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+******The Project Gutenberg Etext of Andrew Steinmetz's********
+*********The Gaming Table:  Its Votaries and Victims***********
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+The Gaming Table, Its Votaries and Victims  Volume #2
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+by Andrew Steinmetz
+
+May, 1996  [Etext #531]
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+
+THE GAMING TABLE: ITS VOTARIES AND VICTIMS,
+
+In all Times and Countries, especially in England and in France.
+
+BY ANDREW STEINMETZ, ESQ.,
+
+
+
+
+
+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.'
+
+
+
+
+IN TWO VOLUMES.--VOL. II.
+
+
+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 he 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 carried out their design.  As is
+generally the case, the bank was a winner, and Lord Robert
+bagged, as his share of the proceeds, L100,000.  He retired,
+strange to say, from the fetid atmosphere of play, with the money
+in his pocket, and never again gambled.  The lowest stake at
+Brookes' was L50; and it was a common event for a gentleman to
+lose or win L10,000 in an evening.  Sometimes a whole fortune was
+lost at a single sitting.[38]
+
+[38] Walpole, passim.
+
+
+5.  WHITE'S CLUB.
+
+White's Club seems to have won the darkest reputation for
+gambling.  Lord Lyttleton, writing to Dr Doddridge, in 1750,
+says:--'The Dryads of Hogley are at present pretty secure, but I
+tremble to think that the rattling of a dice-box at White's may
+one day or other (if my son should be a member of that noble
+academy) shake down all our fine oaks.  It is dreadful to see,
+not only there, but almost in every house in the town, what
+devastations are made by that destructive fury, the spirit of
+play.'  A fact stated by Walpole to Horace Mann shows the
+character of the company at this establishment:--'There is a man
+about town, Sir William Burdett, a man of very good family, but
+most infamous character.  In short, to give you his character at
+once--there is a wager in the bet-book at White's (a MS. of which
+I may one day or other give you an account), that the first
+baronet that will be hanged is this Sir William Burdett.'  Swift
+says:--'I have heard that the late Earl of Oxford, in the time of
+his ministry, never passed by White's chocolate-house (the common
+rendezvous of infamous sharpers and noble cullies) without
+bestowing a curse upon that famous academy as the bane of half
+the English nobility.'
+
+It was from the beginning a gaming club, 'pure and simple.'  The
+play was mostly at Hazard and Faro.  No member was to hold a Faro
+bank.  Whist was comparatively harmless.  Professional gamblers,
+who lived by dice and cards, provided they were free from the
+imputation of cheating, procured admission to White's.  It was a
+great supper-house, and there was play before and after supper,
+carried on to a late hour and to heavy amounts.
+
+At White's they betted on every possible thing, as shown by the
+betting-book of the establishment--on births, deaths, and
+marriages; the length of a life; the duration of a ministry; a
+placeman's prospect of a coronet; the last scandal at Ranelagh or
+Madame Cornely's; or the shock of an earthquake!  'A man dropped
+down at the door of White's; he was carried into the house.  Was
+he dead or not?  The odds were immediately given and taken for
+and against.  It was proposed to bleed him.  Those who had taken
+the odds that the man was dead protested that the use of a lancet
+would affect the fairness of the bet.'  I have met with a similar
+anecdote elsewhere.  A waiter in a tavern in Westminster, being
+engaged in attendance on some young men of distinction, suddenly
+fell down in a fit.  Bets were immediately proposed by some of
+the most thoughtless on his recovery, and accepted by others. 
+The more humane part of the company were for sending immediately
+for medical assistance, but this was overruled; since, by the
+tenor of the bets, he was to be 'left to himself,' and he died
+accordingly!
+
+According to Walpole--'A person coming into the club on the
+morning of the earthquake, in 1750, and hearing bets laid whether
+the shock was caused by an earthquake or the blowing up of
+powder-mills, went away in horror, protesting they were such an
+impious set that he believed if the last trump were to sound they
+would bet puppet-show against Judgment.'
+
+And again:  'One of the youths at White's, in 1744, has committed
+a murder, and intends to repeat it.  He betted L1500 that a man
+could live twelve hours under water; hired a desperate fellow,
+sunk him in a ship, by way of experiment, and both ship and man
+have not appeared since.  Another man and ship are to be tried
+for their lives instead of Mr Blake, the assassin.'
+
+He also tells us of a very curious entry in the betting-book. 
+Lord Mountford bets Sir John Bland twenty guineas that Nash
+outlives Cibber.'  'How odd,' says Walpole, 'that these two old
+creatures, selected for their antiquities, should live to see
+both their wagerers put an end to their own lives!  Cibber is
+within a few days of eighty-four, still hearty, and clear, and
+well.  I told him I was glad to see him look so well.  "Faith,"
+said he, "it is very well that I look at all."  Lord Mountford
+would have been the winner:  Cibber died in 1757, Nash in 1761.'
+
+Hogarth's scene at the gambling house is taken at White's.  'We
+see the highwayman, with his pistols peeping out of his pocket,
+waiting by the fireside till the heaviest winner takes his
+departure, in order to "recoup" himself for his losings; and in
+the Beaux' Stratagem, Aimwell asks of Gibbet--"Ha'n't I seen your
+face at White's?"  "Ay, and at Will's too," is the highwayman's
+answer.'
+
+According to Captain Gronow, George Harley Drummond, of the
+famous banking-house, Charing Cross, only played once in his
+whole life at White's Club, at Whist, on which occasion he lost
+L20,000 to Brummell.  This even caused him to retire from the
+banking-house, of which he was a partner.
+
+'Walpole and a party of friends (Dick Edgecumbe, George Selwyn,
+and Williams), in 1756, composed a piece of heraldic satire--a
+coat of arms for the two gaming clubs at White's--which was
+"actually engraven from a very pretty painting of Edgecumbe, whom
+Mr Chute, as Strawberry King at Arms," appointed their chief
+herald-painter.  The blazon is vert (for a card-table); three
+parolis proper on a chevron sable (for a Hazard table); two
+rouleaux in saltire between two dice proper, on a canton sable; a
+white ball (for election) argent.  The supporters are an old and
+young knave of clubs; the crest, an arm out of an earl's coronet
+shaking a dice-box; and the motto, Cogit amor nummi--"The love of
+money compels."  Round the arms is a claret-bottle ticket by way
+of order.'
+
+6.  WATTIER'S CLUB.
+
+This great Macao gaming house was of short duration.  Mr Raikes
+says of it:--'The club did not endure for twelve years
+altogether; the pace was too quick to last; it died a natural
+death in 1819, from the paralyzed state of its members.  The
+house was then taken by a set of blacklegs, who instituted a
+common bank of gambling.  To form an idea of the ruin produced by
+this short-lived establishment among men whom I have so
+intimately known, a cursory glance to the past suggests the
+following melancholy list, which only forms a part of its
+deplorable results: none of the dead reached the average age of
+man.'  Among the members were Beau Brummell and the madman Bligh.
+
+7.  CROCKFORD'S CLUB.
+
+This once celebrated gaming house is now 'The Wellington,' where
+the rattle of knives and forks has succeeded that of dice.  It
+was erected in 1827, and at its opening it was described as 'the
+new Pandemonium--the drawing-rooms, or real hell, consisting of
+four chambers: the first an ante-room, opening to a saloon
+embellished to a degree which baffles description; thence to a
+small curiously-formed cabinet or boudoir, which opens to the
+supper-room.  All these rooms are panelled in the most gorgeous
+manner; spaces are left to be filled up with mirrors and silk, or
+gold enrichments; while the ceilings are as superb as the walls. 
+A billiard-room on the upper floor completes the number of
+apartments professedly dedicated to the use of the members. 
+Whenever any secret manoeuvre is to be carried on, there are
+smaller and more retired places, both under this roof and the
+next, whose walls will tell no tales.'
+
+'It rose,' says a writer in the Edinburgh Review, 'like a
+creation of Aladdin's lamp; and the genii themselves could hardly
+have surpassed the beauty of the internal decorations, or
+furnished a more accomplished maitre d'hotel than Ude.  To make
+the company as select as possible, the estabishment was regularly
+organized as a club, and the election of members vested in a
+committee.  "Crockford's" became the rage, and the votaries of
+fashion, whether they like play or not, hastened to enroll
+themselves.  The Duke of Wellington was an original member,
+though (unlike Blucher, who repeatedly lost everything he had at
+play) the great captain was never known to play deep at any game
+but war or politics.  Card-tables were regularly placed, and
+Whist was played occasionally; but the aim, end, and final cause
+of the whole was the Hazard bank, at which the proprietor took
+his nightly stand, prepared for all comers.  Le Wellington des
+Joueurs lost L23,000 at a sitting, beginning at twelve at night,
+and ending at seven the following evening.  He and three other
+noblemen could not have lost less, sooner or later, than L100,000
+a piece.[39]  Others lost in proportion (or out of proportion) to
+their means; but we leave it to less occupied moralists and
+better calculators to say how many ruined families went to make
+Mr Crockford a MILLIONNAIRE--for a millionnaire he was in the
+English sense of the term, after making the largest possible
+allowance for bad debts.  A vast sum, perhaps half a million, was
+sometimes due to him; but as he won, all his debtors were able to
+raise, and easy credit was the most fatal of his lures.  He
+retired in 1840, much as an Indian chief retires from a hunting
+country when there is not game enough left for his tribe, and the
+club tottered to its fall.'
+
+[39] 'Le Wellington des Joueurs was the name given to Lord Rivers
+in Paris.  The other three, we believe, were Lord Sefton, Lord
+Chesterfield, and Lord Granville or Lord Talbot.' Times, 7 Jan.
+1868.
+
+
+Crockford was originally a FISHMONGER, keeping a shop near Temple
+Bar.  By embarking in this speculation he laid the foundation of
+the most colossal fortune that was ever made by play.
+
+It was said there were persons of rank and station, who had never
+paid their debts to Crockford, up to 1844, and that some of his
+creditors compounded with him for their gambling debts.  His
+proprietorship had lasted 15 or 16 years.
+
+Crockford himself was examined by the committee of the House of
+Commons on the Gaming Houses; but in spite of his assurance by
+the members that were indemnified witnesses in respect of pending
+actions, he resolutely declined to 'tell the secrets of his
+prison-house.'  When asked whether a good deal of play was
+carried on at his club, he said:--'There may have been so; but I
+do not feel myself at liberty to answer that question--to DIVULGE
+THE PURSUITS OF PRIVATE GENTLEMEN.  Situated as I was, I do not
+feel myself at liberty to do so.  I do not feel myself at liberty
+to answer that question.'
+
+When asked to whom he had given up the house, he fenced in like
+manner, saying that he had given it up to a 'committee' of about
+200 gentlemen,--concerning which committee he professed to 'know
+absolutely nothing'--he could not even say to whom he had given
+up the house--he gave it up to the gentlemen of the club four
+years before--he could not even say (upon his word) whether he
+signed any paper in giving it up--he believed he did not--
+adding--'I said I grew too old, and I could not continue in the
+club any longer, and I wished to give up the club to the
+gentlemen, who made their own arrangement.'
+
+Being asked, 'Do you think that a person is just as honourably
+bound to pay a debt which he loses upon a game of Hazard, as he
+would be to pay a bet which he loses on a horse-race?'  Crockford
+replied--'I think most certainly he would honourably be bound to
+pay it.'--'Do you think that if the loser of a bet on a game at
+Hazard had no charge to make of any kind of unfairness, and he
+were to commence an action to recover that money back again, he
+would lay himself open to a charge in the world of having acted
+dishonourably?'  The old gambler's reply was most emphatic,
+overwhelming, indignant--'I should take all the pains I could to
+avoid such a man.'
+
+If this evidence was not satisfactory, it was, at any rate, very
+characteristic.
+
+A few interesting facts came out before the parliamentary
+committee on Gaming, in 1844, respecting Crockford's.
+
+It was said that Crockford gave up the business in 1840, because
+there were no more very high players visiting his house.
+
+'A number of persons,' according to the admission of the
+Honourable Frederick Byng, 'who were born to very large
+properties, were very nearly ruined at Crockford's.'
+
+The sums won on the turf were certainly larger than those won by
+players at Crockford's; a man might lose L20,000 in one or more
+bets, to one or more persons; but against this he might have won
+an equivalent amount in small sums from 200 or more persons.[40]
+
+[40] This is not very clearly put, but the meaning is that much
+more money was lost at Crockford's than on the turf.
+
+
+Some years previously to Crockford's retirement, it is said that
+he found the debts so bad that he was obliged to leave off his
+custom of paying cheques; and said he would cancel all previous
+debts, but that in future gentlemen would have to pay with money.
+
+He made them play for money instead of with counters, in
+consequence of the large sums that were owing to him upon those
+counters.
+
+8.  THE TRAVELLERS' CLUB,
+
+next the Athenseum in Pall Mall, originated soon after the peace
+of 1814, in a suggestion of the late Lord Londonderry, then Lord
+Castlereagh, for the resort of gentlemen who had resided or
+travelled abroad, as well as with a view to the accommodation of
+foreigners, who, when properly recommended, receive an invitation
+for the period of their stay.[41]  Here Prince Talleyrand was
+fond of a game at Whist.  With all the advantage of his great
+imperturbability of face, he is said to have been an indifferent
+player.
+
+[41] Quarterly Review, No. cx. p. 481.
+
+
+Rule 10 of the club directs, 'that no dice and no game of hazard
+be allowed in the rooms of the club, nor any higher stake than
+guinea points, and that no cards be introduced before dinner.'
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+DOINGS IN GAMING HOUSES.
+
+Besides the aristocratic establishments just described, there
+were numerous houses or places of resort for gambling, genteel
+and ungenteel.  In vain did the officers of the law seem to exert
+their utmost vigilance; if they drove the serpent out of one hole
+it soon glided into another; never was the proverb--'Where
+there's a will there's a way'--more strikingly fulfilled.
+
+COFFEE-HOUSE SHARPERS.
+
+Sir John Fielding thus describes the men in the year 1776.  'The
+deceivers of this denomination are generally descended from
+families of some repute, have had the groundwork of a genteel
+education, and are capable of making a tolerable appearance. 
+Having been equally profuse of their own substance and character,
+and learnt, by having been undone, the ways of undoing, they lie
+in wait for those who have more wealth and less knowledge of the
+town.  By joining you in discourse, by admiring what you say, by
+an officiousness to wait upon you, and to assist you in anything
+you want to have or know, they insinuate themselves into the
+company and acquaintance of strangers, whom they watch every
+opportunity of fleecing.  And if one finds in you the least
+inclination to cards, dice, the billiard table, bowling-green, or
+any other sort of Gaming, you are morally sure of being taken in.
+
+For this set of gentry are adepts in all the arts of knavery and
+tricking.  If, therefore, you should observe a person, without
+any previous acquaintance, paying you extraordinary marks of
+civility; if he puts in for a share of your conversation with a
+pretended air of deference; if he tenders his assistance, courts
+your acquaintance, and would be suddenly thought your friend,
+avoid him as a pest; for these are the usual baits by which the
+unwary are caught.'[42]
+
+[42] The Magistrate: Description of London and Westminster.
+
+
+In 1792, Mr Br--gh--n, the son of a baronet, one day at a
+billiard-table in St James's Street, won L7000 from a Mr B--, but
+the latter, at the close of the day, recovered the loss, and won
+L15,000 more.  Payment was thus arranged--L5000 on the death of
+the father of the former, and L10,000 secured by a reversionary
+annuity, to commence on the father's decease, on the life of the
+Duc de Pienne, between whom and B-- a previous gaming account
+existed.
+
+In 1794, Mr ---- was a billiard player of the first class,
+ranking with Brenton, Phillips, Orrel, and Captain Wallis, who
+were the leaders of the day in this noble game of skill, tact,
+and discretion.[43]  Having accidentally sported his abilities
+with two other players, he was marked as a 'pigeon' whom every
+preparation was made for 'plucking.'  Captain Cates, of Covent
+Garden celebrity, was pitted against him at the coffee-room
+billiard-table, during Epsom races, to play 21 games, for two
+guineas each game, and five guineas the odds.  Mr ---- won 13
+games to eight from his veteran opponent, who was invariably
+backed by the leading sportingmen of the day, whilst the company
+at large were casually the adherents of Mr ----.
+
+[43] The game of Chess may be played in application of the
+principles of Strategy; the game of Billiards in application of
+Tactics; indeed, all man's favourite diversions and pastimes most
+significantly relate to war--which has been called his natural
+state--exemplifying always either the brute-force that crushes,
+the skill that foils, the stratagem that surprises, or the ruse
+that deceives; and such is war to all intents and purposes.  The
+philosophic diversions of science also come in and lend their aid
+in the game of war--the pastime of heroes and the necessary
+defence of nations.
+
+The match was renewed at the ensuing Ascot meeting, at the rooms
+of the celebrated Simson, so much frequented by the Etonians--
+where Mr ---- again obtained the victory, by 36 games to 17. 
+Immense sums were sported on these occasions.
+
+Mr ---- resided at Windsor, and was surprised by a message on the
+Sunday evening preceding the Winchester races, purporting that a
+gentleman wished to see him on very particular business.  It
+proved to be a request to play a match at Billiards during the
+races at Winchester, for which the parties offered 10 guineas for
+the journey.  But it was explained to him that the match was of a
+particular kind, and must be played in a PARTICULAR way-- either
+to WIN or LOSE--so that those concerned might be sure of winning
+upon the whole, let the match terminate how it would! . . . .
+This
+villainous proposal being made without the presence of a
+third person, Mr ---- indignantly rejected it, instantly left the
+room, and communicated the facts for the protection of the unwary
+against a set of desperate sharpers.
+
+MILLER'S GAMING HOUSE.
+
+In 1796, one Thomas Miller was indicted for keeping a gaming
+house; and wished to have the matter settled summarily by
+admitting conviction; but Lord Kenyon, the presiding judge, chose
+to have evidence brought forward.  John Shepherd, an attorney of
+the King's Bench, who had himself been plundered, stated that he
+was at the defendant's, Leicester Street, on a certain night, and
+saw Hazard played.  Sometimes L20 or L30 depended on a throw. 
+One morning between three and four o'clock, a gentleman came in
+much intoxicated.  He had a great deal of money about him. 
+Miller said--'I did not mean to play; but now I'll set to with
+this fellow.'  Miller scraped a little wax with his finger off
+one of the candles, and put the dice together, so that they came
+seven every way.  Seven was the main, and he could not throw
+anything but seven.  A dispute arose, and the persons at the
+table gave it in Miller's favour.  The young man said he had lost
+about L70.  Miller observed--'We have cleaned him.'  If the
+attorney had remarked on this at the time, they would have broken
+his head, or thrown him out of the window.
+
+He had often seen men pawn their watches and rings to Miller, and
+once a man actually pawned his coat, and went away without it! 
+When articles were offered to be pawned, Liston, who was a
+partner in the concern, said--'I don't understand the value of
+these things well,' and he would then call Miller.[44]
+
+[44] Even at the present day it is said that other 'articles'
+besides 'valuables' are 'left' with the marker at billiards 'for
+a consideration.'  A fine umbrella, very little used, was lately
+shown to me as having been sold for five shillings, by a marker;
+it probably cost twenty-five.
+
+
+Miller said there was no disgrace in standing in the pillory for
+gaming.  He could spare L500 out of his coffers without missing
+it.  His gaming table was once broken up by a warrant from Bow
+Street, when he said it was too good a thing to relinquish, and
+he set up another, one large enough for 20 or 30 persons to sit
+at.  They played at it all night, and on one or two occasions all
+the next day too, so that Miller said to witness on his return in
+the evening--'Some of the people are still here who came last
+night.  They stick to it rarely.'  Sunday was the grand day.  He
+had seen more than 40 persons at a time there, and they
+frequently offered half-a-crown for a seat.  Wine and suppers
+were furnished gratis.  Some looked over the backs of others and
+betted.  A Mr Smith, the very man who had pawned his coat,
+confirmed the above evidence.  Miller was convicted, and the
+judge, Lord Kenyon, made the following solemn observations before
+passing sentence:--
+
+'Gaming is a crime of greater enormity, and of more destructive
+consequences to society, than many which the laws of the country
+have made capital.  What is the crime of stealing a sheep, or
+picking a pocket of a handkerchief, when placed in comparison
+with this crime, traced through all its consequences?
+
+'With regard to those in the higher walks of life, experience
+tells us it often leads to self-murder and duelling, about
+gambling debts, which terminate in the total ruin of families
+once opulent, and reduce to beggary their innocent and helpless
+children; and as for those in a lower sphere of life, when they
+have lost their money, they often betake themselves to
+housebreaking and the highway, in order to replenish their
+coffers, and at last end their lives by the hand of justice.'
+
+With many other most excellent observations on the tendency of
+this selfish and avaricious vice, he concluded by sentencing
+Miller to a fine of L500, one year's imprisonment, and security
+for his good behaviour for seven years, himself in L500 and two
+others in L250 each, adding:--'It appeared that you played with
+loaded dice.  The Court has not taken that into consideration,
+because it was not charged in the indictment.'
+
+ATTACKS ON GAMING HOUSES.
+
+In 1797 the Bedford Arms, Covent Garden, kept by one John
+Twycross, was attacked, under warrant.  The gaming-room stood an
+hour's siege, for the doors were so plated with iron that the
+repeated blows of a sledge-hammer made no impression on them. 
+The officers at length entered the back through the window.  They
+found fifteen persons at table, but not actually playing, so no
+conviction could take place.
+
+In the same year a party of Bow Street officers searched a gaming
+house at 19, Great Suffolk Street.  They were an hour in
+effecting their entrance.  Two very stout doors, strongly bolted
+and barred, obstructed them.  All the gamesters but one escaped
+by a subterraneous passage, through a long range of cellars,
+terminating at a house in Whitcomb Street, whence their leader,
+having the keys of every door, conducted them safely into the
+open air.
+
+In the previous year a party, mostly French emigrants, were taken
+at a house in Oxendon Street, with the table, cards, &c.  A city
+magistrate and a city officer had a dispute at cards, and a
+knock-down game ensued.
+
+In 1799 the Marlborough Street officers apprehended at the gaming
+house, No. 3, Leicester Square, thirteen out of twenty persons,
+from the first floor, playing at Rouge et Noir.  One of the
+gamblers, when they first entered, threw up the sash, and,
+stepping from the leads, fell into the area, and died in being
+conveyed to the hospital.
+
+In the same year, two notorious gaming houses, Nos. 1 and 3,
+King's Place, were attacked, by authority of a search warrant. 
+All the paraphernalia of the profession, as tables, dice,
+counters, &c., were seized; but the inmates effected their escape
+over the roofs of the adjoining houses.  The proprietor of No. 3
+was smoked in a chimney, and three French emigrants intercepted
+in their retreat.  On one of them was found a gold watch, which
+appeared, by the robbery-book, to have been stolen about five
+years previously.  The banks had been conveyed away,--at least,
+they were not among the captures.
+
+'SOMETHING HONOURABLE TO THE BRITISH FLAG.'
+
+It is stated as highly honourable to the British flag that, among
+the gamesters of the first quarter of the present century, no
+Admirals were seen at the INFERIOR tables.  Their proper pride
+kept them from a familiar association with pursers, clerks,
+grocers, horse-dealers, linen-drapers, silk-mercers, masons,
+builders, timber-merchants, booksellers, &c., &c., and men of the
+very lowest walks of life.
+
+COARSE LANGUAGE OF GAMESTERS.
+
+'I heard those who, in another place, even in the most polished
+courts, would take a high rank for good breeding and gentlemanly
+education, at these tables make use of language which, I hope,
+Billingsgate itself would turn from with disgust.  It cannot be
+repeated; neither would it be believed, unless by such as, like
+myself, have had "confirmation strong," too strong to be
+rejected, if I did not, at the same time, reject the evidence of
+my senses.'[45]
+
+[45] Seymour Harcourt, The Gaming Calendar.
+
+
+BOASTED PROTECTION OF GREAT NAMES TO GAMING HOUSES.
+
+'On one occasion I was at the Pigeon Hole, in St James's Square
+(since removed to King Street), when the apprehensions which the
+rapid sale of The Greeks (a work exposing the system) excited
+among the players were warmly debated.  To my great astonishment,
+a person who I supposed was a proprietor, boasted the
+impenetrability of HIS house, and on what ground, think you? 
+Why, on that of it having the countenance of the Lord Chief
+Justice of England!  True or false, it seemed to revive the
+flagging spirits of its visitors.  They knew better.  Not even
+the warm feelings of a father would turn the scale of justice in
+the even hand of Lord Ellenborough.'
+
+It must not, however, be taken for granted, merely because these
+fellows assert it, that the sons of the late Chief Justice really
+frequented that den of iniquity.  It is part of the system of
+these houses to delude the ignorant, by pretending that this or
+the other person uses their tables.  I had an instance of that
+myself at ----, in Pall Mall.  Asking who that gentleman was,
+pointing to the party, I was answered--'That is Mr Hay, private
+secretary to Lord Melville, the First Lord of the Admiralty.' 
+Now, I believe I may safely say, and from my own knowledge, too,
+that Mr Hay, whose character and conduct is deservedly held in
+the highest estimation, NEVER was at that or any such house; yet
+his name was constantly quoted, and particularly to young
+officers of the navy and marines, to whom his acquaintance held
+out hopes of future advantage in their profession![46]
+
+[46] Id. ibid.
+
+
+FORTUNATE RISE OF A CLUB-HOUSE WAITER.
+
+'A waitership at a club sometimes led to fortune.  Thomas
+Rumbold, originally a waiter at White's gaming club, got an
+appointment in India, and suddenly rose to be Sir Thomas, and
+Governor of Madras!  On his return, with immense wealth, a bill
+of pains and penalties was brought into the House by Dundas, with
+the view of stripping Sir Thomas of his ill-gotten gains.  This
+bill was briskly pushed through the earlier stages; suddenly the
+proceedings were arrested by adjournment, and the measure fell to
+the ground.  The rumour of the day attributed Rumbold's escape to
+the corrupt assistance of Rigby; who, in 1782, found himself, by
+Lord North's retirement, deprived of his place in the Pay Office,
+and called upon to refund a large amount of public moneys
+unaccounted for.  In this strait, Rigby was believed to have had
+recourse to Rumbold.  Their acquaintance had commenced in earlier
+days, when Rigby was one of the boldest "punters" at White's, and
+Rumbold bowed to him for half-crowns as waiter.  Rumbold is said
+to have given Rigby a large sum of money, on condition of the
+former being released from the impending pains and penalties. 
+The truth of the report has been vehemently denied; but the
+circumstances are suspicious.  The bill was dropped; Dundas, its
+introducer, was Rigby's intimate associate.  Rigby's nephew and
+heir soon after married Rumbold's daughter.  Sir Thomas himself
+had married a daughter of Dr Law, Bishop of Carlisle.  The worthy
+bishop stood godfather to one of Rumbold's children; the other
+godfather was the Nabob of Arcot, and the child was christened
+"Mahomet."  So, at least, Walpole informs Mann.'[47]
+
+[47] Timbs, Club Life in London.
+
+
+PLAY IN 1820.
+
+According to the Morning Post of May 15, 1820, at one of the
+gaming houses at the West End, in one night, property to the
+amount of L50,000 is said to have changed hands.
+
+ACCOUNT OF A GAME AT HAZARD.
+
+The following account of a game at Hazard was given by a young
+man, who, in the year 1820, was decoyed into one of the gambling
+houses in the city, kept by one John Morley, who was convicted by
+the Lord Mayor, in the penalty of L200, 'for keeping Hazard;' but
+who, it is stated, left this country for Ireland the moment
+proceedings were instituted.
+
+'The house in question was to all appearance devoted to the
+game of billiards, and most of those who frequented it engaged
+merely in that game.  Through the agency of professed gamesters,
+who shared in the profits of the concern, those who appeared to
+be proper objects of plunder were soon introduced to the Hazard
+table, which was kept in a retired and private part of the house.
+
+'The evidence of the young man was to the following effect:--He
+had been in Morley's house; the game of Hazard was played in the
+front room on the second floor; a door led into it from the
+landing-place, and another from the public billiard-room, which
+was the back room on the same floor; both these doors were during
+the time of play kept barred and locked, and never opened except
+to the voice of some person known to the master of the house. 
+During the play the door was seldom or never opened, but before
+the play commenced there was an understanding given that
+proceedings were about to begin.
+
+'In the centre of the room was a large circular table, over which
+a lamp was suspended, and round the table the players sat, in
+number, generally, from six to ten.
+
+'The play commenced by one of the players taking the dice-box
+with two dice in it; two other dice were covered on the table,
+and might be substituted for those in the box, upon application
+to Morley, who acted as "groom porter."  The person who held the
+box was called the caster, and he called a main, that is, he
+mentioned aloud any number on the dice from five to nine; and
+throwing the dice on the table, counted the number on the two
+dice as his chance, the number which he called being the chance
+of his setter.  Before the main is called, the caster throws down
+his stake, which any person present has the option of covering,
+or, as it is called, "setting," by placing a similar sum on the
+table.  For instance, if the caster, after being "set," call five
+the main, and throws immediately four and one, or three and two,
+he "nicks" it, that is, wins his money at once.  If he throws six
+and one, five and two, or four and three, each of which two
+numbers makes seven, he bets the ODDS, which are three to two in
+his favour--inasmuch as there are three ways of throwing seven,
+and only two of throwing five; and he continues throwing until
+either five or seven come off.  By the former he loses, by the
+latter he wins.
+
+'If he calls seven the main, and throws three and one, or six and
+four, the odds are two to one against him--inasmuch as there are
+only three ways each of throwing, the four and the ten and six
+wins, throwing the seven, that is, three on each die.[48]  If the
+caster wishes, he calls a main, and continues to do so till he
+loses, which, in the technical phraseology, is "throwing out." 
+He then passes the bow to the person next on the left hand, who,
+in like manner, passes it to his neighbour.  Morley is
+remunerated for his table very handsomely.  When the caster
+throws in three mains successively, he pays to Morley what is
+called a box (one of the pieces of the house with which the game
+is played).  The prices are eighteen-pence each, and he gives
+them in exchange for notes, and retakes them.  The caster pays
+nothing unless he wins.  The players generally leave off play at
+eleven or twelve o'clock.  On Saturday there is most play, as
+Morley on that day always gives a dinner at four o'clock,
+immediately after which the play commences.  On other days tea
+and coffee are given.'
+
+[48] I confess I do not understand the above passage.
+
+
+A number of young men, most of whom were clerks, were called to
+confirm the evidence as to the system, but none of them appeared.
+
+In a letter published in the Times of July 22, 1824, we read as
+follows:--
+
+'The action against the keepers of a certain notorious "hell,"
+which was noticed in the different journals as "coming on," is
+withdrawn, or, more properly speaking, is "compromised."  Thus it
+will always be; and the different hells still flourish with
+impunity, to the enrichment of a few knaves, and the ruin of many
+thousands, till more effectual laws are framed to meet the evil. 
+As they net thousands a night, a few hundreds or even thousands
+can be well spared to smother a few actions and prosecutions,
+which are very rarely instituted against them, and never but by
+ruined men, who are easily quieted by a small consideration,
+which, from recent judgments, will not be withheld; therefore we
+shall see recorded but very few convictions if any at all.  At
+the head of these infamous establishments is one yclept
+"Fishmollgers' Hall,"[49] which sacks more plunder than all the
+others put together, though they consist of about a dozen.  This
+place has been fitted up at an expense of L40,000, and is the
+most splendid house, interiorly and exteriorly, in all the
+neighbourhood.  It is established as a bait for the fortunes of
+the great, many of whom have already been severe sufferers. 
+Invitations to dinner are sent to noblemen and gentlemen, at
+which they are treated with every delicacy, and the most
+intoxicating wines.
+
+[49] Otherwise called Crock-odile Hall.
+
+
+'After such "liberal" entertainment, a visit to the French Hazard
+table, in the adjoining room, is a matter of course, when the
+consequences are easily divined.  A man thus allured to the den
+may determine not to lose more than the few pounds he has about
+him; but in the intoxication of the moment, and the delirium of
+play, it frequently happens that, notwithstanding the best
+resolves, he borrows money on his cheques, which are known to be
+good, and are readily cashed to very considerable amounts.  In
+this manner L10,000, L20,000, L30,000, or more, have been often
+swept away!
