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Title: The Gaming Table: Its Votaries and Victims
Volume II (of II)
Author: Andrew Steinmetz
Release Date: March, 1996 [Etext #531]
Posting Date: November 29, 2009
Language: English
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GAMING TABLE ***
Produced by Mike Lough
THE GAMING TABLE: ITS VOTARIES AND VICTIMS,
In all Times and Countries, especially in England and in France.
IN TWO VOLUMES.--VOL. II.
By Andrew Steinmetz
Of The Middle Temple, Barrister-At-Law; First-Class Extra Certificate
School Of Musketry, Hythe; Late Officer Instructor Musketry, The Queens
Own Light Infantry Militia. Author Of 'The History Of The Jesuits,'
'Japan And Her People,' 'The Romance Of Duelling,' &C., &C.
'The sharp, the blackleg, and the knowing one,
Livery or lace, the self-same circle, run;
The same the passion, end and means the same--
Dick and his Lordship differ but in name.'
CONTENTS OF VOL. II.
I. CHEVALIERS D'INDUSTRIE, OR POLITE SHARPERS II. PROFESSIONAL GAMESTERS
AND THEIR FRAUDS III. ANECDOTES OF THE PASSIONS AND VICISSITUDES OF
GAMESTERS IV. ACTROCITIES, DUELS. SUICIDES, AND EXECUTION OF GAMBLERS V.
ODDITIES AND WITTICISMS OF GAMBLERS VI. THE GAMING CLUBS VII. DOINGS IN
GAMING HOUSES VIII. THE DOCTRINE OF PROBABILITIES APPLIED TO GAMBLING
IX. THE HISTORY OF DICE AND CARDS X. PIQUET, BASSET, FARO, HAZARD,
PASSE-DIX, PUT, CROSS AND PILE, THIMBLE-RIG
XI. COCK-FIGHTING XII. THE TURF, HISTORICAL, SOCIAL, MORAL XIII.
FORTUNE-TELLING BY CARDS (FOR LADIES) XIV. AMUSING CARD TRICKS
THE GAMING TABLE.
CHAPTER I. CHEVALIERS D'INDUSTRIE, OR POLITE SHARPERS.
Chevaliers d'industrie, or polite and accomplished sharpers, have always
existed in every city, from the earliest times to the present. The
ordinary progress of these interesting gentlemen is as follows. Their
debut is often difficult, and many of them are stopped short in their
career. They only succeed by means of great exertion and severe trials;
but they endure everything in order to be tolerated or permitted to
exercise their calling. To secure credit they ally themselves with men
of respectability, or those who pass for such. When they have no titles
they fabricate them; and few persons dispute their claims. They are
found useful for the pleasures of society, the expenses of which they
often pay--at the cost of the dupes they make in the world. The income
of chevaliers d'industrie is at first derived from those inexperienced
persons whom they get in their clutches by means of every kind
of enticement, in order to ruin them some day--if they have any
'expectations' or are likely to be rich; or in order to make accomplices
of them if they have only aptitudes for the purpose. After having led
them from error to error, after suggesting to them all sorts of wants
and vices, they make them gamble, if they are of age; they hold up play
to them as an inexhaustible source of wealth.
The 'protector' next hands over his 'young friends' to 'executioners,'
who fleece them for the common benefit of the confederates. They do
not always wait for the coming of age of their young dupes in order to
strike the grand 'stroke.' When they find that the father of a family
shudders at the idea of a public scandal, they immolate their victim at
once--for fear lest he should escape from their hands. Of course they
are always open to 'capitulate'--to come to terms; and if the aid of the
law is invoked they give in discreetly.
About a century ago there flourished at Paris one of these adventurers,
who made a great noise and did a vast amount of evil. This man of a
thousand faces, this Proteus, as great a corrupter as he was corrupted,
changed his name, his quarters, and field of operations, according to
the exigences of business. Although a man of ardent temperament and
inconceivable activity, his cold-blooded rascality was never in a hurry.
He could wait; he could bide his time. Taking in, at a glance, all the
requirements of a case, and seeing through all its difficulties, he
worked out his scheme with the utmost patience and consummated his crime
with absolute security.
Sometimes he gave a concert for amateurs, elegant suppers for gay
ladies, and special soirees for the learned and the witty. He was not
particular as to the means of doing business; thus he trafficked
in everything,--for the sale of a living, or the procuration of a
mistress--for he had associates in all ranks, among all professions of
men.
He had twenty Faro tables in operation every night, whilst his
emissaries were on the watch for new arrivals, and for those who had
recently come into property.
In general, rogues soon betray themselves by some stupid bungle; but
such was not the case with this man; he defended himself, as it were, on
all sides, and always kept himself in position so as to oppose to
each of his vices the proof positive of the contrary virtues. Thus, if
accused of usury, he could prove that he had lent, without interest,
considerable sums of money. Cowardly and base in a tete-a-tete, he was
bold and redoubtable in public; those who had made him tremble in secret
were then compelled to acknowledge him a man of courage. Even his more
than suspected probity was defended by such as believed themselves his
depositaries, whereas they were, in point of fact, only receivers of
stolen property.
Affable, insinuating to a degree, he might be compared to those brigands
of Egypt who embraced their victims in order to strangle them.(1) He
never showed more devotedness than when he meditated some perfidy, nor
more assurance than when convicted of the rascality. Playing fast and
loose with honour and the laws, he was sure to find, when threatened by
the arm of justice, the female relatives of the judges themselves
taking his part and doing their best to 'get him off.' Such was this
extraordinary chevalier d'industrie, who might have gone on with his
diabolical perpetrations had he not, at last, attempted too much,
failing in the grandest stroke he had ever meditated--and yet a vulgar
fraud--when he was convicted, branded, and sent to the galleys.(2)
(1) Senec., Epist. Ii. (2) Dusaulx, De la Passion du Jeu.
The following narrative elucidates a still more modern phase of this
elegant 'industry.' My authority is M. Robert-Houdin.
CAUGHT IN A TRAP.
M. Olivier de ---- was a dissipated young gentleman. His family was
one of the oldest and most respectable of the country, and deservedly
enjoyed the highest consideration. M. Olivier de ----, his father, was
not rich, and therefore could not do much for his son; the consequence
was that owing to his outrageous prodigality the son was sorely pinched
for means to keep up his position; he exhausted his credit, and was soon
overwhelmed with debt. Among the companions of his dissipation was a
young man whose abundant means filled him with admiration and envy; he
lived like a prince and had not a single creditor. One day he asked his
friend to explain the mystery of the fact that, without possessing any
fortune, he could gratify all his tastes and fancies, whilst he himself,
with certain resources, was compelled to submit to privations, still
getting into debt.
Chauvignac--such was the name of the friend thus addressed--was a
card-sharper, and he instantly seized the opportunity to make something
out of the happy disposition of this modern prodigal son, this scion of
gentility. With the utmost frankness he explained to the young man his
wonderful method of keeping his pockets full of money, and showed that
nothing could be easier than for Olivier to go and do likewise in his
terrible condition;--in short, on one hand there were within his grasp,
riches, pleasure, all manner of enjoyment; on the other, pitiless
creditors, ruin, misery, and contempt. The tempter, moreover, offered to
initiate his listener in his infallible method of getting rich. In
his frame of mind Olivier yielded to the temptation, with the full
determination, if not to get money by cheating at cards, at any rate to
learn the method which might serve as a means of self-defence should
he not think proper to use it for attack--such was the final argument
suggested by the human Mephistopheles to his pupil.
