
month of September, 1610, died there of a wonderfully sudden death. He
could not refrain from play. Having one day lost his money, he uttered
frightful imprecations against his body and against his soul, swearing
that he would never play at cards again. Nevertheless, a few days after,
he began to play again with those in his apartment, and on a dispute
respecting discarding, he repeated his execrable oaths. And when one of
the company told him he should fear the Divine justice, he only swore
the more, and made such confusion that there had to be another deal. But
as soon as three other cards were given him, he placed them in his hat,
which he held before him, and whilst looking at them, with his elbows
on the table and his face in the hat, he so suddenly expired that one
of the party said--"Come, now play," and pushed him with his elbow,
thinking he was asleep, when he fell down dead upon the floor.'

In some cases the effect of losses at play is simply stupefaction. Some
players, at the end of the sitting, neither know what they do nor
what they say. M. de Crequi, afterwards Duc de Lesdiguieres, leaving a
gambling party with Henry IV., after losing a large sum, met M. de Guise
in the court-yard of the castle. 'My friend,' said he to the latter,
'where are the quarters of the Guards now-a-days?' M. de Guise stepped
back, saying, 'Excuse me, sir, I don't belong to this country,' and
immediately went to the king, whom he greatly amused with the anecdote.

A dissipated buck, who had been sitting all night at Hazard, went to a
church, not far from St James's, just before the second reading of the
Lord's Prayer, on Sunday. He was scarcely seated before he dozed, and
the clerk in a short time bawled out AMEN, which he pronounced A--main.
The buck jumped up half asleep and roared out, 'I'll bet the caster 20
guineas!' The congregation was thrown into a titter, and the buck ran
out, overwhelmed with shame. A similar anecdote is told of another
'dissipated buck' in a church. The grand masquerade given on the opening
of the Union Club House, in Pall Mall, was not entirely over till a late
hour on the following Sunday. A young man nearly intoxicated--certainly
not knowing what he was about--reeled into St. James's church, in
his masquerade dress, with his hat on. The late Rev. Thomas Bracken,
attracted by the noise of his entrance, looked directly at him as he
chanced to deliver the following words:--'Friend! how camest thou in
hither, not having on a wedding garment?' It seemed so to strike the
culprit that he instantly took off his hat and withdrew in confusion.

At play, a winner redoubles his caution and sang-froid just in
proportion as his adversary gets bewildered by his losses, becoming
desperate; he takes advantage of the weakness of the latter, giving
him the law, and striving for greater success. When the luck changes,
however, the case is reversed, and the former loser becomes, in his
turn, ten times more pitiless--like that Roman prefect, mentioned by
Tacitus, who was the more inexorable because he had been harshly treated
in his youth, co immmitior quia toleraverat. The joy at winning back
his money only makes a gamester the more covetous of winning that of
his adversary. A wealthy man once lost 100,000 crowns, and begged to be
allowed to go and sell his property, which was worth double the amount
he had lost. 'Why sell it?' said his adversary; 'let us play for the
remainder.' They played; luck changed; and the late LOSER ruined the
other.

Sometimes avidity makes terrible mistakes; many, in order to win more,
have lost their all to persons who had not a shilling to lose. During
the depth of a severe winter, a gamester beheld with terror the bottom
of his purse. Unable to resolve on quitting the gaming table--for
players in that condition are always the most stubborn--he shouted to
his valet--'Go and fetch my great sack.' These words, uttered without
design, stimulated the cupidity of those who no longer cared to play
with him, and now they were eager for it. His luck changed, and he won
thrice as much as he had lost. Then his 'great sack' was brought to him:
it was a BEAR-SKIN SACK he used as a cloak!

In the madness of gaming the player stakes everything after losing his
money--his watch, his rings, his clothing; and some have staked their
EARS, and others their very LIVES--instances of all which will be
related in the sequel.

Not very long ago a publican, who lost all his money, staked his
public-house, lost it, and had to 'clear out.' The man who won it is
alive and flourishing.

'The debt of honour must be paid: 'these are the terrible words that
haunt the gamester as he wakes (if he has slept) on the morning after
the night of horrors: these are the furies that take him in hand, and
drag him to torture, laughing the while. . . .

What a 'sensation' it must be to lose one's ALL! A man, intoxicated
with his gains, left one gaming house and entered another. As soon as he
entered he exclaimed, 'Well, I am filled, my pockets are full of gold,
and here goes, ODDS OR EVEN?' 'Odds,' cried a player. It was ODDS, and
the fortunate winner pocketed the enormous sum just boasted of by the
other.

On the other hand, sudden prosperity has deranged more heads and killed
more people than reverses and grief; either because it takes a longer
time to get convinced of utter ruin than great good fortune, or because
the instinct of self-preservation compels us to seek, in adversity, for
resources to mitigate despair; whereas, in the assault of excessive joy,
the soul's spring is distended and broken when it is suddenly compressed
by too many thoughts and too many sensations. Sophocles, Diagoras,
Philippides, died of joy. Another Greek expired at the sight of the
three crowns won by his three sons at the Olympic games.

Many fine intellects among players have been brutified by loses; others,
in greater number, have been so by their winnings. Some in the course of
their prosperity perish from idleness, get deranged, and ruin themselves
after ruining others. An instance is mentioned of an officer who won
so enormously that he actually lost his senses in counting his gains.
Astonished at himself, he thought he was no longer an ordinary mortal;
and required his valets to do him extraordinary honours, flinging
handfuls of gold to them. The same night, however, he returned to the
gaming house, and recovered from his madness when he had lost not only
all his gains, but even the value of an appointment which he held.

UNFORTUNATE WINNING.

M. G--me was a most estimable man, combining in himself the best
qualities of both heart and head. He was good-humoured, witty, and
benevolent. With these qualifications, and one other which seldom
operates to a man's disadvantage--a clear income of three thousand a
year--the best society in Paris was open to him. He had been a visitor
in that capital about a month, when he received an invitation to one of
the splendid dinners given weekly at the salon. As he never played, he
hesitated about the propriety of accepting it, but on the assurance that
it would not be expected of him to play; and, moreover, as he might not
again have so good an opportunity of visiting an establishment of the
kind, he resolved to go--merely for the satisfaction of his curiosity.
He had a few stray napoleons in his purse, to throw them--'just for the
good of the house,' as he considered it--could hardly be called PLAY,
so he threw them. Poor fellow! He left off a winner of fourteen hundred
napoleons, or about as many pounds sterling--and so easily won! He went
again, again, and again; but he was not always a winner; and within
fifteen months of the moment when his hand first grasped the dice-box he
was lying dead in a jail!

LORD WORTHALL'S DESPERATE WAGER.

At a gambling party Lord Worthall had lost all his money, and in a fit
of excitement staked his whole estate against L1000, at cutting low with
cards, and in cutting exclaimed,--

        'Up now Deuce, or else a Trey,
     Or Worthall's gone for ever and aye.'

He had the luck to cut the deuce of diamonds; and to commemorate the
serious event, he got the deuce of diamonds cut in marble and had it
fixed on the parapet of his mansion.

THE CELEBRATED THADDEUS STEVENS.

He was an inveterate gamester on a small scale, and almost invariably,
after a day's duty in the House, would drop in at a favourite casino,
and win or lose fifty dollars--that being the average limit of his
betting.

A PROVIDENT GAMBLER.

A Monsieur B--, well known in Parisian life, having recently lost every
shilling at a certain sporting club where play is carried on in Paris,
went to the country, where his sister lent him L150.

He won all back again, and got a considerable sum of money in hand. He
then went to his hotel, to his bootmaker, and tailor, paid them, and
made arrangements to be fed, clothed, and shod for ten years.

A MAGNIFICENT FORTUNE WASTED.

Lord Foley, who died in 1793, entered upon the turf with an estate
of L18,000 per annum, and L100,000 ready money. He left with a ruined
constitution, an encumbered estate, and not a shilling of ready money!

AN ENTERPRISING CLERK.

Lord Kenyon, in 1795, tried a clerk 'for misapplying his master's
confidence,' and the facts were as follows. He went with a bank note
of L1000 to a gaming house in Osendon Street, where he won a little.
He also won two hundred guineas at another in Suffolk Street. He next
accompanied some keepers of a third house to their tables, where he
lost above nine hundred pounds. He played there almost every night; and
finally lost about L2500!

GAMBLING FOR RECRUITS FOR THE ARMY.

An Irish officer struck out a mode of gambling, for recruits. He
gave five guineas bounty, and one hundred to be raffled for by young
recruits,--the winner to be paid immediately, and to purchase his
discharge, if he pleased, for L20. The dice-box was constantly going at
his recruiting office in Dublin.

DOUBLING THE STAKES.

A dashing young man of large fortune, about the year 1820, lost at a
subscription house at the West End, L80,000. The winner was a person
of high rank. The young man, however, by doubling the stakes, not
only recovered his losses, but in his turn gained considerably of his
antagonist.

AN ANNUITY FOR A GAMBLING DEBT.

A fashionable nobleman had won from a young and noble relative the sum
of L40,000. The cash not being forthcoming, he accepted an annuity of
L4000.

SIR WILLIAM COLEPEPPER.

It is told of Sir William Colepepper that, after he had been ruined
himself at the gaming table, his whole delight was to sit there and see
others ruined. Hardened wretch--'Who though he plays no more, overlooks
the cards'--with this diabolical disposition!

THE BITER BITTEN.

A certain duchess, of a ci-devant lord-lieutenant, who expected to make
a pigeon of Marshal Blucher, was fleeced of L200,000; to pay which her
lord was obliged to sell a great part of his property, and reside on the
continent.

HUNTED DOWN.

A stout-hearted and gallant military baronet lost an immense sum at a
celebrated gaming house; but was so fortunate as to recover it, with
L1200 more. This last sum HE PRESENTED TO THE WAITERS. He was pursued by
two of the 'play-wrights' to a northern watering-place, where he was
so plucked that all his possessions were brought to the hammer. A
competency was, however, saved from the magnificent wreck.

COMING OF AGE.

When Sir C-- T--, a weak young man, with a large fortune, came of age,
the Greeks, thinking him an excellent quarry, went to York Races, made
him drunk and plundered him of a large sum. The next morning one of the
party waited upon him to acquaint him of his loss--(L20,000 or L30,000),
and brought bonds for his signature to that amount!

HEAVY LIABILITIES TO BEGIN WITH.

In the year 1799, when the Marquis of Donegal succeeded to the title
on his father's death, his debts, principally to gamblers and
money-lenders, amounted to two hundred and fifty thousand pounds
sterling!

A GENTLEMAN TURNED BARBER.

In an old magazine I find the following curious statement:--

'There is now living in Barnaby Street, Carnaby Market, a man who,
although exercising the menial office of penny barber, was in his
younger days in possession of estates and personal property to a large
amount, and is the only lineal descendant remaining of the very ancient
family of the H--s of Bristol.

'His relations dying when he was young, he was placed under proper
guardians, and received a liberal education, first at Westminster, and
afterwards at Cambridge, suitable to his rank and fortune. When of age
he converted his estates into money, and retired to Dublin, where he
remained some time. He then made the tour of Europe, and returned to
Ireland, where he went through all the scenes of dissipation to which
young men are so much addicted, till at last he was beset by those
harpies the gamblers, and stripped of his immense fortune in one single
night!

'He then subsisted for some little time on the bounty of his undoers,
who intended to make him one of them; but, not having sufficient address
for the profession, he was dismissed and "left in the lurch;" and most
of his friends discarding him, he embarked with his last guinea for
England. Here he has encountered many difficulties, often been in gaol
for debt, and passed through various scenes of life, as valet, footman,
thief-taker, and at length, a penny-barber! He has a wife and large
family and lives in a very penurious manner, often lamenting his early
folly.'(11)

(11) 'The Western County Magazine, 1791. By a Society of Gentlemen.'
This well-conducted old magazine was printed and published at Salisbury,
and was decidedly a credit to the town and county.

PENSIONED OFF BY A GAMING HOUSE.

A visitor at Frascati's gaming house in Paris tells us:--

'I saw the Chevalier de la C--(a descendant of the once celebrated
romance-writer) when he was nearly ninety. The mode of life of this old
man was singular. He had lost a princely property at the play-table,
and by a piece of good fortune of rare occurrence to gamesters, and
unparalleled generosity, the proprietors of the salon allowed him a
pension to support him in his miserable senility, just sufficient to
supply him with a wretched lodging--bread, and a change of raiment
once in every three or four years! In addition to this he was allowed a
supper--which was, in fact, his dinner--at the gaming house, whither he
went every night at about eleven o'clock. Till supper-time (two o'clock
in the morning) he amused himself in watching the games and calculating
the various chances, although incapable of playing a single coup. At
four o'clock he returned to his lodging, retired to bed, and lay till
between nine and ten o'clock on the following night. A cup of coffee was
then brought to him, and, having dressed himself, at the usual hour
he again proceeded to the salon. This had been his round of life for
several years; and he told me that during all that time (excepting on a
few mornings about Midsummer) he had never beheld the sun!'

A Mr R--y, son of a baronet, left Wattier's club one night with only L4
in his pocket, saying that he would look in at the hells.

He did so, and, returning after three o'clock in the morning, offered to
bet L500 that he had above L4000. The result proved that he had L4300,
all won at gaming tables, from the small beginning of L4. He then sat
down to play games of skill at Wattier's, and went home at six o'clock
without a single pound! The same man subsequently won L30,000, and
afterwards lost it all, with L15,000 more, and then 'went to the
Continent.'

A major of the Rifle Brigade, in consequence of gambling in London, by
which he lost vast sums of money, went out of his senses and died a
few years ago in an asylum. This occurred within the last ten or twelve
years.

Says Mr Seymour Harcourt, in his 'Gaming Calendar,' 'I have myself seen
hanging in chains a man whom, a short time before, I saw at a Hazard
table!'

Hogarth lent his tremendous power to the portrayal of the ruined
gamester, and shows it to the life in his print of the gaming house in
the 'Rake's Progress.'

Three stages of that species of madness which attends gaming are there
described. On the first shock all is inward dismay. The ruined gamester
is represented leaning against a wall with his arms across, lost in an
agony of horror. Shortly after this horrible gloom bursts into a storm
and fury. He tears in pieces whatever comes near him, and, kneeling
down, invokes curses on himself. His next attack is on others--on every
one whom he imagines to have been instrumental in his ruin. The eager
joy of the winning gamester, the attention of the usurer, and the
profound reverie of the highwayman, are all strongly marked in this
wonderful picture.

HOW MANY GAMESTERS LIVE BY PLAY?

It is an observation made by those who calculate on the gaming world,
that above nine-tenths of the persons who play LIVE by it.

Now, as the ordinary establishment of a GENTEEL gamester, as he is
commonly called, cannot be less than L1000 per annum, luck, which turns
out EQUAL in the long run, will not support him; he must therefore LIVE
by what they call among themselves the BEST OF THE GAME--or, in plain
English, cheating.