+
+They left King Street about three years ago, when, in conjunction
+with T ---- (a man who a few years ago took the benefit of the
+act, and subsequently took one or two "hells" in Pall Mall, but
+has amassed full L150,000 of plunder) and A ----, who has L70,000
+of plunder, they opened a club-house in Piccadilly, with a French
+Hazard bank of L10,000, when in a short time they divided between
+the four--after all their heavy expenses were covered--upwards of
+L200,000.  In proportion to the extent of the bank and the
+stakes, so do they collect the plunder.'
+
+PROGRESS IN THE GAMING TRADE.
+
+In the minor gaming houses the players assembled in parties of
+from 40 to 50 persons, who probably brought on an average, each
+night, from one to twenty shillings to play with.  As the money
+was lost, the losers fell off, if they could not borrow or beg
+more; and this went on sometimes in the winter season for 14 to
+16 hours in succession; so that from 100 to 150 persons might be
+calculated to visit one gaming table in the course of a night;
+and it not unfrequently happened that ultimately all the money
+brought to the table got into the hands of one or two of the most
+fortunate adventurers, save that which was paid to the table for
+'box-hands'--that is, when a player won three times in
+succession.  At these establishments the price of a box varied
+from one shilling to half-a-crown.  Every man thus engaged was
+destined to become either a more finished and mischievous
+gambler, or to appear at the bar of the Old Bailey.  The
+successful players by degrees improved their external appearance,
+and obtained admittance into houses of higher play, where two
+shillings and sixpence or three shillings and fourpence was
+demanded for the box-hand.  If success attended them in the first
+step of advancement, they next got initiated into better houses,
+and associated with gamblers of a higher grade.
+
+PLAY IN 1838.
+
+About the year 1838 the gaming houses were kept open all day, the
+dice were scarcely ever idle, day or night.  From Sunday to
+Sunday, all the year round, persons were to be found in these
+places, losing their money, and wasting away their very bodies by
+the consuming anxiety consequent on their position at the Hazard
+or Roulette table.
+
+STATISTICS OF GAMBLING IN 1844.
+
+The following facts came out in evidence before the committee of
+the House of Commons, in 1844.
+
+Down to that year there were no less than 12 gaming houses in St
+James's and St George's.  The play was higher in old times, but
+not so GENERAL.
+
+'The increase of gambling houses was entirely the offspring of
+Crockford's.'  Such was the opinion of the Honourable Frederick
+Byng, before the committee, who added, 'that the facility to
+everybody to gamble at Crockford's led to the establishment of
+other gambling houses fitted up in a superior style, and
+attractive to gentlemen who never would have thought of going
+into them formerly.'
+
+Previously, in the clubs, the gambling was confined to a very
+high rate and to a very few people.  The above-named witness said
+he 'could have named all the gamblers in his early days at the
+clubs.  No person coming into a room where Hazard was carried on
+would have been permitted to play for a SMALL SUM, and therefore
+he left it.'
+
+The same gentleman remembered the time when gambling tables were
+kept in private houses.
+
+'It is a fact that most of those who played very high were pretty
+well cleaned out.'
+
+'Crockford increased gambling everywhere.'  'Persons of the
+middling classes, butchers, and gentleman's servants went to the
+low gambling houses.'
+
+These places held out inducements to robbery.  'If a servant or
+shopman could scrape together L200 or L300, he had, by the agency
+of the keepers of these houses, the opportunity of lending out
+his money to the losers at 60 per cent.'
+
+DESPERATION AT GAMING HOUSES.
+
+The most particular inspection was made of the player's person by
+the gaming house keeper's spies, and even his dress was strictly
+observed.  He was obliged, before entering the saloon, to deposit
+his great coat and cane, which might perchance afford the
+introduction of some WEAPON; and the elegance of the covering did
+not save him from the humiliation of having it taken from him at
+the door.  The attempts which were sometimes made on the lives of
+the bankers led to these precautions--like the indignities which
+are practised only in prisons for the security of the unhappy
+inmates.  It is certain that gamesters, reduced to desperation,
+and on the eve of committing suicide, have conveyed into these
+places infernal machines with an intention of destroying at once
+their cruel plunderers and themselves.
+
+'DEVILISH DOINGS IN A "HELL." '
+
+In 'Doings in London,' a work published as lately as the year
+1850, we find under this startling title a strange story.
+
+'A scandalous scene of violence, which often happens at these
+places, but seldom becomes publicly known, on account of the
+disgrace attending exposures, occurred lately at a low "hell" in
+King Street, St James's.  A gentleman who had lost considerable
+sums of money at various times, announced his full determination
+never to come to a place of the sort again with money.  His
+visits, therefore, were no longer wanted, and so orders were
+given to the porters not to admit him again.  About two o'clock
+on a subsequent night, which happened to be Saturday, he sought
+admittance, and was refused.  A warm altercation ensued in the
+passage between him and the porters, which brought down some of
+the proprietors.  One of them--a powerful man--a bankrupt
+butcher--struck him a tremendous blow, which broke the bridge of
+his nose, covered his face with blood, and knocked him down.  On
+getting up he was knocked down again.  He arose once more, and
+instantly received another blow, which would have laid him upon
+his back, but one of the porters by this time had got behind him,
+and as he was falling struck him at the back of his head, which
+sent him upon his face.  The watch had now arrived, into whose
+hands the keeper of the "hell" and the porter were given.  At the
+watch-house they were ordered to find bail.  The gentleman was
+then about quitting, when he was suddenly called back.  A certain
+little lawyer, who alternately prosecutes and defends keepers of
+gaming houses, was sent for.  He whispered to the ex- butcher to
+charge the gentleman with stealing his handkerchief and hat,
+which, it was alleged, had been lost in the affray.  Though
+nothing was found upon the gentleman, who desired to be searched,
+this preposterous and groundless charge was taken, and the
+hellites admitted to bail; but the gentleman who had been so
+cruelly beaten, being charged with a felony on purpose to cause
+his detention, and the power held by magistrates to take bail in
+doubtful cases not extending to night-constables, he was locked
+up below with two wretches who had stolen lead, and five
+disorderlies--his face a mass of blood and bruises--and there
+detained till Monday morning, in a most pitiable condition.  The
+magistrate before whom the party appeared on that day,
+understanding that the affair took place at a gaming house,
+dismissed both complaints, leaving the parties to their remedy at
+the sessions.'
+
+GAFFING.
+
+Gaffing is or was one of the ten thousand modes of swindling
+practised in London.  Formerly it was a game in very great vogue
+among the macers, who congregated nightly at the 'flash houses.' 
+One of these is described as follows:--This gaffer laughed a
+great deal and whistled Moore's melodies, and extracted music
+from a deal table with his elbow and wrist.  When he hid a
+half-penny, and a flat cried 'head' for L10, a 'tail' was sure to
+turn up.  One of his modes of commanding the turn-up was this: he
+had a half-penny with two heads, and a half-penny with two tails.
+
+When he gaffed, he contrived to have both half-pence under his
+hand, and long practice enabled him to catch up in the wrinkles
+or muscles of it the half-penny which it was his interest to
+conceal.  If 'tail' was called a 'head' appeared, and the 'tail'
+half-penny ran down his wrist with astonishing fidelity.  This
+ingenious fellow often won 200 or 300 sovereigns a night by
+gaffing; but the landlord and other men, who were privy to the
+robbery, and 'pitched the baby card' (that is, encouraged the
+loser by sham betting), always came in for the 'regulars,' that
+is, their share of the plunder.
+
+This gaffer contrived to 'bilk' all the turnpikes in the kingdom.
+
+In going to a fight or to a race-course, when he reached a
+turnpike he held a shilling between his fingers, and said to the
+gatekeeper--'Here, catch,' and made a movement of the hand
+towards the man, who endeavoured to catch what he saw.  The
+shilling, however, by a backward jerk, ran down the sleeve of the
+coat, as if it had life in it, and the gate-keeper turned round
+to look in the dust, when the tall gaffer drove on, saying--'Keep
+the change.'
+
+A young fellow, who previously was a marker at a billiard-table,
+and who had the appearance of a soft, inexperienced country-lad,
+was another great hand at gaffing.  There was a strong adhesive
+power in his hand, and such exquisite sensibility about it, that
+he could ascertain by dropping his palm, even upon a worn-out
+half-penny or shilling, what side was turned up.  Indeed, so
+perfect a master was he of the science that Breslaw could never
+have done more upon cards than he could do with a pair of 'grays'
+(gaffing-coins).
+
+A well-known macer, who was celebrated for slipping an 'old
+gentleman' (a long card) into the pack, and was the inheritor by
+birth of all the propensities of this description, although the
+inheritance was equally divided between his brother and himself,
+got hold of a young fellow who had L170 in his pocket, and
+introduced him to one of the 'cock-and-hen' houses near Drury
+Lane Theatre, well-primed with wine.  Gaffing began, and the
+billiard-marker before described was pitched upon to 'do' the
+stranger.  The macer 'pitched the baby card,' and of course lost,
+as well as the unfortunate victim.  He had borrowed L10 of the
+landlord, who was to come in for the 'regulars;' but when all was
+over, the billiard-marker refused to make any division of the
+spoil, or even to return the L10 which had been lost to him in
+'bearing up' the cull.  The landlord pressed his demand upon the
+macer, who, in fact, was privately reimbursed by the marker; but
+he was coolly told that he ought not to allow such improper
+practices in his house, and that the sum was not recoverable, the
+transaction being illegal.
+
+How these spurious coins are procured is a question; but I am
+assured that they are still in use and often made to do service
+at public-houses and other places.
+
+TOMMY DODD.
+
+This is a mode of gambling very much in vogue at the present
+time.  It is often played at public-houses among parties to
+decide who is to pay the reckoning.  Each party turns down a
+half-penny, and, on uncovering it, the matter is decided as in
+'heads or tails.'  Of course this expeditious method is also used
+in gambling for money.  Not long ago a retired tradesman,
+happening to be in a public-house, where such things were
+connived at, allowed himself to be induced to play at Tommy Dodd
+with two low sharpers.  They soon eased him of all the cash he
+had about him.  A bright idea, however, occurred to him.  'Stop a
+bit,' he said, 'I must have my revenge.  Just wait till I go home
+for more money.'  The sharpers were rejoiced at the idea, and
+rubbed their hands with delight, whilst the tradesman went, as
+they felt sure, only to bring more money into their 'till.'  The
+man made all haste, for he was determined to have his revenge,
+and soon returned with a large bag of money, which he clinked on
+the table.
+
+He first pulled out some coppers, telling them to choose from the
+lot the coins they would play with.  They assented, although they
+did not seem 'much to like it.'  'And now,' said the tradesman,
+'let's set to business.'
+
+The game proceeded with alternate success on both sides; but the
+tradesman went on DOUBLING THE STAKES EVERY TIME, WHETHER HE LOST
+OR WON, and, of course, at length completely broke their bank,
+and went off with their money.
+
+GAMBLING AT THE WINE AND OYSTER ROOMS, OR 'SALOONS.'
+
+The gambling which was carried on in the private rooms of the
+wine and oyster houses, about thirty years ago, and perhaps
+later, was just such as that which had so long flourished in the
+low vicinity of St James's.  Indeed, the constant frequenters of
+the former had attained the most profound knowledge of the art of
+robbing at the West End gaming houses.  The blacklegs visited the
+saloons every night, in order to pick up new acquaintances among
+the young and inexperienced.  They were polite, well-dressed,
+gentlemanlike persons; and if they could trace anything 'soft' in
+the countenance of a new visitor, their wits went to work at once
+to establish an acquaintance with him.  Wine was set a- going,
+and cards were proposed.  The master of the concern soon provided
+a room, and play advanced, accompanied by the certainty of loss
+to the unfortunate stranger.  But if the invitation to play was
+rejected, they made another plant upon him.  The ruffians
+attacked him through a passion of a different kind.  They gave
+the word to one of their female 'pals,' who threw herself in his
+way, and prevailed upon him to accompany her to HER
+establishment.  In the morning the 'gentleman,' who in vain had
+solicited him to play at the saloon the night before, would
+call--just to pay 'a friendly visit.'  Cards were again spoken
+of, and again proposed, with the additional recommendation of the
+'lady,' who offered to be the partner of her friend in the game. 
+The consequence was inevitable.  Many young noblemen and
+gentlemen were plundered by this scheme, of hundreds, nay, of
+thousands of pounds.  To escape without loss was impossible. 
+They packed and distributed the cards with such amazing
+dexterity, that they could give a man, as it were, whatever cards
+they pleased. 
+
+CARDS THAT WOULD BEAT THE D--L HIMSELF!
+
+A number of sharpers were detected in a trick by which they had
+won enormous sums.  An Ecarte party, consisting of a nobleman, a
+captain in the army, an Armenian gentleman, and an Irish
+gentleman, sat down in one of the private chambers attached to
+one of the large wine and shell-fish rooms.  The Armenian and the
+Irishman were partners, and were wonderfully successful; indeed,
+so extraordinary was their luck in turning up cards, that the
+captain, who had been in the town for some time, suspected the
+integrity of his competitors, and, accordingly, handled the cards
+very minutely.  He soon discovered that there was an 'old
+gentleman' (a card somewhat larger and thicker than the rest of
+the pack, and in considerable use among the LEGS) in the midst of
+them.  The captain and his partner exclaimed that they were
+robbed, and the cards were sealed up, and referred to a card-
+maker for his opinion.
+
+'The old saying,' said the referee, 'that THE CARDS WOULD BEAT
+THE CARD-MAKER, was never more true than it is in this instance,
+for this pack would beat not only me, but the very d--l himself;
+there is not only an OLD GENTLEMAN, but an OLD LADY (a card
+broader than the rest) amongst them.'
+
+The two 'gentlemen' were immediately accused of the imposition,
+but they feigned ignorance of the fraud, refused to return a
+farthing of the 'swag,' and, in their turn, charged the losers
+with having got up the story in order to recover what they had
+fairly lost.
+
+GENEROSITY (?) OF A GAMING HOUSE KEEPER.
+
+A young West Indian chanced one night to enter one of the gaming
+houses in London, and began trying his chance at Roulette. 
+Fortune favoured him at first, and he won about a hundred pounds.
+
+Instead of leaving off he only became the more excited by his
+success, when his luck began to change, and he lost and lost
+until he staked the last coin he had in his pocket.  He then
+pawned to the master of the table successively every ring and
+trinket he had, for money to continue the stakes.  All in vain. 
+His luck never returned; and he made his way down-stairs in a
+mood which may well be imagined.  But what was his surprise when
+the master of the table came running after him, saying--'Sir,
+these things may be valuable to you--do me the favour to take
+them with you.  Next time I hope you will be more lucky,' and
+returned all his rings and trinkets.
+
+The moon was shining brightly at the time, and the young man
+swore by it, that he would never again enter a gaming house, and
+he kept his oath.  Of course the generosity was but a decoy to
+entice the youth to further ruin.
+
+HOSPITALITY OF GAMING HOUSES, AND POPULARITY OF CITY MEN AT THEM.
+
+Joseph Atkinson and his wife, who for many years kept a gaming
+house at No. 15 under the Piazza, Covent Garden, gave daily
+magnificent play dinners,--cards of invitation for which were
+sent to the clerks of merchants, bankers, and brokers in the
+city.  Atkinson used to say that he liked CITIZENS--whom he
+called FLATS--better than any one else, for when they had DINED
+they played freely, and after they had lost all their money they
+had credit to borrow more.  When he had CLEANED THEM OUT, when
+THE PIGEONS WERE COMPLETELY PLUCKED, they were sent to some of
+their solvent friends.  After dinner play was introduced, and,
+till dinner time the nest day, different games at cards, dice,
+and E O were continually going on.
+
+THE TRAFFIC IN HUSH MONEY.
+
+Theophilus Bellasis, an infamous character, was well known at Bow
+Street, where he had been charged with breaking into the
+counting-house of Sir James Sanderson, Bart.  Bellasis was
+sometimes clerk and sometimes client to John Shepherd, an
+attorney of Bow Street; while at other times Shepherd was
+prosecutor of those who kept gaming houses, and Bellasis
+attorney.  Sir William Addington, the magistrate, was so well
+aware that these two men commenced prosecutions solely for the
+purpose of HUSH MONEY, that he refused to act.  The Joseph
+Atkinson just mentioned at one time gave them L100, at another
+L80; and in this way they had amassed an immense sum, and
+undertook, for a specific amount, to defend keepers of gaming
+houses against all prosecutions!
+
+WALKING OFF WITH A L200 BANK-NOTE.
+
+The runaway son of an extensive linen-draper went to a gaming
+house in King Street, and pocketed a L200 bank-note from the
+table.  He was not kicked out, because it would not be safe for
+the proprietors of these houses to run the risk of getting
+involved in law; but he was civilly walked down-stairs by the
+master of the establishment, who forbad him the house evermore. 
+The dashing youth, however, put both the money and the affront in
+his pocket, and was only too thankful to get away in so good a
+plight.
+
+PERQUISITES OF GAMBLING HOUSE WAITERS.
+
+A waiter in one of the gambling houses in St James's Street
+received in Christmas boxes above L500.  A nobleman, who had in
+the course of a week won L80,000, gave him L100 of his winnings. 
+He was said to have actually borrowed of the waiter the money
+which led to his extraordinary success!
+
+PAUL ROUBEL.
+
+Paul Roubel was a gaming house keeper, who seems to have been an
+exception to his class, according to the following account:--'A
+foreigner once applied for the situation of croupier at old Paul
+Roubel's, stating as his qualification that he could cut or turn
+up whatever card he pleased.  The old man (for he was nearly
+eighty, and a very good hearty fellow in his way) declined the
+offer, saying--"You are too clever for me; my customers must have
+some chance!"  It is true Roubel kept a gambling house; but it is
+also true that few men in higher walks of life possessed a kinder
+heart, or a hand which opened more freely or more liberally to
+the calls of humanity!  Peace be to his manes!'
+
+TITLED GREEKS, OR 'DECOYS.'
+
+In all the gaming houses of any note there were unprincipled and
+reckless persons paid by the hellites, employed in various
+capacities, and for various purposes.  Sometimes they played for
+the proprietors against any one who chose to put down his money;
+at other times, when there were no other individuals playing at
+all, they pretended to be strangers themselves, and got up sham
+games with the proprietors, with the view of practising a
+deception on any strangers who might be in the room, and by that
+means inducing them to put down their money.  They were dressed
+in the most fashionable manner, always exhibiting a profusion of
+jewellery, and living in great splendour when they have any
+particular person in their eye, in the various hotels throughout
+town.[50]
+
+[50] Grant, Sketches in London.
+
+
+In some cases, in the higher class of gaming establishments, the
+Greeks, or decoys, being men of title or considerable standing in
+society, did not receive a fixed salary for seducing young men of
+fortune, but being in every case very needy men, they nominally
+borrowed, from time to time, large sums of money from the hell-
+keepers.  It was, however, perfectly understood on both sides
+that the amount so borrowed was never to be repaid.[51]
+
+[51] Grant, Ubi supra.
+
+
+WHY CHEATS WERE CALLED GREEKS.
+
+M. Robert-Houdin says that this application of the term 'Greek'
+originated from a certain modern Greek, named Apoulos, who in the
+reign of Louis XIV. was caught cheating at court, and was
+condemned to 20 years at the galleys.  I think this a very
+improbable derivation, and unnecessary withal.  Aristotle of old,
+as before stated, ranked gamesters 'with thieves and plunderers,
+who for the sake of gain do not scruple to despoil their best
+friends.'  We afterwards find them bearing just as bad a
+character among the Romans.  Says Juvenal--
+
+    Graeculus esuriens in coelum jusseris, ibit.     
+'Bid the hungry Greek to heaven, to heaven he goes.'
+
+Dr Johnson translated the words, 'Bid him to h--l, to h--l he
+goes'--which is wrong.  A DIFFICULTY is implied, and everybody
+knows that it is easier to go to the latter place than the
+former.  It means that a needy Greek was capable of doing
+anything.  Lord Byron protested that he saw no difference between
+Greeks and Jews--of course, meaning 'Jews' in the offensive sense
+of the word.  Among gamblers the term was chiefly applied to
+'decoys.'
+
+GAMING TABLE SLANG AND MANOEUVRES.
+
+Captain Sharp.  A cheating bully, whose office it was to bully
+any 'Pigeon,' who, suspecting roguery, refused to pay what he had
+lost.
+
+St Hugh's bones.  Dice.  A bale of bard cinque deuces; a bale of
+flat cinque deuces; a bale of flat size aces; a bale of bard
+cater treys; a bale of flat cater treys; a bale of Fulhams; a
+bale of light graniers; a bale of gordes, with as many highmen
+and lowmen for passage; a bale of demies; a bale of long dice for
+even or odd; a bale of bristles; a bale of direct
+contraries,--names of false dice.
+
+Do.  To cheat.
+
+Done up.  Ruined.
+
+Down-hills.  False dice which run low.
+
+Elbow-shaker.  A gamester.
+
+Fulhams.  Loaded dice.
+
+Fuzz.  To shuffle cards closely: to change the pack.
+
+Game.  Bubbles, Flats, Pigeons.
+
+Gull Gropers.  Usurers who lend money to gamesters.
+
+Greeks.  Cheats at play.
+
+Hedge.  To secure a bet by betting on the other side.
+
+High Jinks.  A gambler who drinks to intoxicate his Pigeon.
+
+Hunting.  Drawing in the unwary.
+
+Main.  Any number on the dice from five to nine.
+
+Paum.  To hide a card or die.
+
+Pigeons.  Dupes of sharpers at play.
+
+Vincent's Law.  The art of cheating at cards, by the banker, who
+plays booty, Gripe, who bets, and the Vincent, who is cheated. 
+The gain is called termage.
+
+Vowel.  To give an I. O. U. in payment.
+
+Up-hills.  False dice which run high.
+
+SPECIMEN OF A QUASI GAMING HOUSE CIRCULAR.
+
+'SIR,--I hope you will join with the rest of the parishioners in
+recommending what friends you can to my shops.  They shall have
+good candles and fair play. Sir, we are a not gang of swindlers, 
+
+           Like other Gaming Houses,             
+           We are men of character.                 
+                 Our Party is,         
+          Tom Carlos--alias Pistol,         
+          Ned Mogg,--from Charing Cross,   
+          Union Clarke, ------------                             
+
+                      {The best in the world at  
+          A Frenchman,{           
+                      {sleight of hand.       
+          My poor Brother,                 
+              and         
+          Melting Billy,                 
+          Your humble Servant.    
+To the Church-Wardens, Overseers, and each         
+respectable inhabitant in the Parish.' 
+
+ A card was enclosed, as follows:--                   
+            '****             
+       Gaming House Keeper,            
+        and ****  **** to         
+  The Honourable House of Commons       
+   No. 7 and 8 **** St, St James's.'
+
+This circular was sent to Stockdale, the publisher, in 1820, who
+published it with the names in asterisks suppressed.  It was
+evidently intended to expose some doings in high places.
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+THE DOCTRINE OF PROBABILITIES APPLIED TO GAMBLING.
+
+A distinction must be made between games of skill and games of
+chance.  The former require application, attention, and a certain
+degree of ability to insure success in them; while the latter are
+devoid of all that is rational, and are equally within the reach
+of the highest and lowest capacity.  To be successful in throwing
+the dice is one of the most fickle achievements of fickle
+fortune; and therefore the principal game played with them is
+very properly and emphatically called 'Hazard.'  It requires,
+indeed, some exertion of the mental powers, of memory, at least,
+and a turn for such diversions, to play well many games at cards.
+
+Nevertheless, it is often found that those who do so give no
+further proofs of superior memory and judgment, whilst persons of
+superior memory and judgment not unfrequently fail egregiously at
+the card-table.
+
+The gamester of skill, in games of skill, may at first sight seem
+to have more advantage than the gamester of chance, in games of
+chance; and while cards are played merely as an amusement, there
+is no doubt that a recreation is more rational when it requires
+some degree of skill than one, like dice, totally devoid of all
+meaning whatever.  But when the pleasure becomes a business, and
+a matter of mere gain, there is more innocence, perhaps, in a
+perfect equality of antagonists--which games of chance, fairly
+played, always secure--than where one party is likely to be an
+overmatch for the other by his superior knowledge or ability.
+
+Nevertheless, even games of chance may be artfully managed; and
+the most apparently casual throw of the dice be made subservient
+to the purposes of chicanery and fraud, as will be shown in the
+sequel.
+
+In the matter of skill and chance the nature of cards is mixed,--
+most games having in them both elements of interest,--since the
+success of the player must depend as much on the chance of the
+'deal' as on his skill in playing the game.  But even the chance
+of the deal is liable to be perverted by all the tricks of
+shuffling and cutting--not to mention how the honourable player
+may be deceived in a thousand ways by the craft of the sharper,
+during the playing, of the cards themselves; consequently
+professed gamblers of all denominations, whether their games be
+of apparent skill or mere chance, may be confounded together or
+considered in the same category, as being equally meritorious and
+equally infamous.
+
+Under the name of the Doctrine of Chances or Probabilities, a
+very learned science,--much in vogue when lotteries were
+prevalent,--has been applied to gambling purposes; and in spite
+of the obvious abstruseness of the science, it is not impossible
+to give the general reader an idea of its processes and
+conclusions.
+
+The probability of an event is greater or less according to the
+number of chances by which it may happen, compared with the whole
+number of chances by which it may either happen or fail. 
+Wherefore, if we constitute a fraction whereof the numerator be
+the number of chances whereby an event may happen, and the
+denominator the number of all the chances whereby it may either
+happen or fail, that fraction will be a proper designation of the
+probability of happening.  Thus, if an event has 3 chances to
+happen, and 2 to fail, then the fraction 3/5 will fairly
+represent the probability of its happening, and may be taken to
+be the measure of it.
+
+The same may be said of the probability of failing, which will
+likewise be measured by a fraction whose numerator is the number
+of chances whereby it may fail, and the denominator the whole
+number of chances both for its happening and failing; thus the
+probability of the failing of that event which has 2 chances to
+fail and 3 to happen will be measured by the fraction 2/5.
+
+The fractions which represent the probabilities of happening and
+failing, being added together, their sum will always be equal to
+unity, since the sum of their numerators will be equal to their
+common denominator.  Now, it being a certainty that an event will
+either happen or fail, it follows that certainty, which may be
+conceived under the notion of an infinitely great degree of
+probability, is fitly represented by unity.
+
+These things will be easily apprehended if it be considered that
+the word probability includes a double idea; first, of the number
+of chances whereby an event may happen; secondly, of the number
+of chances whereby it may either happen or fail.  If I say that I
+have three chances to win any sum of money, it is impossible from
+the bare assertion to judge whether I am likely to obtain it; but
+if I add that the number of chances either to obtain it or miss
+it, is five in all, from this will ensue a comparison between the
+chances that are for and against me, whereby a true judgment will
+be formed of my probability of success; whence it necessarily
+follows that it is the comparative magnitude of the number of
+chances to happen, in respect of the whole number of chances
+either to happen or to fail, which is the true measure of
+probability.
+
+To find the probability of throwing an ace in two throws with a
+single die.  The probability of throwing an ace the first time is
+1/6; whereof 1/ is the first part of the probability required. 
+If the ace be missed the first time, still it may be thrown on
+the second; but the probability of missing it the first time is
+5/6, and the probability of throwing it the second time is 1/6;
+therefore the probability of missing it the first time and
+throwing it the second, is 5/6 X 1/6 = 5/36 and this is the
+second part of the probability required, and therefore the
+probability required is in all 1/6 + 5/36 = 11/36.
+
+To this case is analogous a question commonly proposed about
+throwing with two dice either six or seven in two throws, which
+will be easily solved, provided it be known that seven has 6
+chances to come up, and six 5 chances, and that the whole number
+of chances in two dice is 36; for the number of chances for
+throwing six or seven 11, it follows that the probability of
+throwing either chance the first time is 11/36, but if both are
+missed the first time, still either may be thrown the second
+time; but the probability of missing both the first time is
+25/36, and the probability of throwing either of them on the
+second is 11/36; therefore the probability of missing both of
+them the first time, and throwing either of them the second time,
+is 25/36 X 11/36 = 275/1296, and therefore the probability
+required is 11/36 + 275/1296 = 671/1296, and the probability of
+the contrary is 625/1296.
+
+Among the many mistakes that are committed about chances, one of
+the most common and least suspected was that which related to
+lotteries.  Thus,supposing a lottery wherein the proportion of
+the blanks to the prizes was as five to one, it was very natural
+to conclude that, therefore, five tickets were requisite for the
+chance of a prize; and yet it is demonstrable that four tickets
+were more than sufficient for that purpose.  In like manner,
+supposing a lottery in which the proportion of the blanks to the
+prize is as thirty-nine to one (as was the lottery of 1710), it
+may be proved that in twenty-eight tickets a prize is as likely
+to be taken as not, which, though it may contradict the common
+notions, is nevertheless grounded upon infallible demonstrations.
+
+When the Play of the Royal Oak was in use, some persons who lost
+considerably by it, had their losses chiefly occasioned by an
+argument of which they could not perceive the fallacy.  The odds
+against any particular point of the ball were one and thirty to
+one, which entitled the adventurers, in case they were winners,
+to have thirty-two stakes returned, including their own; instead
+of which, as they had but twenty-eight, it was very plain that,
+on the single account of the disadvantage of the play, they lost
+one-eighth part of all the money played for.  But the master of
+the ball maintained that they had no reason to complain, since he
+would undertake that any particular point of the ball should come
+up in two and twenty throws; of this he would offer to lay a
+wager, and actually laid it when required.  The seeming
+contradiction between the odds of one and thirty to one, and
+twenty-two throws for any chance to come up, so perplexed the
+adventurers that they began to think the advantage was on their
+side, and so they went on playing and continued to lose.
+
+The doctrine of chances tends to explode the long-standing
+superstition that there is in play such a thing as LUCK, good or
+bad.  If by saying that a man has good luck, nothing more were
+meant than that he has been generally a gainer at play, the
+expression might be allowed as very proper in a short way of
+speaking; but if the word 'good luck' be understood to signify a
+certain predominant quality, so inherent in a man that he must
+win whenever he plays, or at least win oftener than lose, it may
+be denied that there is any such thing in nature.  The asserters
+of luck maintain that sometimes they have been very lucky, and at
+other times they have had a prodigious run of bad luck against
+them, which whilst it continued obliged them to be very cautious
+in engaging with the fortunate.  They asked how they could lose
+fifteen games running if bad luck had not prevailed strangely
+against them.  But it is quite certain that although the odds
+against losing so many times together be very great, namely,
+32,767 to 1,--yet the POSSIBILITY of it is not destroyed by the
+greatness of the odds, there being ONE chance in 32,768 that it
+may so happen; therefore it follows that the succession of lost
+games was still possible, without the intervention of bad luck. 
+The accident of losing fifteen games is no more to be imputed to
+bad luck than the winning, with one single ticket, the highest
+prize in a lottery of 32,768 tickets is to be imputed to good
+luck, since the chances in both cases are perfectly equal.  But
+if it be said that luck has been concerned in the latter case,
+the answer will be easy; for let us suppose luck not existing, or
+at least let us suppose its influence to be suspended,--yet the
+highest prize must fall into some hand or other, not as luck
+(for, by the hypothesis, that has been laid aside), but from the
+mere necessity of its falling somewhere.
+
+Among the many curious results of these inquiries according to
+the doctrine of chances, is the prodigious advantage which the
+repetition of odds will amount to.  Thus, 'supposing I play with
+an adversary who allows me the odds of 43 to 40, and agrees with
+me to play till 100 stakes are won or lost on either side, on
+condition that I give him an equivalent for the gain I am
+entitled to by the advantage of my odds;--the question is, what I
+am to give him, supposing we play at a guinea a stake?  The
+answer is 99 guineas and above 18 shillings,[52] which will seem
+almost incredible, considering the smallness of the odds--43 to
+40.  Now let the odds be in any proportion, and let the number of
+stakes played for be never so great, yet one general conclusion
+will include all the possible cases, and the application of it to
+numbers may be worked out in less than a minute's time.'[53]
+
+[52] The guinea was worth 21s. 6d. when the work quoted was
+written.
+
+
+[53] De Moivre, Doctrine of Chances.
+
+
+The possible combinations of cards in a hand as dealt out by
+chance are truly wonderful.  It has been established by
+calculation that a player at Whist may hold above 635 thousand
+millions of various hands!  So that, continually varied, at 50
+deals per evening, for 313 evenings, or 15,650 hands per annum,
+he might be above 40 millions of years before he would have the
+same hand again!