Taking Olivier to his house, he showed him a pack of cards. 'Now here is
a pack of cards,' he said; 'there seems to be nothing remarkable about
it, does there?' Olivier examined the pack and declared that the cards
did not appear to differ in the least from all others. 'Well,' said
Chauvignac, 'nevertheless they have been subjected to a preparation
called biseautage, or having one end of the cards made narrower than the
other. This disposition enables us to remove from the pack such and such
cards and then to class them in the necessary order so that they may get
into the hand of the operator.' Chauvignac then proceeded to apply his
precepts by an example, and although the young man had no particular
qualification for the art of legerdemain, he succeeded at once to
admiration in a game at Ecarte, for he had already mastered the
first process of cheating. Having thus, as he thought, sufficiently
compromised his victim, Chauvignac left him to his temptations, and took
leave of him.
Two days afterwards the professor returned to his pupil and invited him
to accompany him on a pleasure trip. Olivier excused himself on account
of his desperate condition--one of his creditors being in pursuit of him
for a debt of one thousand francs. 'Is that all?' said Chauvignac; and
pulling out his pocket-book he added,--'Here's a bank-note; you can
repay me to-morrow.' 'Why, man, you are mad!' exclaimed Olivier. 'Be it
so,' said Chauvignac; 'and in my madness I give you credit for another
thousand-franc bank-note to go and get thirty thousand francs which
are waiting for you.' 'Now, do explain yourself, for you are driving
ME mad.' 'Nothing more easy. Here is the fact,' said Chauvignac. 'M. le
Comte de Vandermool, a wealthy Belgian capitalist, a desperate gamester
if ever there was one, and who can lose a hundred thousand francs
without much inconvenience, is now at Boulogne, where he will remain a
week. This millionnaire must be thinned a little. Nothing is easier. One
of my friends and confreres, named Chaffard, is already with the count
to prepare the way. We have only now to set to work. You are one of
us--that's agreed--and in a few days you will return, to satisfy your
creditors and buy your mistress a shawl.'
'Stop a bit. You are going too fast. Wait a little. I haven't as yet
said Yes,' replied Olivier. 'I don't want your Yes now; you will say
it at Boulogne. For the present go and pay your bill. We set out in
two hours; the post-horses are already ordered; we shall start from my
house: be punctual.'
The party reached Boulogne and put up at the Hotel de l'Univers. On
their arrival they were informed that no time was to be lost, as the
count talked of leaving next day. The two travellers took a hasty
dinner, and at once proceeded to the apartment of the Belgian
millionnaire. Chaffard, who had preceded them, introduced them as two of
his friends, whose property was situated in the vicinity of Boulogne.
M. le Comte de Vandermool was a man about fifty years of age, with
an open, candid countenance. He wore several foreign decorations. He
received the two gentlemen with charming affability; he did more; he
invited them to spend the evening with him. Of course the invitation
was accepted. When the conversation began to flag, the count proposed
a game--which was also, of course, very readily agreed to by the three
comperes.
While the table was prepared, Chauvignac gave his young friend two packs
of cards, to be substituted for those which should be furnished by the
count. Ecarte was to be the game, and Olivier was to play, the two other
associates having pretended to know nothing about the game, and saying
that they would content themselves by betting with each other. Of course
Olivier was rather surprised at this declaration, but he soon understood
by certain signs from Chauvignac that this reservation was intended to
do away with the count's suspicions, in case of their success.
The count, enormously rich as he was, would only play for bank-notes.
'Metal smells bad in a room,' he said. The novice, at first confused
at being a party to the intended roguery, followed the dictates of his
conscience and, neglecting the advantages of his hands, trusted merely
to chance. The result was that the only thousand-franc bank-note he had
was speedily transferred to the count. At that moment Chauvignac gave
him a significant look, and this, together with the desire to retrieve
his loss, induced him to put into execution the culpable manoeuvres
which his friend had taught him. His work was of the easiest; the count
was so short-sighted that he had to keep his nose almost upon the cards
to see them. Chance now turned, as might be expected, and thousand-franc
bank-notes soon accumulated in the hands of Olivier, who, intoxicated by
this possession, worked away with incredible ardour. Moreover, the
count was not in the least out of humour at losing so immensely; on the
contrary, he was quite jovial; indeed, from his looks he might have been
supposed to be the winner. At length, however, he said with a smile,
taking a pinch from his golden snuff-box--'I am evidently not in vein. I
have lost eighty thousand francs. I see that I shall soon be in for one
hundred thousand. But it is proper, my dear sir, that I should say I
don't make a habit of losing more than this sum at a sitting; and if
it must be so, I propose to sup before losing my last twenty thousand
francs. Perhaps this will change my vein. I think you will grant me this
indulgence.' The proposal was agreed to.
Olivier, almost out of his senses at the possession of eighty thousand
francs, could not resist the desire of expressing his gratitude to
Chauvignac, which he did, grasping his hand with emotion and leading him
into a corner of the room.
Alas! the whole thing was only an infamous conspiracy to ruin the young
man. The Belgian capitalist, this count apparently so respectable, was
only an expert card-sharper whom Chauvignac had brought from Paris to
play out the vile tragi-comedy, the denouement of which would be the
ruin of the unfortunate Olivier.
At the moment when the latter left the card-table to go to Chauvignac,
the pretended millionnaire changed the pack of cards they had been using
for two other packs.
Supper went off very pleasantly. They drank very moderately, for the
head had to be kept cool for what had to follow. They soon sat down
again at the card-table. 'Now,' said the Parisian card-shaper, on
resuming his seat, 'I should like to end the matter quickly: I will
stake the twenty thousand francs in a lump.'
Olivier, confident of success after his previous achievement, readily
assented; but, alas, the twenty thousand francs of which he made sure
was won by his adversary.
Forty thousand francs went in like manner. Olivier, breathless, utterly
prostrate, knew not what to do. All his manoeuvres were practised in
vain; he could give himself none but small cards. His opponent had
his hands full of trumps, and HE dealt them to him! In his despair he
consulted Chauvignac by a look, and the latter made a sign to him to go
on. The wretched young man went on, and lost again. Bewildered, beside
himself, he staked fabulous sums to try and make up for his losses, and
very soon found, in his turn, that he owed his adversary one hundred
thousand francs(L4166)!
At this point the horrible denouement commenced. The pretended count
stopped, and crossing his arms on his breast, said sternly--'Monsieur
Olivier de ----, you must be very rich to stake so glibly such enormous
sums. Of course you know your fortune and can square yourself with
it; but, however rich you may be, you ought to know that it is not
sufficient to lose a hundred thousand francs, but that you must pay it.
Besides, I have given you the example. Begin, therefore, by putting down
the sum I have won from you; after which we can go on.' . . .
'Nothing can be more proper, sir,' stammered out young Olivier, 'I am
ready to satisfy you; but, after all, you know that . . . .
gaming debts . . . . my word . . . .'
'The d--l! sir,' said the pretended count, giving the table a violent
blow with his fist--'Why do you talk to me about your WORD. Gad! You are
well entitled to appeal to the engagements of honour! Well! We have
now to play another game on this table, and we must speak out plainly.
Monsieur Olivier de ----, you are a rogue . . . Yes, a rogue! The cards
we have been using are biseautees and YOU brought them hither.'
'Sir! . . You insult me!' said Olivier.
'Indeed? Well, sir, that astonishes me!' replied the false Belgian
ironically.
'That is too much, sir. I demand satisfaction, and that on the very
instant. Do you understand me? Let us go out at once.'
'No! no! We must end this quarrel here, sir. Look here--your two friends
shall be your "seconds;" I am now going to send for MINE.'
The card-sharper, who had risen at these words, rang the bell violently.
His own servant entered. 'Go,' said he, 'to the Procureur de Roi, and
request him to come here on a very important matter. Be as quick as you
can.'