So much for the inner and outer life of gamblers. And now I shall
introduce Mr Ben. Disraeli, recounting, in the happiest vein of his
younger days, a magnificent gambling scene, quite on a par with the
legend of the Hindoo epic before quoted,(12) and which, I doubt not,
will (to use the young Disraeli's own words) make the reader 'scud along
and warm up into friskiness.'

(12) Chapter II.


A curious phrase occurs in the 9th chapter of 'The Young Duke,' in the
paragraph at the beginning, after the words--'O ye immortal gods!'

Although the scene of the drama is part of a novel, yet there can be no
doubt of its being 'founded on fact'--at any rate, I think there never
was a narrative of greater verisimilitude.

'After dinner, with the exception of Cogit, who was busied in
compounding some wonderful liquid for the future refreshment, they sat
down to Ecarte. Without having exchanged a word upon the subject, there
seemed a general understanding among all the parties, that to-night was
to be a pitched battle--and they began at once, very briskly. Yet,
in spite of their universal determination, midnight arrived without
anything very decisive. Another hour passed over, and then Tom Cogit
kept touching the baron's elbow, and whispering in a voice which
everybody could understand. All this meant that supper was ready. It was
brought into the room.

'Gaming has one advantage--it gives you an appetite; that is to say,
so long as you have a chance remaining. The duke had thousands,--for
at present his resources were unimpaired, and he was exhausted by
the constant attention and anxiety of five hours. He passed over the
delicacies, and went to the side-table, and began cutting himself some
cold roast beef. Tom Cogit ran up, not to his Grace, but to the baron,
to announce the shocking fact, that the Duke of St James was enduring
great trouble; and then the baron asked his Grace to permit Mr Cogit to
serve him.

'Our hero devoured--we use the word advisedly, as fools say in the House
of Commons--he devoured the roast beef, and rejecting the hermitage with
disgust, asked for porter.

'They set to again, fresh as eagles. At six o'clock, accounts were so
complicated, that they stopped to make up their books. Each played with
his memorandums and pencil at his side. Nothing fatal had yet happened.
The duke owed Lord Dice about L5000, and Temple Grace owed him as many
hundreds. Lord Castlefort also was his debtor to the tune of 750, and
the baron was in his books, but slightly.

'Every half-hour they had a new pack of cards, and threw the used ones
on the floor. All this time Tom Cogit did nothing but snuff the candles,
stir the fire, bring them a new pack, and occasionally made a tumbler
for them.

'At eight o'clock the duke's situation was worsened. The run was greatly
against him, and perhaps his losses were doubled. He pulled up again
the next hour or two; but, nevertheless, at ten o'clock owed every one
something. No one offered to give over; and every one, perhaps, felt
that his object was not obtained. They made their toilets, and went
down-stairs to breakfast. In the mean time the shutters were opened, the
room aired; and in less than an hour they were at it again.

'They played till dinner-time without intermission; and though the duke
made some desperate efforts, and some successful ones, his losses were,
nevertheless, trebled. Yet he ate an excellent dinner, and was not at
all depressed; because the more he lost the more his courage and his
resources seemed to expand. At first, he had limited himself to 10,000;
after breakfast, it was to have been 20,000; then 30,000 was the
ultimatum; and now he dismissed all thoughts of limits from his mind,
and was determined to risk or gain everything.

'At midnight he had lost L48,000.

'Affairs now began to be serious. His supper was not so hearty. While
the rest were eating, he walked about the room, and began to limit his
ambition to recovery, and not to gain.

'When you play to win back, the fun is over: there is nothing to
recompense you for your bodily tortures and your degraded feelings; and
the very best result that can happen, while it has no charms, seems to
your cowed mind impossible.

'On they played, and the duke lost more. His mind was jaded. He
floundered--he made desperate efforts, but plunged deeper in the slough.
Feeling that, to regain his ground, each card must tell, he acted on
each as if it must win, and the consequences of this insanity (for a
gamester at such a crisis is really insane) were, that his losses were
prodigious.

'Another morning came, and there they sat, ankle-deep in cards. No
attempt at breakfast now--no affectation of making a toilet, or airing
the room. The atmosphere was hot, to be sure, but it well became such a
hell. There they sat, in total, in positive forgetfulness of everything
but the hot game they were hunting down. There was not a man in the
room, except Tom Cogit, who could have told you the name of the town
in which they were living. There they sat, almost breathless, watching
every turn with the fell look in their cannibal eyes, which showed their
total inability to sympathize with their fellow-beings. All the forms of
society had been forgotten. There was no snuff-box handed about now, for
courtesy, admiration, or a pinch; no affectation of occasionally making
a remark upon any other topic but the all-engrossing one.

'Lord Castlefort rested with his arms on the table:--a false tooth had
got unhinged. His Lordship, who, at any other time, would have been
most annoyed, coolly put it in his pocket. His cheeks had fallen, and he
looked twenty years older.

'Lord Dice had torn off his cravat, and his hair flung down over his
callous, bloodless checks, straight as silk.

'Temple Grace looked as if he were blighted by lightning; and his
deep-blue eyes gleamed like a hyaena.

'The baron was least changed.

'Tom Cogit, who smelt that the crisis was at hand, was as quiet as a
bribed rat.

'On they played till six o'clock in the evening, and then they agreed
to desist till after dinner. Lord Dice threw himself on a sofa. Lord
Castlefort breathed with difficulty. The rest walked about. While they
were resting on their oars, the young duke roughly made up his accounts.
He found that he was minus about L100,000.

'Immense as this loss was, he was more struck--more appalled, let us
say--at the strangeness of the surrounding scene, than even by his own
ruin. As he looked upon his fellow-gamesters, he seemed, for the first
time in his life, to gaze upon some of those hideous demons of whom he
had read. He looked in the mirror at himself. A blight seemed to have
fallen over his beauty, and his presence seemed accursed. He had pursued
a dissipated, even more than a dissipated, career. Many were the
nights that had been spent by him not on his couch; great had been the
exhaustion that he had often experienced; haggard had sometimes even
been the lustre of his youth. But when had been marked upon his brow
this harrowing care? When had his features before been stamped with
this anxiety, this anguish, this baffled desire, this strange, unearthly
scowl, which made him even tremble? What! was it possible?--it could not
be--that in time he was to be like those awful, those unearthly, those
unhallowed things that were around him. He felt as if he had fallen from
his state, as if he had dishonoured his ancestry, as if he had betrayed
his trust. He felt a criminal.

'In the darkness of his meditations a flash burst from his lurid mind,
a celestial light appeared to dissipate this thickening gloom, and his
soul felt, as it were, bathed with the softening radiancy. He thought
of May Dacre, he thought of everything that was pure, and holy, and
beautiful, and luminous, and calm. It was the innate virtue of the
man that made this appeal to his corrupted nature. His losses seemed
nothing; his dukedom would be too slight a ransom for freedom from these
ghouls, and for the breath of the sweet air.

'He advanced to the baron, and expressed his desire to play no more.
There was an immediate stir. All jumped up, and now the deed was done.
Cant, in spite of their exhaustion, assumed her reign. They begged him
to have his revenge,--were quite annoyed at the result,--had no doubt he
would recover if he proceeded.

'Without noticing their remarks, he seated himself at the table, and
wrote cheques for their respective amounts, Tom Cogit jumping up and
bringing him the inkstand. Lord Castlefort, in the most affectionate
manner, pocketed the draft; at the same time recommending the duke not
to be in a hurry, but to send it when he was cool. Lord Dice received
his with a bow, Temple Grace with a sigh, the baron with an avowal of
his readiness always to give him his revenge.

'The duke, though sick at heart, would not leave the room with
any evidence of a broken spirit; and when Lord Castlefort again
repeated--"Pay us when we meet again," he said, "I think it very
improbable that we shall meet again, my Lord. I wished to know what
gaming was. I had heard a great deal about it. It is not so very
disgusting; but I am a young man, and cannot play tricks with my
complexion."

'He reached his house. The Bird was out. He gave orders for himself not
to be disturbed, and he went to bed; but in vain he tried to sleep. What
rack exceeds the torture of an excited brain and an exhausted body? His
hands and feet were like ice, his brow like fire; his ears rung with
supernatural roaring; a nausea had seized upon him, and death he would
have welcomed. In vain, in vain he courted repose; in vain he had
recourse to every expedient to wile himself to slumber. Each minute he
started from his pillow with some phrase which reminded him of his late
fearful society. Hour after hour moved on with its leaden pace; each
hour he heard strike, and each hour seemed an age. Each hour was only
a signal to cast off some covering, or shift his position. It was, at
length, morning. With a feeling that he should go mad if he remained any
longer in bed, he rose, and paced his chamber. The air refreshed him.
He threw himself on the floor, the cold crept over his senses, and he
slept.'(13)

(13) 'The Young Duke,' by B. Disraeli, chapter VIII. This gambling
is the turning-point in the young duke's career; he proves himself
at length not unworthy of his noble ancestry arm his high hereditary
position,--takes his place in the Senate, and weds the maiden of his
love.



CHAPTER IV. ATROCITIES, DUELS, SUICIDES, AND EXECUTION OF GAMBLERS.

The history of all nations is but the record of their cupidity; and when
the fury of gaming appears on the scene, it has never failed to double
the insolence and atrocities of tyranny.

The atrocious gambling of the Hindoo Rajas has been related;(14) and I
have incidentally adverted to similar concomitants of the vice among
all nations. I now propose to bring together a series of facts specially
elucidative of the harrowing theme.

(14) Chapter II.


One of the Ptolemys, kings of Egypt, required all causes to be submitted
to him whilst at play, and pronounced even sentence of death according
to chance. On one occasion his wife, Berenice, pronounced thereanent
those memorable words:--'There cannot be too much deliberation when
the death of a man is concerned'--afterwards adopted by Juvenal--Nulla
unquam de morte hominis cunctatio longa est.(15)

(15) Aelian, Var. Hist. lib. XLIV. c. xiii.; Juvenal, Sat. vi.


Tolomnius, King of the Veii, happened to be playing at dice when the
arrival of Roman ambassadors was announced. At the very instant he
uttered the word KILL, a term of the game; the word was misinterpreted
by the hearers, and they went forthwith and massacred the ambassadors.
Livy suggests that this was an excuse alleged AFTER the commission of
the deed; but gamesters are subject to such absence of mind that
there is really nothing incredible or astonishing in the act. 'Sire,'
exclaimed a messenger to the Caliph Alamin, 'it is no longer time for
play--Babylon is besieged!' 'Silence!' said the caliph, 'don't you see
I am on the point of giving checkmate?' The same story is told of a Duke
of Normandy.

Wars have arisen from very trivial causes--among the rest gambling.
Henry, the son of William the Conqueror, was playing at chess with
Louis, the son of Philip, King of France. The latter, perceiving that he
was losing the game got into a passion, and calling Henry the son of a
bastard, flung the chess-board into his face. Henry took the chess-board
and struck Louis with it so violently that he drew blood, and would have
killed him if his brother, who happened to come in, had not prevented
him. The two brothers took to flight, but a great and lasting war was
the consequence of the gambling fracas.

A gaming quarrel was the cause of the slap in the face given by the Duc
Rene to Louis XII., then only Duc d'Orleans. This slap was the origin of
a ligue which was termed 'the mad war.' The resentment of the outraged
prince was not appeased until he mounted the throne, when he uttered
these memorable words:--'A King of France does not avenge insults
offered to a Duke of Orleans.'

Many narratives of suicide committed by desperate gamblers are on
record, some of which I now adduce.

SIR JOHN BLAND, OF KIPPAX PARK.

Sir John Bland, of Kippax Park, flirted away his whole fortune at
Hazard. 'He, t'other night,' says Walpole, 'exceeded what was lost by
the late Duke of Bedford, having at one period of the night (though he
recovered the greater part of it) lost two and thirty thousand pounds.'
Sir John Kippax shot himself in 1705.

LORD MOUNTFORD.

Lord Mountford came to a tragic end through his gambling. He had
lost money; feared to be reduced to distress; asked for a government
appointment, and determined to throw the die of life or death on the
answer received from court. The answer was unfavourable. He consulted
several persons, indirectly at first, afterwards pretty directly, on
the easiest mode of finishing life; invited a dinner-party for the day
after; supped at White's, and played at Whist till one o'clock of the
New Year's morning. Lord Robert Bertie drank to him 'a happy new year;'
he clapped his hand strangely to his eyes. In the morning, he sent for
a lawyer and three witnesses, executed his will, made them read it over
twice, paragraph by paragraph, asked the lawyer if that will would stand
good though a man were to shoot himself. Being assured it would, he
said--'Pray stay, while I step into the next room;' went into the next
room and shot himself, placing the muzzle of the pistol so close to his
head that the report was not heard.

A SUICIDE ROBBING PETER TO PAY PAUL.

Gamblers have been known to set as coolly and deliberately about blowing
out their brains as if they had only been going to light their cigars.
Lord Orford, in his correspondence with Horace Walpole, mentions two
curious instances.

One of the fashionable young men of Lord Orford's day had been unhappily
decoyed into a gambling house, where his passion for play became so
great that he spent nearly the whole of his time in throwing the dice.
He continued to gamble until he had not only lost a princely fortune,
but had incurred a large amount of debt among his tradesmen. With the
loss of his money, and the utter beggary which stared him in the face,
the unfortunate victim of play lost all relish for life; and sought in
death the only refuge he could fancy from the infamy and misery which he
had brought upon himself. But whilst fully resolved on self-destruction,
he thought, before carrying his fatal purpose into execution, he might
as well do his tradesmen an act of justice, even if in so doing he
should do injustice to others. He insured his life to the extent of
his debts, amounting to several thousand pounds. Being acquainted
with several of the directors of the company (he called them his
life-and-death brokers) in which he insured, he invited them to
dinner the following day, with the ostensible view of celebrating the
completion of the insurance. The tradesmen also received strict orders
to be present; and as the non-payment of their accounts for a long
period to come was the penalty of not acceding to his wishes in
this respect, it can scarcely be necessary to say that they were all
'punctual as lovers to the moment sworn.' The dinner over, and a liberal
allowance of wine having been quaffed, the ruined gambler desired the
servant to call up all who were in the hall below. In a few seconds the
dining-room was filled with tradesmen, all eager to receive payment
of their accounts. 'Now, gentlemen,' said the gambler, addressing his
guests, and pointing to the little crowd of tradesmen,--'now, gentlemen,
these are all my tradesmen; they are honest industrious men, to whom I
am indebted, and as I see no other earthly means of being ever able to
meet their just claims, you will be so kind as to pay them out of the
sum for which I insured my life yesterday. Allow me, gentlemen, to bid
you farewell.' And so saying, he pulled a pistol from his pocket, and
placing it to his head, that instant blew out his brains. Of course his
insurance office must have been one that undertook to pay insurances
whatever might be the cause of death, not excepting suicide--which, like
duelling, has usually been a bar to such claims.

REVELATIONS OF A GAMBLER ON THE POINT OF COMMITTING SELF-MURDER.