+
+The chance is equal, in dealing cards, that every hand will have
+seven trumps in two deals, or seven trumps between two partners,
+and also four court cards in every deal.  It is also certain on
+an average of hands, that nothing can be more superstitious and
+absurd than the prevailing notions about luck or ill-luck.  Four
+persons, constantly playing at Whist during a long voyage, were
+frequently winners and losers to a large amount, but as
+frequently at 'quits;' and at the end of the voyage, after the
+last game, one of them was minus only one franc!
+
+The chance of having a particular card out of 13 is 13/52, or 1
+to 4, and the chance of holding any two cards is 1/4 of 1/4 or
+1/16.  The chances of a game are generally inversely as the
+number got by each, or as the number to be got to complete each
+game.
+
+The chances against holding seven trumps are 160 to 1; against
+six, it is 26 to 1; against five, 6 to 1; and against four nearly
+2 to 1.  It is 8 to 1 against holding any two particular cards.
+
+Similar calculations have been made respecting the probabilities
+with dice.  There are 36 chances upon two dice.
+
+It is an even chance that you throw 8.  It is 35 to 1 against
+throwing any particular doublets, and 6 to 1 against any doublets
+at all.  It is 17 to 1 against throwing any two desired numbers. 
+It is 4 to 9 against throwing a single number with either of the
+dice, so as to hit a blot and enter.  Against hitting with the
+amount of two dice, the chances against 7, 8, and 9 are 5 to 1;
+against 10 are 11 to 1; against 11 are 17 to 1; and against
+sixes, 35 to 1.
+
+The probabilities of throwing required totals with two dice,
+depend on the number of ways in which the totals can be made up
+by the dice;--2, 3, 11, or 12 can only be made up one way each,
+and therefore the chance is but 1/36;--4, 5, 9, 10 may be made up
+two ways, or 1/8;--6, 7, 8 three ways, or 1/12.  The chance of
+doublets is 1/36, the chance of PARTICULAR doublets 1/216.
+
+The method was largely applied to lotteries, cock-fighting, and
+horse-racing.  It may be asked how it is possible to calculate
+the odds in horse-racing, when perhaps the jockeys in a great
+measure know before they start which is to win?
+
+In answer to this a question may be proposed:--Suppose I toss up
+a half-penny, and you are to guess whether it will be head or
+tail--must it not be allowed that you have an equal chance to win
+as to lose?  Or, if I hide a half-penny under a hat, and I know
+what it is, have you not as good a chance to guess right, as if
+it were tossed up?  My KNOWING IT TO BE HEAD can be no hindrance
+to you, as long as you have liberty of choosing either head or
+tail.  In spite of this reasoning, there are people who build so
+much upon their own opinion, that should their favourite horse
+happen to be beaten, they will have it to be owing to some fraud.
+
+The following fact is mentioned as a 'paradox.'
+
+It happened at Malden, in Essex, in the year 1738, that three
+horses (and no more than three) started for a L10 plate, and they
+were all three distanced the first heat, according to the common
+rules in horse-racing, without any quibble or equivocation; and
+the following was the solution:--The first horse ran on the
+inside of the post; the second wanted weight; and the third fell
+and broke a fore-leg.[54]
+
+[54] Cheany's Horse-racing Book.
+
+
+In horse-racing the expectation of an event is considered as the
+present value, or worth, of whatsoever sum or thing is depending
+on the happening of that event.  Therefore if the expectation on
+an event be divided by the value of the thing expected, on the
+happening of that event, the quotient will be the probability of
+happening.
+
+Example I.  Suppose two horses, A and B, to start for L50, and
+there are even bets on both sides; it is evident that the present
+value or worth of each of their expectations will be L25, and the
+probabilities 25/50 or 1/2.  For, if they had agreed to divide
+the prize between them, according as the bets should be at the
+time of their starting, they would each of them be entitled to
+L25; but if A had been thought so much superior to B that the
+bets had been 3 to 2 in his favour, then the real value of A's
+expectation would have been L30, and that of B's only L20, and
+their several probabilities 30/50 and 20/50.
+
+Example II.  Let us suppose three horses to start for a
+sweepstake, namely, A, B, and C, and that the odds are 8 to 6 A
+against B, and 6 to 4 B against C--what are the odds--A against
+C, and the field against A?  Answer:--2 to 1 A against C, and 10
+to 8, or 5 to 4 the field against A.  For        
+ A's expectation is 8        
+ B's expectation is 6        
+ C's expectation is 4 
+                   ----                         
+                    18
+
+But if the bets had been 7 to 4 A against B; and even money B
+against C, then the odds would have been 8 to 7 the field against
+A, as shown in the following scheme:--         
+7 A         
+4 B         
+4 C         
+----         
+15
+
+But as this is the basis upon which all the rest depends, another
+example or two may be required to make it as plain as possible.
+
+Example III.  Suppose the same three as before, and the common
+bets 7 to 4 A against B; 21 to 20 (or 'gold to silver') B against
+C; we must state it thus:--7 guineas to 4 A against B; and 4
+guineas to L4, B against C; which being reduced into shillings,
+the scheme will stand as follows:--
+
+147 A's expectation.          
+ 81 B's expectation.         
+ 80 C's expectation.         
+----         
+311
+
+By which it will be 164 to 147 the field against A, (something
+more than 39 to 35).  Now, if we compare this with the last
+example, we may conclude it to be right; for if it had been 40 to
+35, then it would have been 8 to 7, exactly as in the last
+example.  But, as some persons may be at a loss to know why the
+numbers 39 and 35 are selected, it is requisite to show the same
+by means of the Sliding Rule.  Set 164 upon the line A to 147
+upon the slider B, and then look along till you see two whole
+numbers which stand exactly one against the other (or as near as
+you can come), which, in this case, you find to be 39 on A,
+standing against 35 on the slider B (very nearly).  But as
+164/311 and 147/311 are in the lowest terms, there are no less
+numbers, in the same proportion, as 164 to 147,--39 and 35 being
+the nearest, but not quite exact.
+
+Example IV.  There are four horses to start for a sweepstake,
+namely, A, B, C, D, and they are supposed to be as equally
+matched as possible.  Now, Mr Sly has laid 10 guineas A against
+C, and also 10 guineas A against D.  Likewise Mr Rider has laid
+10 guineas A against C, and also 10 guineas B against D.  After
+which Mr Dice laid Mr Sly 10 guineas to 4 that he will not win
+both his bets.  Secondly, he laid Mr Rider 10 guineas to 4 that
+he will not win both his bets.
+
+Now, we wish to know what Mr Dice's advantage or disadvantage is,
+in laying these two last-mentioned wagers.
+
+First, the probability of Mr Sly's winning both his bets is 1/3
+of 14 guineas; and Mr Dice's expectation is 2/3 of 14 guineas, or
+L9 16s., which being deducted from his own stake (10 guineas),
+there remains 14s., which is his disadvantage in that bet.
+
+Secondly, Mr Rider's expectation of winning his two bets is 1/4,
+and, therefore, Mr Dice's expectation of the 14 guineas, is 3/4,
+or L11 0s. 6d., from which deduct 10 guineas (his own stake), and
+there remains 10s. 6d., his advantage in this bet,--which being
+deducted from 14s. (his disadvantage in the other), there remains
+3s 6d., his disadvantage in paying both these bets.
+
+These examples may suffice to show the working of the system;
+regular tables exist adapted to all cases; and there can be no
+doubt that those who have realized large fortunes by horse-racing
+managed to do so by uniformly acting on some such principles, as
+well as by availing themselves of such 'valuable information' as
+may be secured, before events come off, by those who make
+horse-racing their business.
+
+The same system was applied, and with still greater precision, to
+Cock-fighting, to Lotteries, Raffles, Backgammon, Cribbage, Put,
+All Fours, and Whist, showing all the chances of holding any
+particular card or cards.  Thus, it is 2 to 1 that your partner
+has not one certain card; 17 to 2 that he has not two certain
+cards; 31 to 26 that he has not one of them only; and 32 to 25
+(or 5 to 4) that he has one or both--that is, when two cards are
+in question.  It is 31 to 1 that he has three certain cards; 7 to
+2 that he has not two; 7 to 6 that he has not one; 13 to 6 that
+he has either one or two; 5 to 2 that he has one, two, or three
+cards; that is, when three cards are in question.
+
+With regard to the dealer and his partner, it is 57,798 to 7176
+(better than 8 to 1) that they are not four by honours; it is
+32,527 to 32,448 (or about an even bet) that they are not two by
+honours; it is 36,924 to 25,350 (or 11 to 7 nearly) that the
+honours count; it is 42,237 to 22,737 (or 15 to 8 nearly) that
+the dealer is nothing by honours.[55]
+
+[55] Proctor, The Sportsman's Sure Guide.  Lond. A.D. 1733.
+
+
+Such is a general sketch of the large subject included under the
+term of the calculation of probabilities, which comprises not
+only the chances of games of hazard, insurances, lotteries, &c.,
+but also the determination of future events from observations
+made relative to events of the same nature.  This subject of
+inquiry dates only from the 17th century, and occupied the minds
+of Pascal, Huygens, Fermot, Bernouilli, Laplace, Fourier,
+Lacroix, Poisson, De Moivre; and in more modern times, Cournot,
+Quetelet, and Professor De Morgan.
+
+In the matter of betting, or in estimating the 'odds' in betting,
+of course an acquaintance with the method must be of some
+service, and there can be no doubt that professional gamesters
+endeavoured to master the subject.
+
+M. Robert-Houdin, in his amusing work, Les Tricheries des Grecs
+devoilees, has propounded some gaming axioms which are at least
+curious and interesting; they are presented as those of a
+professional gambler and cheat.
+
+1.  'Every game of chance presents two kinds of chances which are
+very distinct,--namely, those relating to the person interested,
+that is, the player; and those inherent in the combinations of
+the game.'
+
+In the former there is what must be called, for the want of a
+better name, 'good luck' or 'bad luck,' that is, some mysterious
+cause which at times gives the play a 'run' of good or bad luck;
+in the latter there is the entire doctrine of 'probabilities'
+aforesaid, which, according to M. Houdin's gaming hero, may be
+completely discarded for the following axiom:--
+
+2.  'If chance can bring into the game all possible combinations,
+there are, nevertheless, certain limits at which it seems to
+stop.  Such, for instance, as a certain number turning up ten
+times in succession at Roulette.  This is possible, but it has
+never happened.'
+
+Nevertheless a most remarkable fact is on record.  In 1813, a Mr
+Ogden betted 1000 guineas to ONE guinea, that calling seven as
+the main, the caster would not throw that number ten times
+successively.  Wonderful to relate! the caster threw seven nine
+times following.  Thereupon Mr Ogden offered him 470 guineas to
+be off the bet--which he refused.  The caster took the box again
+and threw nine,--and so Mr Ogden won his guinea![56]  In this
+case there seems to have been no suspicion whatever of unfair
+dice being used.
+
+[56] Seymour Harcourt, The Gaming Calendar.
+
+
+3.  'In a game of chance, the oftener the same combination has
+occurred in succession, the nearer we are to the certainty that
+it will not recur at the next cast or turn up.  This is the most
+elementary of the theories on probabilities; it is termed the
+MATURITY OF THE CHANCES.'
+
+'Hence,' according to this great authority, 'a player must come
+to the table not only "in luck," but he must not risk his money
+excepting at the instant prescribed by the rules of the maturity
+of the chances.'
+
+Founded on this theory we have the following precepts for
+gamesters:--
+
+1.  'For gaming, prefer Roulette, because it presents several
+ways of staking your money[57]--which permits the study of
+several.
+
+[57] 'Pair, impair, passe, manque, and the 38 numbers of the
+Roulette, besides the different combinations of POSITION' and
+'maturities' together.
+
+
+2.  'A player should approach the gaming table perfectly calm and
+cool--just as a merchant or tradesman in treaty about any affair.
+
+If he gets into a passion, it is all over with prudence, all over
+with good luck--for the demon of bad luck invariably pursues a
+passionate player.
+
+3.  'Every man who finds a pleasure in playing runs the risk of
+losing.
+
+4.  'A prudent player, before undertaking anything, should put
+himself to the test to discover if he is "in vein"--in luck.  In
+all doubt, you should abstain.'
+
+I remember a curious incident in my childhood, which seems much
+to the point of this axiom.  A magnificent gold watch and chain
+were given towards the building of a church, and my mother took
+three chances, which were at a very high figure, the watch and
+chain being valued at more than L100.  One of these chances was
+entered in my name, one in my brother's, and the third in my
+mother's.  I had to throw for her as well as myself.  My brother
+threw an insignificant figure; for myself I did the same; but,
+oddly enough, I refused to throw for my mother on finding that I
+had lost my chance, saying that I should wait a little longer--
+rather a curious piece of prudence for a child of thirteen.  The
+raffle was with three dice; the majority of the chances had been
+thrown, and 34 was the highest.  After declining to throw I went
+on throwing the dice for amusement, and was surprised to find
+that every throw was better than the one I had in the raffle.  I
+thereupon said--'Now I'll throw for mamma.'  I threw thirty-six,
+which won the watch!  My mother had been a large subscriber to
+the building of the church, and the priest said that my winning
+the watch for her was quite PROVIDENTIAL.  According to M.
+Houdin's authority, however, it seems that I only got into
+'vein'--but how I came to pause and defer throwing the last
+chance, has always puzzled me respecting this incident of my
+childhood, which made too great an impression ever to be effaced.
+
+5.  'There are persons who are constantly pursued by bad luck. 
+To such I say--NEVER PLAY.
+
+6.  'Stubborness at play is ruin.
+
+7.  'Remember that Fortune does not like people to be overjoyed
+at her favours, and that she prepares bitter deceptions for the
+imprudent, who are intoxicated by success.'
+
+Such are the chief axioms of a most experienced gamester, and M.
+Houdin sums up the whole into the following:--
+
+8.  'Before risking your money at play, you must deeply study
+your "vein" and the different probabilities of the game--termed
+the maturity of the chances.'
+
+M. Robert-Houdin got all this precious information from a
+gamester named Raymond.  It appears that the first meeting
+between him and this man was at a subscription-ball, where the
+sharper managed to fleece him and others to a considerable
+amount, contriving a dexterous escape when detected.  Houdin
+afterwards fell in with him at Spa, where he found him in the
+greatest poverty, and lent him a small sum--to practise his grand
+theories as just explained--but which he lost--whereupon Houdin
+advised him 'to take up a less dangerous occupation.'  He then
+appears to have revealed to Houdin the entertaining particulars
+which form the bulk of his book, so dramatically written.  A year
+afterwards Houdin unexpectedly fell in with him again; but this
+time the fellow was transformed into what he called 'a demi-
+millionnaire,' having succeeded to a large fortune by the death
+of his brother, who died intestate.  According to Houdin the
+following was the man's declaration at the auspicious meeting:--
+'I have,' said Raymond, 'completely renounced gaming.  I am rich
+enough, and care no longer for fortune.  And yet,' he added
+proudly, 'if I now cared for the thing, how I could BREAK those
+bloated banks in their pride, and what a glorious vengeance I
+could take of BAD LUCK and its inflexible agents!  But my heart
+is too full of my happiness to allow the smallest place for the
+desire of vengeance.'
+
+A very proper speech, unquestionably, and rendered still more
+edifying by M. Houdin's assurance that Raymond, at his death
+three years after, bequeathed the whole of his fortune to various
+charitable institutions at Paris.
+
+With regard to the man's gaming theories, however, it may be just
+as well to consider the fact, that very many clever people, after
+contriving fine systems and schemes for ruining gaming banks,
+have, as M. Houdin reminds us, only succeeded in ruining
+themselves and those who conformed to their precepts.
+
+ Et s'il est un joueur qui vive de son pain,  On en voit tous les
+jours mille mourir de faim.
+
+ 'If ONE player there be that can live by his gain,  There are
+thousands that starve and strive ever in vain!'
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+THE HISTORY OF DICE AND CARDS.
+
+The knights of hazard and devotees of chance, who live in and by
+the rattle of the box, little know, or care, perhaps, to whom
+they are indebted for the invention of their favourite cube. 
+They will solace themselves, no doubt, on being told that they
+are pursuing a diversion of the highest antiquity, and which has
+been handed down through all civilized as well as barbarous
+nations to our own times.
+
+The term 'cube,' which is the figure of a die, comes originally
+from the Arabic word 'ca'b,' or 'ca'be,' whence the Greeks
+derived their cubos, and cubeia, which is used to signify any
+solid figure perfectly square every way--such as the geometrical
+cube, the die used in play, and the temple at Mecca, which is of
+the same figure.  The Persic name for 'die' is 'dad,' and from
+this word is derived the name of the thing in Spanish,
+Portuguese, and Italian, namely, dado.  In the old French it is
+det, in the plural dets; in modern French de and dez, whence our
+English name 'die,' and its plural 'dies,' or 'dice.'
+
+Plato tells us that dice and gaming originated with a certain
+demon, whom he calls Theuth, which seems very much like the
+original patronymic of our Teutonic races, always famous for
+their gambling propensity.  The Greeks generally, however,
+ascribed the invention of dice to one of their race, named
+Palamedes, a sort of universal genius, who hit upon many other
+contrivances, among the rest, weights and measures.  But this
+worthy lived in the times of the Trojan war, and yet Homer makes
+no mention of dice--the astragaloi named by the poet being merely
+knuckle-bones.  Dice, however, are mentioned by Aristophanes in
+his comedies, and so it seems that the invention must be placed
+between the times of the two poets, that is, about 2300 years
+ago.  At any rate the cube or die has been in use as an
+instrument of play, at least, during that period of time.
+
+The great antiquity, therefore, of the die as an instrument of
+pastime is unquestionable, and the general reason assigned for
+its invention was the amusement and relaxation of the mind from
+the pressure of difficulties, or from the fatigues and toils of
+protracted war.  Indeed, one conjecture is, that gaming was
+invented by the Lydians when under the pressure of a great
+famine; to divert themselves from their sufferings they contrived
+dice, balls, tables, &c.  This seems, however, rather a bad joke.
+
+The afflicted Job asks--'Can a man fill his belly with the east
+wind?'  And we can imagine that plenty of tobacco to smoke and
+'chaw' would mitigate the pangs of starvation to an army in the
+field, as has been seriously suggested; but you might just as
+well present a soldier with a stone instead of bread, as invite
+him to amuse himself with dice, or anything else, to assuage the
+pangs of hunger.
+
+Be that as it may, time soon matured this instrument of
+recreation into an engine of destruction; and the intended
+palliative of care and labour has proved the fostering nurse of
+innumerable evils.  This diminutive cube has usurped a tyranny
+over mankind for more than two thousand years, and continues at
+this day to rule the world with despotic sway-- levelling all
+distinctions of fortune in an instant by the fiat of its single
+turn.
+
+The use of dice was probably brought into this island by the
+Romans, if not before known; it became more frequent in the times
+of our Saxon ancestry, and has prevailed with almost unimpaired
+vigour from those days to our own.
+
+The Astragalos of the Greeks and Talus of the Romans were, as
+before stated, nothing but the knuckle-bones of sheep and goats,
+numbered, and used for gaming, being tossed up in the air and
+caught on the back of the hand.  Two persons played together at
+this game, using four bones, which they threw up into the air or
+emptied out of a dice-box (fritillus), observing the numbers of
+the opposite sides.  The numbers on the four sides of the four
+bones admitted of thirty-five different combinations.  The lowest
+throw of all was four aces; but the value of the throw was not in
+all cases the sum of the four numbers turned up.  The highest in
+value was that called Venus, in which the numbers cast up were
+all different; the sum of them being only fourteen.  It was by
+obtaining this throw, hence called basilicus, that 'the King of
+the Feast' was appointed by the Romans.  Certain other throws
+were called by particular names, taken from the gods, heroes,
+kings, courtesans, animals; altogether there were sixty- four
+such names.  Thus, the throw consisting of two aces and two
+treys, making eight, was denominated Stesichorus.  When the
+object was simply to throw the highest number, the game was
+called pleistobolinda, a Greek word of that meaning.  When a
+person threw the tali, he often invoked either a god or his
+mistress.
+
+Dice were also made of ivory, bone, or some close-grained wood,
+especially privet ligustris tesseris utilissima, Plin. H. N.). 
+They were numbered as at present.
+
+Arsacides, King of the Parthians, presented Demetrius Nicator,
+among other presents, with golden dice--it is said, in contempt
+for his frivolous propensity to play--in exprobationem puerilis
+levitatis.'[58]
+
+[58] Justini Hist., lib.  xxxviii. 9. 9.
+
+
+Dice are also mentioned in the New Testament, where occurs the
+word cubeia (Eph. iv. 14), ('the only word for "gambling" used in
+the Bible'), a word in very common use, among Paul's kith and
+kin, for 'cube,' 'dice,' 'dicery,' and it occurs frequently in
+the Talmud and Midrash.  The Mishna declares unfit either as
+'judge or witness,' 'a cubea-player, a usurer, a pigeon-flier
+(betting-man), a vendor of illegal (seventh-year) produce, and a
+slave.'  A mitigating clause--proposed by one of the weightiest
+legal authorities, to the effect that the gambler and his kin
+should only be disqualified 'if they have but that one
+profession'--is distinctly negatived by the majority, and the
+rule remains absolute.  The classical word for the gambler or
+dice-player, cubeutes, appears aramaized in the same sources into
+something like kubiustis, as the following curious instances may
+show:  When the Angel, after having wrestled with Jacob all
+night, asks him to let him go, 'for the dawn has risen' (A. V.,
+'the day breaketh'), Jacob is made to reply to him, 'Art thou,
+then, a thief or a kubiustis, that thou art afraid of the day?' 
+To which the Angel replies, 'No, I am not; but it is my turn to-
+day, and for the first time, to sing the Angelic Hymn of Praise
+in Heaven: let me go.'  In another Tadmudical passage an early
+biblical critic is discussing certain arithmetical difficulties
+in the Pentateuch.  Thus he finds the number of Levites (in
+Numbers) to differ, when summed up from the single items, from
+that given in the total.  Worse than that, he finds that all the
+gold and silver contributed to the sanctuary is not accounted
+for, and, clinching his argument, he cries, 'Is, then, your
+master Moses a thief or a kubiustis?  Or could he not make up his
+accounts properly?'  The critic is then informed of a certain
+difference between 'sacred' and other coins; and he further gets
+a lesson in the matter of Levites and Firstborn, which silences
+him.  Again, the Talmud decides that, if a man have bought a
+slave who turns out to be a thief or a kubiustis,--which has here
+been erroneously explained to mean a 'manstealer,'--he has no
+redress.  He must keep him, as he bought him, or send him away;
+for he has bought him with all his vices.
+
+Regarding the translation 'sleight' in the A.V., this seems a
+correct enough rendering of the term as far as the SENSE of the
+passage goes, and comes very near the many ancient
+translations--'nequitia,' 'versutia,' 'inanis labor,' 'vana et
+inepta (?) subtilitas,' &c., of the Fathers.  Luther has
+'Schalkheit,'--a word the meaning of which at his time differed
+considerably from our acceptation of the term.  The Thesaurus
+takes Paul's cubeia (s.v.) more literally, to mean 'in alea
+hominum, i. e., in certis illis casibus quibus jactantur
+homines.'[59]
+
+[59] E. Deutseh in the Athenaeum of Sept. 28, 1867.
+
+
+The ancient tali, marked and thrown as above described, were also
+used in DIVINATION, just as dice are at the present day; and
+doubtless the interpretations were the same among the ancients--
+for all superstitions are handed down from generation to
+generation with wondrous fidelity.  The procedure is curious
+enough, termed 'the art of telling fortunes by dice.'
+
+Three dice are taken and well shaken in the box with the left
+hand, and then cast out on a board or table on which a circle is
+previously drawn with chalk; and the following are the supposed
+predictions of the throws:--
+
+Three, a pleasing surprise; four, a disagreeable one; five, a
+stranger who will prove a friend; six, loss of property; seven,
+undeserved scandal; eight, merited reproach; nine, a wedding;
+ten, a christening, at which some important event will occur;
+eleven, a death that concerns you; twelve, a letter speedily;
+thirteen, tears and sighs; fourteen, beware that you are not
+drawn into some trouble or plot by a secret enemy; fifteen,
+immediate prosperity and happiness; sixteen, a pleasant journey;
+seventeen, you will either be on the water, or have dealings with
+those belonging to it, to your advantage; eighteen, a great
+profit, rise in life, or some desirable good will happen almost
+immediately, for the answers to the dice are said to be fulfilled
+within nine days.  To throw the same number twice at one trial
+shows news from abroad, be the number what it may.  If the dice
+roll over the circle, the number thrown goes for nothing, but the
+occurrence shows sharp words impending; and if they fall on the
+floor it is blows.  In throwing the dice if one remain on the top
+of the other, 'it is a present of which you must take care,'
+namely, 'a little stranger' at hand.
+
+Two singular facts throw light on the kind of dice used some 100
+and 150 years ago.  In an old cribbage card-box, curiously
+ornamented, supposed to have been made by an amateur in the reign
+of Queen Anne, and now in my possession, I found a die with one
+end fashioned to a point, evidently for the purpose of spinning--
+similar to the modern teetotum.  With the same lot at the sale
+where it was bought, was a pack of cards made of ivory, about an
+inch and a half in length and one inch in width--in other
+respects exactly like the cards of the period.
+
+Again, it is stated that in taking up the floors of the Middle
+Temple Hall, about the year 1764, nearly 100 pairs of dice were
+found, which had dropped, on different occasions, through the
+chinks or joints of the boards.  They were very small, at least
+one-third less that those now in use.  Certainly the benchers of
+those times did not keep the floor of their magnificent hall in a
+very decent condition.
+
+A curious fact relating to dice may here be pointed out.  Each of
+the six sides of a die is so dotted or numbered that the top and
+bottom of every die (taken together) make 7; for if the top or
+uppermost side is 5, the bottom or opposite side will be 2; and
+the same holds through every face; therefore, let the number of
+dice be what it may, their top and bottom faces, added together,
+must be equal to the number of dice multiplied by 7.  In throwing
+three dice, if 2, 3, and 4 are thrown, making 9, their
+corresponding bottom faces will be 5, 4, and 3, making 12, which
+together are 21--equal to the three dice multiplied by 7.
+
+CARDS.
+
+The origin of cards is as doubtful as that of dice.  All that we
+know for certain is that they were first used in the East.  Some
+think that the figures at first used on them were of moral
+import: the Hindoo and Chinese cards are certainly emblematic in
+a very high degree; the former illustrate the ten avatars, or
+incarnations of the deity Vishnu; and the so-called 'paper-
+tickets' of the Chinese typify the stars, the human virtues, and,
+indeed, every variety of subject.  Sir William Jones was
+convinced that the Hindoo game of Chaturaji--that is, 'the Four
+Rajahs or Kings'--a species of highly-complicated chess--was the
+first germ of that parti-coloured pasteboard, which has been the
+ruin of so many modern fortunes.  A pack of Hindoostani cards, in
+the possession of the Royal Asiatic Society, and presented to
+Captain Cromline Smith in 1815, by a high caste Brahman, was
+declared by the donor to be actually 1000 years old: 'Nor,' said
+the Brahman, 'can any of us now play at them, for they are not
+like our modern cards at all.'  Neither, indeed, do they bear any
+remarkable resemblance to our own--the pack consisting of no less
+than eight sorts of divers colours, the kings being mounted upon
+elephants, and viziers, or second honours, upon horses, tigers,
+and bulls.  Moreover, there are other marks distinguishing the
+respective value of the common cards, which would puzzle our
+club-quidnuncs not a little--such as 'a pine-apple in a shallow
+cup,' and a something like a parasol without a handle, and with
+two broken ribs sticking through the top.  The Chinese cards have
+the advantage over those of Hindoostan by being oblong instead of
+circular.
+
+It was not before the end of the 14th century that cards became
+known in Europe; and it is a curious fact that the French clergy
+took greatly to card-playing about that time--their favourite
+game being the rather ungenteel 'All Fours,' as now reputed; for
+they were specially forbidden that pastime by the Synod of
+Langres in 1404.
+
+The ancient cards of both Spain and France, particularly the
+'court-cards,' exhibit strong marks of the age of chivalry; but
+here we may observe that the word is written by some ancient
+writers, 'coate-cards,' evidently signifying no more than figures
+in particular dresses.  The giving pre-eminence or victory to a
+certain suit, by the name of 'trump,' which is only a corruption
+of the word 'triumph,' is a strong trait of the martial ideas of
+the inventors of these games.  So that, if the Chinese started
+the idea, it seems clear that the French and Spanish improved
+upon it and gave it a plain significance; and there is no reason
+to doubt that cards were actually employed to amuse Charles VI.
+in his melancholy and dejection.
+
+The four suits of cards are supposed to represent the four
+estates of a kingdom:--1.  The nobility and gentry; 2.  The
+ecclesiastics or priesthood; 3.  The citizens or commercial men;
+4.  The peasantry or Husbandmen.  The nobility are represented in
+the old Spanish cards by the espada, or sword, corrupted by us
+into 'spades,'--by the French with piques, 'pikes or spears.' 
+The ecclesiastical order is pointed out by copas, or sacramental
+cups, which are painted in one of the suits of old Spanish cards,
+and by coeurs, or 'hearts,' on French cards, as in our
+own--thereby signifying choir-men, gens de choeur, or
+ecclesiastics--from choeur de l'eglise, 'the choir of the
+church,' that being esteemed the most important part or the HEART
+of the church.
+
+The Spaniards depicted their citizens or commercial men under
+dineros, a small coin, an emblem very well adapted to the
+productive classes; the French by carreaux, squares or
+lozenges--importing, perhaps, unity of interest, equality of
+condition, regularity of manners, and the indispensable duty of
+this class of men to deal with one another 'on the square.'  The
+Spaniards made bastos, or knotty clubs, the emblem of the 'bold
+peasantry,' taken probably from the custom that the plebeians
+were permitted to challenge or fight each other with sticks and
+quarter-staves only, but not with the sword, or any arms carried
+by a gentleman; while the French peasantry were pointed out under
+the ideas of husbandry, namely, by the trefles, trefoil or
+clover-grass.  So much for the SUITS.
+
+With regard to the depicted figures of cards, each nation
+likewise followed its own inventions, though grounded in both on
+those ideas of chivalry which then strongly prevailed.  The
+Spanish cards were made to carry the insignia and accoutrements
+of the King of Spain, the ace of deneros being emblazoned with
+the royal arms, supported by an eagle.  The French ornamented
+their cards with fleurs de lis, their royal emblem.  The Spanish
+kings, in conformity to the martial spirit of the times when
+cards were introduced, were all mounted on horseback, as befitted
+generals and commanders-in-chief; but their next in command
+(among the cards) was el caballo, the knight-errant on
+horseback--for the old Spanish cards had no queens; and the third
+in order was the soto, or attendant, that is, the esquire, or
+armour-bearer of the knight--all which was exactly conformable to
+those ideas of chivalry which ruled the age.  It is said that
+David (king of spades), tormented by a rebellious son, is the
+emblem of Charles VII., menaced by his son (Louis XI.), and that
+Argine (queen of clubs) is the anagram of Regina, and the emblem
+of Marie d'Anjou, the wife of that prince; that Pallas (queen of
+spades) represents Joan of Arc, the Maid of Orleans; that Rachel
+(queen of diamonds) is Agnes Sorel; lastly, that Judith (queen of
+hearts) is the Queen Isabeau.  The French call the queens at
+cards dames.
+
+The four knaves (called in French, valets or varlets) are four
+valiant captains--Ogier and Lancelot, the companions of
+Charlemagne, Hector de Gallard, and Lahire, the generals of
+Charles VII.  The remainder of the pack equally presents a sort
+of martial allegory; the heart is bravery; the spade (espad,
+'sword') and the diamond (carreau, that is, a square or shield)
+are the arms of war; the club (in French trefle, 'trefoil') is
+the emblem of provisions; and the ace (in French as, from the
+Latin aes, 'coin') is the emblem of money--the sinews of war.
+
+In accordance with this allegorical meaning, the function of the
+ace is most significant.  It leads captive every other card,
+queen and king included--thus indicating the omnipotence of gold
+or mammon!