'Oh, sir, be merciful! Don't ruin me!' exclaimed the wretched Olivier;
'I will do what you like.' At these words, the sharper told his servant
to wait behind the door, and to execute his order if he should hear
nothing to the contrary in ten minutes.
'And now, sir,' continued the sharper, turning to Olivier, 'and
now, sir, for the business between you and me. These cards have been
substituted by you in the place of those which I supplied . . . You must
do them up, write your name upon the cover, and seal it with the coat of
arms on your ring.'
Olivier looked first at Chauvignac and then at Chaffard, but both the
fellows only made signs to him to resign himself to the circumstances.
He did what was ordered.
'That is not all, sir,' added the false Belgian; 'I have fairly won
money from you and have a right to demand a guarantee for payment. You
must draw me short bills for the sum of one hundred thousand francs.'
As the wretched young man hesitated to comply with this demand, his
pitiless creditor rose to ring the bell.
'Don't ring, sir, don't ring,' said Olivier, 'I'll sign.'
He signed, and the villany was consummated. Olivier returned to his
family and made an humble avowal of his fault and his engagements. His
venerable father received the terrible blow with resignation, and paid
the 100,000 francs, estimating his honour far above that amount of
money.(3)
(3) This narrative is condensed from the account of the affair by
Robert-Hondin, Tricherics des Grecs devoilees.
AN ATTORNEY 'DONE' BY A GAMBLER.
A turfite and gambler, represented under the letters of Mr H--e, having
lost all his money at Doncaster and the following York Meeting, devised
a plan, with his coadjutor, to obtain the means for their departure from
York, which, no doubt, will be considered exceedingly ingenious.
He had heard of an attorney in the town who was very fond of Backgammon;
and on this simple piece of information an elaborate plan was concocted.
Mr H--e feigned illness, went to bed, and sent for a large quantity of
tartar emetic, which he took. After he had suffered the operation of
the first dose he sent for a doctor, who pronounced him, of course, very
languid and ill; and not knowing the cause, ordered him more medicine,
which the patient took good care not to allow to stay on his stomach.
On the second day he asked the doctor, with great gravity, if he
considered him in danger, adding, 'because he had never made a WILL to
bequeath his property.' The doctor replied, 'No, not in absolute danger,
but there was no harm in making a WILL.'
The attorney, accordingly, was sent for--of course the very man wished
for--the lover of Backgammon before mentioned. The good man came; he
took the 'instructions,' and drew up the last will and testament of the
ruined turfite, who left (in the will) about L50,000, which no man ever
heard of, living or dead.
The BUSINESS being done, the patient said that if he had a moment's
relaxation he thought he should rally and overcome the malady. The poor
lawyer said if he could in any way contribute to his comfort he should
be happy. The offer was embraced by observing that if he could sit up in
bed--but he was afraid he was not able--a hit at Backgammon would be a
great source of amusement.
The lawyer, like all adepts in such matters, was only too willing to
catch at the idea; the board was brought.
Of course the man who had L50,000 to leave behind could not be expected
to play 'for love;' and so when Mr H--e proposed 'a pound a hit or
treble a gammon,' the lawyer not only thought it reasonable, but,
conscious of his power in the game, eagerly accepted the terms of
playing. They played; but the lawyer was gammoned almost
incessantly, till he lost L50. Then H--e proposed 'double or quits to
L1000,'--thereupon the poor lawyer, believing that fortune could not
always forsake him, said he had but L2000 in the world, but that he
would set the L1000. He lost; and became almost frantic. In the midst
of his excessive grief, H--e said, 'You have a HORSE, what is it worth?'
L50 was the answer. 'Well, well, you may win all back now, and I'll set
L50 on your horse.'
They began again. Lost! 'You have a COW in your paddock, haven't you?
What's that worth?' asked Mr H--e. The attorney said L12. 'Well, I'll
set that sum by way of giving you a chance.' The game proceeded, and the
poor lawyer, equally unfortunate, raved and swore he had lost his last
shilling. 'No, no!' said H--e,' you have not: I saw a HAY-RICK in your
ground. It is of no use now that the horse and cow are gone--what is
that worth?' L15, replied the attorney, with a sigh. 'I set L15 then,'
said H--e.
This seemed to be 'rather too much' for the lawyer. The loss of
the hay-rick--like the last straw laid on the overladen camel's
back--staggered him. Besides, he thought he saw--as doubtless he did
see--H--e twisting his fingers round one of the dice. Up he started at
once, and declared that he was cheated!
Thereupon the sick man forgot his sickness, jumped out of bed, and gave
the lawyer a regular drubbing, got the cheque for the L2000,--but the
horse, cow, and hay he said he would leave 'until further orders.'
A VERY CURIOUS STORY.
An Archbishop of Canterbury was once on a tour, when a genteel man,
apparently in earnest conversation, though alone in a wood, attracted
his notice. His Grace made up to him, and, after a little previous
conversation, asked him what he was about.
Stranger. 'I am at play.'
Archbishop. 'At play? With whom? I see nobody.'
Sir. 'I own, sir, my antagonist is not visible: I am playing
with God.'
Abp. 'At what game, pray, sir?'
Str. 'At Chess.'
Abp. 'Do you play for anything?'
Str. 'Certainly.'
Abp. 'You cannot have any chance, as your adversary must be so
superior to you.'
Str. 'He takes no advantage, but plays merely as a man.'
Abp. 'When you win or lose, how do you settle accounts?'
Str. 'Very exactly and punctually.'
Abp. 'Indeed! Pray, how stands your game now?'
Str. 'There! I have just lost!'
Abp. 'How much have you lost?'
Str. 'Fifty guineas.'
Abp. 'How do you manage to pay it? Does God take your money?'
Str. 'No! The poor are his treasurers. He always sends some
worthy person to receive it, and you are at present his
purse-bearer.'
Saying this, the stranger put fifty guineas into his Grace's hand, and
retired, adding--'I shall play no more to-day.'
The prelate was delighted; though he could not tell what to make of this
extraordinary man. The guineas were all good; and the archbishop applied
them to the use of the poor, as he had been directed.
The archbishop, on his return, stopped at the same town, and could
not help going in search of the chess-player, whom he found engaged as
before, when the following dialogue ensued:--
Abp. 'How has the chance stood since we met before?'
Str. 'Sometimes for me--sometimes against me. I have lost and
won.'
Abp. 'Are you at play now?'
Str. 'Yes, sir. We have played several games to-day.'
Abp. 'Who wins?'
Str. 'The advantage is on my side. The game is just over. I
have a fine stroke--check-mate--there it is.'
Abp. 'How much have you won?'
Str. 'Five hundred guineas.'
Abp. 'That is a large sum. How are you to be paid?'
Str. 'God always sends some good rich man when I win, and YOU
are the person. He is remarkably punctual on these occasions.'
The archbishop had received a considerable sum on that day, as the
stranger knew; and so, producing a pistol by way of receipt, he
compelled the delivery of it. His Grace now discovered that he had
been the dupe of a thief; and though he had greatly bruited his first
adventure, he prudently kept his own counsel in regard to the last.
Such is the tale. Se non e vero e ben trovato.
SKITTLE SHARPERS.
'I know a respectable tradesman,' says a writer in Cassell's
Magazine--'I know him now, for he lives in the house he occupied at the
time of my tale--who was sent for to see a French gentleman at a tavern,
on business connected with the removal of this gentleman's property from
one of the London docks. The business, as explained by the messenger,
promising to be profitable, he of course promptly obeyed the summons,
and during his walk found that his conductor had once been in service
in France. This delighted Mr Chase--the name by which I signify the
tradesman--for he, too, had once so lived in France; and by the time he
reached the tavern he had talked himself into a very good opinion of
his new patron. The French gentleman was very urbane, gave Mr Chase his
instructions, let him understand expense was not to be studied, and, as
he was at lunch, would not be satisfied unless the tradesman sat down
with him. This was a great honour for the latter, as he found his
employer was a baron. Well, the foreigner was disposed to praise
everything English; he was glad he had come to live in London--Paris was
nothing to it; they had nothing in France like the English beer, with
which, in the exuberance of his hospitality, he filled and refilled Mr
Chase's glass; but that which delighted him above all that he had seen
"vos de leetle game vid de ball--vot you call--de--de--aha! de skittel."