The following is 'A full and particular account of a person who threw
himself into the Thames, from Blackfriars Bridge, on Wednesday, July 10,
1782; with the melancholy paper he left behind him, accounting to
his wife and children for so rash an action.' It is said that several
thousands of the papers were dispersed through London, and it is to be
hoped that some of them might produce that good effect which seems
to have been so anxiously desired by the person who wished them to be
distributed.

                    'Midnight, July 10, 1782.

'Whoever thou art that readest this paper, listen to the voice of one
from the DEAD. While thine eyes peruse the lines their writer may be
suffering the most horrid punishments which an incensed Creator can
inflict upon the greatest sinner.

'Reader, art thou of my own sex? Art thou a man? Oh, in whatever rank
of life, whether high or low,--beware of gambling! Beware of so much as
approaching an E O table! Had I ever met with such a dreadful warning as
I now offer thee, I might perhaps have been saved from death--have been
snatched from damnation. Reader, art thou a woman? Oh, whether rich or
poor, whether wife, mother, sister, or daughter,--if thou suspect that
the late hours, the feverish body, the disturbed mind, the ruffled
temper, the sudden extravagance of him whom thou lovest, are caused
by frequenting the gaming table, oh, fail not to discover thy
suspicions--fail not to remonstrate! Had but my dear wife remonstrated
with me, when she saw me, in consequence of my winnings, indulge in
expense, which she must have known I could not honestly afford, she
would not now, within the next hour, be deprived of her husband--of the
only support of herself and her three poor children in this world,--and
deprived of him in a manner which effectually cuts off all hopes of our
ever meeting in the happiness of another. * * * *

'Yes, in less than an hour, coward as I am, I shall have deserted my
duty and my family in this world; and, wretch as I am, shall have rushed
into all the horrors of hell in another world, by drowning myself.

'By curiosity I was first led to the E O table. Ashamed to stand idle
I put upon E, it came E; upon O, it came O. Fortune favoured me (as I
foolishly called it), and I came away a winner.

Something worse than curiosity, though hardly more dangerous, carried me
to another table another night. My view in going was answered. My view
was to WIN, and again I WON in the course of the evening. Again I went,
and again I won. For some weeks this was the constant story. Oh, happy
had I lost at first! Now I went every night. Everything I ought to have
done, neglected. Up all night, I was forced to lie in bed all day. The
strength of my mind, which at THIS moment might save me, was hourly
wasting away. My wife was deceived with continual falsehoods, to which
nothing but her fondness for me blinded her. Even my winnings, with the
expense and extravagance in which I indulged myself and family, were
every day more than half exhausted. But I felt that I was always to win.
Fortune favoured me. Fortune was now my deity. * * * *

'But fortune, my new, my false deity, deserted me. My luck TURNED. I
am undone! Ruined! A beggar! My wife and children will want a morsel of
bread to eat. * * * * To destroy myself is the only way to preserve my
family from want, and to keep myself from the GALLOWS. This morning I
absolutely hesitated whether I should not procure a sum of money with
which to try my luck by FORGERY. Gamesters, think of that--FORGERY! O
my dear wife, is not anything better than seeing me conveyed to Tyburn?
Yes, it is better that before many hours you and your three helpless
daughters should be hanging in tears (I little merit) over my lifeless,
cold, and swollen body.

'Readers, farewell! From my sad and voluntary death, learn wisdom. In
consequence of gaming I go to seek my destruction in the Thames. Oh,
think in what manner he deserves to be punished who commits a crime
which he is fully persuaded merits, and will not fail to meet, the
severest punishment.'

 The narrative proceeds to state that, 'between one and two
o'clock in the morning he took a sad farewell of this world, and leaped
over Blackfriars Bridge. It pleased Providence, however, that he should
be seen committing this desperate action by two watermen, who found his
body after it had been a considerable time under water. In consequence
of the methods used by the men of the Humane Society, he was at length
almost miraculously restored to life and to his family. It is further
stated that--'In consequence of the advice of a worthy clergyman he was
restored to reason and to religion. He now wonders how he could think of
committing so horrid a crime; and is not without hope that by a life
of continual repentance and exemplary religion, he may obtain pardon
hereafter. The paper which he wrote before he set forth to drown himself
he still desires should be made as public as possible, and that this
narrative should be added to it.

INCORRIGIBLE.

In the year 1799, Sir W. L--, Bart., finding his eldest son extremely
distressed and embarrassed, told him that he would relieve him from
all his difficulties, on condition that he would state to him, without
reserve, their utmost extent, and give him his honour never to play
again for any considerable sum. The debts--amounting to L22,000--were
instantly discharged. Before a week had elapsed he fell into his old
habits again, and lost L5000 more at a sitting; upon which he next
morning shot himself!

SUICIDE IN 1816.

In 1816 a gentleman, the head of a first-rate concern in the city, put
a period to his existence by blowing out his brains. He had gone to the
Argyle Rooms a few nights before the act, and accompanied a female home
in a coach, with two men, friends of the woman. When they got to her
residence the two men proposed to the gentleman to play for a dozen
champagne to treat the lady with, which the gentleman declined. They,
however, after a great deal of persuasion, prevailed on him to play for
small sums, and, according to the usual trick of gamblers, allowed him
to win at first, till they began to play for double, when there is no
doubt the fellows produced loaded dice, and the gentleman lost to the
amount of L1800! This brought him to his senses--as well it might. He
then invented an excuse for not paying that sum, by saying that he was
under an agreement with his partner not to draw for a larger amount than
L300 for his private account--and gave them a draft for that amount,
promising the remainder at a future day. This promise, however, he
did not attend to, not feeling himself bound by such a villainous
transaction, especially after giving them so much. But the robbers found
out who he was and his residence, and had the audacity to go, armed with
bludgeons, and attack him publicly on his own premises, in the presence
of those employed there, demanding payment of their nefarious 'debt of
honour,' and threatening him, if he did not pay, that he should fight!

This exposure had such an effect on his feelings that he made an excuse
to retire--did so--and blew out his brains with a pistol!

This rash act was the more to be lamented because it prevented the
bringing to condign punishment, the plundering villains who were the
cause of it.(16)

(16) Annual Register, vol. lviii.


OTHER INSTANCES.

A gallant Dutch officer, after having lost a splendid fortune not long
since (1823) in a gambling house at Aix-la-Chapelle, shot himself. A
Russian general, also, of immense wealth, terminated his existence
in the same manner and for the same cause. More recently, a young
Englishman, who lost the whole of an immense fortune by gambling at
Paris, quitted this world by stabbing himself in the neck with a fork. A
short time previously another Englishman, whose birth was as high as his
wealth had been considerable, blew his brains out in the Palais Royal,
after having literally lost his last shilling. Finally, an unfortunate
printer at Paris, who had a wife and five children, finished his earthly
career for the same cause, by suffocating himself with the fumes of
charcoal; he said, in his farewell note to his unhappy wife--'Behold the
effect of gaming!'(17)

(17) Ubi supra.


'IF I LOSE I SHALL COMMIT SUICIDE.'

A young man having gambled away his last shilling, solicited the loan
of a few pounds from one of the proprietors of the hell in which he had
been plundered. 'What security will you give me?' asked the fellow.
'My word of honour,' was the reply. 'Your word of honour! That's poor
security, and won't do,' rejoined the hellite; 'if you can pawn nothing
better than that, you'll get no money out of me.' 'Then you won't lend
me a couple of pounds?' 'Not without security,' was the reply. 'Why,
surely, you won't refuse me a couple of sovereigns, after having lost so
much?' 'I won't advance you a couple of shillings without security.'

Still bent upon play, and greedy for the means to gratify his passion,
the unhappy man, as if struck by a sudden thought, exclaimed--'I'll
give you security--the clothes on my back are quite new, and worth eight
guineas; you shall have them as security. Lend me two sovereigns on
them.'

'Suppose you lose,' doggedly rejoined the other, 'I cannot strip them
off your back.' 'Don't trouble yourself on that head,' replied the
desperate wretch; 'if I lose I shall commit suicide, which I have been
meditating for some time, and you shall surely have my clothes. I
shall return to my lodgings before daylight, in the most worn-out and
worthless dressing-gown or great-coat you can procure for me, leaving my
clothes with you.'

The two sovereigns were advanced, and in ten or twelve minutes were
lost. The keeper of the table demanded the clothes, and the unfortunate
man stripped himself with the utmost coolness of manner, and wrapping
his body in a worn-out greatcoat, quitted the place with the full
purpose of committing self-murder. He did not direct his steps homeward,
however, but resolved to accomplish the horrid deed by suspending
himself from a lamp-post in a dark lane near the place. While making the
necessary preparations he was observed by a constable, who at once took
him into custody, and on the following morning he was carried before the
magistrate, where all the circumstances of the affair came out.

SUICIDE AT VERDUN.

During the great French War, among other means resorted to in order to
ease the English prisoners at Verdun of their loose cash, a gaming table
was set up for their sole accommodation, and, as usual, led to scenes of
great depravity and horror. For instance, a young man was enticed into
this sink of iniquity, when he was tempted to throw on the table a
five-franc piece; he won, and repeated the experiment several times
successfully, until luck turned against him, and he lost everything he
had. The manager immediately offered a rouleau of a thousand francs,
which, in the heat of play, he thoughtlessly accepted, and also lost. He
then drew a bill on his agent, which his captain (he was an officer in
the English army) endorsed. The proceeds of this went the way of the
rouleau. He drew two more bills, and lost again. The next morning he was
found dead in his bed, with his limbs much distorted and his fingers
dug into his sides. On his table was found an empty laudanum bottle, and
some scraps of paper on which he had been practising the signature of
Captain B----. On inquiry it was found that he had forged that officer's
name to the two last bills.

'IN AT THE DEATH.'

In 1819 an inquest was held on the body of a gentleman found hanging
from one of the trees in St James's Park. The evidence established
the melancholy fact that the deceased was in the habit of frequenting
gambling houses, and had sunk into a state of dejection on account of
his losses; and it seemed probable that it was immediately after his
departure from one of these receptacles of rogues and their dupes that
he committed suicide. The son of the gate-keeper at St James's saw
several persons round the body at four o'clock in the morning, one of
whom, a noted gambler, said: 'Look at his face; why, have you forgotten
last night? Don't you recollect him now?' They were, no doubt, all
gamblers--in at the death.'

The three following stories, if not of actual suicide, relate crimes
which bear a close resemblance to self-murder.

A GAMBLER PAWNING HIS EARS.

A clerk named Chambers, losing his monthly pay, which was his all, at
a gaming table, begged to borrow of the manager's; but they knew his
history too well to lend without security, and therefore demanded
something in pawn. 'I have nothing to give but my ears,' he replied.
'Well,' said one of the witty demons, 'let us have them.' The youth
immediately took a knife out of his pocket and actually cut off all
the fleshy part of one of his cars and threw it on the table, to the
astonishment of the admiring gamesters. He received his two dollars, and
gambled on.

A GAMBLER SUBMITTING TO BE HANGED.

The following incident is said to have occurred in London:--Two fellows
were observed by a patrol sitting at a lamp-post in the New Road; and,
on closely watching them, the latter discovered that one was tying up
the other, who offered no resistance, by the neck. The patrol interfered
to prevent such a strange kind of murder, and was assailed by both, and
very considerably beaten for his good offices; the watchmen, however,
poured in, and the parties were secured. On examination next morning, it
appeared that the men had been gambling; that one had lost all his money
to the other, and had at last proposed to stake his clothes. The winner
demurred--observing that he could not strip his adversary naked in the
event of his losing. 'Oh,' replied the other, 'do not give yourself
any uneasiness about that; if I lose I shall be unable to live, and you
shall hang me, and take my clothes after I am dead, for I shall then,
you know, have no occasion for them.' The proposed arrangement was
assented to; and the fellow having lost, was quietly submitting to
the terms of the treaty when he was interrupted by the patrol, whose
impertinent interference he so angrily resented.

TWO GAMBLERS TOSSING WHO SHOULD HANG THE OTHER.

In the year 1812 an extraordinary investigation took place at Bow
Street. Croker, the officer, was passing along Hampstead Road; he
observed at a short distance before him two men on a wall, and directly
after saw the tallest of them, a stout man, about six feet high, hanging
by his neck from a lamp-post attached to the wall, being that instant
tied up and turned off by the short man.

This unexpected and extraordinary sight astonished the officer; he made
up to the spot with all speed, and just after he arrived there the tall
man, who had been hanged, fell to the ground, the handkerchief with
which he had been suspended having given way. Croker produced his staff,
said he was an officer, and demanded to know of the other man the cause
of such conduct; in the mean time the man who had been hanged recovered,
got up, and on Croker's interfering, gave him a violent blow on his
nose, which nearly knocked him backward. The short man was endeavouring
to make off; however, the officer procured assistance, and both were
brought to the office, where the account they gave was that they worked
on canals. They had been together on Wednesday afternoon, tossed for
money, and afterwards for their CLOTHES; the tall man who was hanged
won the other's jacket, trousers, and shoes; they then tossed up which
should HANG THE OTHER, and the short one won the toss. They got upon
the wall, the one to submit, and the other to hang him on the lamp-iron.
They both agreed in this statement. The tall one, who had been hanged,
said if he had won the toss he would have hanged the other. He said he
then felt the effects upon his neck of his hanging, and his eyes were so
much swelled that he saw DOUBLE.

The magistrates, continues the report in the 'Annual Register,'
expressed their horror and disgust; and ordered the man who had been
hanged to find bail for the violent and unjustifiable assault upon the
officer; and the short one, for hanging the other--a very odd decision
in the latter case--since the act was murder 'to all intents and
purposes' designed and intended. The report says, however, that, not
having bail, they were committed to Bridewell for trial.(20) The result
I have not discovered.

(20) Annual Register, 1812, vol. liv.


Innumerable duels have resulted from quarrels over the gaming table,
although nothing could be more Draconic than the law especially directed
against such duels. By the Act of Queen Anne against gaming, all persons
sending a challenge on account of gaming disputes were liable to forfeit
all their goods and to be committed to prison for two years. No case of
the kind, however, was ever prosecuted on that clause of the Act, which
was, in other respects, very nearly inoperative.

GAMBLING DUELS IN THE YEAR 1818.

It so happened that almost every month of the year 1818 was
'distinguished' by a duel or two, resulting from quarrels at gambling or
in gambling houses.

January. 'A meeting took place yesterday at an early hour, between
Captain B--r--y and Lieutenant T--n--n, in consequence of a dispute at
play. Wimbledon Common was the ground, and the parties fired twice, when
the lieutenant was slightly wounded in the pistol hand, the ball grazing
the right side; and here the affair ended.'