+
+'To the mighty god of this nether world--   
+To the spirit that roams with banner unfurl'd        
+O'er the Earth and the rolling Sea--   
+And hath conquer'd all to his thraldom   
+Where his eye hath glanced or his footstep sped--   
+Who hath power alike o'er the living and dead--        
+Mammon![59]  I sing to thee!
+
+[59] Steinmetz Ode to Mammon.
+
+
+Some say that the four kings represent those famous champions of
+antiquity--David, Alexander, Julius Caesar, and Charlemagne; and
+that the four queens, Argine, Pallas, Esther, and Judith, are the
+respective symbols of majesty, wisdom, piety, and fortitude; and
+there can be no doubt, if you look attentively on the queens of a
+pack of cards, you will easily discern the appropriate
+expressions of all these attributes in the faces of the grotesque
+ladies therein depicted.  The valets, or attendants, whom we call
+knaves, are not necessarily 'rascals,' but simply servants royal;
+at first they were knights, as appears from the names of some of
+the famous French knights being formerly painted on the cards.
+
+Thus a pack of cards is truly a monument of the olden time--the
+days of chivalry and its numberless associations.
+
+In addition to the details I have given in the previous chapter
+respecting the probability of holding certain cards, there are a
+few other curious facts concerning them, which it may be
+interesting to know.
+
+There is a difference in the eyes of two of the knaves--those of
+diamonds and hearts, more apparent in the old patterns,
+suggesting the inference that they are blind.  This has been made
+the basis of a card trick, as to which two of the four knaves
+presenting themselves would be selected as servants.  Of course
+the blind ones would be rejected.  A bet is sometimes proposed to
+the unwary, at Whist, but one of the party will have in his hand,
+after the deal, only one of a suit, or none of a suit.  The bet
+should not be taken, as this result very frequently happens.
+
+Lastly, there is an arithmetical puzzle of the most startling
+effect to be contrived with a pack of cards, as follows.  Let a
+party make up parcels of cards, beginning with a number of pips
+on any card, and then counting up to twelve with individual
+cards.  In the first part of the trick it must be understood that
+the court cards count as ten, all others according to the pips. 
+Thus, a king put down will require only two cards to make up 12,
+whereas the ace will require 11, and so on.  Now, when all the
+parcels are completed, the performer of the trick requires to
+know only the number of parcels thus made, and the remainder, if
+any, to declare after a momentary calculation, the exact number
+of pips on the first cards laid down--to the astonishment of
+those not in the secret.  In fact, there is no possible
+arrangement of the cards, according to this method, which can
+prevent an adept from declaring the number of pips required,
+after being informed of the number of parcels, and the remainder,
+if any.  This startling performance will be explained in a
+subsequent chapter--amusing card tricks.
+
+Cards must soon have made their way among our countrymen, from
+the great intercourse that subsisted between England and France
+about the time of the first introduction of cards into the latter
+kingdom.  If the din of arms in the reign of our fifth Henry
+should seem unfavourable to the imitation of an enemy's private
+diversions, it must be remembered that France was at that period
+under the dominion of England, that the English lived much in
+that country, and consequently joined in the amusements of the
+private hour, as well as in the public dangers of the field.
+
+Very soon, however, the evil consequences of their introduction
+became apparent.  One would have thought that in such a
+tumultuous reign at home as that of our sixth Henry, there could
+not have been so much use made of cards as to have rendered them
+an object of public apprehension and governmental solicitude; but
+a record appears in the beginning of the reign of Edward IV.,
+after the deposition of the unfortunate Henry, by which playing
+cards, as well as dice, tennis-balls, and chessmen, were
+forbidden to be imported.
+
+If this tended to check their use for a time, the subsequent
+Spanish connection with the court of England renewed an
+acquaintance with cards and a love for them.  The marriage of
+Prince Arthur with the Infanta Catherine of Arragon, brought on
+an intimacy between the two nations, which probably increased
+card-playing in England,--it being a diversion to which the
+Spaniards were extremely addicted at that period.
+
+Cards were certainly much in use, and all ideas concerning them
+very familiar to the minds of the English, during the reign of
+Henry VIII., as may be inferred from a remarkable sermon of the
+good bishop Latimer.  This sermon was preached in St Edward's
+church, Cambridge, on the Sunday before Christmas day, 1527, and
+in this discourse he may be said to have 'dealt' out an
+exposition of the precepts of Christianity according to the terms
+of card-playing.  'Now ye have heard what is meant by this "first
+card," and how you ought to "play" with it, I purpose again to
+"deal" unto you "another card almost of the same suit," for they
+be of so nigh affinity that one cannot be well "played" without
+the other, &c.'  'It seems,' says Fuller, 'that he suited his
+sermon rather to the TIME--being about Christmas, when cards were
+much used--than to the text, which was the Baptist's question to
+our Lord--"Who art thou?"--taking thereby occasion to conform his
+discourse to the "playing at cards," making the "heart triumph."'
+
+This blunt preaching was in those days admirably effectual,
+but it would be considered ridiculous in ours--except from the
+lips of such original geniuses as Mr Spurgeon, who hit upon this
+vein and made a fortune of souls as well as money.  He is,
+however, inimitable, and any attempt at entering into his domain
+would probably have the same result as that which attended an
+imitation of Latimer by a country minister, mentioned by Fuller. 
+'I remember,' he says, 'in my time (about the middle of the
+seventeenth century), a country minister preached at St Mary's,
+from Rom. xii. 3,--"As God has DEALT to every man the measure of
+faith."  In a fond imitation of Latimer's sermon he followed up
+the metaphor of DEALING,--that men should PLAY ABOVE-BOARD, that
+is, avoid all dissembling,--should not POCKET CARDS, but improve
+their gifts and graces,--should FOLLOW SUIT, that is, wear the
+surplice, &c.,-- all which produced nothing but laughter in the
+audience.  Thus the same actions by several persons at several
+times are made not the same actions, yea, differenced from
+commendable discretion to ridiculous absurdity.  And thus he will
+make but bad music who hath the instruments and fiddlesticks, but
+none of the "resin" of Latimer.'
+
+The habit of card-playing must have been much confirmed and
+extended by the marriage of Philip of Spain with our Queen Mary,
+whose numerous and splendid retinue could not but bring with them
+that passionate love of cards which prevailed in the Spanish
+court.
+
+It seems also probable that the cards then used (whatever they
+might have been before) were of Spanish form and figure, in
+compliment to the imperious Philip; since even to this day the
+names of two Spanish suits are retained on English cards, though
+without any reference to their present figure.  Thus, we call one
+suit spades, from the Spanish espada, 'sword,' although we retain
+no similitude of the sword in the figure,--and another clubs, in
+Spanish, bastos, but without regard to the figure also.
+
+Old Roger Ascham, the tutor of Queen Elizabeth, gives us a
+picture of the gambling arts of his day, as follows:--How will
+they use these shiftes when they get a plaine man that cannot
+skill of them!  How they will go about, if they perceive an
+honest man have moneye, which list not playe, to provoke him to
+playe!  They will seek his companye; they will let him pay
+noughte, yea, and as I hearde a man once saye that he did, they
+will send for him to some house, and spend perchaunce a crowne on
+him, and, at last, will one begin to saye: at, my masters, what
+shall we do?  Shall every man playe his twelve-pence while an
+apple roste in the fire, and then we will drincke and departe?" 
+"Naye" will another saye (as false as he), "you cannot leave when
+you begin, and therefore I will not playe: but if you will gage,
+that every man as he hath lost his twelve-pence, shall sit downe,
+I am contente, for surelye I would Winne no manne's moneye here,
+but even as much as woulde pay for my supper."  Then speaketh the
+thirde to the honeste man that thought not to play:--"What?  Will
+you play your twelve-pence?"  If he excuse him--"Tush! man!" will
+the other saye, "sticke not in honeste company for twelve-pence;
+I will beare your halfe, and here is my moneye."  Nowe all this
+is to make him to beginne, for they knowe if he be once in, and
+be a loser, that he will not sticke at his twelve-pence, but
+hopeth ever to get it againe, whiles perhappes he will lose all. 
+Then every one of them setteth his shiftes abroache, some with
+false dyse, some with settling of dyse, some with having
+outlandish silver coynes guilded, to put awaye at a time for good
+golde.  Then, if there come a thing in controversye, must you be
+judged by the table, and then farewell the honeste man's parte,
+for he is borne downe on every syde.'
+
+It is evident from this graphic description of the process, that
+the villany of sharpers has been ever the same; for old Roger's
+account of the matter in his day exactly tallies with daily
+experience at the present time.
+
+The love of card-playing was continued through the reign of
+Elizabeth and James I.,[60] and in the reign of the latter it had
+reached so high a pitch that the audiences used to amuse
+themselves with cards at the play-house, while they were waiting
+for the beginning of the play.  The same practice existed at
+Florence.  If the thing be not done at the present day, something
+analogous prevails in our railway carriages throughout the
+kingdom.  It is said that professed card-sharpers take
+season-tickets on all the lines, and that a great DEAL of money
+is made by the gentry by duping unwary travellers into a game or
+by betting.
+
+[60] King James, the British Solomon, although he could not
+'abide' tobacco, and denounced it in a furious 'Counterblaste,'
+could not 'utterly condemn' play, or, as he calls it, 'fitting
+house-pastimes.'  'I will not,' he says, 'agree in forbidding
+cards, dice, and other like games of Hazard,' and enters into an
+argument for his opinion, which is scarcely worth quoting.  See
+Basilicon Doron--a prodigy of royal fatuity--but the perfect
+'exponent' of the characteristics of the Stuart royal race in
+England.
+
+
+There is no reason to suppose that the fondness for this
+diversion abated, except during the short 'trump or triumph of
+the fanatic suit'--in the hard times of Old Oliver--when
+undoubtedly cards were styled 'the devil's books.'  But, indeed,
+by that time they had become an engine of much fraud and
+destruction; so that one of the early acts of Charles II.'s reign
+inflicted large penalties on those who should use cards for
+fraudulent purposes.
+
+'Primero was the fashionable game at the court of England during
+the Tudor dynasty.  Shakspeare represents Henry VIII. playing at
+it with the Duke of Suffolk; and Falstaff says, "I never
+prospered since I forswore myself at Primero."  In the Earl of
+Northumberland's letters about the Gunpowder-plot, it is noticed
+that Joscelin Percy was playing at this game on Sunday, when his
+uncle, the conspirator, called on him at Essex House.  In the
+Sidney papers, there is an account of a desperate quarrel between
+Lord Southampton, the patron of Shakspeare, and one Ambrose
+Willoughby.  Lord Southampton was then "Squire of the Body" to
+Queen Elizabeth, and the quarrel was occasioned by Willoughby
+persisting to play with Sir Walter Raleigh and another at
+Primero, in the Presence Chamber, after the queen had retired to
+rest, a course of proceeding which Southampton would not permit. 
+Primero, originally a Spanish game, is said to have been made
+fashionable in England by Philip of Spain, after his marriage
+with Queen Mary.
+
+Maw succeeded Primero as the fashionable game at the English
+court, and was the favourite game of James I., who appears to
+have played at cards, just as he played with affairs of state, in
+an indolent manner; requiring in both cases some one to hold his
+cards, if not to prompt him what to play.  Weldon, alluding to
+the poisoning of Sir Thomas Overbury, in his Court and Character
+of King James, says:  'The next that came on the stage was Sir
+Thomas Monson, but the night before he was to come to his trial,
+the king being at the game of Maw, said, "To-morrow comes Thomas
+Monson to his trial."  "Yea," said the king's card-holder,
+"where, if he do not play his master's prize, your Majesty shall
+never trust me."  This so ran in the king's mind, that at the
+next game he said he was sleepy, and would play out that set the
+next night.
+
+'It is evident that Maw differed very slightly from Five Cards,
+the most popular game in Ireland at the present day.  As early as
+1674 this game was popular in Ireland, as we learn from Cotton's
+Compleat Gamester, which says:  "Five Cards is an Irish game, and
+is much played in that kingdom for considerable sums of money, as
+All-fours is played in Kent, and Post-and-pair in the west of
+England."
+
+'Noddy was one of the old English court games.  This has been
+supposed to have been a children's game, and it was certainly
+nothing of the kind.  Its nature is thus fully described in a
+curious satirical poem, entitled Batt upon Batt, published in
+1694.
+
+"Show me a man can turn up Noddy still,       
+And deal himself three fives too, when he will;       
+Conclude with one-and-thirty, and a pair,       
+Never fail ten in Stock, and yet play fair,       
+If Batt be not that wight, I lose my aim."
+
+'From these lines, there can be no doubt that the ancient Noddy
+was the modern cribbage--the Nod of to-day, rejoicing in the name
+of Noddy, and the modern Crib, being termed the Stock.
+
+'Ombre was most probably introduced into this country by
+Catherine of Portugal, the queen of Charles II.; Waller, the
+court poet, has a poem on a card torn at Ombre by the queen. 
+This royal lady also introduced to the English court the
+reprehensible practice of playing cards on Sunday.  Pepys, in
+1667, writes:  "This evening, going to the queen's side to see
+the ladies, I did find the queen, the Duchess of York, and
+another at cards, with the room full of ladies and great men;
+which I was amazed at to see on a Sunday, having not believed,
+but contrarily flatly denied the same, a little while since, to
+my cousin."[61]
+
+[61] Hombre, or rather El Hombre, or 'The Man,' was so named as
+requiring thought and reflection, which are qualities peculiar to
+man; or rather, alluding to him who undertakes to play the game
+against the rest of the gamesters, emphatically called The Man. 
+It requires very great application to play it well: and let a man
+be ever so expert, he will be apt to fall into mistakes if he
+thinks of anything else, or is disturbed by the conversation of
+those that look on.  It is a game of three, with 40 cards, that
+is, rejecting the eights, nines, and tens of all the suits.
+
+
+'In a passage from Evelyn's Memoirs, the writer impressively
+describes another Sunday-evening scene at Whitehall, a few days
+before the death of Charles II., in which a profligate assemblage
+of courtiers is represented as deeply engaged in the game of
+Basset.  This was an Italian game, brought by Cardinal Mazarin to
+France; Louis XIV. is said to have lost large sums at it; and it
+was most likely brought to England by some of the French ladies
+of the court.  It did not stand its ground, however, in this
+country; Ombre continuing the fashionable game in England, down
+till after the expiration of the first quarter of the last
+century.
+
+'Quadrille succeeded Ombre, but for a curious reason did not
+reign so long as its predecessor.  From the peculiar nature of
+Quadrille, an unfair confederacy might be readily established, by
+any two persons, by which the other players could be cheated.
+
+'While the preceding games were in vogue the magnificent temple
+of Whist, destined to outshine and overshadow them, was in course
+of erection.
+
+"Let India vaunt her children's vast address,       
+Who first contrived the warlike sport of Chess;       
+Let nice Piquette the boast of France remain,       
+And studious Ombre be the pride of Spain;        
+Invention's praise shall England yield to none,      
+When she can call delightful Whist her own."
+
+'All great inventions and discoveries are works of time, and
+Whist is no exception to the rule; it did not come into the world
+perfect at all points, as Minerva emerged from the head of
+Jupiter.  Nor were its wonderful merits early recognized.  Under
+the vulgar appellations of Whisk and Swobbers, it long lingered
+in the servants'-hall ere it could ascend to the drawing-room. 
+At length, some gentlemen, who met at the Crown coffee-house, in
+Bedford Row, studied the game, gave it rules, established its
+principles, and then Edward Hoyle, in 1743, blazoned forth its
+fame to all the world.
+
+'Many attempts have been made, at various times, to turn playing-
+cards to a very different use from that for which they were
+originally intended.  Thus, in 1518, a learned Franciscan friar,
+named Murner, published a Logica Memorativa, a mode of teaching
+logic, by a pack of cards; and, subsequently, he attempted to
+teach a summary of civil law in the same manner.  In 1656, an
+Englishman, named Jackson, published a work, entitled the
+Scholar's Sciential Cards, in which he proposed to teach reading,
+spelling, grammar, writing, and arithmetic, with various arts and
+sciences, by playing-cards; premising that the learner was well
+grounded in all the games played at the period.  And later still,
+about the close of the seventeenth century, there was published
+the Genteel Housekeeper's Pastime; or the Mode of Carving at
+Table represented in a Pack of Playing-Cards, by which any one of
+ordinary Capacity may learn how to Carve, in Mode, all the most
+usual Dishes of Flesh, Fish, Fowl, and Baked Meats, with the
+several Sauces and Garnishes proper to Every Dish of Meat.  In
+this system, flesh was represented by hearts, fish by clubs, fowl
+by diamonds, and baked-meat by spades.  The king of hearts ruled
+a noble sirloin of roast-beef; the monarch of clubs presided over
+a pickled herring; and the king of diamonds reared his battle-axe
+over a turkey; while his brother of spades smiled benignantly on
+a well-baked venison-pasty.
+
+'The kind of advertisements, now called circulars, were often,
+formerly, printed on the backs of playing-cards.  Visiting-cards,
+too, were improvised, by writing the name on the back of playing-
+cards.  About twenty years ago, when a house in Dean Street,
+Soho, was under repair, several visiting-cards of this
+description were found behind a marble chimney-piece, one of them
+bearing the name of Isaac Newton.  Cards of invitation were
+written in a similar manner.  In the fourth picture, in Hogarth's
+series of "Marriage a-la-Mode," several are seen lying on the
+floor, upon one of which is inscribed:  "Count Basset begs to no
+how Lade Squander sleapt last nite."  Hogarth, when he painted
+this inscription, was most probably thinking of Mrs Centlivre's
+play, The Basset Table, which a critic describes as containing a
+great deal of plot and business, without much sentiment or
+delicacy.
+
+'A curious and undoubtedly authentic historical anecdote is told
+of a pack of cards.  Towards the end of the persecuting reign of
+Queen Mary, a commission was granted to a Dr Cole to go over to
+Ireland, and commence a fiery crusade against the Protestants of
+that country.  On coming to Chester, on his way, the doctor was
+waited on by the mayor, to whom he showed his commission,
+exclaiming, with premature triumph, "Here is what shall lash the
+heretics of Ireland."  Mrs Edmonds, the landlady of the inn,
+having a brother in Dublin, was much disturbed by overhearing
+these words; so, when the doctor accompanied the mayor
+downstairs, she hastened into his room, opened his box, took out
+the commission, and put a pack of cards in its place.  When the
+doctor returned to his apartment, he put the box into his
+portmanteau without suspicion, and the next morning sailed for
+Dublin.  On his arrival he waited on the lord-lieutenant and
+privy council, to whom he made a speech on the subject of his
+mission, and then presented the box to his Lordship; but on
+opening it, there appeared only a pack of cards, with the knave
+of clubs uppermost.  The doctor was petrified, and assured the
+council that he had had a commission, but what was become of it
+he could not tell.  The lord-lieutenant answered, "Let us have
+another commission, and, in the mean while, we can shuffle the
+cards."  Before the doctor could get his commission renewed Queen
+Mary died, and thus the persecution was prevented.  We are
+further informed that, when Queen Elizabeth was made acquainted
+with the circumstances, she settled a pension of L40 per annum on
+Mrs Edmonds, for having saved her Protestant subjects in
+Ireland.'[62]
+
+[62] The Book of Days, Dec. 28.
+
+
+All the pursuits of life, all the trades and occupations of men,
+have, in all times, lent expressions to the languages of nations,
+and those resulting from the propensity of GAMING are among those
+which perpetually recur in daily conversation, and with the
+greatest emphasis.  Thus we have:--'He has played his cards well
+or ill,'--applied to the management of fortune or one's interest;
+jacta est alea, 'the die is cast,' as exclaimed Julius Caesar
+before crossing the Rubicon; 'he has run his RACE--reached the
+GOAL' a turf adage applied to consummate success or disastrous
+failure; 'a lucky throw or hit;' 'within an ACE,' meaning one
+point of gaining a thing; 'he HAZARDS everything;' 'chances are
+for and against;' 'he was PIQUED,' from the game of piquet,
+meaning, angry at losing something; 'left in the lurch,' from the
+French game l'Ourche, wherein on certain points happening the
+stake is to he paid double, and meaning, 'under circumstances
+unexpected and peculiarly unfavourable;' 'to save your bacon or
+gamon,' from the game Back-gammon[63] a blot is hit,' from the
+same; 'checked in his career,' that is, stopped in his designs
+from the game of chess.
+
+[63] The etymology of the word Back-gamon has been disputed. 
+Hyde seems to have settled it.  A certain portion of the hog is
+called in Italian gambone, whence our English word gambon or
+gammon.  Confounding things that differ, many think that 'gamon'
+in the game has the same meaning, and therefore they say--'he
+saved his gamon or bacon,' which is absurd, although it is a
+proverbial phrase of sufficient emphasis.  The word Backgamon
+seems to be derived from the very nature of the game itself,
+namely, back-game-on, that is, when one of your pieces is taken,
+you must go back--begin again--and then game on-- 'Back-game-on'.
+
+
+The fabrication of cards is a most important manufacture of
+France; and Paris and Nancy are the two places where most cards
+are made.  The annual consumption of cards in France amounts to
+1,500,000 francs, or L62,500; but France also supplies foreigners
+with the article, especially the Spanish, American, Portuguese,
+and English colonies, to the value of 1,000,000 francs, or
+L41,666.  The government derives from this branch of French
+industry not much less than L25,000 annual revenue, that is, from
+20 to 25 per cent. of the product.  The duty on cards is secured
+and enforced by severe penalties.
+
+English cards are about a third larger than the French.  The
+double-headed cards are an English invention, and they are being
+adopted by the French.  Their advantage is obvious, in securing
+the secrecy of the hand, for by observing a party in arranging
+his cards after the deal, the act of turning up a card plainly
+shows that it must be at least a face card, and the oftener this
+is done the stronger the hand, in general.  In Germany, a fourth
+face-card is sometimes added to the pack, called the Knight, or
+Chevalier.  The Italians have also in use long cards, called
+tarots, which, however, must not be confounded with the French
+cards called tarotees, with odd figures on them, and used by
+fortune-tellers.
+
+The method of making playing-cards seems to have given the first
+hint to the invention of printing, as appears from the first
+specimens of printing at Haerlem, and those in the Bodleian
+Library.
+
+'The manufacture of playing-cards comprises many interesting
+processes.  The cardboard employed for this purpose is formed of
+several thicknesses of paper pasted together; there are usually
+four such thicknesses; and the paper is so selected as to take
+paste, paint, and polish equally well.  The sheets of paper are
+pasted with a brush, and are united by successive processes of
+cold-drying, hot-drying, and hydraulic pressure.  Each sheet is
+large enough for forty cards.  The outer surfaces of the outer
+sheets are prepared with a kind of flinty coating, which gives
+sharpness to the outline of the various coloured devices.  Most
+packs of cards are now made with coloured backs.  The ground-tint
+is laid on with a brush, and consists of dis-temper colour, or
+pigments mixed with warm melted size.  The device impressed on
+this ground-tint is often very beautiful.  Messrs De la Rue, the
+leading firm in the manufacture, employ tasteful artists, and
+invest a large amount of capital in the introduction of new
+patterns.  On cards sold at moderate prices, the colours at the
+back are generally two--one for the ground, and one for the
+device; but some of the choicer specimens display several
+colours; and many of the designs are due to the pencil of Mr Owen
+Jones.  The printing of the design is done on the sheets of
+paper, before the pasting to form cardboard.  The pips or spots
+on the faces of playing-cards are now spades, clubs, hearts, and
+diamonds; but at different times, and in different countries,
+there have been leaves, acorns, bells, cups, swords, fruit,
+heads, parasols, and other objects similarly represented.  In
+English cards the colours are red and black; Messrs De la Rue
+once introduced red, black, green, and blue for the four suits;
+but the novelty was not encouraged by card-players.  The same
+makers have also endeavoured to supersede the clumsy devices of
+kings, queens, and knaves, by something more artistic; but this,
+too, failed commercially; for the old patterns, like the old
+willow-pattern dinner-plates, are still preferred--simply because
+the users have become accustomed to them.  Until within the last
+few years the printing of cards was generally done by
+stencilling, the colour being applied through perforated devices
+in a stencil-plate.  The colour employed for this purpose is
+mixed up with a kind of paste.  When there is a device at the
+back, the outline of the device is printed from an engraved wood-
+block, and the rest filled in by stencilling.  The stencilling of
+the front and back can be done either before or after the pasting
+of the sheets into cardboard.  One great improvement in the
+manufacture has been the substitution of oil colour for paste or
+size colour; and another, the substitution of printing for
+stencilling.  Messrs De la Rue have expended large sums of money
+on these novelties; for many experiments had to be made, to
+determine how best to employ oil colour so that the spots or pips
+may be equal-tinted, the outline clear and sharp, the pigment
+well adherent to the surface, and the drying such as to admit of
+polishing without stickiness.  The plates for printing are
+engraved on copper or brass, or are produced by electrotype, or
+are built up with small pieces of metal or interlaced wire.  The
+printing is done in the usual way of colour-printing, with as
+many plates as there are colours (usually five), and one for the
+outlines; it is executed on the sheets of paper, before being
+pasted into cardboard.  When the printing, drying, and pasting
+are all completed, a careful polish is effected by means of
+brush-wheels, pasteboard wheels, heated plates, and heated
+rollers; in such a way that the polish on the back may differ
+from that on the face--since it is found that too equally
+polished surfaces do not slide quite so readily over each other. 
+Formerly, every pack of cards made in England for home use paid a
+duty of one shilling, which duty was levied on the ace of spades.
+
+The maker engraved a plate for twenty aces of spades; the
+printing was done by the government at Somerset House, and L1 was
+paid by the maker for every sheet of aces so printed.  The law is
+now altered.  Card sellers pay an annual license of 2s. 6d., and
+to each pack of cards is affixed a three-pence stamp, across
+which the seller must write or stamp his name, under a penalty of
+L5 for the omission.
+
+The cardboard, when all the printing is finished, is cut up into
+cards; every card is minutely examined, and placed among the
+'Moguls,' 'Harrys,' or 'Highlanders,' as they are technically
+called, according to the degree in which they may be faultless or
+slightly specked; and the cards are finally made up into
+packs.'[64]
+
+[64] Chambers's Cyclopaedia.
+
+
+Machinery has been called into requisition in card-playing.  In
+1815 a case was tried in which part of the debt claimed was for
+an instrument to cut cards so as to give an unfair advantage to
+the person using it.  The alleged debtor had been most fortunate
+in play, winning at one time L11,000 from an officer in India. 
+For an exactly opposite reason another machine was used in 1818
+by the Bennet Street Club.  It consisted of a box curiously
+constructed for dealing cards, and was invented by an American
+officer.
+
+Another curious fact relating to cards is the duty derived from
+them.  In the year 1775 the number of packs stamped was 167,000,
+amounting to between L3000 and L4000 duty.  Lord North put on
+another sixpence.  Of course, a vast number of packs were
+smuggled in, paying no duty, as in the case of tobacco, in all
+times since its fiscal regulations.  In the time of Pitt, 1789,
+L9000 were to be raised by an additional duty of sixpence on
+cards and dice, consequently there must have been no less than
+360,000 packs of cards and pairs of dice stamped in the year
+1788, to justify the calculation--a proof that gaming in England
+was not on the decline.  In the year 1790, the duty on cards was
+two shillings per pack, and on dice thirteen shillings per pair.
+
+This duty on cards went on increasing its annual addition to the
+revenue, so that about the year 1820 the monthly payments of Mr
+Hunt alone, the card-maker of Picadilly, for the stamp-duty
+on cards, varied from L800 to L1000, that is, from L9600 to
+L12,000 per annum.  In 1833 the stamp-duty on cards was 6d., and
+it yielded L15,922, showing a consumption of 640,000 packs per
+annum.  Much of this, however, was sheer waste, on account of the
+rule of gamesters requiring a fresh pack at every game.
+
+In the Harleian Miscellany[65] will be found a satirical poem
+entitled 'The Royal Gamesters; or, the Odd Cards new shuffled for
+a Conquering Game,' referring to the political events of the
+years from 1702 to 1706, and concluding with the following
+lines--
+
+'Thus ends the game which Europe has in view,   
+Which, by the stars, may happen to be true.'
+
+[65] Vol. i. p. 177.
+
+
+In vol. iv. of the same work there is another poem of the kind,
+entitled 'The State Gamesters; or, the Old Cards new packed and
+shuffled,' which characteristically concludes as follows--
+
+'But we this resolution have laid down--   
+Never to play so high as for a Crown.'
+
+Finally, as to allusions to gaming, the reader may remember the
+famous sarcasm of the late Earl of Derby (as Lord Stanley) some
+thirty years ago, comparing the Government to Thimble-riggers in
+operation.
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+PIQUET, BASSET, FARO, HAZARD, PASSE-DIX, PUT, CROSS AND PILE,
+THIMBLE-RIG.
+
+----
+
+PIQUET
+
+Piquet is said to have derived its name from that of its
+inventor,
+who contrived it to amuse Charles VI. of France.  The game was
+played with thirty two cards, that is, discarding out of the pack
+all the deuces, treys, fours, fives, and sixes.  Regular
+piquet-packs were sold.  In reckoning up the points, every card
+counted for its value, as ten for ten, nine for nine, and so on
+down to seven, which was, of course, the lowest; but the ace
+reckoned for eleven.  All court cards reckoned for ten.  As in
+other games, the ace won the king, the king the queen, and so on,
+to the knave, which won the ten.  The cards were dealt at option
+by
+fours, threes, or twos, to the number of twelve, which was the
+hand--'discarding' being allowed; but both the dealer and he that
+led were OBLIGED to discard at least one card, let their game be
+ever so good.  When the cards were played out, each counted his
+tricks; and he that had most reckoned 10 for winning the cards;
+if the tricks were equal, neither reckoned at all.  He who,
+without playing (that is, according to the various terms of the
+game), could reckon up 30 in hand, when his antagonist reckoned
+nothing, scored 90 for them; this was called a repic; and all
+above 30 counted so many,--32 counting 92, and so on.  He who
+could make up 30, part in hand and part by play, before the other
+made anything, scored 60; this was called a pic.
+
+The game was also played as pool precisely according to the rules
+briefly sketched as above, the penalty for losing being a guinea
+to the pool.
+
+Piquet required much practice to play it well.  It became so
+great a favourite that, by the middle of the 18th century, the
+meanest people were well acquainted with it, and 'let into all
+the tricks and secrets of it, in order to render them complete
+sharpers.'  Such are the words of an old author, who adds that
+the game was liable to great imposition, and he explains the
+methods in use.  Short cards were used for cutting, as in Whist,
+at the time.  Of these cards there were two sorts, one longer
+than the rest; and the advantage gained by them was as the
+adversary managed it, by cutting the longer or broader, as best
+suited his purpose, or imposing on the dealer, when it was his
+turn, to cut those which made most against him.  The aces, kings,
+queens, and knaves were marked with dots at the corners, and in
+the very old book from which I am quoting precise directions are
+given how this marking can be effected in such a manner 'as not
+to be discovered by your ADVERSARY, and at the same time appear
+plain to YOURSELF.'  With a fine pointed pen and some clear
+spring water, players made dots upon the glazed card at the
+corners according to the above method; or they coloured the water
+with india ink, to make the marks more conspicuous.  The work
+concludes as follows:--'There are but 32 cards made use of at
+Piquet, so that just half of them will be known to you; and in
+dealing you may have an opportunity to give yourself those you
+LIKE best; and if you cannot conveniently CHANGE the PACK
+according to your desire, you will commonly KNOW what YOU are to
+TAKE IN, which is a demonstrative advantage to win any one's
+money.'
+
+Evidently they did not 'assume a virtue' in those days, 'if they
+had it not.'
+
+BASSET.
+
+The game of Basset (in French Wassette) was considered one of the
+most polite games with cards, and only fit for persons of the
+highest rank to play at, on account of the great losses or gains
+that might accrue on one side or the other.
+
+The sums of money lost in France at this game were so
+considerable that the princes of the blood were in danger of
+being undone; and after many persons of distinction were ruined
+the court of France thought fit to forbid Basset.  Then Faro was
+invented; and both were soon introduced into England, and after
+three or four years' play here, they impoverished so many
+families, that Parliament enacted a suppression of both games,
+with severe penalties.  The two games are, therefore, of
+historical interest, and deserve an explanation.