Mr Chase assented that it was a very nice game certainly; and the French
gentleman seeming by this time to have had quite enough beer, insisted,
before they went to the docks--which was essential--that they should see
just one game played.
'As he insisted on paying Mr Chase for all the time consumed with him,
and as his servant, of course, could not object, the party adjourned
to the "Select Subscription Ground" at once. In the ground there was a
quiet, insignificant-looking little man, smoking a cigar; and as
they were so few, he was asked to assist, which, after considerable
hesitation and many apologies for his bad play, he did. The end is of
course guessed. The French gentleman was a foolish victim, with more
money than wits, who backed himself to do almost impossible feats, when
it was evident he could not play at all, and laid sovereigns against the
best player, who was the little stranger, doing the easiest. What with
the excitement, and what with the beer, which was probably spiced with
some unknown relish a little stronger than nutmeg, Mr Chase could not
help joining in winning the foreign gentleman's money; it seemed no
harm, he had so much of it.
'By a strange concurrence of events, it so happened that by random
throws the Frenchman sometimes knocked all the pins down at a
single swoop, though he clearly could not play--Mr Chase was sure
of that--while the skilful player made every now and then one of the
blunders to which the best players are liable. That the tradesman lost
forty sovereigns will be easily understood; and did his tale end here
it would have differed so little from a hundred others as scarcely to
deserve telling; but it will surprise many, as it did me, to learn that
he then walked to and from his own house--a distance of precisely a
mile each way--fetched a bill for thirty pounds, which a customer had
recently paid him, got it discounted, went back to the skittle-ground,
and, under the same malignant star, lost the whole.
'It was the only case in my experience of the work going on smoothly
after such a break. I never could account for it, nor could Mr Chase.
Great was the latter's disgust, on setting the police to work, to find
that the French nobleman, his servant, and the quiet stranger, were all
dwellers within half a mile or so of his own house, and slightly known
to him--men who had trusted, and very successfully, to great audacity
and well-arranged disguise.'
A vast deal of gambling still goes on with skittles all over the
country. At a place not ten miles from London, I am told that as much as
two thousand pounds has been seen upon the table in a single 'alley,'
or place of play. The bets were, accordingly, very high. The instances
revealed by exposure at the police-courts give but a faint idea of the
extent of skittle sharping.
Amidst such abuses of the game, it can scarcely surprise us that the
police have been recently directed to prohibit all playing at skittles
and bowls. However much we may regret the interference with popular
pastimes, in themselves unobjectionable, it is evident that their
flagrant abuse warrants the most stringent measures in order to prevent
their constantly repeated and dismal consequences. Even where money was
not played for, pots of beer were the wager--leading, in many instances,
to intoxication, or promoting this habit, which is the cause of so much
misery among the lower orders.
CHAPTER II. PROFESSIONAL GAMESTERS AND THEIR FRAUDS.
A gambling house at the end of the last century was conducted by the
following officials:--
1. A Commissioner,--who was always a proprietor; who looked in of a
night, and audited the week's account with two other proprietors.
2. A Director,--who superintended the room.
3. An Operator,--who dealt the cards at the cheating game called Faro.
4. Two Croupiers, or crow-pees, as they were vulgarly called, whose duty
it was to watch the cards and gather or rake in the money for the bank.
5. Two Puffs,--who had money given to them to decoy others to play.
6. A Clerk,--who was a check on the Puffs, to see that they sank none of
the money given to them to play with.
7. A Squib,--who was a puff of a lower rank, serving at half salary,
whilst learning to deal.
8. A Flasher,--to swear how often the bank had been stripped by lucky
players.
9. A Dunner,--who went about to recover money lost at play.
10. A Waiter,--to fill out wine, snuff candles, and attend the room.
11. An Attorney,--who was generally a Newgate solicitor.
12. A Captain,--who was to fight any gentleman who might be peevish at
losing his money.
13. An Usher,--who lighted the gentlemen up and down stairs, and gave
the word to the porter.
14. A Porter,--who was generally a soldier of the Foot Guards.
15. An Orderly-man,--who walked up and down the outside of the door, to
give notice to the porter, and alarm the house at the approach of the
constables.
16. A Runner,--who was to get intelligence of the Justices' meetings.
17. Link Boys, Coachmen, Chairmen, Drawers, and others, who brought the
first intelligence of Justices' meetings, of constables going out, at
half a guinea reward.
18. Common Bail, Affidavit Men, Ruffians, Bravos, Assassins, &c. &c.
It may be proper to remark that the above list of officials was only
calculated for gambling houses of an inferior order. In these it is
evident that the fear of interruption and the necessity for precaution
presided over the arrangements. There were others, however, which seemed
to defy law, to spurn at justice, and to remain secure, in every way, by
the 'respectability' of their frequenters. These were houses supported
at an amazing expense--within sight of the palace--which were open
every night and all night--where men of the first rank were to be
found gambling away immense sums of money, such as no man, whatever
his fortune might be, could sustain. 'What, then,' says a writer at
the time, 'are the consequences? Why, that the UNDONE part of them sell
their VOTES for bread, and the successful give them for honours.
'He who has never seen the gamblers' apartments in some of the
magnificent houses in the neighbourhood of St James's, has never
seen the most horrid sight that the imagination of a thinking man can
conceive.
'A new pack of cards is called for at every deal, and the "old" ones are
then thrown upon the floor, and in such an immense quantity, that the
writer of this letter has seen a very large room nearly ANKLE-DEEP, in
the greatest part of it, by four o'clock in the morning! Judge, then, to
what height they must have risen by daylight.'
It is a melancholy truth, but confirmed by the history of all nations,
that the most polite and refined age of a kingdom is never the most
virtuous; not, indeed, that any such compliment can be paid to that
gross age, but still it was refined compared with the past. The
distinctions of personal merit being but little regarded--in the
low moral tone that prevailed--there needed but to support a certain
'figure' in life (managed by the fashionable tailor)(4), to be
conversant with a few etiquettes of good breeding and sentiments of
modern or current honour, in order to be received with affability and
courteous attention in the highest circles. The vilest sharper, having
once gained admission, was sure of constant entertainment, for nothing
formed a greater cement of union than the spirit of HIGH GAMING. There
being so little cognizance taken of the good qualities of the heart in
fashionable assemblies, no wonder that amid the medley of characters to
be found in these places the 'sharper' of polite address should gain too
easy an admission.
(4)
'How shalt THOU to Caesar's hall repair?
For, ah! no DAMAGED coat can enter there!'
BEATTIE'S Minstrel.
This fraternity of artists--whether they were to be denominated
rooks,(5) sharps, sharpers, black-legs, Greeks, or gripes--were
exceedingly numerous, and were dispersed among all ranks of society.
(5) So called because rooks are famous for stealing materials out of
other birds' nests to build their own.
The follies and vices of others--of open-hearted youth in
particular--were the great game or pursuit of this odious crew. Though
cool and dispassionate themselves, they did all in their power to throw
others off their guard, that they might make their advantage of them.
In others they promoted excess of all kinds, whilst they themselves took
care to maintain the utmost sobriety and temperance. 'Gamesters,' says
Falconer, 'whose minds must be always on the watch to take advantages,
and prepared to form calculations, and to employ the memory, constantly
avoid a full meal of animal food, which they find incapacitates them for
play nearly as much as a quantity of strong liquor would have done, for
which reason they feed chiefly on milk and vegetables.'