January. 'A meeting took place on the 9th instant, at Calais, between
Lieut. Finch, 20th regiment of Dragoons, and Lieut. Boileau, on half-pay
of the 41st regiment. Lieut. Finch was bound over, some days back,
to keep the peace in England; in consequence of which he proceeded
to Calais, accompanied by his friend, Captain Butler, where they were
followed by Lieut. Boileau and his friend Lieut. Hartley. It was settled
by Captain Butler, previous to Lieut. Finch taking his ground, that HE
WAS BOUND IN HONOUR to receive LIEUT. BOILEAU'S FIRE as he had given
so serious a provocation as a blow. This arrangement was, however,
defeated, by Lieut. Finch's pistol "accidentally" going off, apparently
in the direction of his opponent, which would probably have led to fatal
consequences had it not been for the IMPLICIT RELIANCE placed by Lieut.
Boileau's friend on the STRICT HONOUR of Capt. Butler, whose anxiety,
steadiness, and gentlemanly conduct on this and every other occasion,
were too well known to leave a doubt on the minds of the opposite
party, that Lieut. Finch's pistol going off was ENTIRELY ACCIDENTAL. A
reconciliation, therefore, immediately took place.'

February 17. 'Information was received at the public office, Marlborough
Street, on Saturday last, that a duel was about to take place yesterday,
in the fields contiguous to Chalk Farm, between Colonel Tucker and
Lieut. Nixon, the latter having challenged the former in public company,
for which and previous abuse the colonel inflicted severe chastisement
with a thick stick. Subsequent information was received that the
colonel's friends deemed it unnecessary for him to meet the challenger,
but that his remedy was to repeat the former chastisement when insulted.
It was further stated that a few half-pay officers, of inferior rank,
had leagued together for the purpose of procuring others to give a
challenge, and which it was the determination to put down by adopting
the colonel's plan.'

February. 'A captain in the army shook hands with a gallant
lieut.-colonel (who had distinguished himself in the Peninsula) at
one of the West End gaming houses, and Lieut. N--, who was present,
upbraided the colonel with the epithet of "poltroon." On a fit
opportunity the colonel inflicted summary justice upon the lieutenant
with a cane or horse-whip. This produced a challenge; but the colonel
was advised that he would degrade himself by combat with the challenger,
and he therefore declined it, but promised similar chastisement to that
inflicted. It was then stated that the colonel was bound to fight any
other person who would stand forth as the champion of Lieut. N--, to
which the colonel consented,--when a Lieut. J--n--e appeared as the
champion, and the meeting was appointed for Tuesday morning at Turnham
Green. The information of the police was renewed, and Thomas Foy
apprehended the parties at an inn near the spot, early in the morning.
They were consequently bound over to keep the peace. It appears,
however, that the lieutenant in this instance was not the champion of
the former, but had been challenged by the colonel.'

April. 'A meeting was to have taken place yesterday in consequence of a
dispute at play, between Captain R--n--s and Mr B--e--r, a gentleman of
fortune; but it was prevented by the interference of the police, and
the parties escaped. It took place, however, on the following day, on
Wimbledon Common, and after exchanging a single shot the matter was
adjusted.'

May. 'In consequence of a dispute at a gaming table, on Monday night,
in the vicinity of Piccadilly, Mr M--, who was an officer in the British
service at Brussels, and Mr B--n, a medical man, met, at three in the
morning, on Tuesday, in the King's Road. They fought at twelve paces.
Mr B--n was wounded on the back part of the hand, and the affair was
adjusted.'

July. 'A duel was fought yesterday morning, on Wimbledon Common, between
a Mr Arrowsmith and Lieut. Flynn, which ended in the former being
wounded in the thigh. The dispute which occasioned the meeting
originated in a gaming transaction.'

September. 'A duel was fought this morning on Hounslow Heath, between
Messrs Hillson and Marsden. The dispute arose in one of the stands at
Egham races. The latter was seriously wounded in the left side, and
conveyed away in a gig.'

November. 'A duel originating, over a dispute at play was fixed to
take place on Wimbledon Common, at daybreak, yesterday morning, but
information having been received that police officers were waiting, the
parties withdrew.'

GAMING DUEL AT PARIS, 1827.

A medical student, named Goulard, quarrelled at billiards with a
fellow-student named Caire. Their mutual friends, having in vain tried
every means of persuasion to prevent the consequences of the dispute,
accompanied the young men without the walls of Paris. Goulard seemed
disposed to submit to an arrangement, but Cairo obstinately refused.
The seconds measured the ground, and the first shot having been won by
Goulard, he fired, and Caire fell dead. Goulard did not appear during
the prosecution that followed; he continued absent on the day fixed
for judgment, and the court, conformably to the code of criminal
proceedings, pronounced on the charge without the intervention of a
jury. It acquitted Goulard of premeditation, but condemned him for
contumacy, to perpetual hard labour, and to be branded; and this in
spite of the fact that the advocate-general had demanded Goulard's
acquittal of the charge.

THE END OF A GAMESTER.

In 1788, a Scotch gentleman, named William Brodie, was tried and
convicted at Edinburgh, for stealing bank-notes and money, with
violence. This man, at the death of his father, twelve years before,
inherited a considerable estate in houses, in the city of Edinburgh,
together with L10,000 in money; but, by an unhappy connection and a
too great propensity to gaming, he was reduced to the desperation which
brought him at last to the scaffold. It is stated that his demeanour
on receiving the dreadful sentence was equally cool and determined;
moreover, that he was dressed in a blue coat, fancy vest, satin
breeches, and white silk stockings; a cocked hat; his hair full dressed
and powdered; and, lastly, that he was carried back to prison in a
chair. Such was the respectful treatment of 'gentlemen' prisoners in
Scotland towards the end of the last century.

DUEL WITH A SHARPER.

A Monsieur de Boisseuil, one of the Kings equerries, being at a
card-party, detected one of the players cheating, and exposed his
conduct.

The insulted 'gentleman' demanded satisfaction, when Boisseuil replied
that he did not fight with a person who was a rogue.

'That MAY be,' said the other, 'but I do not like to be CALLED one.'

They met on the ground, and Boisseuil received two desperate wounds from
the sharper.

This man's plea against Boisseuil is a remarkable trait. Madame de
Stael has alluded to it in her best style. 'In France,' she says, 'we
constantly see persons of distinguished rank, who, when accused of an
improper action, will say--"It may have been wrong, but no one will
dare assert it to my face!" Such an expression is an evident proof of
confirmed depravity; for, what would be the condition of society if it
was only requisite to kill one another, to commit with impunity every
evil action,--to break one's word and assert falsehood--provided no one
dared tell you that you lied?'

In countries where public opinion is more severe on the want of probity
and fair-dealing, should a man transgress the laws of these principles
of human conduct, ten duels a day would not enable him to recover the
esteem he has forfeited.

MAJOR ONEBY AND MR GOWER.

This duel originated as follows:--It appears that a Major Oneby, being
in company with a Mr Gower and three other persons, at a tavern, in a
friendly manner, after some time began playing at Hazard; when one
of the company, named Rich, asked if any one would set him three
half-crowns; whereupon Mr Gower, in a jocular manner, laid down three
half-pence, telling Rich he had set him three pieces, and Major Oneby at
the same time set Rich three half-crowns, and lost them to him.

Immediately after this, Major Oneby, in a angry manner, turned about to
Mr Gower and said--'It was an impertinent thing to set down half-pence,'
and called him 'an impertinent puppy' for so doing. To this Mr Gower
answered--'Whoever calls me so is a rascal. 'Thereupon Major Oneby took
up a bottle, and with great force threw it at Mr Gower's head, but did
not hit him, the bottle only brushing some of the powder out of his
hair. Mr Gower, in return, immediately tossed a candlestick or a bottle
at Major Oneby, which missed him; upon which they both rose to fetch
their swords, which were then hung in the room, and Mr Gower drew his
sword, but the Major was prevented from drawing his by the company.
Thereupon Mr Gower threw away his sword, and the company interposing,
they sat down again for the space of an hour.

At the expiration of that time, Mr Gower said to Major Oneby--'We have
had hot words, and you were the aggressor, but I think we may pass
it over'--at the same time offering him his hand; but the Major
replied--'No, d--n you, I WILL HAVE YOUR BLOOD.'

After this, the reckoning being paid, all the company, excepting Major
Oneby, went out to go home, and he called to Mr Gower, saying--'Young
man, come back, I have something to say to you.' Whereupon Mr Gower
returned to the room, and immediately the door was closed, and the rest
of the company excluded--when a clashing of swords was heard, and Major
Oneby gave Mr Gower a mortal wound. It was found, on the breaking up of
the company, that Major Oneby had his great coat over his shoulders, and
that he had received three slight wounds in the fight. Mr Gower, being
asked on his death-bed whether he had received his wounds in a manner
among swordsmen called fair, answered--'I think I did.' Major Oneby was
tried for the offence, and found guilty of murder, 'having acted upon
malice and deliberation, and not from sudden passion.'

THE NEPHEW OF A BRITISH PEER.

In 1813, the nephew of a British peer was executed at Lisbon. He had
involved himself by gambling, and being detected in robbing the house of
an English friend, by a Portuguese servant, he shot the latter dead to
prevent discovery. This desperate act, however, did not enable him to
escape the hands of justice. After execution, his head was severed from
his body and fixed on a pole opposite the house in which the murder and
robbery were committed.

The following facts will show the intimate connection between gambling
and Robbery or Forgery.

EDWARD WORTLEY MONTAGU AND THE JEW ABRAHAM PAYBA.

Edward Wortley Montagu was the only son of the celebrated Lady Mary
Wortley Montagu, whose eccentricities he inherited without her genius.
Montagu, together with Lords Taffe and Southwell, was accused of having
invited one Abraham Payba, alias James Roberts, a Jew, to dine with them
at Paris, in the year 1751; and of having plied him with wine till he
became intoxicated, and so lost at play the sum of 800 louis d'ors. It
was affirmed that they subsequently called at his house, and that on
his exhibiting an evident disinclination to satisfy their demands,
they threatened to cut him across the face with their swords unless he
instantly paid them. Terrified by their violence, and, at the same time,
unwilling to part with his gold, the Jew had cunning enough to give them
drafts on a Paris banker, by whom, as he had no dealings with him,
he well knew that his bills would be dishonoured; and, to escape the
vengeance of those whom he had outwitted, quitted Paris. On ascertaining
how completely they had been duped, Montagu, with his associates
Lords Taffe and Southwell, repaired to the house of the Jew, and after
ransacking his drawers and strong boxes, are said to have possessed
themselves of a very considerable sum of money, in addition to diamonds,
jewels, and other valuable articles. The Jew had it now in his power to
turn on his persecutors, and accordingly he appealed to the legislature
for redress. Lord Southwell contrived to effect his escape, but Lord
Taffe and Montagu were arrested, and were kept in separate dungeons in
the Grand Chatelet, for nearly three months. The case was subsequently
tried in a court of law, and decided in favour of the accused,--the
Jew being adjudged to make reparation and defray the costs! Against the
injustice of this sentence he appealed to the high court of La Tournelle
at Paris, which reversed it. Lord Taffe and Montagu afterwards appealed,
in their turn, but of the definitive result there is no record.

DR WILLIAM DODD.

Le Sage, in his 'Gil Blas,' says that 'the devil has a particular
spite against private tutors;' and he might have added, against popular
preachers. By popular preachers I do not mean such grand old things as
Bossuet, Massillon, and Bourdaloue. All such men were proof against the
fiery darts of the infernal tempter. From their earliest days they had
been trained to live up to the Non nobis Domine, 'Not unto us, O Lord,
but unto thy name, give glory.' All of them had only at heart the glory
of their church-cause; though, of course, the Jesuit Bourdaloue worked
also for his great Order, then culminating in glory.

The last-named, too, was another La Fontaine in simplicity, preparing
for his grandest predications by sorrily rasping on an execrable fiddle.
So, if the devil had lifted him up to a high mountain, showing him all
he would give him, he would have simply invited him to his lonely cell,
to have a jig to the tune of his catguts.

Your popular preachers in England have been, and are, a different
sort of spiritual workers. They have been, and are, individualities,
perpetually reminded of the fact, withal; and fiercely tempted
accordingly. The world, the flesh, and the devil, incessantly knock at
their door. If they fall into the snare it is but natural, and much to
be lamented.

Dr Dodd had many amiable qualities; but his reputation as a scholar, and
his notoriety as a preacher, appear to have entirely turned his head.

He had presented to him a good living in Bedfordshire; but the income
thereof was of no avail in supplying his wants: he was vain, pompous, in
debt, a gambler. Temptation came upon him. To relieve himself he tried
by indirect means to obtain the rectory of St George's, Hanover Square,
by sending an anonymous letter to Lady Apsley, offering the sum of L3000
if by her means he could be presented to the living; the letter was
immediately sent to the chancellor, and, after being traced to the
sender, laid before the king. His name was ordered to be struck out of
the list of chaplains; the press abounded with satire and invective;
Dodd was abused and ridiculed, and even Foote, in one of his
performances at the Haymarket, made him a subject of entertainment.
Dodd then decamped, and went to his former pupil, Lord Chesterfield,
in Switzerland, who gave him another living; but his extravagance being
undiminished, he was driven to schemes which covered him with infamy.
After the most extravagant and unseemly conduct in France, he returned
to England, and forged a bond as from his pupil, Lord Chesterfield, for
the sum of L4200, and, upon the credit of it, obtained a large sum of
money; but detection instantly following, he was committed to prison,
tried and convicted at the Old Bailey, Feb. 24, and executed at Tyburn,
June 27 (after a delay of four months), exhibiting every appearance of
penitence. The great delay between the sentence and execution was owing
to a doubt for some time respecting the admissibility of an evidence
which had been made use of to convict him.

Lord Chesterfield has been accused of a cold and relentless disposition
in having deserted his old tutor in his extremity. But Mr Jesse says
that he heard it related by a person who lived at the period, that at a
preliminary examination of the unfortunate divine, Lord Chesterfield, on
some pretence, placed the forged document in Dodd's hands, with the kind
intention that he should take the opportunity of destroying it, but the
latter wanted either the courage or the presence of mind enough to avail
himself of the occasion. This, however, is scarcely an excuse, for,
certainly, it was not for Dr Dodd to destroy the fatal document. If Lord
Chesterfield had wished to suppress that vital evidence he could have
done so.

Dr Johnson exerted himself to the utmost to try and save poor Dodd; but
George III. was inexorable. Respecting this benevolent attempt of the
Doctor, Chalmers writes as follows:--

Dr Johnson appears indeed in this instance to have been more swayed by
popular judgment than he would perhaps have been willing to allow. The
cry was--"the honour of the clergy;" but if the honour of the clergy was
tarnished, it was by Dodd's crime, and not his punishment; for his life
had been so long a disgrace to his cloth that he had deprived himself of
the sympathy which attaches to the first deviation from rectitude, and
few criminals could have had less claim to such a display of popular
feeling.'

All applications for the Royal mercy having failed, Dr Dodd prepared
himself for death, and with a warmth of gratitude wrote to Dr Johnson as
follows:--

                                'June 25, Midnight.