+
+Basset was a sort of lottery.  The dealer who kept the bank at
+Basset, having the sole disposal of the first and last card, and
+other considerable privileges in dealing the cards, had a much
+greater prospect of gaining than those who played.  This was a
+truth so acknowledged in France that the king, by public edict,
+ordered that the privilege of a talliere, or banker at Basset,
+should only be allowed to the 'chief cadets,' or sons of
+noblemen--supposing that whoever kept the bank must, in a very
+short time, acquire a considerable fortune.
+
+In this game there was:  1. The Talliere, the banker, who laid
+down a sum of money to answer every winning card which might turn
+up.  2. The Croupiere, the assistant of the former, standing by
+to supervise the losing cards,--so that when there were many at
+play he might not lose by overlooking anything which might turn
+up to his profit.  3. The Punter, or every player.  4. The Fasse,
+that is, the first card turned up by the talliere, by which he
+gained half the value of the money laid upon every card of THAT
+SORT by the punters or players.  5. The Couch, which was the
+first stake that every punter laid upon each card-- every player
+having a book of 13 cards before him, upon which he must lay his
+money, more or less, according to his fancy.  6. The Paroli: in
+this, whoever won the couch, and intended to go on for another
+advantage, crooked the corner of his card, letting his money lie,
+without being paid the value by the talliere.  7. The Masse,
+which was, when those who had won the couch, would venture more
+money on the SAME card.  8. The Pay, which was when the player
+had won the couch, and, being doubtful of making the paroli, left
+off; for by going the pay, if the card turned up wrong, he lost
+nothing, having won the couch before; but if by this adventure
+fortune favoured him, he won double the money he had staked.  9.
+The Alpieu was when the couch was won by turning up, or crooking,
+the corner of the winning card.  10. The Sept-et-le-va was the
+first great chance that showed the advantages of the game,
+namely, if the player had won the couch, and then made a paroli
+by crooking the corner of his card, and going on to a SECOND
+chance, if his winning card turned up again it became a
+sept-et-le-va, which was seven times as much as he had laid upon
+his card.  11. Quinze-et-le-va, was attending the player's
+humour, who, perhaps, was resolved to follow his fancy, and still
+lay his money upon the SAME card, which was done by crooking the
+third corner of his card: if this card came up by the dealing of
+the talliere, it made him win fifteen times as much money as he
+staked.  12. Trent-et-le-va was marked by the lucky player by
+crooking the end of the fourth corner of his card, which, coming
+up, made him win thirty-three times as much money as he staked. 
+13. Soissante-et-le-va was the highest chance that could happen
+in the game, for it paid sixty-seven times as much money as was
+staked.  It was seldom won except by some player who resolved to
+push his good fortune to the utmost.
+
+The players sat round a table, the talliere in the midst of them,
+with the bank of gold before him, and the punters or players each
+having a book of 13 cards, laying down one, two, three, or more,
+as they pleased, with money upon them, as stakes; then the
+talliere took the pack in his hand and turned them up--the bottom
+card appearing being called the fasse; he then paid half the
+value of the stakes laid down by the punters upon any card of
+THAT SORT.
+
+After the fasse was turned up, and the talliere and croupiere had
+looked round the cards on the table, and taken advantage of the
+money laid on them, the former proceeded with his deal; and the
+next card appearing, whether the king, queen, ace, or whatever it
+might be, won for the player, the latter might receive it, or
+making paroli, as before said, go on to sept-et-le-va.  The card
+after that won for the talliere, who took money from each
+player's card of that sort, and brought it into his
+bank--obviously a prodigious advantage in the talliere over the
+players.
+
+The talliere, if the winning card was a king, and the next after
+it was a ten, said (showing the cards all round), 'King wins, ten
+loses,' paying the money to such cards as are of the winning
+sort, and taking the money from those who lost, added it to his
+bank.  This done, he went on with the deal, it might be after
+this fashion--'Ace wins, five loses; ' 'Knave wins, seven loses;'
+and so on, every other card alternately winning and losing, till
+all the pack was dealt but the last card.
+
+The LAST card turned up was, by the rules of the game, for the
+advantage of the talliere; although a player might have one of
+the same sort, still it was allowed to him as one of the dues of
+his office, and he paid nothing on it.
+
+The bold player who was lucky and adventurous, and could push on
+his couch with a considerable stake to sept-et-le-va, quinze-
+et-le-va, trente-et-le-va, &c., must in a wonderful manner have
+multiplied his couch, or first stake; but this was seldom done;
+and the loss of the players, by the very nature of the game,
+invariably exceeded that of the bank; in fact, this game was
+altogether in favour of the bank; and yet it is evident that--in
+spite of this obvious conviction--the game must have been one of
+the most tempting and fascinating that was ever invented.
+
+Our English adventurers made this game very different to what it
+was in France, for there, by royal edict, the public at large
+were not allowed to play at more than a franc or ten-penny
+bank,--and the losses or gains could not bring desolation to a
+family; but in England our punters could do as they liked--
+staking from one guinea to one hundred guineas and more, upon a
+card, 'as was often seen at court,' says the old author, my
+informant.  When the couch was alpieued, parolied, to sept-
+et-le-va, quinze-et-le-va, trente-et-le-va, &c., the punter's
+gains were prodigious, miraculous; and if fortune befriended him
+so as to bring his stake to soissante-et-le-va, he was very
+likely to break the bank, by gaining a sum which no talliere
+could pay after such tremendous multiplication.  But this rarely
+happened.  The general advantage was with the bank--as must be
+quite evident from the explanation of the game--besides the
+standing rule that no two cards of the same sort turning up could
+win for the players; the second always won for the bank.  In
+addition to this there were other 'privileges' which operated
+vastly in favour of the banker.
+
+However, it was 'of so bewitching a nature,' says our old writer,
+'by reason of the several multiplications and advantages which it
+seemingly offered to the unwary punter, that a great many like it
+so well that they would play at small game rather than give out;
+and rather than not play at all would punt at six-penny,
+three-penny, nay, a twopenny bank,--so much did the hope of
+winning the quinze-et-le-va and the trente-et-le-va intoxicate
+them.'
+
+Of course there were frauds practised at Basset by the talliere,
+or banker, in addition to his prescriptive advantages.  The cards
+might be dealt so as not to allow the punter any winning
+throughout the pack; and it was in the power of the dealer to let
+the punter have as many winnings as he thought convenient, and no
+more!
+
+It is said that Basset was invented by a noble Venetian, who was
+punished with exile for the contrivance.  The game was prohibited
+by Louis XIV., in 1691, and soon after fell into oblivion in
+France, although flourishing in England.  It was also called
+Barbacole and Hocca.
+
+FARO, OR PHARAOH.
+
+Although both Basset and Faro were forbidden in France, on severe
+penalties, yet these games still continued in great vogue in
+England during the 18th century, especially Faro; for the alleged
+reasons that it was easy to learn, that it appeared to be very
+fair, and, lastly, that it was a very quiet game.  It was,
+however, the most dangerous game for the destruction of families
+ever invented.  The Faro bankers seem to have employed some
+'gentlemen' to give a very favourable report of the game to the
+town, and so every one took it upon trust without further
+inquiry.  Faro was the daughter of Basset--both alike notorious
+frauds, there being no one, except professed gamblers, who could
+be said to understand the secrets of these games.
+
+Faro was played with an entire pack of cards, and admitted of an
+indeterminate number of players, termed 'punters,' and a
+'banker.'  Each player laid his stake on one of the 52 cards. 
+The banker held a similar pack, from which he drew cards, one for
+himself, placed on the right, and the other, called the carte
+anglaise, or English card, for the players, placed on the left. 
+The banker won all the money staked on the card on the right, and
+had to pay double the sums staked on those on the left.  Certain
+advantages were reserved to the banker:--if he drew a doublet,
+that is, two equal cards, he won half of the stakes upon the card
+which equalled the doublet; if he drew for the players the last
+card of the pack, he was exempt from doubling the stakes
+deposited on that card.
+
+Suppose a person to put down 20s. upon a card when only eight are
+in hand; the last card was a cipher, so there were four places to
+lose, and only three to win, the odds against being as 4 to 3. 
+If 10 cards only were in, then it was 5 to 4 against the player;
+in the former case it was the seventh part of the money, whatever
+it was, L1 or L100; in the latter case, a ninth.  The odds from
+the beginning of the deal insensibly stole upon the player at
+every pull, till from the first supposed 4 per cent. it became
+about 15 per cent.
+
+At the middle of the 18th century the expenses of a Faro bank, in
+all its items of servants, rent, puffs, and other incidental
+charges of candles, wine, arrack-punch, suppers, and safeguard
+money, &c., in Covent Garden, amounted to L1000 per annum. 
+Throughout this century Faro was the favourite game.  'Our life
+here,' writes Gilly Williams to George Selwyn in 1752, 'would not
+displease you, for we eat and drink well, and the Earl of
+Coventry holds a Pharaoh-bank every night to us, which we have
+plundered considerably.'  Charles James Fox preferred Faro to any
+other game.
+
+HAZARD.
+
+This game was properly so called; for it made a man or undid him
+in the twinkling of an eye.
+
+It is played with only two dice; 20 persons may be engaged, or as
+many as will.  The chief things in the game are the Main and the
+Chance.  The chance is the caster's and the main is the setter's.
+
+There can be no main thrown above 9, nor under 5; so that 5, 6,
+7, 8, and 9 are all the mains which are flung at Hazard.  Chances
+and nicks are from 4 to 10.  Thus 4 is a chance to 9, 5 to 8, 6
+to 7, 7 to 6, 8 to 5, and 9 and 10 a chance to 5, 6, 7, and 8; in
+short, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10 are chances to any main, if any
+of these 'nick' it not.
+
+Nicks are either when the chance is the same with the main, as 5
+and 5, 6 and 6, 7 and 7, and so on; or 6 and 12, 7 and 11, 8 and
+12, where observe, that 12 is out to 9, 7, and 5, and 11 is out
+to 9, 8, 6, and 5.
+
+The better to illustrate the game we shall give an example.  Let
+7 be the main named.  The caster throws 5, and that is his
+chance; and so he has 5 to 7.  If the caster throws his own
+chance he wins all the money set to him by the setter; but if he
+throws 7, which is the main, he must pay as much money as is on
+the table.
+
+If, again, 7 be the main, and the caster throws 11, that is a
+nick, and sweeps away all the money on the table; but if he
+throws a chance he must wait which will come first.
+
+The worst chances in the game are 4 to 10, and 7 is considered
+the best and easiest main to be thrown.  It might be thought that
+6 and 8 should admit of no difference in advantage to 7, but it
+is just the reverse, although 6, 7, and 8 have eight equal
+chances.
+
+For 6, or sice, we have quatre-duce, cinque-ace, and two treys;
+for 8, we have sice-duce, cinque-trey, and two quatres; but the
+disadvantage is in the doublets required-- two treys, two
+quatres; therefore sice-duce is easier thrown than two quatres,
+and so, consequently, cinque-ace or quatre-duce sooner than two
+treys.
+
+'I saw an old rook (gambler),' says the writer before quoted,
+'take up a young fellow in a tavern upon this very bet.  The
+bargain was made that the rook should have seven always, and the
+young gentleman six, and throw continually.  To play they went;
+the rook won the first day L10, and the next day the like sum;
+and so for six days together, in all L60.  Notwithstanding the
+gentleman, I am confident, had fair dice, and threw them always
+himself.  And further to confirm what I alleged before, not only
+this gamester, but many more have told me that they desired no
+greater advantage than this bet of 7 to 6.  But it is the opinion
+of most that at the first throw the caster hath the worst of it.
+
+'Hazard is certainly the most bewitching game that is played with
+dice; for when a man begins to play, he knows not when to leave
+off; and having once accustomed himself to it, he hardly ever
+after minds anything else.'[66]
+
+[66] The Compleat Gamester, by Richard Seymour, Esq. 1739.
+
+
+As this game is of a somewhat complicated character, another
+account of it, which appeared in the Pall Mall Gazette for Sept.
+3, 1869, may not be unacceptable.
+
+'The players assemble round a circular table, a space being
+reserved for the "groom-porter," who occupies a somewhat elevated
+position, and whose duty it is to call the odds and see that the
+game is played correctly.  Whoever takes the box and dice places
+in the centre of the table as much money as he wishes to risk,
+which is at once covered with an equal amount either by some
+individual speculator, or by the contributions of several.  The
+player (technically called the "caster") then proceeds to call a
+"main."  There are five mains on the dice, namely, 5, 6, 7, 8,
+and 9; of these he mentally selects that one which either chance
+or superstition may suggest, calls it aloud, shakes the box, and
+delivers the dice.  If he throws the exact number he called, he
+"nicks" it and wins; if he throws any other number (with a few
+exceptions, which will be mentioned), he neither wins nor loses. 
+The number, however, which he thus throws becomes his "chance,"
+and if he can succeed in repeating it before he throws what was
+his main, he wins; if not, he loses.  In other words, having
+completely failed to throw his main in the first instance, he
+should lose, but does not in consequence of the equitable
+interference of his newly-made acquaintance, which constitutes
+itself his chance.  For example, suppose the caster "sets"--that
+is, places on the table--a stake of L10, and it is covered by an
+equal amount, and he then calls 7 as his main and throws 5; the
+groom-porter at once calls aloud, "5 to 7"-- that means, 5 is the
+number to win and 7 the number to lose, and the player continues
+throwing until the event is determined by the turning up of
+either the main or the chance.  During this time, however, a most
+important feature in the game comes into operation--the laying
+and taking of the odds caused by the relative proportions of the
+main and the chance.  These, as has been said, are calculated
+with mathematical nicety, are proclaimed by the groom-porter, and
+are never varied.  In the above instance, as the caster stands to
+win with 5 and to lose with 7, the odds are declared to be 3 to 2
+against him, inasmuch as there are three ways of throwing 7, and
+only two of throwing 5.  As soon as the odds are declared, the
+caster may increase his stake by any sum he wishes, and the other
+players may cover it by putting down (in this instance)
+two-thirds of the amount, the masse, or entire sum, to await the
+turning up of either main or chance.  If a player "throws out"
+three times in succession, the box passes to the next person on
+his left, who at once takes up the play.  He may, however, "throw
+in" without interruption, and if he can do so some half-dozen
+times and back his luck, the gains will be enormous.
+
+'The choice of a main is quite optional: many prefer 7 because
+they may make a coup at once by throwing that number or by
+throwing 11, which is a "nick" to 7, but to 7 only.  Shrewd
+players, however, prefer some other main, with the view of having
+a more favourable chance to depend upon of winning both stake and
+odds.  For example, let us reverse what was mentioned above, and
+suppose the caster to call 5 and throw 7; he then will have 7 as
+his chance to win with odds of 3 to 2 IN HIS FAVOUR.
+
+'Such is the game of English Hazard, at which large fortunes have
+been won and lost.  It is exceedingly simple, and at times can
+become painfully interesting.  Cheating is impossible, unless
+with loaded dice, which have been used and detected by their
+splitting in two, but never, perhaps, unless at some disreputable
+silver hell.  The mode of remunerating the owner of the rooms was
+a popular one.  The loser never paid, and the winner only when he
+succeeded in throwing three mains in succession; and even then
+the "box fee," as it was called, was limited to 5s.--a mere
+trifle from what he must have gained.  In French Hazard a bank is
+constituted at a board of green cloth, and the proceedings are
+carried on in a more subdued and regular mode than is the case in
+the rough-and-ready English game.  Every stake that is "set" is
+covered by the bank, so that the player runs no risk of losing a
+large amount, when, if successful, he may win but a trifling one;
+but en revanche, the scale of odds is so altered as to put the
+double zero of roulette and the "aprez" of Rouge et Noir to the
+blush, and to operate most predjudicially to the player.  In no
+case is an equal rate of odds between main and chance laid by the
+French "banquier," as is insisted on by the English groomporter;
+while again "direct nicks" alone are recognized by the former. 
+Very extraordinary runs of luck have occurred at Hazard, one
+player sometimes throwing five, seven, and even eleven mains in a
+single hand.  In such cases as these the peculiar feature in the
+French game becomes valuable, the bank being prepared to pay all
+winnings, while, generally speaking, a hand of six or seven mains
+at English Hazard would exhaust all the funds of the players, and
+leave the caster in the position of "setting the table" and
+finding the stakes totally unnoticed or only partially covered.
+
+'In addition to the fixed rules of English Hazard, there are
+several regulations which require to be observed.  The round
+table on which it is played has a deeply bevelled edge, which is
+intended to prevent the dice from landing on the floor, which
+would be no throw.  Again, if either die after having left the
+box should strike any object on the table (such as a man's elbow
+or stick) except MONEY, it would be called no throw.  Again, each
+player has the privilege of "calling dice," even when the dice
+are in transitu, which, if done, renders the throw void, and
+causes another set to be handed to the caster by the groom-
+porter.  Many a lucky coup has become manque by some captious
+player exercising this privilege, and many an angry rencontre has
+ensued between the officious meddler and the disappointed caster,
+who finds that he has nicked his main to no advantage.  Sometimes
+one die remains in the box after the other has been landed; then
+the caster may either throw it quickly, or may tantalize those
+interested in the event by gently coaxing it from the bow.  If
+one die lands on the top of another, it is removed by the
+groom-porter and declared a throw.
+
+'Some thirty years ago English Hazard was a favourite game in
+Ireland, and Dublin could boast of three or four hells doing a
+brisk trade.  The most frequented and longest established was
+called "The Coal Hole," being situated on the coal quay.  Here,
+at any hour after midnight, a motley company might be seen, each
+individual, however, well known to the porter, who jealously
+scanned his features before drawing back the noiseless bolts
+which secured the door.  The professional gambler trying to live
+by his winnings, the fashionable swell finishing his round of
+excitement, the struggling tradesman hoping to avert impending
+bankruptcy, the prize-fighter, and, more conspicuous than any,
+the keen-eyed usurer with his roll of notes and sheaf of bill
+stamps, were to be found there.  Many strange scenes have
+occurred in this house, some followed by tragic consequences too
+painful to relate, others ridiculous and amusing.  Here it was
+that an angry caster, having lost his last sovereign and his
+temper, also placed his black hat in the centre of the table,
+swore that it was white, and finding no one disposed to dispute
+his accuracy, flung himself from the room, and enabled the next
+player who had won so largely and smiled so good-humouredly to
+take the box in turn.  But fortune deserted him also, and left
+him penniless, when, glaring savagely round the room, and
+striking the table violently, he thundered forth the inquiry,
+"Where was the rascal who said his hat was white?"  It was here
+also (although the venue has been changed by story-mongers) that
+a well-known frequenter of the house, a sporting M.P., on one
+occasion dropped on the 'door or in the passage a bank-note
+without discovering his loss till he had reached home.  On the
+next evening he returned to inquire for it in a forlorn-hope
+spirit, when the following conversation took place between him
+and the porter:--
+
+"M.P.  I think, Simpson, I dropped a note here last night--did
+you see it?
+
+"Porter.  Shure, then, mony a note was dropped here beside yours.
+
+"M. P.  Ah! but I mean out of my pocket.  I did not lose it at
+play.  It was for L20, one of Ball's Bank, and very old."
+
+'Hereupon the porter brought the senator into a corner, fumbled
+the note out of his fob, and, placing it in his hands, whispered,
+"Shure, I know it's yours, and here it is; but (looking
+cautiously round) wasn't it lucky that none of the jintlemin
+found it?"
+
+'Another establishment much patronized in those days was in
+Nassau Street, where early in the evening unlimited Loo, never
+under "three and three," sometimes "six and six," might be
+indulged in, while a little later Roulette formed the attraction
+of an adjacent room, and still later at night all flocked down-
+stairs to the hot supper and rattling English Hazard.  For one or
+two seasons St Stephen's Green lent one of its lordly mansions,
+formerly the residence of a cruel and witty Lord Chief Justice,
+to the votaries of fortune; here everything was done in grand
+style, with gilded saloons, obsequious waiters, and champagne
+suppers.  All this has long since become matter of the past, and
+it would now puzzle the keenest detective to find the trace even
+of a silver hell in the Irish capital.  No one will be hardy
+enough to defend the vice of gambling, but some have argued, and
+not without truth, that if a man will play it is far better for
+him to indulge the propensity at Hombourg or Baden, where he
+cannot lose more money than he has with him, than to do so in the
+cozy club-room of a private "salon," where indulgent friends may
+tempt him to become bankrupt not only in fortune but in
+reputation.'
+
+Passing over other less important games, called Biribi, and Kraps
+(played with dice), we come to Passe-Dix, which seems to demand
+some notice.
+
+PASSE-DIX.
+
+This game, considered the most ancient of all games of chance, is
+said to have actually been made use of by the executioners at the
+crucifixion of our Saviour, when they 'parted his garments,
+casting lots,' Matt. xxvii. 35.
+
+It is played with three dice.  There is always a banker, and the
+number of players is unlimited.  Each gamester holds the box by
+turns, and the other players follow his chance; every time he
+throws a point UNDER ten he, as well as the other players, loses
+the entire stakes, which go to the banker.  Every time he throws
+a point ABOVE ten (or PASSES TEN--whence the name of the game),
+the banker must double the player's stakes and the stakes of all
+those who have risked their money on the same chance.  When the
+game is played by many together, each gamester is banker in his
+turn.
+
+PUT.
+
+This was and doubtless still is the special card-game of our
+London sharpers.  Many of these are men who have run through a
+fortune in the early part of their lives, by associating with
+gamblers and sharpers, set up for themselves, set honour and
+conscience at defiance, become blacklegs, and are scouted out of
+even the gambler's company; and, as a last resource, are obliged
+to resort to low pot-houses, robbing the poorest and most
+ignorant of society.
+
+Behind the dupe there stood a confederate sharper, looking over
+the novice's hand, and telling his opponent, by his fingers, what
+cards he holds--hence he was said to work the telegraph, of which
+more in the sequel.  Another confederate plied the novice with
+drink.
+
+'The game of Put is played with an entire pack of cards,
+generally by two, and sometimes by four persons.  At this game
+the cards rank differently from all others; a trey being the
+best, then a two, then an ace, then the king, queen, &c.  The
+game consists of five points.  The parties cut for deal, as in
+Whist.  The deal is made by giving three cards, one at a time, to
+each player.  The non-dealer then examines his cards, and if he
+thinks them bad, he is at liberty to PUT them upon the pack, and
+his adversary scores one point to his game.  This, however,
+should never be done.  Either party saying--"I put," that is, I
+play, cannot retract, but must abide the event of the game, or
+pay the stakes.
+
+'The THREE being the best card, if the sharper can make certain
+of having a three every time his opponent deals, he must have
+considerably the best of the game; and this is effected as
+follows:--the sharper places a three underneath an old gentleman
+(a card somewhat larger and thicker than the rest of the pack),
+and it does not signify how much his opponent shuffles the pack,
+it is about five to one that he does not disturb the OLD
+GENTLEMAN or the three.  The sharper then cuts the cards, which
+he does by feeling for the old gentleman; the three being then
+the top card, it is dealt to the sharper by his opponent.  That
+is one way of securing a three, and this alone is quite
+sufficient to make a certainty of winning.'[67]
+
+[67] Doings in London.
+
+
+CROSS AND PILE.
+
+Cross and Pile, so called because anciently English coins were
+stamped on one side with a cross, now bears the names, Head and
+Tail, and is a pastime well known among the lowest and most
+vulgar classes of the community, and to whom it is now confined;
+formerly, however, it held a higher rank and was introduced at
+Court.  Edward II. was partial to this and other frivolous
+diversions, and spent much of his time in the pursuit of them. 
+In one of his wardrobe 'rolls,' or accounts, we find the
+following entries--'Item, paid to Henry, the king's barber, for
+money which he lent to the king to play at Cross and Pile, five
+shillings.  Item, paid to Pires Bernard, usher of the king's
+chamber, money which he lent the king, and which he lost at Cross
+and Pile; to Monsieur Robert Wartewille, eight- pence.'
+
+A half-penny is now generally used in playing this game; but any
+other coin with a head impressed will answer the purpose.  One
+person tosses the half-penny up and the other cries at pleasure
+HEAD or TAIL, and loses according to the result.
+
+Cross and Pile is evidently derived from the Greek pastime called
+Ostra Kinda, played by the boys of ancient Greece.  Having
+procured a shell, they smeared it over with pitch on one side and
+left the other side white.  A boy tossed up this shell, and his
+antagonist called white or black,[68] as he thought proper, and
+his success was determined by the white or black part of the
+shell being uppermost.
+
+[68] In the Greek, nux kai hmera, that is, 'night and day.'
+
+
+It is the favourite game of the boys of London and the vicinity,
+now, however, considerably, if not entirely, discontinued through
+the vigilance of the police and the severity of the magistrates. 
+Not long ago, however, I witnessed a sad and striking scene of it
+at Twickenham.  It was on a Sunday morning.  Several boys
+surrounded two players, one of the latter being about 14 years of
+age, well dressed, and the other of about 10 years, all in
+tatters and shoeless.  The younger urchin had a long run of good
+luck, whereat his antagonist exhibited much annoyance, swearing
+intemperately.  At length, however, his luck changed in turn, and
+he went on winning until the former refused to play any longer,
+saying--'There, you've got back all I won from you.'  The bigger
+boy became enraged at this refusal to continue the play, and
+seemed inclined to resort to fisticuff, but I interposed and put
+a stop to the affray.  I then questioned the elder boy, and
+gathered from him that he played as often as he could, sometimes
+winning or losing from eight to ten shillings.  'And do you
+generally win? was my next question.'  'No, sir,' he replied, 'I
+oftener lose.'  I shuddered to conjecture what would be the
+future of this boy.  The word of warning I gave him was received
+with a shrug of the shoulder, and he walked off with the greatest
+unconcern.
+
+THIMBLE-RIG.
+
+All races, fairs, and other such conglomerations of those whom
+Heaven had blessed with more money than wit, used to be
+frequented by minor members of 'The Fancy,' who are technically
+called flat-catchers, and who picked up a very pretty living by a
+quick hand, a rattling tongue, a deal board, three thimbles, and
+a pepper-corn.  The game they played with these three curious
+articles is a sort of Lilliputian game at cups and balls; and the
+beauty of it lies in dexterously seeming to place the pepper-corn
+under one particular thimble, getting a green to bet that it was
+there, and then winning his money by showing that it is not. 
+Every operator at this game was attended by certain of his
+friends called eggers and bonnetters--the eggers to 'egg' on the
+green ones to bet, by betting themselves; and the bonnetters to
+'bonnet' any green one who might happen to win-- that is to say,
+to knock his hat over his eyes, whilst the operator and the
+others bolted with the stakes.
+
+Some years ago a curious case was tried, exemplifying the mode of
+procedure.  A Frenchman, M. Panchaud, was at Ascot Races, and he
+there saw the defendant and several other 'gentlemen' betting
+away, and apparently winning 'lots of sovereigns,' at one of
+these same thimble-rigs.  'Try your luck, gentlemen,' cried the
+operator; 'I'll bet any gentleman anything, from half-a-crown to
+five sovereigns, that he doesn't name the thimble as covers the
+corn!'  M. Panchaud betted half-a-crown--won it; betted a
+sovereign--won it; betted a second sovereign--LOST it.  'Try your
+luck, gentlemen!' cried the operator again, shifting his thimbles
+and pepper-corn about the board, here and there and everywhere in
+a moment; and this done, he offered M. Panchaud a bet of five
+sovereigns that he could not 'name the thimble what covered the
+corn.'  'Bet him!  Bet him!  Why don't you bet him?' said the
+defendant (a landlord), nudging M. Panchaud on the elbow; and M.
+Panchaud, convinced in his 'own breast' that he knew the right
+thimble, said--'I shall betta you five sovereign if you will not
+touch de timbles again till I name.'  'Done!' cried the operator;
+and M. Panchaud was DONE-- for, laying down his L10 note, it was
+caught up by SOMEBODY, the board was upset, the operator and his
+friends vanished 'like a flash of lightning,' and M. Panchaud was
+left full of amazement, but with empty pockets, with the
+defendant standing by his side.  'They are a set of rascals!'
+said the defendant; 'but don't fret, my fine fellow!  I'll take
+you to somebody that shall soon get your money again; and so
+saying he led him off in a direction thus described in court by
+the fleeced Frenchman.--'You tooke me the WRONG way!  The thieves
+ran one way, and you took me the other, you know, ahah!  You know
+what you are about--you took me the WRONG WAY--ahah!'
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+COCK-FIGHTING.
+
+Cock-fighting is a practice of high antiquity, like many other
+detestable and abominable things that still cling to our social
+fabric.  It was much in vogue in Greece and the adjacent isles. 
+There was an annual festival at Athens called 'The Cock-
+fighting,' instituted by Themistocles at the end of the Persian
+war, under the following circumstances.  When Themistocles was
+leading his army against the Persians, he saw some cocks
+fighting; he halted his troops, looked on, and said:--'These
+animals fight neither for the gods of their country, nor for the
+monuments of their ancestors, nor for glory, nor for freedom, nor
+for their children, but for the sake of victory, and in order
+that one may not yield to the other;' and from this topic he
+inspirited the Athenians.  After his victorious return, as an act
+of gratitude for this accidental occasion of inspiring his troops
+with courage, he instituted the above festival, 'in order that
+what was an incitement to valour at that time might be
+perpetuated as an encouragement to the like bravery hereafter.' 
+One cannot help smiling at these naive stories of the ancients to
+account for their mightiest results.  Only think of any modern
+warrior halting his troops to make use of a cock-fight for the
+purpose of inspiriting them to victory!
+
+On one occasion during the Peninsular war, when an important
+point was to be carried by assault, the officers were required to
+say something encouraging to their men, in order to brace them up
+for the encounter; but whilst the majority of the former recalled
+the remembrance of previous victories, an Irish captain contented
+himself with exclaiming--'Now, my lads, you see those fellows up
+there.  Well, if you don't kill THEM, SHURE they'll kill YOU. 
+That's all!'  Struck with the comic originality of this address,
+the men rushed forward with a laugh and a shout, carrying all
+before them.
+
+Among the ancient Greeks the cock was sacred to Apollo, Mercury,
+and aesculapius, on account of his vigilance, inferred from his
+early rising--the natural consequence of his 'early to bed'--and
+also to Mars, on account of his magnanimous and daring spirit.
+
+It seems, then, that at first cock-fighting was partly a
+religious, and partly a political, institution at Athens; and was
+there continued--according to the above legend--for the purpose
+of cherishing the seeds of valour in the minds of youth; but that
+it was afterwards abused and perverted, both there and in other
+parts of Greece, by being made a common pastime, and applied to
+the purpose of gambling just as it was (and is still secretly)
+practised in England.  An Attic law ran as follows--'Let cocks
+fight publicly in the theatre one day in the year.'[69]
+
+[69] Pegge, in Archoeologia, quoting aelian, Columella, &c.
+
+
+As to cock-fighting at Rome, Pegge, in the same work, gives his
+opinion, that it was not customary there till very late; but that
+quails were more pitted against each other for gambling purposes
+than cocks.  This opinion seems confirmed by the thankfulness
+expressed by the good Antoninus--'that he had imbibed such
+dispositions from his preceptor, as had prevented him from
+breeding quails for the fight.'
+
+'One cannot but regret,' wrote Pegge in 1775, 'that a creature so
+useful and so noble as the cock should be so enormously abused by
+us.  It is true the massacre of Shrove Tuesday seems in a
+declining way, and in a few years, it is to be hoped, will be
+totally disused; but the cock-pit still continues a reproach to
+the humanity of Englishmen.  It is unknown to me when the pitched
+battle first entered England; but it was probably brought hither
+by the Romans.  The bird was here before Caesar's arrival; but no
+notice of his fighting has occurred to me earlier than the time
+of William Fitz-Stephen, who wrote the Life of Archbishop Becket,
+some time in the reign of Henry II.  William describes the
+cocking as the sport of school-boys on Shrove Tuesday.  "Every
+year, on the day which is called Carnelevaria (Carnival)--to
+begin with the sports of the London boys,--for we have all been
+boys--all the boys are wont to carry to their schoolmaster their
+fighting-cocks, and the whole of the forenoon is made a holiday
+for the boys to see the fights of their cocks in their
+schoolrooms."  The theatre, it seems, was their school, and the
+master was the controller and director of the sport.  From this
+time at least the diversion, however absurd, and even impious,
+was continued among us.'