As profit, not pleasure, was the aim of these knights of darkness, they
lay concealed under all shapes and disguises, and followed up their game
with all wariness and discretion. Like wise traders, they made it the
business of their lives to excel in their calling.
For this end they studied the secret mysteries of their art by night
and by day; they improved on the scientific schemes of their profound
master, Hoyle, and on his deep doctrines and calculations of chances.
They became skilful without a rival where skill was necessary, and
fraudulent without conscience where fraud was safe and advantageous; and
while fortune or chance appeared to direct everything, they practised
numberless devices by which they insured her ultimate favours to
themselves.
Of these none were more efficacious, because none are more ensnaring,
than bribing their young and artless dupes to future play by suffering
them to win at their first onsets. By rising a winner the dupe imbibed a
confidence in his own gambling abilities, or deemed himself a favourite
of fortune. He engaged again, and was again successful--which increased
his exultation and confirmed his future confidence; and thus did the
simple gudgeon swallow their bait, till it became at last fast hooked.
When rendered thus secure of their prey, they began to level their
whole train of artillery against the boasted honours of his short-lived
triumph. Then the extensive manors, the ancient forests, the paternal
mansions, began to tremble for their future destiny. The pigeon was
marked down, and the infernal crew began in good earnest to pluck his
rich plumage. The wink was given on his appearance in the room, as
a signal of commencing their covert attacks. The shrug, the nod, the
hem--every motion of the eyes, hands, feet--every air and gesture, look
and word--became an expressive, though disguised, language of fraud and
cozenage, big with deceit and swollen with ruin. Besides this, the
card was marked, or 'slipped,' or COVERED. The story is told of a noted
sharper of distinction, a foreigner, whose hand was thrust through with
a fork by his adversary, Captain Roche, and thus nailed to the table,
with this cool expression of concern--'I ask your pardon, sir, if you
have not the knave of clubs under your hand.' The cards were packed,
or cut, or even SWALLOWED. A card has been eaten between two slices of
bread and butter, for the purpose of concealment.
With wily craft the sharpers substituted their deceitful 'doctors' or
false dice; and thus 'crabs,' or 'a losing game,' became the portion of
the 'flats,' or dupes.
There were different ways of throwing dice. There was the 'Stamp'--when
the caster with an elastic spring of the wrist rapped the cornet or box
with vehemence on the table, the dice as yet not appearing from under
the box. The 'Dribble' was, when with an air of easy but ingenious
motion, the caster poured, as it were, the dice on the board--when, if
he happened to be an old practitioner, he might suddenly cog with his
fore-finger one of the cubes. The 'Long Gallery' was when the dice were
flung or hurled the whole length of the board. Sometimes the dice were
thrown off the table, near a confederate, who, in picking them up,
changed one of the fair for a false die with two sixes. This was
generally done at the first throw, and at the last, when the fair die
was replaced. The sixes were on the opposite squares, so that the fraud
could only be detected by examination. Of course this trick could only
be practised at raffles, where only three throws are required.
A pair of false dice was arranged as follows:--
{Two fours
On one die, {Two fives
{Two sixes
{Two fives
On the other, {Two threes
{Two aces
With these dice it was impossible to throw what is at Hazard denominated
Crabs, or a losing game--that is, aces, or ace and deuce, twelve, or
seven. Hence, the caster always called for his main; consequently, as he
could neither throw one nor seven, let his chance be what it might,
he was sure to win, and he and those who were in the secret of course
always took the odds. The false dice being concealed in the left hand,
the caster took the box with the fair dice in it in his right hand,
and in the act of shaking it caught the fair dice in his hand, and
unperceived shifted the box empty to his left, from which he dropped
the false dice into the box, which he began to rattle, called his main
seven, and threw. Having won his stake he repeated it as often as he
thought proper. He then caught the false dice in the same way, shifted
the empty box again, and threw till he threw out, still calling the same
main, by which artifice he escaped suspicion.
Two gambling adventurers would set out with a certain number of signs
and signals. The use of the handkerchief during the game was the
certain evidence of a good hand. The use of the snuff-box a sign equally
indicative of a bad one. An affected cough, apparently as a natural one,
once, twice, three, or four times repeated, was an assurance of so
many honours in hand. Rubbing the left eye was an invitation to lead
trumps,--the right eye the reverse,--the cards thrown down with one
finger and the thumb was a sign of one trump; two fingers and the thumb,
two trumps, and so on progressively, and in exact explanation of the
whole hand, with a variety of manoeuvres by which chance was reduced to
certainty, and certainty followed by ruin.(6)
(6) Bon Ton Magazine, 1791.
CHEATING AT WHIST.
In an old work on cards the following curious disclosures are made
respecting cheating at whist:--
'He that can by craft overlook his adversary's game hath a great
advantage; for by that means he may partly know what to play securely;
or if he can have some petty glimpse of his partner's hand. There is a
way by making some sign by the fingers, to discover to their partners
what honours they have, or by the wink of one eye it signifies one
honour, shutting both eyes two, placing three fingers or four on the
table, three or four honours. FOR WHICH REASON ALL NICE GAMSTERS PLAY
BEHIND CURTAINS.
'Dealing the cards out by one and one to each person is the best method
of putting it out of the dealer's power to impose on you. But I shall
demonstrate that, deal the cards which way you will, a confederacy of
two sharpers will beat any two persons in the world, though ever so good
players, that are not of the gang, or in the secret, and "THREE poll
ONE" is as safe and secure as if the money was in their pockets. All
which will appear presently.
The first necessary instructions to be observed at Whist, as principals
of the secret, which may be likewise transferred to most other games at
cards, are:--
Brief or short cards,
Corner-bend,
Middle-bend (or Kingston-bridge).
'Of brief cards there are two sorts: one is a card longer than the
rest,--the other is a card broader than the rest. The long sort are such
as three, four, five, six, seven, eight, and nine; the broad sort are
such as aces, kings, queens, and knaves. The use and advantage of each
are as follows:--
'Example:--When you cut the cards to your adversary, cut them long, or
endways, and he will have a three, four, five, six, seven, eight, or
nine at bottom. When your adversary cuts the cards to you, put them
broadside to him, and he will naturally cut (without ever suspecting
what you do) ace, king, queen, or knave, &c., which is sufficient
advantage to secure any game.
'And in case you cannot get cards of proper sizes ready-made to mix with
others, you may shave them with a razor or penknife from the threes to
the nines each side, and from the aces to the knaves each end; then put
them up in the same case or cover, and if they are done as they ought to
be, they will pass upon anybody.
'As Whist is a tavern-game, the sharpers generally take care to put
about the bottle before the game begins, so quick, that a BUBBLE cannot
be said to see clearly even when he begins to play.
'The next is the corner-bend, which is four cards turned down finely at
one corner--a signal to cut by.
'The other is vulgarly called Kingston-bridge, or the middle-bend. It is
done by bending your own or adversary's TRICKS two different ways, which
will cause an opening, or arch, in the middle, which is of the same use
and service as the other two ways, and only practised in its turn to
amuse you.
'The next thing to be considered is, who deals the cards, you or your
adversary; because that is a main point, and from whence your advantage
must arise. Suppose, for example,
{Sharpers,
A and B {
{Partners,
{Bubbles, or Flats,
C and D {
{ Partners.
After a deal or two is formally played, A and B will begin to operate in
the following manner:--
'When A or B is to deal, they observe the PRECEDING DEAL to take up the
tricks thus:--
1. A bad card. 2. A good card.
3. A bad card. 4. A good card.
(Meaning the best and worst that fall in that list).