'Accept, thou GREAT and GOOD heart, my earnest and fervent thanks and
prayers for all thy benevolent and kind efforts in my behalf.--Oh! Dr
Johnson! as I sought your knowledge at an early hour in my life, would
to Heaven I had cultivated the love and acquaintance of so excellent
a man!--I pray God most sincerely to bless you with the highest
transports--the infelt satisfaction of HUMANE and benevolent
exertions!--And admitted, as I trust I shall be, to the realms of bliss
before you, I shall hail YOUR arrival there with transport, and rejoice
to acknowledge that you were my comforter, my advocate, and my FRIEND.
God be EVER with YOU!'

Dr Johnson's reply.

'To the Reverend Dr Dodd.

'Dear Sir,--That which is appointed to all men is now coming upon you.
Outward circumstances, the eyes and thoughts of men, are below the
notice of an immortal being about to stand the trial for eternity,
before the Supreme Judge of heaven and earth. Be comforted: your crime,
morally or religiously considered, has no very deep dye of turpitude.
It corrupted no man's principles. It attacked no man's life. It involved
only a temporary and reparable injury. Of this, and of all other sins,
you are earnestly to repent; and may God, who knoweth our frailty, and
desireth not our death, accept your repentance, for the sake of His Son
Jesus Christ our Lord!

'In requital of those well-intended offices which you are pleased so
emphatically to acknowledge, let me beg that you make in your devotions
one petition for my eternal welfare. 'I am, dear Sir,

          'Your affectionate servant,

                              'SAM. JOHNSON.

Next day, 27th June, Dr Dodd was executed.

CAPTAIN DAVIS.

Captain Davis was some time in the Life Guards, and a lieutenant in the
Yeomen of the Household--a situation which placed him often about the
persons of the Royal family. He was seldom known to play for less
stakes than L50, often won or lost large sums, and was represented as
a gentleman of extensive and independent fortune, although some of
his enemies declared otherwise, and repeated anecdotes to confirm
the assertion. He was at length committed for forgeries to an immense
amount. To the fidelity of a servant he owed his escape from Giltspur
Street prison--another fatal example of the sure result of gambling.
Heir to a title--moving in the first society--having held a commission
in the most distinguished of the Royal regiments--he was reduced to
the alternative of an ignominious flight with outlawry, or risking the
forfeiture of his wretched life, to the outraged laws of his country.
When in Paris, he at one time had won L30,000, and on his way home he
dropped into another gambling house, where he lost it all but L3000. He
set out in life with L20,000 in money!

DESPERATE CAREER OF HENRY WESTON.

Henry Weston was nephew to the distinguished Admiral Sir Hugh Palliser.

Having unlimited control of the large property of his employer, a Mr
Cowan, during the absence of the latter from town, he was tempted first
to gamble in the funds, wherein being unfortunate, he next went to a
gambling house in Pall Mall, and lost a very large sum; and at length,
gamed away nearly all his master's property.

In this tremendous result--lost to all intents and purposes--he made a
supreme effort to 'patch up' the ruin he had made. He forged the name
of General Tonyn; and so dexterously, that he obtained from the Bank of
England the sum of L10,000.

This huge robbery from Peter was not to pay Paul. Not a bit of it. It
was to try the fickle goddess of gaming once more--a Napoleonic stroke
for an Austerlitz of fortune.

He lost this L10,000 in two nights.

Did he despair at this hideous catastrophe? Did he tear his hair--rush
out of the room--blow his brains out or drown himself?

Not a bit of it. He 'set his wits to work' once more. He procured a
woman to personate General Tonyn's sister--forged again--and again
obtained from the Bank of England another large supply of ready
cash--with which, however, he 'went off' this time.

He was caught; and then only he thought of self-murder, and cut his
throat--but not effectually. He recovered, was tried at the Old Bailey,
and hanged on the 6th of July, 1796.

No doubt the reader imagines that the man of such a career was an OLD
stager--some long-visaged, parchment-faced fellow the OTHER side of
forty at least. Well, this hero of the gaming table, Henry Weston, was
aged only TWENTY-THREE years! What terrible times those must have been
to produce such a prodigy!

To the judge who tried him Henry Weston sent a list of a number of
PROFESSIONAL GAMBLERS, among them was a person of high rank. Weston,
at different times, lost above L46,000 at play; and at a house in Pall
Mall, where he lost a considerable part of it, three young officers also
lost no less than L35,000.

ARTHUR THISTLEWOOD.

It seems that the wretched traitor Arthur Thistlewood, who paid the
forfeit of his life for his crimes, had dissipated by gaming the
property he had acquired by a matrimonial connection--L12,000. An
unfortunate transaction at cards, during the Lincoln races, involved him
in difficulties, which he found it impossible to meet; and he fled
to avoid the importunities of his more fortunate associates. He was
afterwards known only as the factious demagogue and the professed
gambler!

FOUNTLEROY, THE FORGER.

Henry Fountleroy was a gentleman of rank, a partner in the banking
house of Marsh, Sibbold, and Co., of Berners Street. He was convicted of
having forged a deed for the transfer of L5450 long annuities, in fraud
of a certain Frances Young. Like Thurtell, Fountleroy defended himself,
and battled with the prejudicial reports circulated against him--among
the rest his addiction to gambling. 'I am accused,' he said, 'of being
an habitual gambler, an accusation which, if true, might easily account
for the diffusion of the property. I am, indeed, a member of two clubs,
the Albion and the Stratford, but never in my life did I play in either
at cards, or dice, or any game of chance; this is well known to the
gentlemen of these clubs; and my private friends, with whom I more
intimately associated, can equally assert my freedom from all habit or
disposition to play.'(21)

(21) See the case in 'Celebrated Trials,' vol. vi

I close this record of crime and misery by a few narratives of a more
miscellaneous character.

GAMBLING FOR LIFE.

Marshal Grammont used to tell a story of three soldiers, who, having
committed offences punishable by death, it was ordered that one of them
should be hanged as an example, and the three were directed to decide
which of them should suffer by throwing dice. The first threw fourteen,
the second seventeen, and the last, taking up the dice as coolly as
though he were engaged in a trivial game, threw eighteen! Thereupon
he exclaimed, with an expression of vexation, 'Ah, now! if I had been
playing for money I should not have been so lucky!'

This may appear 'taking it very cool;' but I think the following cases
of Englishmen' rather stronger.'

ONE OF MANY INSTANCES.

In the Times of February 11th, 1819, mention is made of a gang of nearly
thirty persons, male and female, and all presenting the most shocking
appearance of both want and depravity, who were brought to the
Marlborough Street Office. Among these wretched beings was a woman named
Hewitt, said to be the wife of one Captain Hewitt, a leader of the ton,
who, after ruining himself and family at the gambling table, ran away
from them, and was not since heard of. His wife being left to herself,
and having probably been tainted by his evil example, by an easy
gradation became first embarrassed, then a prostitute, then a thief, and
on the occasion above mentioned exhibited one of the most distressing
spectacles of vice and misery that could be conceived.

TRURTELL THE MURDERER.

This man, it is well known, was executed for the murder of Weare.

Thurtell was evidently no common man. His spoken defence, as reported,
is one of the finest specimens of impassioned eloquence--perfectly
Demosthenic. His indignation at the reports circulated in prejudice of
his case was overwhelming. Nothing can be finer than the turn of the
following sentence:--'I have been represented by the Press--WHICH
CARRIES ITS BENEFITS OR CURSES ON RAPID WINGS from one extremity of
the kingdom to the other--as a man more depraved, more gratuitously
and habitually profligate and cruel, than has ever appeared in modern
times.'

Touching his gambling pursuits, he said:--'I have been represented to
you as a man who was given to gambling, and the constant companion
of gamblers. To this accusation in some part my heart, with feeling
penitence, pleads guilty. I have gambled; I have been a gambler, but not
for the last three years. During that time I have not attended or betted
upon a horse-race, or a fight, or any public exhibition of that nature.
If I have erred in these things, half of the nobility of the land have
been my examples; some of the most enlightened statesmen of the country
have been my companions in them. I have, indeed, been a gambler; I have
been an unfortunate one. But whose fortune have I ruined?--whom undone?
My own family have I ruined; I have undone myself!'(22)

(22) See the entire speech in 'Celebrated Trials,' vol. vi. 547.


A MOST WONDERFUL END OF A GAMBLER.

In the Annual Register for the year 1766 occurs the following
'circumstantial and authentic account of the memorable case of Richard
Parsons,' transmitted by the high sheriff of Gloucestershire to his
friend in London.

On the 20th of February, 1766, Richard Parsons and three more met at a
private house in Chalfold, in order to play at cards, about six o'clock
in the evening. They played at Loo till about eleven or twelve that
night, when they changed their game for Whist. After a few deals a
dispute arose about the state of the game. Parsons asserted with oaths
that they were six, which the others denied; upon which he wished 'that
he might never enter the kingdom of heaven, and that his flesh might rot
upon his bones, if there were not six in the game.' These wishes were
several times repeated both then and afterwards. Upon this the candle
was put out by a party present, who said he was shocked with the oaths
and expressions he heard, and that he put out the candle with a design
to put an end to the game. Presently upon this they adjourned to another
house, and there began a fresh game, when Parsons and his partner had
great success. They then played at Loo again till four in the morning.
During the second playing Parsons complained to one Rolles, his partner,
of a bad pain in his leg, which from that time increased. There was an
appearance of a swelling, and afterwards the colour changing to that of
a mortified state. On the following Sunday he took advice of a surgeon,
who attended him until his death. Notwithstanding all the applications
that were made the mortification increased, and showed itself in
different parts of the body. He was visited by a clergyman, who
administered the sacrament to him, without any knowledge of what had
happened before--the man appearing to be extremely ignorant of religion,
having been accustomed to swear, to drink, to game, and to profane the
Sabbath. After receiving the sacrament he said--'Now, I must never sin
again.' He hoped God would forgive him, having been wicked not above six
years, and that whatever should happen he would not play at cards again.

After this he was in great agony--chiefly delirious; spoke of his
companions by name, and seemed as if his imagination was engaged at
cards. He started, had distracted looks and gestures, and in a dreadful
fit of shaking and trembling died on the 4th of March, just about a
fortnight after the utterance of his terrible imprecation.

The worthy sheriff of Gloucestershire goes on to say that the man's eyes
were open when he died, and could not be closed by the common method,
so that they remained open when he was put into the coffin. From this
circumstance arose a report that he WISHED HIS EYES MIGHT NEVER
CLOSE; 'but,' says the sheriff, 'this is a mistake; for, from the most
creditable witnesses, I am fully convinced no such wish was uttered;
and the fact is, that he did close his eyes after he was taken with the
mortification, and either dozed or slept several times.

'When the body came to be laid out, it appeared all over discoloured
or spotted; and it might, in the most literal sense, be said, that his
flesh rotted on his bones before he died.'

At the request of the sheriff, the surgeon (a Mr Pegler) who attended
the unfortunate man, sent in the following report:--'Sir,--You desire me
to acquaint you, in writing, with what I know relating to the melancholy
case of the late Richard Parsons; a request I readily comply with,
hoping that his sad catastrophe will serve to admonish all those who
profane the sacred name of God.

'February 27th last I visited Richard Parsons, who, I found, had an
inflamed leg, stretching from the foot almost to the knee, tending to a
gangrene. The tenseness and redness of the skin was almost gone off,
and became of a duskish and livid colour, and felt very lax and flabby.
Symptoms being so dangerous, some incisions were made down to the quick,
some spirituous fomentations made use of, and the whole limb dressed
up with such applications as are most approved in such desperate
circumstances, joined with proper internal medicines. The next day he
seemed much the same; but on March the 1st he was worse, the incisions
discharged a sharp fetid odor (which is generally of the worst
consequence). On the next day, which was Sunday, the symptoms seemed to
be a little more favourable; but, to my great surprise, the very next
day I found his leg not only mortified up to the knee, but the same
began anew in four different parts, viz., under each eye, on the top of
his shoulder, and on one hand; and in about twelve hours after he died.
I shall not presume to say there was anything supernatural in the case;
but, however, it must be confessed, that such cases are rather uncommon
in subjects so young, and of so good a habit as he had always been
previous to his illness.'

On one occasion Justice Maule was about to pass sentence on a prisoner,
who upon being asked to say why judgment should not be pronounced,
'wished that God might strike him dead if he was not innocent of the
crime.' After a pause, the judge said:--'As the Almighty has not thought
proper to comply with your request, the sentence of the court is,' &c.

A SAD REMINDER.

Every Englishman recollects the fate of that unhappy heiress, the
richest of all Europe, married to a man of rank and family, who was
plundered in the course of a few years of the whole of his wealth, in
one of those club houses, and was obliged to surrender himself to a
common prison, and ultimately fly from his country, leaving his wife
with her relations in the greatest despair and despondency.'(23)

(23) Rouge et Noir: the Academicians of 1823.


GEORGE IV. There are few departments of human distinction in which Great
Britain cannot boast a 'celebrity'--genteel or ungenteel. In the matter
of gambling we have been unapproachable--not only in the 'thorough'
determination with which we have exhausted the pursuit--but in the vast,
the fabulous millions which make up the sum total that Englishmen have
'turned over' at the gaming table.

I think that many thousands of millions would be 'within the mark' as
the contribution of England to the insatiate god of gambling.

I have presented to the reader the record of gambling all the world
over--the gambling of savages--the gambling of the ancient Persians,
Greeks, and Romans--the gambling of the gorgeous monarchs of France
and their impassioned subjects; but I have now to introduce upon the
horrible stage a Prince Royal, who surpassed all his predecessors in
the gaming art, having right royally lost at play not much less than
a million sterling, or, as stated, L800,000--before he was twenty-one
years of age!

If the following be facts, vouched for by a writer of authority,(24) the
results were most atrocious.

(24) James Grant (Editor of the Morning Advertiser), Sketches in London.


'Every one is aware that George IV., when Prince of Wales, was, as the
common phrase is, over-head-and-ears in debt; and that it was because
he would thereby be enabled to meet the claims of his creditors, that he
consented to marry the Princess Caroline of Brunswick. But although this
is known to every one, comparatively few people are acquainted with the
circumstances under which his debts were contracted. Those debts, then,
were the result of losses at the gaming table. He was an inveterate
gambler--a habit which he most probably contracted through his intimacy
with Fox. It is a well-ascertained fact that in two short years, after
he attained his majority, he lost L800,000 at play.

'It was with the view and in the hope that marriage would cure his
propensity for the gaming table, that his father was so anxious to see
him united to Caroline; and it was solely on account of his marriage
with that princess constituting the only condition of his debts being
paid by the country, that he agreed to lead her to the hymeneal altar.

'The unfortunate results of this union are but too well known, not only
as regarded the parties themselves, but as regarded society generally.
To the gambling habits, then, of the Prince of Wales are to be ascribed
all the unhappiness which he entailed on the unfortunate Caroline,
and the vast amount of injury which the separation from her, and the
subsequent trial, produced on the morals of the nation generally.'



CHAPTER V. ODDITIES AND WITTICISMS OF GAMBLERS.

OSTENTATIOUS GAMESTERS.