+
+'Although disapproved of by many, and prohibited by law, cock-
+fighting continued in vogue, patronized even by royalty, and
+commonly called "the royal diversion."  St James's Park, which,
+in the time of Henry VIII., belonged to the Abbot of Westminster,
+was bought by that monarch and converted into a park, a tennis
+court, and a cockpit, which was situated where Downing Street now
+is.  The park was approached by two noble gates, and until the
+year 1708 the Cock-pit Gate, which opened into the court where
+Queen Anne lived, was standing.  It was surmounted with lofty
+towers and battlements, and had a portcullis, and many rich
+decorations.  Westminster Gate, the other entrance, was designed
+by Hans Holbein, and some foreign architect doubtless erected the
+Cockpit Gate.  The scene of the cruel diversion of cock-fighting
+was, however, obliterated before Anne's time, and the palace,
+which was a large range of apartments and offices reaching to the
+river, extended over that space.'[69]
+
+[69] Wharton, Queens of Society.
+
+
+Cock-fighting was the favourite amusement of James I., in whose
+reign there were cock-pits in St James's Park, Drury Lane, Tufton
+Street, Shoe Lane, and Jermyn Street.  There was a cock-pit in
+Whitehall, erected for the more magnificent exhibition of the
+sport; and the present room in Westminster in which her Majesty's
+Privy Council hold their sittings, is called the Cock-pit, from
+its being the site of the veritable arena of old.
+
+Cock-fighting was prohibited by one of Oliver's acts in 1654; but
+with the return of Charles and his profligacy, the sport again
+flourished in England.  Pepys often alludes to it in his 'Diary.'
+
+Thus, Dec. 21, 1663, he writes:--
+
+'To Shoe Lane, to see a cocke-fighting at a new pit there, a spot
+I was never at in my life; but, Lord! to see the strange variety
+of people, from Parliament man, by name Wildes, that was Deputy-
+Governor of the Tower when Robinson was Lord Mayor, to the
+poorest 'prentices, bakers, brewers, butchers, draymen, and what
+not; and all these fellows one with another cursing and betting. 
+I soon had enough of it.  It is strange to see how people of this
+poor rank, that look as if they had not bread to put in their
+mouths, shall bet three or four pounds at a time, and lose it,
+and yet bet as much the next battle; so that one of them will
+lose L10 or L20 at a meeting.'
+
+Again, April 6, 1668:--
+
+'I to the new Cocke-pit by the king's gate, and there saw the
+manner of it, and the mixed rabble of people that came thither,
+and saw two battles of cockes, wherein is no great sport; but
+only to consider how these creatures, without any provocation, do
+fight and kill one another, and aim only at one another's heads!'
+
+Up to the middle of the 18th century cock-fighting was 'all the
+rage' in England.  'Cocking,' says a writer of the time, 'is a
+sport or pastime so full of delight and pleasure, that I know not
+any game in that respect which is to be preferred before it.'
+
+The training of the pugnacious bird had now become a sort of art,
+and this is as curious as anything about the old 'royal
+diversion.'  A few extracts from a treatise on the subject may be
+interesting as leaves from the book of manners and customs of the
+good old times.
+
+The most minute details are given as to the selection of
+fighting-cocks, the breeding of game cocks, and 'the dieting and
+ordering a cock for battle.'  Under this last head we read:--'In
+the morning take him out of the pen, and let him spar a while
+with another cock.  Sparring is after this manner.  Cover each of
+your cock's heels with a pair of hots made of bombasted rolls of
+leather, so covering the spurs that they cannot bruise or wound
+one another, and so setting them down on straw in a room, or
+green grass abroad; let them fight a good while, but by no means
+suffer them to draw blood of one another.  The benefit that
+accrues hereby is this: it heateth and chafeth their bodies, and
+it breaketh the fat and glut that is within them.  Having sparred
+as much as is sufficient, which you may know when you see them
+pant and grow weary, then take them up, and, taking off their
+hots, give them a diaphoretic or sweating, after this manner. 
+You must put them in deep straw- baskets, made for this purpose,
+and fill these with straw half way, then put in your cocks
+severally, and cover them over with straw to the top; then shut
+down the lids, and let them sweat; but don't forget to give them
+first some white sugar-candy, chopped rosemary, and butter,
+mingled and incorporated together.  Let the quantity be about the
+bigness of a walnut; by so doing you will cleanse him of his
+grease, increase his strength, and prolong his breath.  Towards
+four or five o'clock in the evening take them out of their
+stoves, and, having licked their eyes and head with your tongue,
+and put them into their pens, and having filled their throats
+with square-cut manchet, **** therein, and let them feed whilst
+the****is hot; for this will cause their scouring to work, and
+will wonderfully cleanse both head and body.'
+
+Was ever poor animal subjected to such indignity?  The
+preparation of the other animal, the jockey, is nothing to it. 
+But, to continue:--
+
+'The second day after his sparring, take your cock into a fair
+green close, and, having a dunghill cock in your arms, show it
+him, and then run from him, that thereby you may entice him to
+follow, permitting him to have now and then a blow, and thus
+chafe him up and down about half an hour; when he begins to pant,
+being well-heated, take him up and carry him home, and give him
+this scouring, &c.'
+
+This training continued for six weeks, which was considered a
+sufficient time for 'ordering a cock for the battle;' and then,
+after the 'matching,' came the last preparation of the poor biped
+for the terrible fight in which he would certainly be either
+killed or kill his antagonist, if both were not doomed to bite
+the dust.  This consisted in the following disfigurement of the
+beautiful creature:--
+
+'With a pair of fine cock-shears cut all his mane off close into
+his neck from the head to the setting on of the shoulders:
+secondly, clip off all the feathers from the tail close to his
+rump; the redder it appears the better is the cock in condition:
+thirdly, take his wings and spread them forth by the length of
+the first rising feather, and clip the rest slope-wise with sharp
+points, that in his rising he may therewith endanger the eye of
+his adversary; fourthly, scrape, smooth, and sharpen his spurs
+with a pen-knife; fifthly, and lastly, see that there be no
+feathers on the crown of his head for his adversary to take hold
+of; then, with your spittle moistening his head all over, turn
+him into the pit TO MOVE TO HIS FORTUNE.'
+
+I should, perhaps, state that, instead of the natural spurs, long
+artificial ones of well-tempered steel were fixed to the cock's
+heels in later times, and these were frequently driven into the
+body of his antagonist with such vigour that the two cocks were
+spitted together, and had to be separated.
+
+The dreadful fight having come off, the following was the
+treatment prescribed for the fortunate conqueror.
+
+'The battle being ended, immediately search your cock's wounds,
+as many as you can find.  SUCK the blood out of them; then wash
+them well with warm ****, and that will keep them from rankling;
+after this give him a roll of your best SCOURING, and so stove
+him up as hot as you can for that night; in the morning, if you
+find his head swelled, you must suck his wounds again, and bathe
+them with warm ****; then take the powder of herb Robert, and put
+it into a fine bag, and pounce his wounds therewith; after this,
+give him a good handful of bread to eat out of warm ****, and so
+put him into the stove again, and let him not feel the air till
+the swelling be fallen.'
+
+A cock sometimes took a long time to recover from his wounds--as,
+indeed, may be well supposed from the terrible 'punishment' which
+he necessarily received; and so our professor goes on to say:--
+'If after you have put out your wounded cock to their walks, and
+visiting them a month or two after, you find about their head any
+swollen bunches, hard and blackish at one end, you may then
+conclude that in such bunches there are unsound cores, which must
+be opened and crushed out with your thumbs; and after this, you
+must suck out the corruption, and filling the holes full of fresh
+butter, you need not doubt a cure.'
+
+A poetical description of a cock-fight, by Dr R. Wild, written at
+the commencement of the last century, will give an idea of the
+'diversion.'
+
+'No sooner were the doubtful people set,  
+The match made up, and all that would had bet,  
+But straight the skilful judges of the play;  
+Brought forth their sharp-heel'd warriors, and they  
+Were both in linnen bags--as if 'twere meet,  
+Before they died, to have their winding-sheet.  
+Into the pit they're brought, and being there,  
+Upon the stage, the Norfolk Chanticleer  
+Looks stoutly at his ne'er before seen foe, 
+ And like a challenger began to crow,  
+And clap his wings, as if he would display  
+His warlike colours, which were black and grey.
+
+'Meantime, the wary Wisbich walks and breathes  
+His active body, and in fury wreathes  
+His comely crest, and often with a sound,  
+He whets his angry beak upon the ground.  
+This done, they meet, not like that coward breed  
+Of Aesop; these can better fight than feed:   
+They scorn the dunghill; 'tis their only prize  
+TO DIG FOR PEARLS WITHIN EACH OTHER'S EYES.
+
+'They fought so nimbly that 'twas hard to know,  
+E'en to the skill'd, whether they fought or no;  
+If that the blood which dyed the fatal floor  
+Had not borne witness of 't.  Yet fought they more;  
+As if each wound were but a spur to prick  
+Their fury forward.  Lightning's not more quick,  
+Or red, than were their eyes: 'twas hard to know  
+Whether 'twas blood or anger made them so.  
+I'm sure they had been out had they not stood  
+More safe by being fenced in with blood.
+
+Thus they vied blows; but yet (alas!) at length,  
+Altho' their courage was full tried, their strength  
+And blood began to ebb.
+
+Their wings, which lately at each blow they clapp'd  
+(As if they did applaud themselves), now flapp'd.  
+And having lost th' advantage of the heel,  
+Drunk with each other's blood, they only reel.  
+From either eyes such drops of blood did fall  
+As if they wept them for their funeral.  
+And yet they fain would fight; they came so near,  
+Methought they meant into each other's ear  
+TO WHISPER WOUNDS; and when they could not rise,  
+They lay and look'd blows into each other's eyes.
+
+But now the tragic part!  After this fit,  
+When Norfolk cock had got the best of it,  
+And Wisbich lay a dying, so that none,  
+Tho' sober, but might venture Seven to One;  
+Contracting, like a dying taper, all  
+His strength, intending with the blow to fall,
+He struggles up, and having taken wind,  
+Ventures a blow, and strikes the other blind!
+
+'And now poor Norfolk, having lost his eyes,  
+Fights only guided by antipathies:  
+With him, alas! the proverb holds not true--  
+The blows his eyes ne'er saw his heart most rue.  
+At length, by chance, he stumbled on his foe,  
+Not having any power to strike a blow.  
+He falls upon him with his wounded head,  
+And makes his conqueror's wings his feather-bed;  
+Where lying sick, his friends were very chary  
+Of him, and fetch'd in haste a Pothecary;  
+But all in vain!  His body did so blister  
+That 'twas incapable of any glyster;  
+Wherefore, at length, opening his fainting bill,  
+He call'd a scriv'ner and thus made his Will.
+
+'IMPRIMIS--Let it never be forgot,  
+My body freely I bequeath to th' pot,  
+Decently to be boil'd. 
+****
+ ITEM: Executors I will have none  
+But he that on my side laid Seven to One;  
+And, like a gentleman that he may live,  
+To him, and to his heirs, my COMB I give,  
+Together with my brains, that all may know  
+That oftentimes his brains did use to crow.
+****
+To him that 's dull I do my SPURS impart,  
+And to the coward I bequeath my HEART.  
+To ladies that are light, it is my will  
+My FEATHERS shall be given; and for my BILL  
+I'd give 't a tailor, but it is so short,  
+That I'm afraid he'll rather curse me for 't:
+****
+Lastly, because I feel my life decay,  
+I yield and give to Wisbich COCK THE DAY!'[70]
+
+[70] The passages left out in the Will, as marked by asterisks,
+though witty, are rather too gross for modern eyes.
+
+
+To quote from Pegge once more:--What aggravates the reproach and
+disgrace upon us Englishmen, are those species of fighting which
+are called--"the battle royal and the Welsh main"--known nowhere
+in the world, as I think, but here; neither in China, nor in
+Persia, nor in Malacca, nor among the savage tribes of America. 
+These are scenes so bloody as almost to be too shocking to
+relate; and yet as many may not be acquainted with the horrible
+nature of them, it may be proper, for the excitement of our
+aversion and detestation, to describe them in a few words.
+
+'In the battle royal, an unlimited number of fowls are pitted;
+and after they have slaughtered one another, for the diversion
+(dii boni!) of the otherwise generous and humane Englishman, the
+single surviving bird is to be esteemed the victor, and carries
+away the prize.  The Welsh main consists, we will suppose, of
+sixteen pairs of cocks; of these the sixteen conquerors are
+pitted a second time; and, lastly, the two conquerors of these
+are pitted a fifth time; so that (incredible barbarity!)
+thirty-one cocks are sure to be most inhumanly murdered for the
+sport and pleasure, the noise and nonsense, nay, I may say the
+profane cursing and swearing, of those who have the effrontery to
+call themselves, with all these bloody doings, and with all this
+impiety about them--Christians!' Moreover, this ungenerous
+diversion was the bane and destruction of thousands, who thus
+dissipated their patrimonial fortunes.  That its attractions were
+irresistible is evident from the difficulty experienced in
+suppressing the practice.  Down to a very recent date cock-
+fighting was carried on in secret,--the police now and then
+breaking into the secret pits, dispersing and chasing a motley
+crew of noblemen, gentlemen, and 'the scum of rascaldom.'
+
+The practice is very far from having died out; mains are still
+fought in various parts of the country; but of course the
+greatest precautions are taken to insure secrecy and to prevent
+the interference of the police.
+
+In connection with cock-fighting I remember a horrible incident
+that occurred in the West Indies.  A gentleman who was
+passionately fond of the sport, and prided himself on the
+victories of his cocks, had the misfortune to see one of his
+birds so terribly wounded in the first onset that, although not
+killed, it was impossible for it to continue the fight.  His rage
+at the mishap knew no bounds, and he vented it madly on the poor
+creature.  He roasted it alive--standing by and hearing its
+piteous cries.  In the midst of the horrible torture the wretched
+man became so excited that a fit of apoplexy supervened, and he
+positively expired before the poor bird at the fire!
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+THE TURF, HISTORICAL, SOCIAL, MORAL.
+
+It appears that horse-races were customary at public festivals
+even as early as the times of the patriarchs.  They originated
+among the eastern nations, who were the first to discover the
+physical aptitudes of the noble animal and the spirited emulation
+of which he is capable.  The Persians, the Greeks, the Romans, in
+succession, all indulged in the excitement; and it is a curious
+fact that the Romans, like the English jockeys of the present
+day, rode in different colours.
+
+Horse-racing began very early in England.  Fitz-Stephen, who
+wrote in the time of Henry VIII., mentions the delight taken by
+the citizens of London in the diversion.  In the reign of Queen
+Elizabeth it appears to have greatly flourished, and to have been
+carried to such an excess as to have ruined many of the nobility.
+
+The celebrated George, Earl of Cumberland, is said to have wasted
+more of his estates than any of his ancestors, and principally by
+his love of the turf and the tilt-yard.  In the reign of James
+I., Croydon in the South, and Garterly in the North, were
+celebrated courses.  Camden also states that in 1607 there were
+meetings near York, and the prize was a small golden bell; hence
+the origin of the saying 'bearing off the bell.'
+
+Lord Herbert of Cherbury denounced the practice.  'The exercise,'
+says this gallant philosopher, 'I do not approve of is running of
+horses--there being much CHEATING in that kind,--neither do I see
+why a brave man should delight in a creature whose chief use is
+to help him to run away.'  As far as the cheating is concerned,
+the philosopher may be right, but most assuredly his views of the
+horse do no credit to his Lordship's understanding.
+
+It appears that the turf-men of those days went on breeding for
+shape and speed alone, without considering 'bottom,' until the
+reign of Queen Anne; when a public-spirited nobleman left
+thirteen plates or purses to be run for, at such places as the
+Crown should appoint, upon condition that every horse should
+carry twelve stone for the best of three heats--four miles.  By
+this means a stronger horse was raised, who, if he was not good
+enough upon the race-course, made a hunter.
+
+The Merry Monarch, Charles II., had given cups or bowls,
+estimated at one hundred guineas value, and upon which the names
+of the winning horses, the winner, and jockey were usually
+engraved.  William III. added to the plates, as did Queen Anne;
+but in 1720 George I. discontinued this royal encouragement to
+the sport, apparently through sheer meanness.  Since that period
+'King's Plates' and 'Queen's Plates' have been paid in specie.
+
+In the reign of Charles I. races were performed in Hyde Park; and
+until a very recent period 'the Ring' in the Park was the
+rendezvous of gentlemen's servants, for the purpose of betting or
+making up their betting books.
+
+Newmarket races were established by Charles II., in 1667.  Epsom,
+by Mr Parkhurst, in 1711.  Ascot, by the Duke of Cumberland,
+uncle to George III.  Doncaster, by Colonel St Leger, in 1778. 
+Goodwood, by the Duke of Richmond, who died in 1806.
+
+The Jockey Club began in the time of George II.  Its latest
+rules, by which races are regulated, were enacted in 1828.
+
+Tattersall's, the 'High Change of Horse-flesh,' was established
+by Richard Tattersall, near Hyde Park Corner--hence termed 'The
+Corner'--in 1766, for the sale of horses.  The lease of the
+ground having expired, the new premises at Brompton were erected,
+and opened for business, in 1803.
+
+On the accession of Queen Victoria the Royal stud was sold for
+L16,476, in Oct., 1837.[71]
+
+[71] Haydon, Book of Dates.
+
+
+Among the distinguished men who have supported the turf in this
+country may be mentioned George IV.[72] and William IV.; the late
+Duke of York; the Dukes of Richmond, Cleveland, Grafton, Bedford,
+and Beaufort; Marquises of Exeter and Westminster; Earls of
+Glasgow, Stradbrooke, Wilton, Chesterfield, Eglintoun, Verulam,
+and Lonsdale; Lords George Bentinck, Foley, Kinnaird, &c.; and
+last, though not least, the Right Honourable Charles James Fox. 
+As to the turf, Fox used always to animadvert on his losses, and
+repeatedly observed--that 'his horses had as much bottom as other
+people's, but that they were such slow, good ones that they never
+went fast enough to tire themselves.'  He had, however, the
+gratification of experiencing some few exceptions to this
+imaginary rule.  In April, 1772, he was so lucky at Newmarket as
+to win nearly L16,000--the greater part of which he got by
+betting against the celebrated Pincher, who lost the match by
+only half a neck.  The odds at STARTING were two to one on the
+losing horse.  At the spring meeting at Newmarket, in 1789, Fox
+is said to have won not less than L50,000; and at the October
+meeting, at the same place, the following year, he sold two of
+his horses--Seagull and Chanticleer--for 4400 guineas.  In the
+course of 1788 Fox and the Duke of Bedford won 8000 guineas
+between them at the Newmarket spring meeting, and during these
+races Fox and Lord Barrymore had a heavy match, which was given
+as a dead heat, and the bets were off.
+
+[72] For some period previous to 1790, George IV. had patronized
+horse-racing and pugilism; but in that year, having attended a
+prize fight in which one of the boxers was killed, he ceased to
+support the ring, declaring that he would never be present at
+such a scene of murder again; and in 1791 he disposed of his
+stud, on account of some apparently groundless suspicion being
+attached to his conduct with regard to a race, in the event of
+which he had little or no real interest.
+
+
+On coming into office with Lord North, in 1783, Mr Fox sold his
+horses, and erased his name from several of the clubs of which he
+was a member.  It was not long, however, before he again
+purchased a stud, and in October he attended the Newmarket
+meeting.  The king's messenger was obliged to appear on the
+course, to seek one of the ministers of England among the
+sportsmen on the heath, in order to deliver despatches upon which
+perhaps the fate of the country might have depended.  The
+messenger on these occasions had his badge of office, the
+greyhound, not liking that the world should know that the king's
+adviser was amusing himself at Newmarket, when he should have
+been serving him in the metropolis.  But Charles Fox preferred
+the betting rooms to Downing Street.
+
+Again, in the year 1790, his horse Seagull won the Oatlands
+stakes at Ascot, of 100 guineas (19 subscribers), beating the
+Prince of Wales's Escape, Serpent, and several of the very best
+horses of that year--to the great mortification of His Royal
+Highness, who immediately matched Magpie against him, to run four
+days afterwards, two miles, for 500 guineas.  This match, on
+which immense sums were depending, was won with ease by Seagull. 
+At this period Lord Foley and Mr Fox were confederates.  In those
+days the plates averaged from L50 to L100.
+
+Lord Foley, who died in 1793, entered upon the turf with a clear
+estate of L1800 a year, and L100,000 ready money, which was
+considerably diminished by his losses at Newmarket, Ascot, and
+Epsom.
+
+The race-horse of this country excels those of the whole world,
+not only for speed, but bottom.  There is a great difference,
+however, between the present race and that of fifty or sixty
+years ago; for in those days four-mile heats were the fashion. 
+The sporting records at the end of the last century give the
+following exploits of horses of that and previous periods.
+
+Childers, known by the name of Flying Childers, the property of
+the Duke of Devonshire, was looked upon as the fleetest horse
+that ever was bred.  He was never beaten; the sire of this
+celebrated horse was an Arabian.
+
+Dorimont, belonging to Lord Ossory, won prizes to the amount of
+L13,360.
+
+Eclipse was allowed to be the fastest horse that ever ran in
+England since the time of Childers.  After winning largely for
+his owner, he covered, by subscription, forty mares at 30 guineas
+each, or 1200 guineas.
+
+Highflyer, by King Herod, was the best horse of his day; was
+never beaten, nor paid forfeit but once.  His winnings amounted
+to above L9000, although he only ran as a three, four, and five
+years old.
+
+Matchem stood high both as a racer and as the sire of many of our
+most favourite horses.  As a stallion he realized for his master
+more than L12,000.  He died in 1781, at the advanced age of
+thirty-three.
+
+Shark won a cup value 120 guineas, eleven hogsheads of claret,
+and above L16,000 in plates, matches, and forfeits.[73]
+
+[73] Lord William Lennox, Merrie England.
+
+
+Among recent celebrities must be mentioned Lord Stamford, who is
+said to have engaged Jemmy Grimshaw, a light-weighted jockey, at
+a salary of L1000 a year.
+
+ The most astounding 'event' of late years was that of 1867, when
+the horse Hermit--previously represented as being in an unfit
+condition even to run, won the race--to the unspeakable ruin of
+very many, and inflicting on the late Marquis of Hastings the
+enormous loss of about L100,000, which, however, in spite of
+unseemly rumours and, it is said, hopes of that nobleman's ruin,
+was honourably paid, to the day and hour.
+
+But if ruin did not immediately come upon the young marquis,
+still the wound was deadly, inflicted as though with the ferocity
+of a demon.  In his broken health and rapid decay sympathy was
+not withheld from him; and when a premature death put an end to
+his sufferings, and was speedily followed by the breaking up of
+his establishment and the dispersion of his ancestral effects,
+most men felt that he had, perhaps, atoned for his errors and
+indiscretions, whilst all united in considering him another
+unfortunate victim added to the long list of those who have
+sacrificed their fortune, health, and honour to the Gambling
+Moloch presiding over the Turf of England.[74]
+
+[74] The 'Odds' or probabilities of horse racing are explained in
+chapter VIII., in which the entire 'Doctrine of Chances' is
+discussed.
+
+
+Such are the leading facts of horse-racing in England.  One
+cannot help observing that the sturdy strength and muscular
+exertions of an Olympic charioteer of old exhibit a striking
+contrast to the spider-like form and emaciated figure of a
+Newmarket jockey.
+
+    Qui studet optatam cursu contingere metam,     
+Multa tulit, fecitque puer, SUDAVAT et alsit.
+
+    'Who in a race would reach the long'd-for goal,      
+     Must suffer much, do much, in youth, indeed,     
+     Must SWEAT and fag.'
+
+This is literally true respecting the English jockey, whose 
+attenuated form is accounted for in the following dialogue in an
+old work entitled 'Newmarket, or an Essay on the Turf,' 1771.
+
+'Stop, stop, OLD GENTLEMAN! I desire to speak a word to you; pray
+which is the way to----.'
+
+'I beg, sir, you will not interrupt me.  I am a Newmarket
+jockey--am to ride in a few days a match, upon which there is a
+great deal depending, and I am now PREPARING.'
+
+'Oh, I see now, you are a YOUNG man, instead of that old one for
+whom I mistook you by your wrappings; but pray, explain.'
+
+'Why, your Honour must know that we jockeys, in order to bring
+ourselves down to the weight required for the horses we are to
+ride, sweat under a load of flannel wrapped about us beneath
+coats and great coats, and walk two or three miles in the heat of
+summer, till we are ready to faint under our burden.'
+
+'Indeed!  Why, you go through a deal!'
+
+'Ah, sir, a great deal indeed!  Why, we sometimes lie hours and
+hours between two feather-beds--to melt away our extraordinary
+weight.'
+
+'But will you give me leave to examine your present dress?  Hum! 
+Two flannel waistcoats, a thick cloth coat, a Bath surtout!  It
+is a vast weight to carry this warm weather.  I only hope you
+won't sink under it.'
+
+'Never fear, sir, I do not doubt but I shall do very well.'
+
+The rewards of victory were as plain and simple in the Grecian
+games as they were distinguishing and honourable.  A garland of
+palm, or laurel, or parsley, or pine leaves, served to adorn the
+brow of the fortunate victor, whilst his name stood a chance of
+being transmitted to posterity in the strains of some lofty
+Pindar.  The rewards of modern days are indeed more substantial
+and solid, being paid in weighty gold or its equivalent, no
+matter whether obtained by the ruin of others, while the fleet
+coursers and their exulting proprietors stand conspicuous in the
+list of the Racing Calendar.  The ingenious and ironical author
+of 'Newmarket, or an Essay on the Turf,' in the year 1771,
+bestowed the following titles and honours on the most famous
+horse of the day--Kelly's Eclipse:--'Duke of Newmarket, Marquis
+of Barnet, Earl of Epsom and York, Viscount Canterbury, Baron
+Eclipse of Mellay; Lord of Lewes, Salisbury, Ipswich, and
+Northampton; Comptroller-General of the race-grounds, and Premier
+Racer of All England.'  To bear coat of arms--'A Pegasus argent
+on a field verd;--the supporters--two Englishmen in ermined robes
+and ducal coronets;--the crest--a purse, Or;--the motto--"Volat
+ocior Euro." '[75]
+
+[75] 'He flies swifter than the east wind.'
+
+
+Again, in the exhibition of those useful and honourable Olympic
+pastimes of old, the cause of morality was not overlooked:--there
+was in them a happy union of utility, pleasure, and virtue.  A
+spotless life and unblameable manners, a purity of descent by
+being born in wedlock through several generations, and a series
+of creditable relations, were indispensable qualifications of a
+candidate on the Olympic turf.  It is true, there is at least as
+much attention paid to purity and faultlessness on the plains of
+Newmarket; but the application is to the blood and pedigree of
+the horse, not of his rider.
+
+Nay, it was, and is, notorious that the word 'jockey' has
+acquired the meaning of 'to trick,' 'to cheat,' as appears in all
+our dictionaries and in common parlance.  What is the inference
+from this but that the winning of races is no absolute proof of
+the superiority of the horse--for whose improvement racing is
+said to be encouraged; but rather the result of a secret
+combination of expedients or arrangements--in a word, jockeying,
+that is, cheating, tricking.  The only 'moral' character required
+in the jockey is the determination to do whatsoever may be agreed
+upon or determined by those who are willing and able to give 'a
+consideration' for the convenient accommodation.
+
+But it is, or was, the associations, the inevitable concomitants,
+of the turf and racing that stamp it, not only as something
+questionable, but as a bane and infamy to the nation; and if
+there is one spot more eminently distinguished for a general
+rendezvous of fraud and gambling, that place is Newmarket.
+
+The diversions of these plains have proved a decoy to many a
+noble and ingenuous mind, caught in the snares laid to entrap
+youth and inexperience.  Newmarket was a wily labyrinth of loss
+and gain, a fruitful field for the display of gambling abilities,
+the school of the sharping crew, the academy of the Greeks, the
+unfathomable gulf that absorbed princely fortunes.
+
+The amusements of the turf were in all other places intermixed
+with a variety of social diversions, which were calculated to
+promote innocent mirth and gaiety.  The breakfastings, the
+concerts, the plays, the assemblies, attracted the circle of
+female beauty, enlivened the scene, engaged the attention of
+gentlemen, and thus prevented much of the evil contagion and
+destruction of midnight play.  But encouragement to the GAMBLER
+of high and low degree was the very charter of Newmarket.  Every
+object that met the eye was encompassed with gambling--from the
+aristocratic Rouge et Noir, Roulette, and Hazard, down to
+Thimble-rig, Tossing, and Tommy Dodd.  Every hour of the day and
+night was beset with gambling diversified; in short, gambling
+must occupy the whole man, or he was lost to the sport and spirit
+of the place.  The inhumanity of the cock-pit, the iniquitous
+vortex of the Hazard table, employed each leisure moment from the
+race, and either swallowed up the emoluments of the victorious
+field, or sank the jockey still deeper in the gulf of ruin.
+
+The common people of England have been stigmatized (and perhaps
+too justly) for their love of bloody sports and cruel diversions;
+cock-fighting, bull-baiting, boxing, and the crowded attendance
+on executions, are but too many proofs of this sanguinary turn. 
+But why the imputation should lie at the door of the vulgar alone
+may well be questioned; for while the star of nobility and
+dignified distinction was seen to glitter at a cock-match or on a
+boxing-stage, or near the 'Ring'--where its proprietor was liable
+to be elbowed by their highnesses of grease and soot, and to be
+hemmed in by knights of the post and canditates for Tyburn tree--
+when this motley group alike were fixed in eager attention, alike
+betted on and enjoyed each blood-drawing stroke of the artificial
+spur, or blow of the fist well laid in--what distinction was to
+be made between peer and plebeian, except in derogation of the
+former?
+
+The race-course at Newmarket always presented a rare assemblage
+of grooms, gamblers, and greatness.
+
+'See, side by side, the jockey and Sir John   
+Discuss the important point of six to one;   
+For, O my Muse! the deep-felt bliss how dear--   
+How great the pride to gain a jockey's ear!'[76]
+
+[76] Wharton's Newmarket.
+
+
+Newmarket fame was an object of ambition sought by the most
+distinguished personages.
+
+'Go on, brave youths, till in some future age   
+Whips shall become the senatorial badge;   
+Till England see her thronging senators   
+Meet all at Westminster in boots and spurs;   
+See the whole House with mutual phrensy mad,   
+Her patriots all in leathern breeches clad;   
+Of bets for taxes learnedly debate,   And guide with equal reins
+a steed or state.'[77]
+
+[77] Ibid.
+
+
+And then at the winning-post what motley confusion.
+
+  --------------------'A thousand tongues   
+Jabber harsh jargon from a thousand lungs.
+       ****  
+Dire was the din--as when in caverns pent,   
+Hoarse Boreas storms and Eurus works for vent,    
+The aeolian brethren heave the labouring earth,   
+And roar with elemental strife for birth.'[78]
+
+[78] 'The Gamblers.' Horace had said long before--Tanto cum
+strepitu ludi spectantur, 'So great a noise attends the games!
+
+
+The frauds and stratagems of wily craft which once passed current
+at Newmarket, surpassed everything that can be imagined at the
+present day.  The intruding light of the morning was execrated by
+the nightly gamblers.  'Grant us but to perish in the light,' was
+the prayer of the warlike Ajax:--'Grant us black night for ever,'
+exclaimed the gambler; and his wishes were consistent with the
+place and the foul deeds perpetrated therein.[79]
+
+[79] The principal gambling-room at Newmarket was called the
+'Little Hell.'
+
+    Sit mihi fas audita loqui--sit numine vestro,     
+     Pandere res alta terra et caligine mersas.
+
+
+The turf-events of every succeeding year verify the lament of the
+late Lord Derby:--
+
+'The secession from the turf of men who have station and
+character, and the accession of men who have neither, are signs
+visible to the dullest apprehension.  The once national sport of
+horse-racing is being degraded to a trade in which it is
+difficult to perceive anything either sportive or national.  The
+old pretence about the improvement of the breed of horses has
+become a delusion, too stale for jesting.'
+
+Nothing is more incontestable than the fact that the breed of
+English horses has not been really improved, certainly not by
+racing and its requirements.  It has been truly observed that
+'what is called the turf is merely a name for the worst kind of
+gambling.  The men who engage in it are as far as possible from
+any ideal of sporting men.  It is a grim joke, in fact, to speak
+of "sport" at all in their connection.  The turf to them is but a
+wider and more vicious sort of tapis vert--the racing but the
+rolling of the balls--the horses but animated dice.  It is
+difficult to name a single honest or manly instinct which is
+propagated by the turf as it is, or which does not become debased
+and vitiated by the association.  From a public recreation the
+thing has got to be a public scandal.  Every year witnesses a
+holocaust of great names sacrificed to the insatiable demon of
+horse-racing--ancient families ruined, old historic memories
+defiled at the shrine of this vulgarest and most vicious of
+popular passions.'