'When C or D deals, they must be taken up thus:--
1. A good card. 2. A bad card.
3. A good card. 4. A bad card.
'By this rule it is plain that the best cards fall to A and B every
deal. How is it possible, therefore, that C and D should ever win a game
without permission? But it would be deemed ill policy, and contrary to
the true interest of A and B, to act thus every deal. I will, therefore,
suppose it is practised just when they please, according as bets happen
in company; though the rule with gamesters, in low life, is at the first
setting out to stupify you with wine and the loss of your money, that
you may never come to a perfect understanding of what you are doing. It
may be truly said that many an honest gentleman has been kept a month in
such a condition by the management and contrivance of a set of sharpers.
'Now you may imagine it not in the power of A and B to cause the tricks
to be taken up after the manner aforesaid: there is nothing so easy nor
so frequently practised, especially at Three poll One; for in playing
the cards the confederates will not only take care of their own tricks,
but also of yours, for the cards may be so played, and shoved together
in such a manner, as will even cause you to take them right yourself;
and if a trick should lie untowardly on the table, A or B will pay you
the compliment of taking it up for you, and say--"Sir, that's yours."
This operation will the more readily be apprehended by seeing it
practised half a score times; when once you are aware of it, it will
otherwise (I may say fairly) pass upon any person that has not been let
into the secret. This being allowed, the next point and difficulty is to
shuffle and cut.
'I say, that either A or B are such curious workmen, and can make a sham
shuffle with a pack of cards so artfully, that you would believe they
were splitting them, when at the time they will not displace a single
card from its order! Such is the SHARPER'S shuffling.
'Now, to cut the cards, a BEND is prepared for you to cut to--the middle
is the best; and it is odds but you unwarily cut to it; if not, SLIP is
the word; but if you have no opportunity to do that neither, then deal
away at all hazards, it is but an equal bet that they come in your
favour; if right, proceed; if otherwise, miss a card in its course, and
it brings the cards according to your first design; it is but giving two
at last where you missed; and if that cannot be conveniently done, you
only lose the deal, and there is an end of it.
'But when A or B is to cut, they make it all safe; for then they make
the CORNER-BEND, which any one that knows may cut to, a hundred times
together.
'Piping at Whist. By piping I mean, when one of the company that does
not play, which frequently happens, sits down in a convenient place to
smoke a pipe, and so look on, pretending to amuse himself that way. Now,
the disposing of his fingers on the pipe whilst smoking discovers the
principal cards that are in the person's hand he overlooks; which was
always esteemed a sufficient advantage whereby to win a game. There is
another method, namely, by uttering words. "Indeed" signifies diamonds;
"truly," hearts; "upon my word," clubs; "I assure you," spades. But as
soon as these methods become known, new ones are invented; and it is
most curious that two persons may discover to each other what sort
of cards they have in hand, and which ought first to be played, many
different ways, without speaking a word.'
There can be no doubt that the act of sorting the cards is capable of
giving an acute observer a tolerably accurate idea of his partner's or
either of his opponents' hands; so that where cheating is suspected it
would be better to play the cards without sorting them. The number of
times a sorter carries a card to a particular part indicates so many of
a suit; your own hand and his play will readily indicate the nature of
the cards in which he is either strong or weak.
I now quote Robert-Houdin's account of
CARD TELEGRAPHY.
Although there are 32 cards in the game of Piquet, all of them may be
designated by twelve different signs, namely, eight for the nature of
the cards, and four for the colours.
At Ecarte, the number of the signals is still less, as it is only the
figures that require indication: but to make these indications it is
necessary to execute a sort of pantomime, according to certain authors,
such as blowing the nose, coughing, drumming on the table, sneezing, &c.
Such evolutions, however, are totally unworthy of your modern Greek, and
would soon be denounced as gross fraud. The signals which he employs are
only appreciable by his confederate,--as follows:--
If he looks
1. At his confederate, he designates A king.
2. At the play of his adversary . . . A queen.
3. At the stake . . . . . . . . . . . A knave.
4. At the opposite side . . . . . . . An ace.
And whilst he indicates the nature of the cards he at the same time
makes known the colour by the following signs:--
1. The mouth slightly open . . . . . Hearts.
2. The mouth shut . . . . . . . . . . Diamonds.
3. The upper-lip slightly pouting
over the lower . . . . . . . Clubs.
4. The lower-lip drawn over the
upper . . . . . . . . . . . Spades.
Thus, if the Greek wishes to announce, for instance, the knave and
ace of hearts, he successively directs his looks upon the play of his
adversary, upon the stake, and to the opposite side, whilst keeping his
mouth slightly open.
It is evident that this telegraphy may be employed at all games where
there is a gallery. In effect, nothing is easier at Piquet than to
indicate, by the aid of these signals, the colour in which the player
should discard and that in which he should keep what cards he has.
These are the simplest signs; but some of the Greeks have a great number
of them, to designate everything; and even sometimes to communicate
and receive intelligence, when necessary. This telegraphy is so
imperceptible that it is difficult to describe it, and altogether
impossible to detect it.(7)
(7) Tricheries des Grecs devoilees.
Robert-Houdin has exhausted the subject of card-trickery, in connection
with that prestidigitation which, it seems, all card-sharpers cultivate,
the description of which, however, is by no means so entertaining as the
visible performance. I find, nevertheless, in his book, under the title
of 'Small Trickeries made innocent by Custom,' certain things alluded to
which I can attest by experience.
I. At Whist, no communication whatever must be made by a player to his
partner, excepting those authorized by the laws of the game; but some
persons go further, and by the play of their features 'telegraph' to
their partners the value of their hands.
II. Any one with a good memory and endowed with quick perception may
form a very accurate estimate of the hands held by all the players by
remembering THE TRICKS AS THEY ARE PLAYED AND TURNED DOWN--all of a
suit, or trumped. Cards 'stick together' most lovingly, and the ordinary
shuffling scarcely alters their sequence; and so, if a trick has been
taken by an ace over a king, for instance, and in the next deal you get
the same king, you may be sure that the ace is either on your right or
your left, according to the deal; of course, if you get the ace, then
the same probability, or rather necessity, exists as to the king; and
so on. Knave, queen, king, ace, of the same name, are almost sure to be
separated in the deal between the four players, or one player will have
two of them. The observation is a tax upon the faculties; but I am sure,
quite sure, that the thing can be done, and is, when done, of material
service; although, of course, the knowledge can be turned to account
only by an expert player, with a partner who can understand the game
which he wishes to play.
Whist is, decidedly, one of the fairest of games; but for that very
reason, it is open to the greatest over-reaching, or, if you like,
cheating.
With regard to dice, of course, they were and, doubtless, are still
loaded. Such were formerly called 'dispatches,' because they would
'in five minutes dispatch L500 out of the pocket of any young man when
intoxicated with champagne.'
Roulette and Rouge et Noir tables were and are so arranged as always to
make the bank win at the will of the attendant, regulating them with a
touch.
At Hazard, they used 'low or high dice,' that is, with only certain
numbers on them, high or low,--a pair of which every sharper always had
in his possession, changing them with great dexterity. They also used
'cramped' boxes, by which they 'cogged' or fastened the dice in the box
as they dropped them IN, and so could drop them OUT with the required
face upwards.
CHAPTER III. ANECDOTES OF THE PASSIONS AND VICISSITUDES OF GAMESTERS.
Although all the motives of human action have long been known--although
psychology, or the science of soul and sentiment, has ceased to present
us with any new facts--it is quite certain that our edifice of Morals is
not quite built up. We may rest assured that as long as intellectual man
exists the problem will be considered unsolved, and the question will
be agitated. Future generations will destroy what we establish, and will
fashion a something according to their advancement, and so on; for
if there be a term which, of all others, should be expunged from the
dictionaries of all human beings, it seems to be Lord Russell's word
FINALITY. Something NEW will always be wanted. 'Sensation' is the very
life of humanity; it is motion--the reverse of 'death'--which we all
abhor.