Certain grandees and wealthy persons, more through vanity or weakness
than generosity, have sacrificed their avidity to ostentation--some
by renouncing their winnings, others by purposely losing. The greater
number of such eccentrics, however, seem to have allowed themselves to
be pillaged merely because they had not the generosity or the courage to
give away what was wanted.

The Cardinal d'Este, playing one day with the Cardinal de Medicis, his
guest, thought that his magnificence required him to allow the latter to
win a stake of 10,000 crowns--'not wishing,' he said, 'to make him pay
his reckoning or allow him to depart unsatisfied.' Brantome calls this
'greatness;' the following is an instance of what he calls 'kindness.'

'Guilty or innocent,' he says, 'everybody was well received at the
house of this cardinal, who kept an open table at Rome for the French
chevaliers. These gentlemen having appropriated a portion of his plate,
it was proposed to search them: 'No, no!' said the cardinal, 'they are
poor companions who have only their sword, cloak, and crucifixes; they
are brave fellows; the plate will be a great benefit to them, and the
loss of it will not make me poorer.'

Vigneul de Marville tells us of certain extravagant abbes, named
Ruccellai and Frangipani, who carried their ostentation to such a pitch
as to set gold in dishes on their tables when entertaining their gaming
companions! Were any of these base enough to put their hands in and help
themselves? This is not stated by the historian. These two Italian abbes
were ne plus ultras in luxury and effeminacy. In the reign of Henry IV.,
they laid before their guests vermilion dishes filled with gloves, fans,
coins to play with after the repast, essences and perfumes.(25) I wonder
if the delightful scent called Frangipani, vouchsafed to us by Rimmel
and Piesse and Lubin, was named after this exquisite ecclesiastic of
old?

(25) Melanges d' Hist. et de Lit.


One day when Henry IV. was dining at the Duc de Sully's, the latter, as
soon as the cloth was raised, brought in cards and dice, and placed upon
the table two purses of 4000 pistoles each, one for the King, the other
to lend to the lords of his suite. Thereupon the king exclaimed:--'Great
master, come and let me embrace you, for I love you as you deserve: I
feel so comfortable here that I shall sup and stay the night.' Evidently
Sully was more a courtier than usual on this occasion--as no doubt
the whole affair was by the king's order, with which he complied
reluctantly; but he made the king play with his own money only. The Duc
de Lerme, when entertaining Monsieur the brother of Louis XIII. at his
quarters near Maestricht, had the boldness to bring in, at the end of
the repast, two bags of 1000 pistoles each, declaring that he gave them
up to the players without any condition except to return them when they
pleased.(26)

(26) Mem. de Jeu M. le Duc d'Orleans.


This Duc de Lerme was at least a great lord, and the army which he
commanded may have warranted his extravagance; but what are we to think
when we find the base and mean-spirited Fouquet giving himself the
same princely airs? During certain festivities prepared for Louis XIV.,
Fouquet placed in the room of every courtier of the king's suite, a
purse of gold for gambling, in case any of them should be short of
money. Well might Duclos remark that 'Nobody was shocked at this
MAGNIFICENT SCANDAL!(27)

(27) Consideration sur les Moeeurs.


They tell of a certain lordly gamester who looked upon any money that
fell from his hands as lost, and would never stoop to pick it up! This
reminds us of the freedman Pallas mentioned by Tacitus, who wrote down
what he had to say to his slaves, lest he should degrade his voice to
their level--ne vocem consociaret!(28)

(28) Ann. l. xiii


AN INSINUATING, ELEGANT GAMESTER.

Osterman, Grand Chancellor of Russia, during the reign of the Empress
Anne, obtained information that the court of Versailles had formed a
scheme to send an insinuating, elegant gamester, to attack the Duke of
Biran on his weak side--a rage for play--and thereby probably gain some
political advantage over him.

The chancellor called on the duke to make the necessary communication,
but the minister did not choose to be at home. The chancellor, then
pretending to be suffering from a severe fit of gout, wrote to his
sovereign, stating that he had important matter to reveal, but was
unable to move, and the Duke of Biran was consequently ordered to wait
on him by the empress. Osterman, affecting great pain, articulated with
apparent difficulty these words--'The French are sending a gamester!'
Thereupon the duke withdrew in a pet, and represented to the empress
that the chancellor was delirious from the gout, and had really nothing
to communicate.

The subject had long been forgotten by the duke, when an elegant, easy,
dissipated marquis actually arrived. He had extensive credit on a house
of the English Factory, and presently insinuated himself into the good
graces of the duke, whom he soon eased of all his superfluous cash.

The chancellor became alarmed for the consequences, and resolved to try
and play off the French for their clever finesse. He looked about for a
match for the redoubtable French gamester, and soon got information of
a party who might serve his turn. This was a midshipman at Moscow, named
Cruckoff, who, he was assured, was without an equal in the MANAGEMENT of
cards, and the knowledge of Quizze--then the fashionable court game--and
that at which the Duke of Biran had lost his money. The chancellor
immediately despatched a courier to Moscow to fetch the Russian
gamester.

The midshipman was forthwith made an ensign of the Guards, in order to
entitle him to play at court. He set to work at once in accordance with
his instructions, but after his own plan in the execution. He began
with losing freely; and was, of course, soon noticed by the marquis, and
marked as a pigeon worth plucking. The young Russian, however, forced
him into high play, and he lost the greater part of his former gain.
The marquis got nettled, lost his self-command, and proposed a monstrous
stake, to the extent of his credit and gains, of which he thought he
might make himself sure by some master-stroke of art. Accordingly, by
means of a sleight, he managed to hold fifteen in hand, but his wily
antagonist was equal to the occasion: by the aid of some sweetmeats from
an adjoining table he SWALLOWED a card, and, being first in hand, the
chance was determined in his favour, and he ruined the marquis.

Once more the chancellor waited on the duke, and plainly told him that
he had been anxious to guard him against the French gamester, purposely
sent to fleece him, if he had had the patience to hear him. The duke
then became outrageous, and wished to arrest the Frenchman as a cheat;
but Osterman coolly said he had punished him in kind; and, producing a
large bag, returned the duke's money, bidding him in future not to be so
impatient when information was to be communicated by gouty persons.

The clever ensign was allowed to retain the rest of the spoil, with an
injunction, however, never to touch a card again, unless he wished to
end his days among the exiles of Siberia.

A PENITENT SONNET.

written by the Lord Fitz-Gerald(29) (a great gamester) a little before
his death, which was in the year 1580.

(29) This Lord Fitzgerald was eldest son to the Earl of Kildare, and
died at the age of twenty-one.


     'By loss in play, men oft forget
     The duty they do owe
     To Him that did bestow the same,
     And thousand millions moe.

     'I loath to hear them swear and stare,
     When they the Main have lost,
     Forgetting all the Byes that wear
     With God and Holy Ghost.

     'By wounds and nails they think to win,
     But truly 'tis not so;
     For all their frets and fumes in sin
     They moneyless must go.

     'There is no wight that used it more
     Than he that wrote this verse,
     Who cries Peccavi now, therefore;
     His oaths his heart do pierce.

     'Therefore example take by me,
     That curse the luckless time
     That ever dice mine eyes did see,
     Which bred in me this crime.

     'Pardon me for that is past,
     I will offend no more,
     In this most vile and sinful cast,
     Which I will still abhor.'(30)

(30) Harl. Miscel.


LOVE AND GAMBLING.

Horace Walpole, writing to Mann, says:--'The event that has made most
noise since my last is the extempore wedding of the youngest of the two
Gunnings, two ladies of surpassing loveliness, named respectively Mary
and Elizabeth, the daughters of John Gunning, Esq., of Castle Coote, in
Ireland, whom Mrs Montague calls "those goddesses the Gunnings." Lord
Coventry, a grave young lord, of the remains of the patriot breed, has
long dangled after the eldest, virtuously, with regard to her honour,
not very honourably with regard to his own credit. About six weeks
ago Duke Hamilton, the very reverse of the earl, hot, debauched,
extravagant, and equally damaged in his fortune and person, fell in love
with the youngest at the masquerade, and determined to marry her in
the spring. About a fortnight since, at an immense assembly at my
Lord Chesterfield's, made to show the house, which is really most
magnificent, Duke Hamilton made violent love at one end of the room,
while he was playing at Faro at the other end; that is, he saw neither
the bank nor his own cards, which were of three hundred pounds each: he
soon lost a thousand. I own I was so little a professor in love that
I thought all this parade looked ill for the poor girl; and could not
conceive, if he was so much engaged with his mistress as to disregard
such sums, why he played at all. However, two nights afterwards, being
left alone with her, while her mother and sister were at Bedford House,
he found himself so impatient that he sent for a parson. The Doctor
refused to perform the ceremony without license or ring; the duke swore
he would send for the archbishop; at last they were married with a ring
of the BED-CURTAIN, at half-an-hour after twelve at night, at May-fair
Chapel.'

This incident occurred in 1752, and reminds us of the marriage-scene
described by Dryden in one of his tales, which was quoted by Lord
Lyndhurst on that memorable occasion when he opposed Lord Campbell's
Bill for the suppression of indecent publications, and made a speech
which was more creditable to his wit than his taste, and perfectly
horrifying to Lord Campbell, who inflicted a most damaging verbal
castigation on his very sprightly but imprudent opponent.

'MANNERS MAKE THE MAN.

Mr Manners, a relation of the Duke of Rutland, many years ago, lost a
considerable sum to a well-known gamester, who set up his carriage
in consequence. Being at a loss for a motto, Mr Manners suggested the
following:--

MANNERS MAKE(S) THE MAN.

SHARP PRACTICE--NOT BY AN ATTORNEY.

The commanding officer of a Militia regiment having passed an evening
with several of his officers, carried one of them, who was much
intoxicated, to town with him. How the rest of the night was passed was
not known--at least to the young man; but in the morning the colonel
slipped into his hand a memorandum of his having lost to him at play
L700--for which sum he was actually arrested ON THE PARADE the same day,
and was compelled to grant an annuity to a nominee of the colonel for
L100 per annum!

A GAMESTER TO THE BACK-BONE.

Archdeacon Bruges mentions a gentleman who was so thorough a gamester,
that he left in his will an injunction that his bones should be
made into dice, and his skin prepared so as to be a covering for
dice-boxes!(31)

(31) A similar anecdote is related of a Frenchman.


FOOTE'S WITTICISMS.

A blackleg, famous for 'cogging a die,' said that there had been great
sport at Newmarket. 'What!' said Foote, 'I suppose you were detected,
and kicked out of the Hazard room.'

F--d, the Clerk of the Arraigns, brought off Lookup when indicted for
perjury. Foote, afterwards playing with him at Whist, said, 'F--d,
you can do anything, after bringing of Lookup. I don't wonder you hold
thirteen trumps in your hand. The least he could do was to teach you the
"long shuffle" for your services.'

The Rev. Dr Dodd was a very unlucky gamester, and received a guinea
to forfeit twenty if he ever played again above a guinea. This, among
gamblers, is termed being TIED UP. When the doctor was executed for
forgery a gentleman observed to Foote--'I suppose the doctor is launched
into eternity by this time.' 'How so?' said Foote, 'he was TIED UP long
ago.'

EFFECT OF A SEVERE LOSS AT PLAY.

Lord C-- lost one night L33,000 to General Scott. The amiable peer,
however, benefited by the severe lesson, and resolved never again to
lose more than one hundred at a sitting! He is said to have strictly
kept his resolve.

PADDY'S DECISION.

Some gamblers duping a country fellow at the game called Put, in a
public-house near St Pancras, one of them appealed to an Irishman who
was looking on whether he had not THREE TREYS IN HIS HAND? 'You had all
that,' said Paddy; 'and what's more, I saw you TAKE THEM ALL out of your
pocket.'

GAMBLING CAUSED BY GRIEF.

The Honourable Jesse Anker, in order to dissipate the gloom occasioned
by the loss of his wife, whom he passionately loved, had recourse to
gaming, by which, at different times, he lost considerable sums, but
not so as to injure his property, which was very large, in any material
degree. The remedy did not prove effectual; he shot himself at his
lodgings at Bath.

A GAMBLER'S EXCUSE FOR NOT BEING A SECOND IN A DUEL.

A gentleman who had been called out, applied to a friend who had won
a large sum of money to be his second. 'My dear friend,' answered the
gamester, 'I won fifteen hundred guineas last night, and shall cut a
poor figure at fighting to-day; but if you apply to the person I won
them of, he will fight like a devil, for he has not a farthing left.'

'MORE FORTUNATE.'

Lord Mark Stair and Lord Stair were at play in a coffee-house, when a
stranger overlooked the game, and disturbed them with questions.
Lord Mark said--'Let us throw dice to see which of us shall pink this
impudent fellow.' Lord Stair won. The other exclaimed--'Ah! Stair,
Stair! you have been always more fortunate in life than I.'

CAPTAIN ROCHE.

Captain Roche, alias Tyger, alias Savage Roche, who stuck his gaming
companion's hand to the table with a fork for concealing a card under
it, happened to be at the Bedford Billiard-table, which was extremely
crowded. Roche was knocking the balls about with his cue, and Major
Williamson, another celebrity, with whom he was engaged on business,
desired him to leave off, as he hindered gentlemen from playing.
'Gentlemen?' sneeringly exclaimed Roche; 'why, major, except you and me
(and two or three more) there is not a gentleman in the room--the rest
are all blacklegs.'

On leaving the place, the major expressed his astonishment at his
rudeness, and wondered, out of so numerous a company, it was not
resented. 'Oh, sir,' said Roche, 'there was no fear of that; there was
not a thief in the room who did not suppose himself one of "the two or
three gentlemen" I mentioned.'

FARO AT ROUTS.

The following advertisement appeared in the Courier newspaper in 1794:--

'As Faro is the most fashionable circular game in the haut ton in
exclusion of melancholy Whist, and to prevent a company being cantoned
into separate parties, a gentleman of unexceptionable character will,
on invitation, do himself the honour to attend the rout of any lady,
nobleman, or gentleman, with a Faro Bank and Fund, adequate to the style
of play, from 500 to 2000 guineas.

'Address, G. A., by letter, to be left at Mr Harding's, Piccadilly,
nearly opposite Bond Street.

'N.B.--This advertisement will not appear again.'

PROSPECT OF L5200 PER ANNUM FROM A CAPITAL OF L2000.

The following advertisement appeared in the Morning Chronicle in 1817:--

'Any person who can command Two Thousand Pounds in ready money, may
advance it in a speculation which will realize at least L100 per week,
and perhaps not require the advance of above one half the money. The
personal attendance of the party engaging is requisite; but there will
be no occasion for articles of partnership, or any establishment, as the
profits may be divided daily.'

OF WHAT TRADE IS A GAMING-HOUSE KEEPER?

At a Westminster election the keeper of a notorious gaming house in
St Ann's parish was asked, as usual, what his trade was, when, after a
little hesitation, he said, 'I am an ivory turner.'

THE GAME PLAYED IN THE COURT OF CHANCERY.