+
+Among those who have sought to reform the turf is Sir Joseph
+Hawley, who last year succeeded in procuring the abolition of
+two-year-old races before the 1st of May.  He is now
+endeavouring, to go much further, and has given notice of a
+motion for the appointment of a committee of the Jockey Club to
+consider the question of the whole condition of the turf.
+
+There can be no doubt, that, if Sir Joseph Hawley's propositions,
+as announced, be adopted, even in a modified form, they would go
+to the very root of the evil, and purify the turf of the worst of
+the present scandals.
+
+It would require a volume, or perhaps many volumes, to treat of
+the subject of the present chapter--the Turf, Historical, Social,
+Moral; but I must now leave this topic, of such terrible national
+interest, to some other conscientious writer capable of 'doing
+justice' to the theme, in all its requirements.
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+FORTUNE-TELLING BY CARDS (FOR LADIES).
+
+It must be admitted that this practice--however absurd in its
+object and application--does great credit to human ingenuity. 
+Once admitting the possibility of such conjuring, it is
+impossible to deny the propriety of the reasonings deduced from
+the turning up, the collocation, or the juxta-position of the
+various cards, when the formalities of the peculiar shuffle and
+cut required have been duly complied with by the consulter.
+
+The cards are first shuffled ad libitum, then cut three different
+times, and laid on a table, face upwards, one by one, in the form
+of a circle, or more frequently nine in a row.  If the conjurer
+is a man he chooses one of the kings as his representative; if a
+woman, she selects one of the queens.  This is on the supposition
+that persons are consulting for themselves; otherwise it is the
+fortune-teller who selects the representative card.  Then the
+queen of the chosen king, or the king of the chosen queen, stands
+for a husband or wife, mistress or lover, of the party whose
+fortune is to be told.  The knave of the suit represents the most
+intimate person of their family.
+
+The ninth card every way, that is, counted from the
+representative, is of the greatest consequence, and that interval
+comprises the 'circle' of the inquirer, for good or for evil.
+
+Now, all the cards have had assigned to them arbitrary, but
+plausible, characteristics.  Thus, the ace of clubs (that suit
+representing originally the 'fortunate husbandmen') promises
+great wealth, much prosperity in life, and tranquillity of mind--
+if it turns up within your circle, as before mentioned.  King of
+clubs announces a man of dark complexion who is humane, upright,
+&c., in fact, just the man for a husband.  Queen of clubs is
+equally propitious as the emblem of a dark lady who would prove a
+paragon wife.  Knave of clubs, a jolly good friend in every way. 
+Ten of clubs always flurries the heart of the inquirer--
+especially if 'hard up'--for it denotes riches speedily
+forthcoming from an unexpected quarter--which is usually the case
+in such circumstances; but then it also threatens the loss of
+some dear friend--which, however, cannot signify much if you get
+'the money.'  Seven of clubs promises the most brilliant fortune,
+and the most exquisite bliss this world can afford; but then you
+are ungallantly warned that you must 'beware of the opposite
+sex'--which seems a contradiction in terms--for how call 'the
+most exquisite bliss this world can afford' be secured without
+the aid of 'the opposite sex'?  Five of clubs is the main point
+of maid-servants, young girls from the country, governesses, in
+short, of all the floating womanhood of the land--for 'it
+declares that you will shortly be married to a person who
+will--MEND your CIRCUMSTANCES.'  The trey of clubs is scarcely
+less exhilarating, for it promises that you will be married three
+times, and each time to a wealthy person.  On the whole the suit
+of clubs is very lucky, but, very appropriately, the deuce
+thereof portends some 'unfortunate opposition to your favourite
+inclination, which will disturb you.'[80]
+
+[80] According to other authorities, the ace of clubs means a
+letter; the nine, danger caused by drunkenness; the eight, danger
+from covetousness; the seven, a prison, and danger from the
+opposite sex; the six, competence by hard-working industry; the
+five, a happy but NOT wealthy marriage; the four, danger of
+misfortunes caused by inconstancy or capricious temper; the trey,
+quarrels.
+
+
+The suit of diamonds is by no means so satisfactory as the gem of
+a name would seem to indicate; but perhaps we must remember that
+this suit represented originally the COMMERCIAL CLASSES, and that
+probably this divination by cards was invented by some proud
+ARISTOCRAT in those times when tradesmen did not stand so high as
+they now do in morality, uprightness, &c.  The ace of diamonds
+puts you on the qui vive for the postman; it means a LETTER.  It
+is only to be hoped that it is not one of those nasty things,
+yellow outside and blue within--a dun from some importunate
+butcher, baker, grocer, or--tailor.  The king of diamonds shows a
+revengeful, fiery, obstinate fellow of very fair complexion in
+your circle; the queen of diamonds is nothing but a gay coquette,
+of the same complexion as the king, and not 'over- virtuous'--a
+very odd phrase in use for the absence of virtue altogether; the
+knave of diamonds is a selfish, impracticable fellow; ten of
+diamonds is one of the few exceptions to the evil omens of this
+suit, it promises a country husband or a wife with great wealth
+and many children--the number of the latter being indicated by
+the next card to it; it also signifies a purse of gold--but
+where?  Oh, where?  Nine of diamonds indicates simply a vagabond,
+full of vexation and disappointment; eight of diamonds shows an
+enemy to marriage, who may, however, 'marry late,' and find
+himself in a terrible 'fix;' seven of diamonds is worse still,
+portending all the horrors of the divorce court and the
+bankruptcy court--conjugal profligacy and extravagance; six of
+diamonds means early marriage and premature widowhood, and a
+second marriage, which will probably be worse; five of diamonds
+is the next exception to the misery of this suit, it promises
+'good children, who will KEEP YOU FROM GRIEF'--at best, however,
+only a makeshift; four of diamonds is as bad as seven of
+diamonds--portending the same results; the trey of diamonds
+threatens all manner of strife, law-suits, &c., promises a vixen
+for a wife, to your great domestic misery; the deuce of diamonds
+concludes the catalogue of wretchedness with the assurance that
+you will fall in love early, that your parents will not approve
+of your choice, and if you marry, notwithstanding, that they will
+hardly ever forgive you.[81]
+
+[81] Otherwise the ace of diamonds means a wedding ring, the
+king, a fiery but a placable person, of very fair complexion; the
+ten, money, success in honourable business; the eight, a happy
+prudent marriage, though late in life; the five, unexpected and
+most likely good news; the four, a faithless friend, a betrayed
+secret.
+
+
+The suit of hearts, as previously explained, represented
+originally the ecclesiastical order, the jolly monks, churchmen
+of all degrees; how far the indications tally must be left to the
+ingenious reader to determine.  The ace of hearts means feasting
+and pleasure; but if attended by spades, it foretells
+quarrelling; if by hearts it shows affection and friendship; if
+by diamonds, you will hear of some absent friend; if by clubs, of
+merry-making: the king of hearts denotes a not VERY fair man,
+good-natured, but hot and hasty individual, and very amorous; the
+queen of hearts promises a lady of golden locks (not necessarily
+'carrots'), faithful and affectionate; the knave of hearts is a
+particular friend, and great attention must be paid to the card
+that stands next to him, as from it alone you can judge whether
+the person it represents will favour your inclination or not,
+because he is always the dearest friend or nearest relation of
+the consulting party; the ten of hearts shows good nature and
+many children, and is a corrective of the bad tidings of the
+cards that stand next to it; and if its neighbouring cards are of
+good import, it ascertains and confirms their value: nine of
+hearts promises wealth, grandeur, and high esteem; if cards that
+are unfavourable stand near it, you may expect disappointments;
+and the reverse, if favourable cards follow; if these last be at
+a small distance, expect to retrieve your losses, whether of
+peace or goods: eight of hearts signifies drinking and feasting;
+seven of hearts shows a fickle and unfaithful person, vicious,
+spiteful, malicious; six of hearts promises a generous, open,
+credulous disposition, often a dupe; if this card comes before
+your king or queen (as the case may be) YOU will be the dupe; if
+after, you will get the upper hand: five of hearts portends a
+wavering, unsteady, unreliable individual of either sex: four of
+hearts indicates late marriage from 'delicacy in making a
+choice:' trey of hearts is rather a 'poser;' 'it shows that your
+own impudence will greatly contribute to your experiencing the
+ill-will of others:' deuce of hearts promises extraordinary
+success and good fortune, though, perhaps, you may have to wait
+long for 'the good time coming.'[82]
+
+[82] Or,--the ace of hearts denotes the house of the consulter;
+the queen, a lady not VERY fair; seven, many good friends; six,
+honourable courtship; five, a present; four, domestic troubles
+caused by jealousy.
+
+
+The suit of spades originally represented the NOBILITY, and the
+following are its significances in fortune-telling.  The ace of
+spades wholly relates to love-affairs, without specifying whether
+lawful or unlawful--a pretty general occupation of the
+'nobility,' of course; it also denotes death when the card is
+upside down: the king of spades shows a man ambitious and
+successful at court, or with some great man who will have it in
+his power to advance him--but, let him beware of the reverse! the
+queen of spades shows that a person will be corrupted by the rich
+of both sexes; if she is handsome great attempts will be made on
+her virtue: the knave of spades shows a fellow that requires much
+rousing, although 'quite willing to serve you' with his influence
+and patronage--like many a member in the case of his importunate
+constituents: the ten of spades is a card of caution,
+counteracting the good effect of the card near you: the nine of
+spades is positively the worst card in the whole pack; it
+portends dangerous sickness, total loss of fortune, cruel
+calamities, endless dissension in your family, and death at
+last--I hope you may never see it near you: the eight of spades
+indicates much opposition from your FRIENDS, or those you imagine
+to be such; if this card comes near you, leave your plan and
+adopt another: seven of spades shows the loss of a most valuable,
+influential friend, whose death will plunge you in very great
+distress and poverty: the six of spades announces a mediocrity of
+fortune, and great uncertainty in your undertakings: the five of
+spades is rather doubtful as to success or a rise in life; but it
+promises luck in the choice of your companion for life, although
+it shows that your own temper is rather sullen--and so to get a
+'fond creature' to take care of you, with such a temper, is a
+mighty great blessing, and more than you deserve: the four of
+spades shows sickness speedily, and injury of fortune by friends:
+the trey of spades shows that you will be fortunate in marriage,
+but that your inconstant temper will make you unhappy:
+the deuce of spades is the UNDERTAKER, at last; it positively
+shows a COFFIN, but who it is for must depend entirely on the
+cards that are near it.[83]
+
+[83] Or,--the ace of spades denotes death, malice, a duel, a
+general misfortune; the king, a man of very dark complexion,
+ambitious, and unscrupulous; the queen, a very dark- complexioned
+woman of malicious disposition, or a widow; the knave, a lawyer,
+a person to be shunned; the ten, disgrace, crime, imprisonment,
+death on the scaffold; the eight, great danger from imprudence;
+the six, a child, to the unmarried a card of caution; the five,
+great danger from giving way to bad temper; the trey, a journey
+by land,--tears; the deuce, a removal.
+
+
+'The nine of hearts is termed the wish card.  After the general
+fortune has been told, a separate and different manipulation is
+performed, to learn if the pryer into futurity will obtain a
+particular wish; and from the position of the wish card in the
+pack the required answer is deduced.
+
+'The foregoing is merely the alphabet of the art; the letters, as
+it were, of the sentences formed by the various combinations of
+the cards.  A general idea only can be given here of the manner
+in which those prophetic sentences are formed.  As before stated,
+if a married woman consults the cards, the king of her own suit,
+or complexion, represents her husband; but with single women, the
+lover, either in esse or posse, is represented by his own colour;
+and all cards, when representing persons, lose their own normal
+significations.  There are exceptions, however, to these general
+rules.  A man, no matter what his complexion, if he wear uniform,
+even if he be the negro cymbal-player in a regimental band, can
+be represented by the king of diamonds:-- note, the dress of
+policemen and volunteers is not considered as uniform.  On the
+other hand, a widow, even if she be an albiness, can be
+represented only by the queen of spades.
+
+'The ace of hearts always denoting the house of the person
+consulting the decrees of fate, some general rules are applicable
+to it.  Thus the ace of clubs signifying a letter, its position,
+either before or after the ace of hearts, shows whether the
+letter is to be sent to or from the house.  The ace of diamonds
+when close to the ace of hearts foretells a wedding in the house;
+but the ace of spades betokens sickness and death.
+
+'The knaves represent the thoughts of their respective kings and
+queens, and consequently the thoughts of the persons whom those
+kings and queens represent, in accordance with their complexions.
+
+For instance, a young lady of a rather but not decidedly dark
+complexion, represented by the queen of clubs, when consulting
+the cards, may be shocked to find her fair lover (the king of
+diamonds) flirting with a wealthy widow (the queen of spades,
+attended by the ten of diamonds), but she will be reassured
+by finding his thoughts (the knave of diamonds) in combination
+with a letter (ace of clubs), a wedding ring (ace of diamonds),
+and her house (the ace of hearts); clearly signifying that,
+though he is actually flirting with the rich widow, he is,
+nevertheless, thinking of sending a letter, with an offer of
+marriage, to the young lady herself.  And look, where are her own
+thoughts, represented by the knave of clubs; they are far away
+with the old lover, that dark man (king of spades) who, as is
+plainly shown by his being attended by the nine of diamonds, is
+prospering at the Australian diggings or elsewhere.  Let us
+shuffle the cards once more, and see if the dark man, at the
+distant diggings, ever thinks of his old flame, the club-
+complexioned young lady in England.  No! he does not.  Here are
+his thoughts (the knave of spades), directed to this fair, but
+rather gay and coquettish, woman (the queen of diamonds); they
+are separated but by a few hearts, one of them, the sixth
+(honourable courtship), showing the excellent understanding that
+exists between them.  Count, now, from the six of hearts to the
+ninth card from it, and lo! it is a wedding ring (the ace of
+diamonds); they will be married before the expiration of a
+twelvemonth.'
+
+Such is the scheme of fortune-telling by cards, as propounded in
+the learned disquisitions of the adepts, and Betty, or Martha, or
+her mistress can consult them by themselves according to the
+established method--without exposing themselves to the
+extortionate cunning of the wandering gipsies or the permanent
+crone of the city or village.  They may just as well believe what
+comes out according to their own manipulation as by that of the
+heartless cheats in question.  Your ordinary fortune-tellers are
+not over-particular, being only anxious to tell you exactly what
+you want to know.  So if a black court card gets in juxta-
+position with and looking towards a red court card, the fair
+consulter's representative, then it is evident that some 'dark
+gentleman' is 'after her;' and vice versa; and if a wife,
+suspecting her husband's fidelity, consults the cards, the
+probability is that her SUSPICIONS will receive 'confirmation
+strong' from the fact that 'some dark woman,' that is, a black
+queen, 'is after her husband;' or vice versa, if a husband
+consults the card-woman respecting the suspicions he may have
+reason to entertain with regard to his 'weaker rib' or his
+'intended.'
+
+It need scarcely be observed that fortune-tellers in any place
+are 'posted up' in all information or gossip in the
+neighbourhood; and therefore they readily turn their knowledge to
+account in the answers they give to anxious inquirers.
+
+Apart from this, however, the interpretations are so elaborately
+comprehensive that 'something' MUST come true in the revelations;
+and we all know that in such matters that something coming to
+pass will far outweigh the non-fulfilment of other fatal
+ordinations.  Of course no professional fortune-teller would
+inform an old man that some dark or fair man was 'after' his old
+woman; but nothing is more probable than the converse, and much
+family distraction has frequently resulted from such perverse
+revelation of 'the cards.'  In like manner your clever
+fortune-teller will never promise half-a-dozen children to 'an
+old lady,' but she will very probably hold forth that pleasant
+prospect--if such it be--to a buxom lass of seventeen or
+eighteen--especially in those counties of England where the
+ladies are remarkable for such profuse bounty to their husbands.
+
+As a general proposition, it matters very little what may be the
+means of vaticination or prediction--whether cards, the tea-
+grounds in the cup, &c.,--all POSSIBLE events have a degree of
+probability of coming to pass, which may vary from 20 to 1 down
+to a perfect equality of chance; and the clever fortune-teller,
+who may be mindful of her reputation, will take care to regulate
+her promises or predictions according to that proposition.
+
+Many educated ladies give their attention to the cards, and some
+have acquired great proficiency in the art.  On board a steamer
+sailing for New York, on one occasion a French lady among the
+saloon-passengers undertook to amuse the party by telling their
+fortunes.  A Scotch young gentleman, who was going out to try and
+get a commission in the Federal army, had his fortune told. 
+Among the announcements, as interpreted by the lady, was the
+rather unpleasant prospect that two constables would be 'after'
+him!  We all laughed heartily at the odd things that came out for
+everybody, and then the thing was forgotten; the steamer reached
+her destination; and all the companions of the pleasant voyage
+separated and went their different ways.
+
+Some months after, I met the young gentleman above alluded to,
+and among the various adventures which he had had, he mentioned
+the following.  He said that shortly after his arrival in New
+York he presented a ten-dollar note which he had received, at a
+drinking-house, that it was declared a forged note, and that he
+was given into custody; but that the magistrate, on being
+conclusively convinced of his respectability, dismissed the
+charge without even taking the trouble to establish the alleged
+fact that the note was a forgery.  So far so good; but on the
+following morning, whilst at breakfast at his hotel, another
+police-officer pounced upon him, and led him once more on the
+same charge to another magistrate, who, however, dismissed the
+case like the other.[84]
+
+[84] It appears that this is allowable in New York.  The
+explanation of the perverse prosecution was, that the young
+gentleman did not 'fee' the worthy policemen, according to custom
+in such cases.
+
+
+Thereupon I said--'Why, the French lady's card-prediction on
+board came to pass!  Don't you remember what she said about two
+constables being "after you"?'
+
+'Now I remember it,' he said; 'but I had positively forgotten all
+about it.  Well, she was right there--but I am sorry to say that
+nothing else she PROMISED has come to pass.'
+
+Doubtless all other consulters of the cards and of astrologers
+can say the same, although all would not wisely conclude that a
+system must be erroneous which misleads human hope in the great
+majority of cases.  In fact, like the predictions in our weather-
+almanacks, the fortune-teller's announcements are only right BY
+CHANCE, and wrong ON PRINCIPLE.
+
+FORTUNE-TELLING FORTY YEARS AGO, OR, THE STORY OF MARTHA CARNABY.
+
+A certain Martha Carnaby, a tidy but rather 'unsettled' servant
+girl, some forty years ago went to an old fortune-teller, to have
+her fortune told, and the doings on both sides came out as
+follows, before the magistrate at the Bow Street police-court. 
+The fortune-teller was 'had up,' as usual, 'for obtaining money
+and other valuables' from the former.
+
+Miss Martha Carnaby said that this celebrated old fortune-teller
+had first gained her acquaintance by attending at her master's
+house, before the family had risen, and urging her to have her
+fortune told.  At length, after much persuasion, she consented;
+but the fortune-teller told her that before the secrets of her
+future destiny were revealed, she must deposit in her hands some
+little token, TO BIND THE CHARM, which the old lady said she
+would invoke the same evening--'if I would call at her lodgings,
+and also cast my nativity by her cards, and tell me every
+particular of the future progress of my life.  I accordingly gave
+her what money I had; but that, she told me, was not enough to
+buy the ingredients with which she was to compose the charm.  I
+at length gave her four silver teaspoons and two tablespoons,
+which she put carefully in her pocket; and then asked me to let
+her look at my hand, which I showed her.  She told me there were
+many lines in it which clearly indicated great wealth and
+happiness; and, after telling her my name was Martha Carnaby, she
+took her departure, and I agreed to meet her at her lodgings the
+same evening.  Agreeably to her directions, I dressed myself in
+as fashionable a manner as I could, because I WAS TO SEE MY
+SWEETHEART THROUGH A MIRROR, AND HE WAS TO SEE ME.'
+
+The poor deluded creature then stated that she attended
+punctually at the hour appointed, at the old lady's sanctum, and
+seating herself upon an old chair, beheld with astonishment quite
+as much as she bargained for.  'I felt myself,' said poor Martha,
+'on entering the room, all of a twitter.  The old woman was
+seated in her chair of state, and, reaching down from the
+mantel-piece a pack of cards, began, after muttering a few words
+in a language I could not understand, to lay them very carefully
+in her lap; she then foretold that I should get married, but not
+to the person in our house, as I expected, but to another young
+man, whom, if I could afford a trifle, she would show me through
+her MATRIMONIAL MIRROR.  To this I consented, and she desired me
+to shut my eyes and keep my face covered while she made the
+necessary preparations; and there she kept me, with my face hid
+in her lap, until I was nearly smothered; when suddenly she told
+me to turn round, and look through the mirror, which was seen
+through a hole in a curtain, and I saw a young man pass quickly
+before me, staring me in the face, at which I was much surprised,
+she assuring me that he would be my husband.  It was then agreed
+that she was to call on me the next morning, and return the
+silver spoons; but, your Worship,' said the poor girl, 'she never
+came; and as I was afraid my mistress would soon want them, I
+asked the advice of a woman in our neighbourhood, as to what I
+had better do, and to whom I related all the circumstances I have
+told your Worship; when the woman asked me how I could have been
+such a fool as to be duped by that old cheat at the bar,--that
+she was a notorious old woman, that she had in her employ some
+young man, who was always hid in the room, to overhear the
+conversation, and to run from out of the hiding-place before the
+mirror; and that I ought to be thankful I came away as well as I
+did, as many young girls had been ruined through going to this
+old creature; that, from her acquaintance with so many servant
+girls, she always contrived to get from them such intelligence as
+enabled her to answer those questions that might be put to her,
+as to the business, name, place of abode, country, and other
+circumstances of the party applying, the answering of which
+always convinced the credulous creatures who went to her, of her
+great skill in the art of astrology; and when she was right in
+her guessing, she always took care to have it well published.'
+
+Of course, and again, as usual, the magistrate 'hoped it would be
+a lesson to Martha, and to all other foolish girls, never to
+hearken to those infernal, wicked old wretches, the
+fortune-tellers--many a girl having lost her character and virtue
+by listening to their nonsense;' but there have been hundreds and
+thousands of such Marthas since then, and no doubt there will be
+very many more in future--in spite of the ridiculous exposure of
+such dupes ever and anon, in courts of justice and in the columns
+of the daily papers.
+
+'The art of cartomancy, or divination by playing-cards, dates
+from an early period of their obscure history.  In the museum of
+Nantes there is a painting, said to be by Van Eyck, representing
+Philippe le Bon, Archduke of Austria, and subsequently King of
+Spain, consulting a fortune-teller by cards.  This picture cannot
+be of a later date than the fifteenth century.  Then the art was
+introduced into England is unknown; probably, however, the
+earliest printed notice of it in this country is the following
+curious story, extracted from Rowland's Judicial Astrology
+Condemned:--"Cuffe, an excellent Grecian, and secretary to the
+Earl of Essex, was told, twenty years before his death, that he
+should come to an untimely end, at which Cuffe laughed, and in a
+scornful manner entreated the soothsayer to show him in what
+manner he should come to his end, who condescended to him, and
+calling for cards, entreated Cuffe to draw out of the pack any
+three which pleased him.  He did so, and drew three knaves, and
+laid them on the table by the wizard's direction, who then told
+him, if he desired to see the sum of his bad fortune, to take up
+those cards.  Cuffe, as he was prescribed, took up the first
+card, and looking on it, he saw the portraiture of himself
+cap-a-pie, having men encompassing him with bills and halberds. 
+Then he took up the second, and there he saw the judge that sat
+upon him; and taking up the last card, he saw Tyburn, the place
+of his execution, and the hangman, at which he laughed heartily. 
+But many years after, being condemned, he remembered and declared
+this prediction."
+
+'The earliest work on cartomancy was written or compiled by one
+Francesco Marcolini, and printed at Venice in 1540.'[85]
+
+[85] The Book of Days, Feb. 21.  In this work there is a somewhat
+different account of cartomancy to that which I have expounded
+'on the best authorities' and from practical experience with the
+adepts in the art; but, in a matter of such immense importance to
+ladies of all degrees, I have thought proper to give, in
+foot-notes, the differing interpretations of the writer in the
+Book of Days, who professes to speak with some authority, not
+however, I think, superior to mine, for I have investigated the
+subject to the utmost.
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+AMUSING CARD TRICKS.[86]
+
+[86] These tricks appeared originally in Beeton's Christmas
+Annual, and are here reproduced with permission.
+
+
+Although my work is a history of gambling, in all its horrors,
+and with all its terrible moral warnings, I gladly conclude it
+'happily,' after the manner of the most pleasing novels and
+romances,--namely, by a method of contriving innocent and
+interesting amusement with cards, without the 'chance' of
+encountering the risks, calamities, and disgrace of gambling.
+
+I was led to the investigation of this branch of my subject by
+the following incident.  Being present at a party when a
+gentleman performed one of the tricks described, No. 7, the rest
+of the company and myself were all much surprised at the result,
+and urgently requested him to explain the method of his
+performance, which, however, he stoutly refused to do, averring
+that he would not take L1000 for it.  This was so ridiculously
+provoking that I offered to bet him L5 that I would discover the
+method within 24 hours.  To my astonishment he declined the bet,
+not, however, without a sort of compliment, admitting that I
+MIGHT do so.  He was right; for, as Edgar Poe averred, no man can
+invent a puzzle which some other man cannot unravel.  In effect,
+I called upon him the following day, and performed the trick not
+only according to his method, but also by another, equally
+successful.  I have reason to believe that most of the tricks of
+my selection had not previously appeared in print; at any rate, I
+have given to all of them an exposition which may entitle them to
+some claim of originality.
+
+PRELIMINARY HINTS.
+
+I.  Shuffling, in the simple and inoffensive sense of the
+expression, is an important point in all tricks with cards.  For
+the most part, it is only a pretence or dexterous management--
+keeping a card or cards in your command whilst seeming to shuffle
+them into the pack.
+
+Every performer has his method of such shuffling.  Some hold the
+pack perpendicularly with the left hand, then with the right take
+a portion of the pack--about one half--and make a show of
+shuffling the two parts together edgeways, but, in reality,
+replace them as they were.  With rapidity of execution every eye
+is thus deceived.
+
+If a single card is to be held in command, place it at the bottom
+of the pack, which you hold in your left, and then, with your
+right thumb and middle finger, raise and throw successively
+portions of the pack, leaving the bottom card in contact with the
+fingers of the left hand.
+
+With dexterity, any portion of the pack may be shuffled, leaving
+the remainder just as it was, by separating it during the process
+by inserting one or more fingers of the left hand between it and
+the portions shuffled.
+
+II.  Cutting--not in the sense of bolting at the sight of 'blue,'
+though that is of consequence to card-sharpers--is of importance
+in all card tricks.  In many tricks cutting the cards is only a
+pretence, as it is necessary for the success of the trick to
+replace them as they were; in technical terms, we must 'blow up
+the cut.'[87]
+
+[87] This is the sauter la coupe referred to in the chapter on
+the Gaming Clubs, in the account of the trial of Lord de Ros. 
+See 'Graham's Club.'
+
+
+There are several ways of performing this sleight-of-hand.  The
+cards being cut, and forming two lots on the table, smartly
+snatch up the lot which should be placed on the other, with the
+left hand.
+
+This lot being taken up and the hand being in the position shown
+in the figure, snatch up in like manner the other lot, and, by a
+movement of the palm of the hand and the tips of the fingers,
+pass the second lot under the first.
+
+The deception of the trick depends upon its dexterity, and this
+can only be acquired by practice.  But really it may be dispensed
+with; for it is a curious fact that, in every case when the cards
+are cut, you may actually replace them just as they were without
+being observed by the spectators--for the simple reason that the
+ruse is not suspected, especially if their attention is otherwise
+engaged with your pointed observations.
+
+The 'gift of the gab' is in this case, as in many others, a very
+great resource.  A striking remark or bon mot will easily mystify
+the spectators, and attract their attention from what you are
+DOING.  Hence all prestidigitators are always well stocked with
+anecdotes and funny observations; indeed, they talk incessantly:
+they speak well, too, and they take care to time the word
+accurately with the moment when their fingers act most
+energetically.
+
+III.  To slip a card.--To slip a card is to pretend to take the
+bottom card of the pack, and in reality to take the card which
+precedes it.  To perform this feat without detection is a very
+simple affair, but it requires practice.
+
+The pack of cards being held in the right hand,
+advance the left hand--palm upwards--just as if you were seizing
+the last card with the middle finger; but, having slightly
+moistened this finger with the lips, push back this card, and
+make it slip under the palm of the right hand, whilst you seize
+the preceding card with the thumb and forefinger.
+
+In this manner you may successively draw out several cards
+besides the last, and only draw the last as the sixth, seventh,
+&c., which will serve to effect several interesting tricks to be
+explained in the sequel.
+
+IV.  To file the card.--To file the card is, when a card has been
+taken from the pack to pretend to place it about the middle of
+the pack, whilst, in reality, you place it at the bottom.
+
+The pack must be held in the left hand, between the thumb and
+forefinger, so that the three other fingers be free.  One of the
+middle cards should project a little.  Then take the card to be
+filed between the forefinger and the middle finger of the right
+hand; advance the right hand from the left, and whilst the three
+disengaged fingers of the left hand seize and place the card
+under the pack, the thumb and forefinger of the right seize the
+projecting card before mentioned, so that it seems to be that
+card which you have slipped into the middle of the pack.  These
+movements are very easy, and, when rapidly performed, the
+illusion is complete.
+
+TRICKS.
+
+1. To tell a card thought of by a party after three deals.
+
+Take twenty-one cards of a pack, and deal them out one by one in
+three lots, requesting the party to think of a card, and remember
+in which lot it is.
+
+Having dealt out the cards, ask the party in which lot the card
+is.
+
+Take up the lots successively, and place the lot containing the
+card in the MIDDLE.
+
+Deal out the cards again, and ask the party to state in which lot
+the card is; and proceed as before, placing the lot containing
+the card in the middle.
+
+Deal out the cards in like manner a third time, proceeding as
+before.
+
+Then deal them out as usual, and the eleventh card will be the
+one thought of, infallibly.  This is the usual way of showing the
+card thought of; but, as the trick may be partly discovered by
+the counting, it is better to hold the cards in your hand, and
+take out the eleventh card, counting to yourself, of course, from
+the left hand, but pretending to be considering the guess.
+
+This is apparently a most mysterious trick, although a necessary
+consequence of the position of the lot containing the card in the
+three deals.
+
+2. The four inseparable kings.
+
+Take four kings.  Beneath the last place any two cards, which you
+take care to conceal.  Then show the four kings and replace the
+six cards under the pack.
+
+Then take a king and place it in the top of the pack, place one
+of the TWO OTHER CARDS in the middle, and the other about the
+same place, and then, turning up the pack, show that one king is
+still at the bottom.  Then let the cards be cut, and as three
+kings were left below, all must necessarily get together
+somewhere about the middle of the pack.  Of course in placing the
+two other cards you pretend to be placing two kings.
+
+3. The barmaid and the three victimizers.
+
+For this amusing trick you arrange the cards thus:  Holding the
+pack in your hands, find all the knaves, place one of them next
+to your left hand, and the other three on the table.  Then find a
+queen, which also place on the table.  Then say:--
+
+'Three scamps went into a tavern, and ordered drink.  Here they
+are--the three knaves.  "Who's to pay?  I can't," said the first.
+
+"I won't," said the second.  "I wish she may get it," said the
+third.  "I'll manage it," said the first, the greatest rogue of
+the three.  "I say, my pretty girl, haven't you some very old
+wine in your cellar?"  Here's the barmaid thus addressed by the
+rogue in question (showing the queen), and she replied:--"Oh yes,
+sir, prime old wine."  "Let's have a bottle."  [Off went the
+barmaid.  Put the queen in your pocket.]  "Now for it, my lads,"
+said the knave in question; " 'mizzle' is the word.  Let's be off
+in opposite directions, and meet to- night; you know where." 