The gamester lives only for the 'sensation' of gaming. Menage tells us
of a gamester who declared that he had never seen any luminary above the
horizon but the moon. Saint Evremond, writing to the Count de Grammont,
says--'You play from morning to night, or rather from night to morning.
All the rays of the gamester's existence terminate in play; it is on
this centre that his very existence depends. He enjoys not an hour of
calm or serenity. During the day he longs for night, and during the
night he dreads the return of day.'
Being always pre-occupied, gamesters are subject to a ridiculous absence
of mind. Tacitus tells us that the Emperor Vitellius was so torpid that
he would have forgotten he was a prince unless people had reminded him
of it from time to time.(8) Many gamesters have forgotten that they were
husbands and fathers. During play some one said that the government were
about to levy a tax on bachelors. 'Then I shall be ruined!' exclaimed
one of the players absorbed in the game. 'Why, man, you have a wife and
five children,' said the speaker.
(8) Tanta torpedo invaserat animum Vitellii, ut si principem eum fuisse
non meminissent, ipse oblivisceretur. Hist., lib. iii.
This infatuation may be simply ridiculous; but it has also a horrible
aspect. A distracted wife has rushed to the gaming table, imploring her
husband, who had for two entire days been engaged at play, to return to
his home.
'Only let me stay one moment longer--only one moment. . . . . I shall
return perhaps the day after to-morrow,' he stammered out to the
wretched woman, who retired. Alas! he returned sooner than he had
promised. His wife was in bed, holding the last of her children to her
breast.
'Get up, madam,' said the ruined gambler, 'the bed on which you lie
belongs to us no longer!' . . .
When the gamester is fortunate, he enjoys his success elsewhere; to his
home he brings only consternation.
A wife had received the most solemn promise from her husband that he
would gamble no more. One night, however, he slunk out of bed, rushed
to the gaming table, and lost all the money he had with him. He tried
to borrow more, but was refused. He went home. His wife had taken the
precaution to lock the drawer that contained their last money. Vain
obstacle! The madman broke it open, carried off two thousand crowns--to
take his revenge, as he said, but in reality to lose the whole as
before.
But it is to the gaming room that we must go to behold the progress of
the terrible drama--the ebb and flow of opposite movements--the shocks
of alternate hope and fear, infinitely varied in the countenance,
not only of the actors, but also of the spectators. What is visible,
however, is nothing in comparison to the secret agony. It is in his
heart that the tempest roars most fiercely.
Two players once exhibited their rage, the one by a mournful silence,
the other by repeated imprecations. The latter, shocked at the
sang-froid of his neighbour, reproached him for enduring, without
complaint, such losses one after the other. 'Look here!' said the other,
uncovering his breast and displaying it all bloody with lacerations.
It is only at play that we can observe, from moment to moment, all the
phases of despair; from time to time there occur new ones--strange,
eccentric, or terrible. After having lost quietly, and even with
serenity, half his fortune, the father of a family staked the remainder,
and lost it without a murmur. Facere solent extrema securos mala.(9)
The bystanders looked at him; his features changed not; only it was
perceived that they were fixed. It seemed that he was unconscious of
life. Two streams of tears trickled from his eyes, and yet his features
remained the same. He was literally a weeping statue. The spectators
were seized with fright, and, although gamesters, they melted into pity.
(9) 'Great calamities render us CARELESS.'
At Bayonne, in 1725, a French officer, in a rage at billiards, jammed a
billiard-ball in his mouth, where it stuck fast, arresting respiration,
until it was, with difficulty, extracted by a surgeon. Dusaulx
states that he was told the fact by a lieutenant-general, who was an
eye-witness.
It is well known that gamblers, like dogs that bite a stone flung at
them, have eaten up the cards, crushed up the dice, broken the tables,
damaged the furniture, and finally 'pitched into' each other--as
described by Lucian in his Saturnalia. Dusaulx assures us that he saw
an enraged gambler put a burning candle into his mouth, chew it, and
swallow it. A mad player at Naples bit the table with such violence that
his teeth went deep into the wood; thus he remained, as it were, nailed
to it, and suddenly expired.
The other players took to flight; the officers of justice visited the
place; and the corpse was deprived of the usual ceremony of burial.(10)
(10) Gazette de Deux-Ponts, du 26 Novembre, 1772.
The following strange but apparently authentic fact, is related in the
Mercure Francois (Tome I. Annee 1610).
'A man named Pennichon, being a prisoner in the Conciergerie during the
month of September, 1610, died there of a wonderfully sudden death. He
could not refrain from play. Having one day lost his money, he uttered
frightful imprecations against his body and against his soul, swearing
that he would never play at cards again. Nevertheless, a few days after,
he began to play again with those in his apartment, and on a dispute
respecting discarding, he repeated his execrable oaths. And when one of
the company told him he should fear the Divine justice, he only swore
the more, and made such confusion that there had to be another deal. But
as soon as three other cards were given him, he placed them in his hat,
which he held before him, and whilst looking at them, with his elbows
on the table and his face in the hat, he so suddenly expired that one
of the party said--"Come, now play," and pushed him with his elbow,
thinking he was asleep, when he fell down dead upon the floor.'
In some cases the effect of losses at play is simply stupefaction. Some
players, at the end of the sitting, neither know what they do nor
what they say. M. de Crequi, afterwards Duc de Lesdiguieres, leaving a
gambling party with Henry IV., after losing a large sum, met M. de Guise
in the court-yard of the castle. 'My friend,' said he to the latter,
'where are the quarters of the Guards now-a-days?' M. de Guise stepped
back, saying, 'Excuse me, sir, I don't belong to this country,' and
immediately went to the king, whom he greatly amused with the anecdote.
A dissipated buck, who had been sitting all night at Hazard, went to a
church, not far from St James's, just before the second reading of the
Lord's Prayer, on Sunday. He was scarcely seated before he dozed, and
the clerk in a short time bawled out AMEN, which he pronounced A--main.
The buck jumped up half asleep and roared out, 'I'll bet the caster 20
guineas!' The congregation was thrown into a titter, and the buck ran
out, overwhelmed with shame. A similar anecdote is told of another
'dissipated buck' in a church. The grand masquerade given on the opening
of the Union Club House, in Pall Mall, was not entirely over till a late
hour on the following Sunday. A young man nearly intoxicated--certainly
not knowing what he was about--reeled into St. James's church, in
his masquerade dress, with his hat on. The late Rev. Thomas Bracken,
attracted by the noise of his entrance, looked directly at him as he
chanced to deliver the following words:--'Friend! how camest thou in
hither, not having on a wedding garment?' It seemed so to strike the
culprit that he instantly took off his hat and withdrew in confusion.
At play, a winner redoubles his caution and sang-froid just in
proportion as his adversary gets bewildered by his losses, becoming
desperate; he takes advantage of the weakness of the latter, giving
him the law, and striving for greater success. When the luck changes,
however, the case is reversed, and the former loser becomes, in his
turn, ten times more pitiless--like that Roman prefect, mentioned by
Tacitus, who was the more inexorable because he had been harshly treated
in his youth, co immmitior quia toleraverat. The joy at winning back
his money only makes a gamester the more covetous of winning that of
his adversary. A wealthy man once lost 100,000 crowns, and begged to be
allowed to go and sell his property, which was worth double the amount
he had lost. 'Why sell it?' said his adversary; 'let us play for the
remainder.' They played; luck changed; and the late LOSER ruined the
other.