Mrs Law, executrix of George Law, late proprietor of the Smyrna Coffee
House, St James's Street, in 1807, found, among her husband's papers,
several notes and memoranda of money advanced to a Mr Nelthorpe,
which she put in suit. The latter alleged that they were for gambling
purposes, and called Mrs Law to say whether her husband did not keep a
common gambling house; and his counsel contended that it was clear the
notes were for gaming transactions, BECAUSE they were for 100 GUINEAS,
200 GUINEAS, and so on--disdaining the vulgar enumeration of pounds.
But the lord chancellor said that THE GAME PLAYED IN THE COURT OF
CHANCERY--as far as counsel was concerned--was for GUINEAS.

THE ORIGINAL OF A RECENT PROPOSAL.

Not long since an advertisement appeared, and was noticed by several of
the papers, purporting to enable any person to realize a large fortune
by a small advance to the advertiser. It will readily be seen that
the following is the ORIGINAL of the scheme, put forth in the Morning
Chronicle, in 1818:--

'Important Offer. A gentleman of respectability has discovered a method
of winning at any game of chance, fairly and honourably, to a
certainty, by a method hitherto unknown;--he will SELL THE SECRET for a
consideration, or treat with a gentleman able to join him with a capital
of L300, by which a fortune may be made; in either case he will engage
with one person only. This will be found well worth the attention of
a member of the superior clubs. **** No personal application will be
answered.'

GAME AND GAMBLING.

A gentleman celebrated for his quickness at repartee, when informed that
a young nobleman of his acquaintance (remarkably fond of a fashionable
game) had shot an immense number of RED partridges, and also of the
BLACK game, which abounded on his estates, replied--'I am not in the
least surprised; he was at all times, EVEN WHEN IN LONDON, devotedly
attached to the GAME OF ROUGE ET NOIR.'

CATCHING A TARTAR.

'My skill at billiards,' says a confessing gamester, 'gave me a
superiority over most I met with. I could also hide my skill very
dexterously, which is generally found a work of great difficulty,
and judiciously winning or losing, I contrived to make it answer my
purpose,--until one day, going to a table which I was very much in
the practice of frequenting, and where no one was then engaged, I was
invited by a stranger to play. I accepted the invitation for a small
stake, and won very easily, so much so, that on commencing a new game I
offered to give him six, to place us more on an equality. He accepted it
eagerly, but it produced him no benefit; he played so badly, and managed
both his cue and mace so awkwardly--for I made no objection to his
changing them as often as he pleased--that, playing very carelessly, I
could not avoid beating him. We continued increasing the stakes every
successive game; money seemed of no value to him; he appeared to have
plenty, and lost it with a spirit that told me I had got hold of an
excellent subject, who could pay me well for beating him. I did not
wish to win too palpably, and therefore kept increasing the advantage I
yielded him, till it amounted to sixteen. He now proposed making the bet
ONE HUNDRED POUNDS, and that I should give him eighteen. His eagerness,
as well as the manner in which he handled his tools, convinced me of his
inexperience, and I accepted the proposal;--but, to my surprise, he won
the game. He laughed so heartily at the event, and conducted himself
so extravagantly, that I felt persuaded the thing was accidental. He
proposed doubling the stakes, which I refused; yet I agreed to play him
for the same sum as before, but giving him only fourteen. By some chance
he won again; and then I declined playing any more; but he pushed me so
hard, and offered to play the even game rather than I should give over,
that I was induced to yield. He declared he did not want my money, and
wished to give me an opportunity of recovering it. It was the depth of
artifice, and I discovered it too late. He won . . . and I had no money
to pay! One of the bystanders took part with him; my case did not invite
or interest any one to stand by me. I was treated with great indignity;
and though I gave up my watch and every article of value I possessed,
yet I was not allowed to depart without very ill usage. I had
transgressed the laws of gaming, by betting after I had ceased to be
able to pay; but I had so confidently felt that I had my antagonist in
my own power, that I considered the stake as my own as soon as the bet
was made. The injuries I received were very severe, and confined me to
my bed for several days.'(32)

(32) Confessions of a Gamester.


The splendid and fascinating game of Billiards seems to have been an
English invention; and it became greatly in vogue during the reign of
Louis XIV. of France, to whom it was recommended by his physicians as an
exercise after meals.

It is said that Chamillard, who played with the king, entirely owed
his political fortune to the skill which he displayed in this game.
Billiards has not as yet been placed, like skittles and bowls, under the
interdict of the police authorities, and it is difficult to see how they
could venture upon so tremendous an experiment. The game seems to be
more in vogue than ever, and doubtless heavy sums are lost and won at
it. Billiard matches have during the last three years become quite one
of the winter exhibitions, and particularly this season have the public
shown their taste for the game. Perhaps the extraordinary performances
of some of the first-class cueists have stirred up the shades of
Kentfield's days, his homely game of cannons off list cushions and
gently-played strength strokes; or by chance those that favour Marden's
style, his losing hazards and forcing half balls, have revived once
more, and we yearn with wonder to see the great spot strokes of the
present age, when as many red hazards can be scored in one break as were
made in olden times in an evening's play. At the present time Roberts,
sen., may claim the honour in the billiard world of having brought the
spot stroke to light: he has made no less than 104 consecutive hazards
in one break, and up to the present winter that wonderful performance
stood unparalleled. Cook, however, very recently in an exhibition match
with J. Bennett, scored the spot hazard no less than 119 times, making
388 off the balls, the biggest break on record. Such feats as these,
supplemented by the but little inferior play of Roberts, jun., and
Bennett, have done more than excite surprise, and have caused old heads
carefully to look into the style of play of 1869 and to ponder thereon.
It appears that they affirm, and not without reason, that much of the
success of the spot stroke arises from the position of the spot being
further from the top cushion than formerly, and by this means not
only is the angle of the striker's ball for position made easier, by a
greater scope for screw or side, but the mouth of the pockets themselves
are easier of access; and the chance of a wobble all but avoided.
Billiard players and table makers should meet and arrange a regular
standard size for table pockets and balls, with the spots at regulated
positions. We should then be able to compare merits with greater
certainty, and such terrible scores would not trouble the markers.

As a healthful exercise, and in its tendency to promote the physical
development of the body, the game of Billiards is unsurpassed; but it is
much to be regretted that it is generally-played in ill-ventilated and
crowded rooms, often reeking with the pestilential fumes of tobacco, and
not without the adjunct of frequent alcoholic potations. Moreover, there
can be no doubt that many modern instances of billiard sharping occur,
such as I have just quoted, in which the unwary are unscrupulously
'fleeced.' I know of several.

'NOT KNOWING YOUR MAN.'

A certain high military character sat down to play with a Russian
prince, who introduced loaded dice. The travelled Englishman lost every
bet; for the Russian never missed his seven or eleven, and modestly
threw only ten times. The supposed pigeon then took up the box with fair
dice; and, having learned to 'secure,'(33) called different mains at
pleasure; threw sixteen times; won all the aristocrat's money, and
wished him good night. Such is the effect of not knowing your man!

(33) This term means making sure of what you throw.


A BLIND GAMESTER.

John Metcalfe, much better known by the nickname of blind Jack of
Knaresborough, was a celebrity at Harrowgate during the first quarter
of the present century. This extraordinary man had been deprived of his
eyesight at so early a period that he retained no idea of either light
or vision; but his remaining faculties were so actively employed that
few persons in the full enjoyment of sight have surpassed him in the
execution of undertakings, which seemed particularly to require the
exercise of that faculty. He traversed the neighbourhood without a guide
or companion; surveyed tracts of country to plan and lay down roads,
where none had ever been before; contracted for the building of bridges,
and fulfilled his contracts without the assistance of another person,
either as architect or superintendent of the work; became a guide
to those who, possessing sight, could not find their way across the
neighbouring moors when covered with deep falls of snow and impenetrable
fogs; rode well, and followed the hounds with a zeal and spirit equal to
that of the most dashing horseman in the field, and, finally, played
at many games of chance, or skill, with a knowledge and ingenuity that
enabled him to come off victorious in many contests with persons eager
to try his ability or to prove their own.

Such a man was sure to attract notice in any place or neighbourhood,
but particularly at a place of general resort. Besides, he possessed
a facetious mode of talking, and on several occasions exercised a
practical sort of wit, which was equally certain of gaining patronage.
Visitors of the highest rank treated him with kindness, and even
familiarity; and as he never forgot himself, or trespassed upon those
who thus favoured him, he continued in fashion as long as he lived, and
terminated his singular career at more than 80 years of age.

Among his many exploits was the following. Various trials of his skill
and activity were proposed by gentlemen who offered to support their
opinions with their money. But Metcalfe had a determination of his own,
and refused taking a share in any of the ingenious proposals urged upon
him, until a country squire, the Nimrod of a neighbouring district,
submitted a plan which he expected would baffle all his manoeuvres.
He asked the blind man if he was willing to run 100 yards against his
favourite mare. The offer was immediately accepted--provided he might
CHOOSE THE GROUND, which should be an open space on the adjoining moor.
The stakes were deposited the same evening; and a fine level space being
selected, and the distance marked out with great exactness early the
following morning, the decision followed with little delay. The
party selected to ride against the blind man was much admired for
his horsemanship; and at the appointed time, every preparation being
completed, the signal was given and the race commenced. The horseman was
instantly far ahead, but before he could finish his stipulated distance
the fore feet of his hunter sank deep in a bog, from which, being unable
to extricate them, he came completely over, treating his rider with a
tremendous somerset. The loud shouts of the spectators announced to
the blind man that his expectations were realized. The turf showed no
apparent difference, and was sufficiently strong to carry a man with
safety,--perhaps it would have borne a horse going only at a moderate
pace, but at full speed his feet pierced the sod, and entangled him in
the hidden danger. Metcalfe passed his extended rival, terminated his
career, and won the race before those who had run to the prostrate
horseman could render him any assistance. Indeed, it was too late for
that purpose, he had finished his earthly course having ruptured a
vessel near the heart in his fall!

A NOBLE LORD AND A COMMONER, IN 1823.

A young and wealthy commoner, who seemed to vie with the pea-green in
the desperate folly of getting rid of a suddenly obtained fortune of
L130,000 in ready money, as fast as possible, and whose relish for the
society of legs, bullies, and fighting men was equally notorious, went
to the Fishmonger's Hall Club late one morning, much flushed with wine.
The well-lighted avenues directed him to the French Hazard table. There
was no play going on at the time, but at the entrance of this PIGEON,
who before had been DRAWN of a good round sum, the box and dice were
soon put in motion, and 'seven's the main, seven,' was promptly the cry.
A certain noble lord, who had been for years an experienced NURSE of the
dice, and who knew how to NICK the MAINS or THROW CRABS, as well as the
best leg in England, held the bow. The commoner commenced by backing the
noble lord IN. The noble lord threw OUT. He then backed the noble lord
OUT, and the noble lord threw in. He backed the noble lord OUT again,
who threw five to the main. The commoner betted the odds deeply at
the rate of three to two. The noble lord threw the FIVE. The commoner,
uneasy, changed about, and backed the noble lord IN for a large
stake,--the noble lord then threw OUT. The commoner now rose in a rage,
and insinuated broadly that he was cheated, robbed, and it could not be
fair play. Of course much indignation was shown by the noble lord, and
it was with difficulty that a fight was prevented; but his lordship,
nevertheless, condescended to demonstrate that he played his own money
at the time, and what he lost found its way into the bank, with which
'he was not at all connected.' This reasoning satisfied the suspicious
young commoner (poor easy man!); an apology was given; and peace was
restored.

DIAMOND CUT DIAMOND.

A party of players were assembled to throw for a stake, which was
enormous. It was, however, agreed that the LOWEST throw should win.
The players threw until one of them turned up two aces. All but one had
thrown, and shouts of applause greeted the lucky caster, when the last
who was to throw exclaimed--'Hold! I'll try and beat that.' . . .

Rattling the dice, he turned down the box on the table, and on lifting
it up displayed the two dice ONE UPON THE TOP OF THE OTHER, and both
aces! He was therefore declared the winner.(34)

(34) Menageana.


A TENDER MOTHER.

A French lady had an only child, a handsome young man, much addicted
to gaming. He lost at one sitting L40,000, and being destitute of other
resources, he joined a company of strolling players. They chanced
some time afterwards to pass a short time at Worcester, near which
his mother, who was considerably advanced in years, resided. The lady,
though highly displeased with her son's life, yet, hearing of his
performance, could not resist a wish to see him; and for this purpose
she went thither incog. He supported the principal character in 'The
Gamester.'

The feelings of the mother were so excited at the passages which closely
applied to her son's conduct, that she exclaimed aloud, 'Ay, there he
is--the--the beggar--the scoundrel! Always the same--no change in him!'
The delusion so increased at the fifth act, when Beverley lifts his
hand to kill the child, that the lady in a most distressing tone cried
out--'Wretch that thou art, don't kill the child--I'll take it home with
me!'

TWO MASTERS OF THE ART.

A Frenchman who had become notorious for the unerring certainty with
which he won from all who ventured to play with him, at length found
himself unable to induce persons to sit down to the table with him,
there being not the slightest chance of winning against his play. After
being thus idle for some time, an Englishman, who had heard of his
triumphs, expressed his readiness to enter the lists against him. They
sat down, and played for three hours without intermission, and at the
end of that time were exactly in the same position as when they begun.
They at length paused to take some refreshment. 'Sare,' said the
Frenchman, in a sort of whisper, to a party who accompanied his
antagonist, 'your friend is a very clever man at de cards--deuced
clever, sare.' 'He is a very clever fellow,' observed the Englishman. 'I
shall try him again,' said Monsieur; and as he made the observation
he proceeded to the room in which they had been playing, and which
was fixed on as the scene of their continued contest. He had scarcely
quitted the place when the other made his appearance, and observed that
the Frenchman was the most skilful player he had ever met with. The
parties again met, and the cards were again produced. The game was
renewed at eleven o'clock, and continued without intermission till
six o'clock on the following morning, at which time they found, to the
surprise of each other, that they were still as they began. 'Sare,'
said the Frenchman, 'you are the best player I ever met with.' 'And you,
Monsieur,' returned the other, 'are the only gentleman I ever played
with, from whom I could win nothing.' 'Indeed, sare!' said Monsieur,
hesitatingly. 'It is a fact, I assure you.' 'Sare, I am quite astonished
at your skill.' 'And I'm not less so at yours, Monsieur.' 'You're de
most skilfullest man at de cards in England.' 'Not while you are in it,
Monsieur,' replied the Englishman, with a smile. 'Sare, I CHEATED, and
yet could not win from you!' remarked the Frenchman, hurriedly and with
much emphasis, feeling it impossible any longer to conceal his surprise
at the circumstance of being unable to play a winning game with the
Englishman. 'And, Monsieur, I did the same thing with you, and yet you
are no loser!' remarked the other, with corresponding energy of tone.

The problem was thus solved: both had been cheating during the whole
night, and were exactly equal in dexterity, both being unconscious of
the dishonest practices of each other; and the result was that each got
up from the table with the same amount of money as he had when he sat
down. The cheats cordially shook hands, apparently much gratified that
they had at length ascertained how it had happened that neither could
pluck the other.