+Hereupon they decamped, taking opposite directions, which I will
+indicate by placing one on the top of the pack, one at the
+bottom, and the other in the middle.
+
+'When the poor barmaid returned [taking out the queen from your
+pocket] with the wine, great was her astonishment to find the
+room empty.  "Lor!" she exclaimed, "why, I do declare--did you
+ever!--Oh! but I'm not agoing to be sarved so.  I'll catch the
+rogues, all of them--that I will."  And off she went after them,
+as shown by placing her ON, or at any rate, AFTER the first.
+
+'Now, to catch the three seemed impossible; but the ladies have
+always smiled at impossibilities, and wonders never cease; for,
+if you have the goodness to cut these cards, you will find that
+she HAS caught the three rogues.'
+
+When the cards are cut, proceed in the USUAL WAY after
+cutting--NOT as required in the last trick; and taking up the
+cards, you will find the queen and three knaves together, which
+you take out and exhibit to the astonished audience.
+
+Of course, one of these knaves is not one of the three first
+exhibited, but the one which you slipped on your left hand at
+first.  There is no chance of detection, however; simply for the
+reason before given--nobody suspects the trick.
+
+4. How to name every card in a pack successively turned up by a
+second party, and win every trick at a hand of Whist.
+
+This is, perhaps, the most astonishing of all tricks with cards. 
+Although it may be true that whatever puzzle one man invents,
+some other man may unravel, as before observed, I am decidedly of
+opinion that this trick defies detection.  At the first blush it
+seems very difficult to learn; but it is simplicity itself in
+explanation.
+
+Begin by laying out the cards in four rows according to the
+suits, all of a suit in a row side by side.
+
+The cards must now be arranged for the trick.  Take up the six in
+the top or bottom row, then the two in the next row, the ten in
+the third, and the nine in the fourth, placing them one upon the
+other in the left hand.  Then begin again with the row from which
+you took the six, and take up the three.  From the next row take
+the king.  These numbers will be easily remembered with a little
+practice, amounting altogether to 30, made up thus--6 and 2 are
+8, 8 and 10 are 18, 18 and 9 are 27, 27 and 3 are 30--KING.
+
+By repeating this addition a few times, it will be fixed in the
+memory.
+
+Proceed by next beginning with the row next to the one from which
+you took the last card or the king, and take the eight; from the
+next row take the four; from the next the ace; from the next the
+knave.  These cards make up 13.  Therefore say, 8 and 4 are 12
+and 1 are 13--knave.
+
+From the next row to that whence you took the knave, take the
+seven; from the next row take the five; from the next the queen. 
+These cards make up 12.  Thus, 7 and 5 are 12--queen.
+
+It thus appears that you have taken up thirteen cards consisting
+of the four suits, successively taken and being arranged as
+follows:--6, 2, 10, 9, 3, king; 8, 4, 1, knave; 7, 5, queen.
+
+Proceed in like manner with the remainder of the cards, beginning
+with the row next to that from which you took the queen, and take
+the six, then from the next row the two, and so on as before,
+making up another batch of 13 cards.
+
+Repeat the process for a third batch, and finish with the
+remainder for the fourth--always remembering to take the card
+from the next row in succession continually; in other words, only
+one card must be taken from each row at a time.
+
+When the cards are thus arranged, request a party to cut them. 
+This is only pretence; for you must take care dexterously to
+replace the cut just as it was before.  Let them be cut again,
+and replace them as before.  Your ruse will not be detected,
+simply because nobody suspects the possibility of the thing.
+
+Now take up the pack, and from the BOTTOM take the first four
+cards; handing the remainder to a party, sitting before you,
+saying--'I shall now call every card in succession from the top
+of the pack in your hand.'
+
+To do this, two things must be remembered; and there is no
+difficulty in it.  First, the numbers 6, 2, 10, 9, 3, king, &c.,
+before given; and next the SUIT of those cards.
+
+Now you know the NUMBERS by heart, and the SUIT is shown by the
+four cards which you hold in your hand, fan-like, in the usual
+way.  If the first of the four cards be a club, the first card
+you call will be the six of clubs; if the next be a heart, the
+next card called will be the two of hearts, and so on throughout
+the thirteen made up from every row, as before given, and the
+suits of each card will be indicated successively by the suit of
+each of your four indicator cards, thus, as the case may be,
+clubs, hearts, diamonds, spades; clubs, hearts, diamonds, spades,
+and so on.
+
+After a little private practice, you will readily and rapidly
+call, as the case may be, from the four cards in your hand:--the
+six of clubs, two of hearts, ten of diamonds, nine of spades,
+three of clubs, king of hearts, eight of diamonds, four of
+spades, ace of clubs, knave of hearts, seven of diamonds, five of
+spades, queen of clubs--and so on to the last card in the pack.
+
+In the midst of the astonishment produced by this seemingly
+prodigious display of memory, say--'Now, if you like, we will
+have a hand at Whist, and I undertake to win every trick if I be
+allowed to deal.'
+
+Let the Whist party be formed, and get the cards cut as usual--
+only taking care to REPLACE them, as before enjoined, precisely
+as they were.  Deal the cards, and the result will be that your
+thirteen cards will be ALL TRUMPS.  Let the game proceed until
+your opponents 'give it up' in utter bewilderment.
+
+This splendid trick seems difficult in description, but it is one
+of the easiest; and even were it ten times more difficult than it
+is, the reader will perhaps admit that it is worth mastering. 
+Once committed to memory the figures are never forgotten, and a
+few repetitions, with the cards before you, will suffice to
+enable you to retain them.
+
+5. Two persons having each drawn a card and replaced them in the
+pack, to guess these cards.
+
+Make a set of all the clubs and spades, and another set of hearts
+and diamonds.  Shuffle well each set, and even let them be
+shuffled by the spectators.  Then request a person to draw a card
+from one of the sets, and another person to draw one from the
+second set.
+
+You now take a set in each hand, presenting them to the two
+persons, requesting them to replace the drawn cards.  You must
+pretend to present to each person the set from which he drew his
+card, but in reality you present the red set to the person who
+drew the black card, and the black set to the person who drew the
+red card.
+
+Each person having replaced his card, you get each set shuffled. 
+Then you take them in hand, and by running them over you easily
+find the red card amongst the black, and the black card amongst
+the red.
+
+Of course you will have prepared the sets beforehand, and take
+care to alter the arrangement as soon as possible after the
+trick.  But you can prepare the pack in the presence of others
+without their detecting it.  Distribute the cards by dealing
+according to the two colours; take them up, and having placed the
+red set a little projecting over the black, set them down, and,
+pretending to cut them, separate the sets.
+
+6. Twenty cards being arranged upon a table, a person thinks of
+two, and you undertake to guess them.
+
+Lay out twenty cards of any kind, two by two,
+
+
+--------------------- 
+| c | i | c | o | s | 
+---------------------
+| d | e | d | i | t | 
+--------------------- 
+| t | u | m | u | s |
+--------------------- 
+| n | e | m | o | n | 
+---------------------
+
+and request a party to think of two in a line; that is, one of
+the ten sets formed by the twenty cards.  This done you take up
+the sets in the order in which they lie, and place them in rows
+according to the letters of the words.  You may use a diagram
+like the preceding, but as the words are easily retained it had
+better be dispensed with, distributing the cards on the table
+just as though upon the diagram, which will make the trick more
+puzzling and extraordinary.  Proceed as follows:-- Place the
+cards two by two on similar letters: thus, place the two cards of
+the first set on the two d's in dedit; the two cards of the
+second set on the two i's of cicos and dedit; the two of the
+third set on the two c's, and so on with the ten sets.
+
+All the letters of the words being thus covered, ask the party
+who has thought of the cards to tell you in which lines these
+cards are.  If both are in the first line (cicos), they must be
+those on the two c's; if they are both in the second line, they
+cover the d's in dedit; both in the third line, they cover the
+u's in tumus; both in the fourth, they cover the n's in nemon.
+
+If one be in the first line and the other in the second, they
+cover the i's in cicos and dedit, and thus of the rest-- the two
+cards thought of NECESSARILY covering two SIMILAR LETTERS, whilst
+each of the letters occurs only TWICE in the diagram.
+
+7. To tell a card thought of without even looking at the cards.
+
+Take any number of cards,--say twenty.  Pretend to shuffle them
+with the faces towards you, and REMEMBER THE FIRST CARD as you
+close the pack--suppose the ten of diamonds.  Tell the party that
+the only condition you require is to be told the ORDER in which
+the card is dealt out by you; in other words, he must tell you
+whether in dealing it comes out first, second, third, &c.
+
+Remembering your first card, you may then turn your back to him,
+and deal out the cards one by one, and one upon the top of the
+other, requesting him to think of a card and its order as before
+said.
+
+Then take up the cards, and shuffle them repeatedly, by throwing
+a portion of them from the bottom to the top, taking care not to
+mix the cards or let any drop, and then let the party cut them as
+often as he pleases.  Then, take the cards in hand.  Pretend to
+examine them mysteriously, but in reality only look for YOUR
+card--the first dealt out--the ten of diamonds for instance. 
+Now, suppose he tells you that the card he thought of came out
+FIFTH.  Then, for a certainty, it is the fourth card on the RIGHT
+of the ten of diamonds, in spite of all YOUR shuffling, and all
+regular cutting, for such shuffling and regular cutting cannot
+alter the order or sequence of the cards.  Always remember to
+count from your own card inclusive to the number of the card
+thought of towards your right hand.  But should your card happen
+to be so near the right hand or the top as not to allow
+sufficient counting, then count as far as it admits to the RIGHT
+and then continue at the LEFT.  Thus, suppose there are only two
+cards above the ten of diamonds, then count two more on the left,
+making the fifth.  If the card you remember, or your first card,
+is first, then count the requisite number on the left, always
+beginning with YOUR card, however.
+
+The REASON of this trick is simply that by merely cutting the
+cards, and shuffling them in the way indicated, you do not alter
+the SEQUENCE of the cards.  With regard to this sort of
+SHUFFLING, I may say that it is simply CUTTING the cards-- always
+preserving their sequence--a most important fact for
+card-players, since it may lead to a pretty accurate conjecture
+of all the hands after a deal, from the study of the one in hand,
+with reference to the tricks turned down after the previous deal,
+as already suggested.  Hence, in shuffling for whist or other
+games, the cards should not be shuffled in this way, but more
+thoroughly mixed by the edgewise shuffling of certain players.
+
+This is the trick I alluded to at the commencement of the
+chapter, the mode of performing which I succeeded in discovering.
+
+Of course ANY NUMBER of persons may think of cards, remembering
+their order, and the operator will tell them, in like manner.
+
+8. A person having thought of one of fifteen cards presented to
+him, to guess the card thought of.
+
+Form three ranks of five cards each, and request a party to think
+of one of these cards, and tell you in which rank it is.  Take up
+the cards of the three ranks, taking care to place the cards of
+the ranks in which is the card thought of between those of the
+two other ranks.
+
+Make three more ranks as before.  Ask the party again in which
+rank the card is, and take them up, placing the rank in which the
+card is between the two others.  Operate in like manner a third
+time, and the card thought of will infallibly be the THIRD of the
+rank named by the party.
+
+Observe, however, you must not form each rank with five
+consecutive cards; but you must place the cards one by one,
+placing one successively in each rank; thus, one at the top on
+the left of the first rank, one below that first for the second
+rank, one below the second for the third rank, then one in the
+first, one in the second, one in the third, and so on.
+
+This trick, which is very easy, always produces a great effect. 
+It only requires a little attention, and it can never fail unless
+you make a mistake in arranging the cards, which, however, is too
+simple to admit of error.
+
+9. Two persons having each drawn a card from a pack, and having
+replaced them, to tell these cards after the pack has been
+shuffled and cut by the spectators as often as they like.
+
+The cards may be easily divided into two numerical parts, even
+and odd: by taking a king for four points, a queen for three, a
+knave for two, and the other cards for their especial points, we
+may make up two sets of sixteen cards each, the even composing
+one, and the odd the other.  These two sets being before the
+performer, he takes one, shuffles it well, and lets a party take
+a card.  He then takes the other, shuffles it, and lets another
+party take a card.  Then, whilst each party is looking at his
+card, which HE IS REQUESTED TO DO, the performer dexterously
+changes the place of the two sets, and he requests the parties to
+replace the cards in the set whence they took them.  It follows
+that the party who took a card from the EVEN set places it in the
+ODD set, and he who took it from the ODD set places it in the
+even set.  Consequently, all the shuffling and cutting in the
+world will be useless, for the performer has only to spread out
+the cards of each set to point out the cards drawn.
+
+10. Singular arrangement of sixteen cards.
+
+Take the four kings, the four queens, the four knaves, and the
+four tens of a pack, and ask if there be any one in the company
+who can form a square with them in such a manner that, taken in
+any direction, from right to left, from the top to the bottom, by
+the diagonal--anyhow, in fact--there will always be in each line
+a king, queen, knave, and a ten.  Everybody will think the thing
+easy, but it is certain that no one will succeed in doing it. 
+When they 'give it up,' take the sixteen cards and arrange them
+as shown, when the king, queen, knave, and ten will stand as
+required.
+
+11. The seven trick.
+
+Make up the four sevens of a pack, and take seven other cards, no
+matter which, for another lot, and, presenting both lots, you
+say:--Here are two lots totally dissimilar; nevertheless, there
+is one of seven, and I declare it will be the first touched by
+any party present.  Of course, when touched, you at once prove
+your words by exhibiting either the sevens or the seven cards--
+taking care to mix the cards into the pack immediately to prevent
+detection.
+
+12. Infallible method for guessing any number that a party has
+thought of.
+
+Take the first ten cards of a pack of 52 cards.  Set out these
+ten cards as shown below, so that the point A should correspond
+to the ace, and to 1--the point F to the card representing the
+6--and E to the 10.
+
+              2  3  4       
+              B  C  D   
+          1 A--------E 5  
+         10 K--------F 6      
+              I  H  G       
+              9  8  7
+
+Thus prepared, you request a party to think of a card, and then
+you tell him to touch any number he pleases, requesting him to
+name it aloud.  Then, adding the whole number of the cards to the
+number touched, you tell him to count backwards to himself,
+beginning with the card touched, and giving to that card the
+number of the one thought of.  By counting in this way, the party
+will at length count the entire number on the card thought of,
+which you will thus be able to designate with certainty.
+
+Example:--Suppose the card thought of is G, marking 7; again,
+supposing the one touched to be D, equal to 4; you add to this
+number the entire number of cards, which is, in this case, 10,
+which will make 14.  Then, making the party count this sum, from
+the number touched, D to C, B, A, and so on, backwards, so that
+in commencing to count the number thought of, 7 on D, the party
+will continue, saying, 8 on C, 9 on B, 10 on A, 11 on K, 12 on I,
+13 on H, and end with counting 14 on G; and you will thus
+discover that the number thought of is 7, which corresponds to G.
+
+Of course the party counts TO himself, and only speaks to
+designate the point on which he stops, namely, G in this example.
+
+This trick may be performed with any number of cards-- as few as
+six, or as many as fifteen.  Then you must always add to the
+number the total of the cards used.  The trick will be much more
+interesting and striking if you turn the cards face downwards,
+only trusting to your memory to retain the order of the numbers.
+
+Of course, the letters are only used to facilitate the
+explanation.  The cards really form a sort of circle, beginning
+at 1 or the ace on the left, and then continuing with the 2, the
+3, the 4, the 5, and so on, to the 10 below the ace; and, by
+necessity, the party must end his counting with the very card he
+thought of, beginning from the one he happens to point out.
+
+13. The card that cannot be found.
+
+Take any number of cards and spread them out fan-like in your
+hand, faces fronting the spectators.
+
+Ask one of them to select a card.  You tell him to take it, and
+then to place it at the bottom of the pack.  You hold up the
+pack, so that the spectators may see that the card is really at
+the bottom.  Suppose this card is the king of hearts.
+
+Then, pretending to take that card, you take the card preceding
+it, and place it at a point corresponding to A in the following
+figure.
+
+    A  C    
+    B  D
+
+You then take the card drawn, namely, the king of hearts, and
+place it at the point corresponding to B in the above figure. 
+Finally, you take any two other cards, and place them at C and D.
+
+Of course, the cards are placed face downwards.
+
+After this location of the cards, you tell the party who has
+chosen the card that you will change the position of the cards,
+by pushing alternately that at the point A to B, and that at D to
+C, and vice versa; and you defy him to follow you in these
+gyrations of the card, and to find it.
+
+Of course, seeing no difficulty in the thing, and believing with
+everybody that his card is placed at the point A, he will
+undertake to follow and find his card.  Then performing what you
+undertake to do, you rapidly change the places of the cards, and
+yet slowly enough to enable the party to keep in view the card
+which he thinks his own, and so that you may not lose sight of
+the one you placed at B.
+
+Having thus arranged the cards for a few moments, you ask the
+party to perform his promise by pointing out his card.  Feeling
+sure that he never lost sight of it, he instantly turns one of
+the cards and is astonished to find that it is not his own.  Then
+you say:--'I told you you would not be able to follow your card
+in its ramble.  But I have done what you couldn't do: here is
+your card!'
+
+The astonishment of the spectators is increased when you actually
+show the card; for, having made them observe in the first
+instance, that you did not even look at the drawn card, they are
+utterly at a loss to discover the means you employed to find out
+and produce the card in question.
+
+14. Cards being drawn from a pack, to get them guessed by a
+person blindfolded.
+
+At all these performances there are always amongst the spectators
+persons in league with the prestidigitator.  In the present case
+a woman is the assistant, with whom he has entered into an
+arrangement by which each card is represented by a letter of the
+alphabet; and the following are the cards selected for the trick
+with their representative letters.
+
+The performer takes a handkerchief and blindfolds the lady in
+question, and places her in the centre of the circle of
+spectators.  Then spreading out the cards, he requests each of
+the spectators to draw a card.
+
+He requests the first to give him the card he has drawn; he looks
+at it, and placing it on the table face downwards, he asks the
+lady to name the card, which she does instantly and without
+hesitation.
+
+Of course this appears wonderful to the spectators, and their
+astonishment goes on increasing whilst the lady names every card
+in succession to the last.
+
+It is, however, a very simple affair.  Each card represents a
+letter of the alphabet, as we see by the figure, and all the
+performer has to do is to begin every question with the letter
+corresponding to the card.
+
+Suppose the party has drawn the king of hearts.  Its letter is A.
+
+The performer exclaims--'Ah!  I'm sure you know this!'  The A at
+once suggests the card in question.  Suppose it is the ace of
+clubs.  He says--'Jump at conclusions if you like, but be sure in
+hitting this card on the nail.'  J begins the phrase, and
+represents the card in question.  Suppose it is the ten of
+spades, he cries out--'Zounds! if you mistake this you are not so
+clever a medium as I took you for.'  The ace of diamonds--'Quite
+easy, my dear sir,' or 'my dear ma'am,' as the case may be.  Q
+represents the ace of diamonds.  The queen of diamonds--'Oh, the
+beauty!'  The ace of hearts--'Dear me! what is this?'  The ace of
+spades--'You are always right, name it.'  The nine of diamonds--
+'So! so! well, I'm sure she knows it.'
+
+Doubtless these specimens will suffice to suggest phrases for
+every other card.  Such phrases may be written out and got by
+heart--only twenty-three being required; but this seems useless,
+for it does not require much tact at improvisation to hit upon a
+phrase commencing with any letter.  However, it will be better to
+take every precaution rather than run the risk of stopping in the
+performance, whose success mainly depends upon the apparently
+inspired rapidity of the answers.  The performer might conceal in
+the hollow of his hand a small table exactly like the figure, to
+facilitate his questions.  As for the medium, he, or she, must
+rely entirely on memory.  Of course the spectators may be allowed
+to see that the medium is completely blindfolded.  This modern
+trick has always puzzled the keenest spectators
+
+15. The mystery of double sight.
+
+All the cards of a pack, or indeed any common object touched by a
+spectator, may be named by an assistant in the following way--
+whilst in another apartment, or blindfolded.
+
+Take 32 cards and arrange them in four lines, one under the
+other.  You arrange with your assistant to name the first line
+after the days of the week; the second will represent the weeks,
+the third the months, the fourth the years.  The assistant is
+enjoined to count the days aloud, and the first card by the left.
+
+The following is the entire scheme:--
+
+Days    1 2 3     4 5 6 7     8*  
+Weeks   1 2 3     4 5 6 7     8  
+Months  1 2 3**   4 5 6 7     8  
+Years   1 2 3     4 5 6 7***  8
+
+The cards being thus arranged, the party who has to guess them
+retires from the room.  When he is recalled, whether blindfolded
+or not, he pretends to count to himself for a considerable time,
+so as to allow his associate time to say to him, without
+affectation or exciting suspicion of collusion--'I give you,' or
+'I give him SO MUCH TIME to guess what is required; 'for it is in
+this phrase that the whole secret of the trick is contained, as I
+shall proceed to demonstrate.
+
+Suppose the card touched be one of those marked with the
+asterisks *  **  ***; if it be the first, the associate says,; I
+give him eight days to guess it.'  Then the medium, beginning
+with the upper line, that of the days, will at once be able to
+say that the card touched is the eighth of the first horizontal
+line, or the first of the eighth vertical line.
+
+If it be the card holding the place of the number marked with two
+asterisks ** the associate says 'three months,' and 'seven years'
+for the one marked with three asterisks ***.
+
+Thus, whatever card is touched, it will be easy to indicate it,
+by beginning with the line of days at the top, counting one from
+the left of the associate and medium.
+
+Such is the simple process; and the following is the conventional
+catechism adopted by all theoperators in double sight, with a few
+variations adapted to circumstances.
+
+With this collection of words and phrases, every existing object
+can be guessed, provided care be taken to classify them according
+to the following indications.
+
+To operate, two persons must establish a perfect understanding
+between them.  One undertakes the questions, the other the
+answers, the latter having his eyes perfectly blindfolded.  Both
+of them must thoroughly know the following numbers with their
+correspondences:--
+
+1.  Now.                              9.  Quick.
+2.  Answer or reply.                 10.  Say.  
+3.  Name.                            20.  Tell me.
+4.  What is the object, or thing.    30.  I request you.
+5.  Try.                             40.  Will you.
+6.  Again.                           50.  Will you (to) me.      
+7.  Instantly.                       60.  Will you (to) us.
+8.  Which? 
+
+
+Example:--Add the question of the simple number to the question
+of the decade or ten.  Thus, in pronouncing the words 'Say now,'
+11--for say is 10, and now is 1, total 11.  This, therefore,
+forms question 11.
+
+Again--'Tell me which number,' 28--for 'tell me' is 20, and
+'which' is 8, total 28.
+
+Thirdly:--'I request you instantly,' 37; for 'I request you' is
+30, and 'instantly' is 7, total 37.
+
+All the expressions or words that follow are totally independent
+of the answer, and are only adapted to embellish or mystify the
+question as far as the audience is concerned.  For instance:
+
+Question 7.  Instantly, what I have in my hand?  Answer, A watch.
+
+Question 9.  Quick, the hour?  Answer, nine o'clock.
+
+Question 30, I request you (2) reply--the minutes.  Answer, 32
+minutes, that is 30 and 2, equal to 32.
+
+It would be useless to give the entire correspondence invented
+for this apparently mysterious revelation, as a few specimens
+will suffice to show the principle.
+
+Say what I hold?  A handkerchief.  
+Say now what I hold?  A snuff-box.  
+Say, reply, what I hold?  A pair of spectacles.  
+Say and name what I hold?  A box.  
+Say and try to say what I hold?  A hat.  
+Say quickly what I hold?  An umbrella.
+
+Tell me, reply, what I hold?  A knife.  
+Tell me what I hold?  A purse.  
+Tell me now what I hold?  A pipe.  
+Tell me and try to say what I hold?  A needle.  
+Tell me quickly what I hold?  A cane.
+
+I request you to say what I hold?  A portfolio.  
+I request you to say now what I hold?  Paper.  
+I request you to say, reply, what I hold?  A book.  
+I request you to say quickly what I hold?  A coin.
+
+Will you say, reply, what I hold?--A cigar.  
+Will you say, name what I hold?--A cane.  
+Will you say, again, what I hold?--A newspaper.
+
+Now, what I hold?--A bottle.  
+Reply, what I hold?--A jug.  
+Name what I hold?--A glass.  
+Again, what contains this vessel?--Wine. 
+Instantly, what this vessel contains?--Beer.  
+Now the form?--Triangular.  
+Reply, the form?--Round.  
+Name the form?--Square.  
+The form?--Oval.  
+Try to indicate the form?--Pointed.  
+Again, indicate the form?--Flat.
+
+Now, the colour?--White.  
+Reply, the colour?--Blue.  
+Name the colour?--Red.  
+The colour of this object?--Black.  
+Try to tell the colour?--Green.  
+Again, the colour?--Yellow.
+
+Now, the metal?--Gold. 
+Reply, the metal?--Silver.  
+The metal of the thing?--Copper.  
+Again, the metal?--Iron.  
+Instantly, the metal?--Lead.
+ 
+Ah! the figure or hour?--1.  
+Well?--2.  'Tis good?--3.  
+'Tis well?--4.  
+Good?--5.  
+But?--6.  
+Let's see?--7.  
+That's it?--8.  
+&c.
+
+Now name the suit of this card?--Clubs.  
+Reply, the suit of this card?--Hearts.  
+Name the suit of this card?--Spades.  
+The suit of this card?--Diamonds.
+
+It is obvious, from the preceding specimen, that a conventional
+catechism involving every object can be contrived by two persons,
+and adapted to every circumstance.  The striking performances of
+the most notorious mesmeric 'patients' in this line prove the
+possibility of the achievement.  The 'agent' who receives the
+questions in writing or in a whisper thus communicates the answer
+to the patient, who is laboriously trained in the entire
+encyclopaedia of 'common things' and things generally known; but
+it MAY happen that the question proposed by the spectator has
+been omitted in the scheme.
+
+On one occasion, when the famous Prudence was the 'patient,' and
+was telling the taste of all manner of liquids from a glass of
+water, I proposed 'Blood' to the 'agent.'  He shook his head,
+said he would try; but it was useless.  She said she 'couldn't do
+it,' and the agent frankly admitted that it was a failure.
+
+Now, if the mesmeric consciousness were really, as pretended, the
+result of mental intercommunication between the agent and
+patient, it is obvious that the well-known taste of blood could
+be communicated as well as any other taste.  This experiment
+suffices to prove that the revelations are communicated in the
+matter-of-fact way which I have sufficiently described.
+
+Should it happen that a spectator has discovered the method, the
+performers easily turn the tables against him.  They have always
+ready a conventional list of common things; and the agent
+undertakes that his mesmeric patient will indicate them without
+hearing a word from him, even in another apartment.  The agent
+then merely touches the object, and the patient begins with the
+first name in his list.  The patient takes care to give the agent
+sufficient time, lest he should name the object next to be
+touched before the agent applies his finger, and thus, as it
+were, call for it rather than name it when touched, as required
+by the case.
+
+1.  Guessing.
+
+Five persons having each thought of a different card, to guess
+five cards.
+
+Take twenty-five cards, show five of them to a party, requesting
+him to think of one, then place them one upon the other.  Proceed
+in like manner with five more to a second party, and so on, five
+parties in all, placing the fives on the top of each other. 
+Then, beginning with the top cards, make five lots, placing one
+card successively in each lot; and ask the five parties, one
+after the other, in which lot their card is.  As the first five
+cards are the first of each lot, it is evident that the card
+thought of by the first party is the first of the lot he points
+to; that of the second, is the second of the lot he points to;
+that of the third, the third of the third lot; that of the
+fourth, the fourth of the fourth lot; that of the fifth, the
+fifth of the fifth lot.
+
+Of course five persons are not necessary.  If there be but one
+person, the card must be the first of the lot he points to.
+
+It would be more artistic, perhaps, if you dispense with seeing
+the cards, making the lots up with your eyes turned away from the
+table.  Then request the parties to observe in which lot their
+respective card is, and, taking the lots successively in hand,
+present to each the card thought of without looking at it
+yourself.
+
+17. The Arithmetical Puzzle.
+
+This card trick, to which I have alluded in a previous page,
+cannot fail to produce astonishment; and it is one of the most
+difficult to unravel.
+
+Hand a pack of cards to a party, requesting him to make up
+parcels of cards, in the following manner.  He is to count the
+number of pips on the first card that turns up, say a five, and
+then add as many cards as are required to make up the number 12;
+in the case here supposed, having a five before him, he will
+place seven cards upon it, turning down the parcel.  All the
+court cards count as 10 pips; consequently, only two cards will
+be placed on such to make up 12.  The ace counts as only one pip.
+
+He will then turn up another, count the pips upon it, adding
+cards as before to make up the number 12; and so on, until no
+more such parcels can be made, the remainder, if any, to be set
+aside, all being turned down.
+
+During this operation, the performer of the trick may be out of
+the room, at any rate, at such a distance that it will be
+impossible for him to see the first cards of the parcels which
+have been turned down; and yet he is able to announce the number
+of pips made up by all the first cards laid down, provided he is
+only informed of the number of parcels made up and the number of
+the remainder, if any.
+
+The secret is very simple.  It consists merely in multiplying the
+number of parcels over four by 13 (or rather vice versa), and
+adding the remaining cards, if any, to the product.
+
+Thus, there have just been made up seven packets, with five cards
+over.  Deducting 4 from 7, 3 remain; and I say to myself 13 times
+3 (or rather 3 times 13) are 39, and adding to this the five
+cards over, I at once declare the number of pips made up by the
+first cards turned down to be 44.
+
+There is another way of performing this striking trick.  Direct
+six parcels of cards to be made up in the manner aforesaid, and
+then, on being informed of the number of cards remaining over,
+add that number to 26, and the sum will be the number of pips
+made up by the first cards of the six parcels.
+
+Such are the methods prescribed for performing this trick; but I
+have discovered another, which although, perhaps, a little more
+complicated, has the desirable advantage of explaining the
+seeming mystery.
+
+Find the number of cards in the parcels, by subtracting the
+remainder, if any, from 52.  Subtract the number of pip cards
+therefrom, deduct this last from the number made up of the number
+of parcels multiplied by 12, and the remainder will be the number
+of pips on the first cards.
+
+To demonstrate this take the case just given.  There are seven
+parcels and five cards over.  First, this proves that there are
+47 cards in the seven parcels made up of pips and cards. 
+Secondly, subtract the number of pip cards--seven from the number
+of cards in the parcels; then, 7 from 47, 40 remain (cards). 
+Thirdly, now, as the seven parcels are made up both of the pip
+cards and cards, it is evident that we have only to find the
+number of cards got at as above, to get the number of pips
+required.  Thus, there being seven packets, 7 times 12 make 84;
+take 40, as above found (the number of cards), and the remainder
+is 44, the number of pips as found by the first method
+explained,--the process being as follows:--
+
+ 52 - 5 = 47 - 7 = 40.
+
+ Then, 7 X 12 = 84 - 40 = 44.
+
+In general, however, the first method, being the easiest of
+performance, should be adopted.  The second is in many respects
+very objectionable.
+
+18. To get a card into a pack firmly held by a party.
+
+This trick strikingly shows how easily we may all be deceived by
+appearances.
+
+Select the five or seven of any suit, say the seven of hearts,
+and handing the remainder of the pack to a party, show him the
+card, with your thumb on the seventh pip, so as to conceal it,
+saying:--'Now, hold the pack as firmly as you can, and keep your
+eye upon it to see that there is no trickery, and yet I undertake
+to get into it this six of hearts.'  This injunction rivets his
+attention, and doubtless, like other wise people destined to be
+deceived, he feels quite sure that nobody can 'take him in.'  In
+this satisfactory condition for the operation on both sides, you
+flourish the card so as just to reach the level of the top of
+your hat (if you wear an Alpine scolloped, so much the better),
+and then, bringing down the card, rapidly strike it on the pack
+twice, uttering the words one, two, at each stroke; but, on the
+third raising of the card, leave it on the top of your hat,
+striking the pack with your hand--with the word three.  Then
+request the party to look for the six of hearts in the pack, and
+he will surely find it, to his amazement.
+
+This trick may be performed in a drawing-room, if the operator be
+seated, dropping the card behind his back, especially in an easy-
+chair.
+
+
+
+
+
+****End of The Project Gutenberg Etext of Andrew Steinmetz's****
+**********The Gaming Table:  Its Votaries and Victims***********
+Volume #2
+
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