CHAPTER VI. THE GAMING CLUBS.

On the subject of Clubs Mr Cunningham in his 'Clubs of London,' and Mr
Timbs in his 'Club Life in London,' have said pretty well everything
that we want to know, and by their help, and that of other writers, I
shall endeavour to give an account of the gambling carried on in such
places.

1. ALMACK'S.

'The gaming at Almack's,' writes Walpole to Horace Mann, 'which has
taken the pas of White's, is worthy of the decline of our empire, or
commonwealth, which you please. The young men of the age lose ten,
fifteen, twenty thousand pounds in an evening there. Lord Stavordale,
not one-and-twenty, lost L11,000 there last Tuesday, but recovered it
by one great hand at Hazard. He swore a great oath--"Now, if I had been
playing DEEP I might have won millions!" His cousin, Charles Fox, shines
equally here and in the House of Commons.'

Among the rules of the establishment, it was ordered 'that every person
playing at the twenty-guinea table do not keep less than twenty guineas
before him,' and 'that every person playing at the new guinea table do
keep fifty guineas before him.' That the play ran high may be inferred
from a note against the name of Mr Thynne, in the Club-books:--'Mr
Thynne having won ONLY 12,000 guineas during the last two months,
retired in disgust, March 21st, 1772.' Indeed, the play was unusually
high--for rouleaus of L50 each, and generally there was L10,000
in specie on the table. The gamesters began by pulling off their
embroidered clothes, and putting on frieze great coats, or turned their
coats inside out for luck! They put on pieces of leather (such as are
worn by footmen when they clean knives) to save their laced ruffles;
and to guard their eyes from the light, and to keep their hair in order,
wore high-crowned straw hats with broad brims adorned with flowers and
ribbons; they also wore masks to conceal their emotions when they played
at quinz.(35) Each gamester had a small neat stand by him, to hold his
tea, or a wooden bowl with an edge of ormolu, to hold the rouleaus of
guineas.

(35) Quinze, the French for fifteen. This is a game at cards, in which
the winner is he who counts fifteen, or nearest to that number, in all
the points of his hand. Three, five, or six might play at it. Two entire
packs of cards are used, so disposed that the spades and clubs are on
one side, and the hearts and diamonds on the other. The entire art of
the game consists in making fifteen; below that number the party loses.

2. THE COCOA-TREE CLUB.

This club was remarkable for high if not for foul play. Walpole, writing
to Horace Mann in 1780, says:--'Within this week there has been a cast
at Hazard at the Cocoa-tree (in St James's Street) the difference of
which amounted to one hundred and fourscore thousand pounds! Mr O'Birne,
an Irish gamester, had won one hundred thousand pounds of a young Mr
Harvey of Chigwell, just started into an estate by his elder brother's
death. O'Birne said,--"You can never pay me." "I can," said the youth,
"my estate will sell for the debt." "No," said O'Birne, "I will win ten
thousand,--you shall throw for the odd ninety." They did, and Harvey
won!'

3. GRAHAM'S CLUB.

This gaming club is remarkable for a scandal which made some noise at
the time of its occurrence, and one version of which a writer in the
Times has been at some pains to rectify. In Mr Duncombe's 'Life' of his
father occurs the following account of this curious transaction.

'In Graham's Club there was also a good deal of play, and large sums
were lost and won among the noblemen and gentlemen who were its members.
An unpleasant rumour circulated in town in the winter of 1836, to the
effect that a noble lord had been detected in cheating by means of
marked cards. The presumed offender was well known in society as a
skilful card-player, but by those who had been most intimate with him
was considered incapable of any unfair practice. He was abroad when the
scandal was set afloat, but returned to England directly he heard of it,
and having traced the accusation to its source, defied his traducers.
Thus challenged, they had no alternative but to support their
allegation, and it took this shape:--They accused Henry William Lord de
Ros of marking the edges of the court cards with his thumb-nail, as well
as of performing a certain trick by which he unfairly secured an ace as
the turn-up card. His accusers were ---- ----, who had formerly kept
a gaming table; Mr ---- ----, also a professional gambler; Lord Henry
Bentinck, and Mr F. Cumming. Lord Henry appears to have taken no very
active part in the proceedings; the other three had lost money in play
with Lord de Ros, and, as unsuccessful gamblers have done before and
since, considered that they had lost it unfairly.

'Lord de Ros, instead of prosecuting the four for a libel, brought an
action only against Cumming, which permitted the others to come forward
as witnesses against him. The cause came on in the Court of King's Bench
before Lord Denman. The plaintiff's witnesses were Lord Wharncliffe,
Lord Robert Grosvenor, the Earl of Clare, and Sir Charles Dalbiac, who
had known and played with him from between 20 to 30 years, as a very
skilful but honourable Whist player. The evidence of Mr Lawrence, the
eminent surgeon, proved that Lord de Ros had long suffered under a
stiffness of the joints of the fingers that made holding a pack of
cards difficult, and the performance of the imputed trick of legerdemain
impossible. For the defence appeared the keeper of the house and
his son; two or three gamblers who had lived by their winnings; one
acknowledged to have won L35,000 in 15 years. Mr Baring Wall, one of the
witnesses, swore that he had never witnessed anything improper in the
play of Lord de Ros, though he had played with and against him many
years; another witness, the Hon. Colonel Anson, had observed nothing
suspicious; but the testimony of others went to prove that the aces and
kings had been marked inside their edges; and one averred that he had
seen Lord de Ros perform sauter la coupe a hundred times. The whole case
wore much the look of a combination among a little coterie who lived
by gambling to drive from the field a player whose skill had diminished
their income; nevertheless, the incidents sworn to by some of them wore
a suspicious significance, and a verdict was given against Lord de Ros,
which he only survived a short time.'

On this statement the Times' reviewer comments as follows:--

'If many old scandals may be revived with impunity, there are some that
cannot. Mr Duncombe the younger has hit on one which affects several
gentlemen still living, and his injurious version of it cannot be
neutralized or atoned for by an apology to one. We call attention to it
in the hope that any more serious notice will be rendered needless by
the simple exposure of its inaccuracies.

'It is difficult to conceive a more inexcusable misstatement, for the
case was fully reported,(36) and the public judgment perfectly coincided
with the verdict. Lord de Ros was not abroad when the scandal was set
afloat. He went abroad after the scene at Graham's had set all London
talking, and he returned in consequence of a peremptory call from his
friends. He was most reluctantly induced to take the required steps for
the vindication of his character; and it is preposterous to suppose that
any little coterie would have dreamt of accusing a man of his rank and
position with the view of driving a skilful player from the field. His
accusers were not challenged. Neither were they volunteers. They became
his accusers, because they formed the Whist party at which he was first
openly denounced. They signed a paper particularizing their charge, and
offered to refer the question to a tribunal of gentlemen, with the Duke
of Wellington or Lord Wharncliffe to preside. Would a little coterie,
who lived by gambling, have made this offer? Or would Lord de Ros have
refused it if he had been the intended victim of a conspiracy? Lord
Henry Bentinck signed the paper, appeared as a witness, and took quite
as active a part in the proceedings as any of the four, except Mr
Cumming, who undertook the sole legal liability by admitting the
publication of the paper.

(36) The Times of February 11 and 13, 1837.


'The evidence was overwhelming. Suspicions had long been rife; and on no
less than ten or twelve occasions the marked packs had been examined in
the presence of unimpeachable witnesses, and sealed up. These packs
were produced at the trial. Several witnesses swore to the trick called
sauter la coupe. It was the late Sir William Ingilby who swore that he
had seen Lord de Ros perform it from 50 to 100 times; and when asked
why he did not at once denounce him, he replied that if he had done
so before his Lordship began to get blown upon, he should have had no
alternative between the window and the door. Of course, every one who
had been in the habit of playing with Lord de Ros prior to the exposure
would have said the same as Sir Charles Dalbiac and Mr Baring Wall.
With regard to the gentlemen whose names we have omitted we take it
for granted that the author is not aware of the position they held, and
continue to hold, or he would hardly have ventured to describe them so
offensively. He has apologized to one, and he had better apologize to
the other without delay.

'The case was complete without the evidence of either of the original
accusers, and the few friends of Lord de Ros who tried to bear him up
against the resulting obloquy were obliged to go with the stream. When
Lord Alvanley was asked whether he meant to leave his card, he replied,
"No, he will stick it in his chimney-piece and count it among his
honours.'"

Having read through the long case as reported in the Times, I must
declare that I do not find that the evidence against Lord de Ros was,
after all, so 'overwhelming' as the reviewer declares; indeed, the
'leader' in the Times on the trial emphatically raises a doubt on the
subject. Among other passages in it there is the following:--

'In the process of the trial it appeared that the most material part of
the evidence against Lord de Ros, that called sauter la coupe,--which,
for the sake of our English readers we shall translate into CHANGING THE
TURN-UP CARD,--the times and places at which it was said to have been
done could not be specified. Some of the witnesses had seen the trick
done 50 or 100 times by Lord de Ros, but could neither say on what day,
in what week, month, or even year, they had so seen it done. People
were excessively struck at this deviation from the extreme punctuality
required in criminal cases by the British courts of law.'

'The disclosures,' says Mr Grant,(27) 'which took place in the Court of
Queen's Bench, on the occasion of the trial of Lord de Ros, for cheating
at cards, furnished the strongest demonstration that he was not the only
person who was in the habit of cheating in certain clubs; while there
were others who, if they could not be charged with direct cheating,
or cheating in their own persons, did cheat indirectly, and by proxy,
inasmuch as they, by their own admission, were, on frequent occasions,
partners with Lord de Ros, long after they knew that he habitually or
systematically cheated. The noble lord, by the confession of the titled
parties to whom I allude, thus cheated for himself and them at the same
time.'

(37) Sketches in London.


Lord de Ros was at the head of the barons of England. He was the son of
Lord Henry Fitzgerald, and Lady de Ros, who inherited in her own right
that ancient title, which dates from the reign of Henry III. He had
studied at Eton and Oxford, and afterwards on the Continent, and
there was not a more accomplished man in Europe. He possessed an ample
fortune, was a member of several of the clubs--White's, Boodle's,
Brookes', and Graham's, and one of the best Whist players in England.

It appears that at Graham's Club, at the commencement of the season,
and before Lord de Ros came to town, whispers were circulated of unfair
play, and various persons were supposed guilty. A determination was
therefore formed that the club should be dissolved and reconstructed,
leaving out the names of certain persons to whom suspicion attached. The
main object of the master of the club, and of some of those who attended
it for the purpose of professional gain, was that its character should
be cleared. Not long after Lord de Ros came to town he received an
anonymous letter, cautioning him against continuing to play at Graham's,
and intimating to him, if he did so, that measures would be taken which
he would have reason to regret. Of course his Lordship disregarded the
threat; he attended the club for several days more assiduously than
before, and continued to play until the end of the season, in the
beginning of July. In September the Satirist newspaper published a
distinct charge of unfair play against Lord de Ros, whilst the latter
was at Baden, and he returned to England and commenced an action for
libel against the newspaper.

He was charged with being in the habit of marking the cards, the effect
being to create a very slight and almost imperceptible indentation, and
to make a ridge or wave on the back, so that a practised eye would be
able, on looking at the right place, knowing where to expect a mark,
to discern whether the ace was there or not. He was also charged with
cheating by reversing the cut--that is, when the cards had come to him,
after having been cut by his adversary, instead of putting the bottom
card at the top, keeping the bottom card at the bottom, by some
shuffling contrivance when he dealt. Another witness said:--

'When he took up the two parcels of cards, after the operation of
cutting the pack by his right-hand adversary, he was always attacked
with a hacking cough, or what I may properly denominate, especially from
the result it produced, a 'king cough,' because a king or an ace was
invariably its effect. The cough always came on at the most convenient
moment to distract the attention of the other players, and was evidently
indulged in for the purpose of abstracting their attention from the
table and from the manoeuvre he was about to perform. However, I never
saw him "slip the card," and I never had cognizance of its execution,
but certain it was that the ace or the king, which was at the bottom of
the pack prior to the cut, invariably found its way to the same position
after the cut, and hence was the turn-up card. With regard to the
operation of dealing, his Lordship delivered the cards particularly
slow, examining every card minutely towards its corners, as if looking
for some mark.'

Many curious facts came out during the trial.

It was Mr Brooke Greville who admitted that he was a considerable winner
at play--having 'no hesitation in saying that he had won L35,000 in the
course of 15 years,' chiefly at Whist; that he had followed play as an
occupation, at Graham's Club. He lost, however, L14,000 at Brighton in
1828, a considerable portion of it to Lord de Ros; but this loss he
made up in three or four years (that is, won L14,000 in that time), and,
excepting that reverse, he was generally fortunate at play.'

A Captain J. Alexander, half-pay R. N., declared that he had won as much
as L700 at a time, having, however, to pay half to another partner; his
winnings might be L1600 a-year. 'I began to play,' he said, 'about 25 or
28 years ago, and, expecting that I should be asked the question, I have
looked into my accounts, and find that I am about L10,000 better than
as though I had not played. That is a yearly average of L500.' He had,
however, lost about L1000 during the previous year.

This Captain Alexander was asked how many hours he played before dinner,
and he answered--'From three to five hours'--adding, however, that 'he
HAD played ALL NIGHT.' Then the counsel said, 'I suppose you take but a
slight dinner?' He replied:--

'Why, I generally make as good a dinner as I can get.' The learned
counsel continued:--

'A small boiled chicken and a glass of lemonade, perhaps?' This seemed
an offensive question, and the captain said,--

'I believe never, and (with increased earnestness of manner) mind, I
DENY THE LEMONADE ALTOGETHER; I never take lemonade. (Laughter, in which
the noble lords on the bench joined involuntarily.)

Sir W. Ingilby entered into a description and practical illustration of
the trick of sauter la coupe with a pack of cards, and it is said that
the performance of the honourable baronet elicited demonstrations of
laughter, which the judge suppressed, and even REPROBATED. Altogether,
it must have been a most interesting and exciting trial.

As before stated, Lord Denman was the presiding judge; there was a
special jury; the attorney-general, Sir W. Follet, and Mr Wightman
appeared for the noble plaintiff; and the keen-witted and exquisitely
polished Mr Thesiger (now Lord Cholmondeley), Mr Alexander, and Mr W.
H. Watson for the defendant. A great many of the nobility were present,
together with several foreigners of distinction.

4. BROOKES' CLUB, IN ST JAMES'S STREET.

This was a house notorious for very high gaming, and was frequented
by the most desperate of gamblers, among the rest Fox, Brummell, and
Alderman Combe. According to Captain Gronow:--

At Brookes's, for nearly half a century, the play was of a more gambling
character than at White's. . . . On one occasion Lord Robert Spencer
contrived to lose the last shilling of his considerable fortune given
him by his brother, the Duke of Marlborough. General Fitzpatrick being
much in the same condition, they agreed to raise a sum of money, in
order that they might keep a Faro bank. The members of the club made no
objection, and ere long they carri

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