Sometimes avidity makes terrible mistakes; many, in order to win more,
have lost their all to persons who had not a shilling to lose. During
the depth of a severe winter, a gamester beheld with terror the bottom
of his purse. Unable to resolve on quitting the gaming table--for
players in that condition are always the most stubborn--he shouted to
his valet--'Go and fetch my great sack.' These words, uttered without
design, stimulated the cupidity of those who no longer cared to play
with him, and now they were eager for it. His luck changed, and he won
thrice as much as he had lost. Then his 'great sack' was brought to him:
it was a BEAR-SKIN SACK he used as a cloak!
In the madness of gaming the player stakes everything after losing his
money--his watch, his rings, his clothing; and some have staked their
EARS, and others their very LIVES--instances of all which will be
related in the sequel.
Not very long ago a publican, who lost all his money, staked his
public-house, lost it, and had to 'clear out.' The man who won it is
alive and flourishing.
'The debt of honour must be paid: 'these are the terrible words that
haunt the gamester as he wakes (if he has slept) on the morning after
the night of horrors: these are the furies that take him in hand, and
drag him to torture, laughing the while. . . .
What a 'sensation' it must be to lose one's ALL! A man, intoxicated
with his gains, left one gaming house and entered another. As soon as he
entered he exclaimed, 'Well, I am filled, my pockets are full of gold,
and here goes, ODDS OR EVEN?' 'Odds,' cried a player. It was ODDS, and
the fortunate winner pocketed the enormous sum just boasted of by the
other.
On the other hand, sudden prosperity has deranged more heads and killed
more people than reverses and grief; either because it takes a longer
time to get convinced of utter ruin than great good fortune, or because
the instinct of self-preservation compels us to seek, in adversity, for
resources to mitigate despair; whereas, in the assault of excessive joy,
the soul's spring is distended and broken when it is suddenly compressed
by too many thoughts and too many sensations. Sophocles, Diagoras,
Philippides, died of joy. Another Greek expired at the sight of the
three crowns won by his three sons at the Olympic games.
Many fine intellects among players have been brutified by loses; others,
in greater number, have been so by their winnings. Some in the course of
their prosperity perish from idleness, get deranged, and ruin themselves
after ruining others. An instance is mentioned of an officer who won
so enormously that he actually lost his senses in counting his gains.
Astonished at himself, he thought he was no longer an ordinary mortal;
and required his valets to do him extraordinary honours, flinging
handfuls of gold to them. The same night, however, he returned to the
gaming house, and recovered from his madness when he had lost not only
all his gains, but even the value of an appointment which he held.
UNFORTUNATE WINNING.
M. G--me was a most estimable man, combining in himself the best
qualities of both heart and head. He was good-humoured, witty, and
benevolent. With these qualifications, and one other which seldom
operates to a man's disadvantage--a clear income of three thousand a
year--the best society in Paris was open to him. He had been a visitor
in that capital about a month, when he received an invitation to one of
the splendid dinners given weekly at the salon. As he never played, he
hesitated about the propriety of accepting it, but on the assurance that
it would not be expected of him to play; and, moreover, as he might not
again have so good an opportunity of visiting an establishment of the
kind, he resolved to go--merely for the satisfaction of his curiosity.
He had a few stray napoleons in his purse, to throw them--'just for the
good of the house,' as he considered it--could hardly be called PLAY,
so he threw them. Poor fellow! He left off a winner of fourteen hundred
napoleons, or about as many pounds sterling--and so easily won! He went
again, again, and again; but he was not always a winner; and within
fifteen months of the moment when his hand first grasped the dice-box he
was lying dead in a jail!
LORD WORTHALL'S DESPERATE WAGER.
At a gambling party Lord Worthall had lost all his money, and in a fit
of excitement staked his whole estate against L1000, at cutting low with
cards, and in cutting exclaimed,--
'Up now Deuce, or else a Trey,
Or Worthall's gone for ever and aye.'
He had the luck to cut the deuce of diamonds; and to commemorate the
serious event, he got the deuce of diamonds cut in marble and had it
fixed on the parapet of his mansion.
THE CELEBRATED THADDEUS STEVENS.
He was an inveterate gamester on a small scale, and almost invariably,
after a day's duty in the House, would drop in at a favourite casino,
and win or lose fifty dollars--that being the average limit of his
betting.
A PROVIDENT GAMBLER.
A Monsieur B--, well known in Parisian life, having recently lost every
shilling at a certain sporting club where play is carried on in Paris,
went to the country, where his sister lent him L150.
He won all back again, and got a considerable sum of money in hand. He
then went to his hotel, to his bootmaker, and tailor, paid them, and
made arrangements to be fed, clothed, and shod for ten years.
A MAGNIFICENT FORTUNE WASTED.
Lord Foley, who died in 1793, entered upon the turf with an estate
of L18,000 per annum, and L100,000 ready money. He left with a ruined
constitution, an encumbered estate, and not a shilling of ready money!
AN ENTERPRISING CLERK.
Lord Kenyon, in 1795, tried a clerk 'for misapplying his master's
confidence,' and the facts were as follows. He went with a bank note
of L1000 to a gaming house in Osendon Street, where he won a little.
He also won two hundred guineas at another in Suffolk Street. He next
accompanied some keepers of a third house to their tables, where he
lost above nine hundred pounds. He played there almost every night; and
finally lost about L2500!
GAMBLING FOR RECRUITS FOR THE ARMY.
An Irish officer struck out a mode of gambling, for recruits. He
gave five guineas bounty, and one hundred to be raffled for by young
recruits,--the winner to be paid immediately, and to purchase his
discharge, if he pleased, for L20. The dice-box was constantly going at
his recruiting office in Dublin.
DOUBLING THE STAKES.
A dashing young man of large fortune, about the year 1820, lost at a
subscription house at the West End, L80,000. The winner was a person
of high rank. The young man, however, by doubling the stakes, not
only recovered his losses, but in his turn gained considerably of his
antagonist.
AN ANNUITY FOR A GAMBLING DEBT.
A fashionable nobleman had won from a young and noble relative the sum
of L40,000. The cash not being forthcoming, he accepted an annuity of
L4000.
SIR WILLIAM COLEPEPPER.
It is told of Sir William Colepepper that, after he had been ruined
himself at the gaming table, his whole delight was to sit there and see
others ruined. Hardened wretch--'Who though he plays no more, overlooks
the cards'--with this diabolical disposition!
THE BITER BITTEN.
A certain duchess, of a ci-devant lord-lieutenant, who expected to make
a pigeon of Marshal Blucher, was fleeced of L200,000; to pay which her
lord was obliged to sell a great part of his property, and reside on the
continent.
HUNTED DOWN.
A stout-hearted and gallant military baronet lost an immense sum at a
celebrated gaming house; but was so fortunate as to recover it, with
L1200 more. This last sum HE PRESENTED TO THE WAITERS. He was pursued by
two of the 'play-wrights' to a northern watering-place, where he was
so plucked that all his possessions were brought to the hammer. A
competency was, however, saved from the magnificent wreck.
COMING OF AGE.
When Sir C-- T--, a weak young man, with a large fortune, came of age,
the Greeks, thinking him an excellent quarry, went to York Races, made
him drunk and plundered him of a large sum. The next morning one of the
party waited upon him to acquaint him of his loss--(L20,000 or L30,000),
and brought bonds for his signature to that amount!
HEAVY LIABILITIES TO BEGIN WITH.
In the year 1799, when the Marquis of Donegal succeeded to the title
on his father's death, his debts, principally to gamblers and
money-lenders, amounted to two hundred and fifty thousand pounds
sterling!
A GENTLEMAN TURNED BARBER.
In an old magazine I find the following curious statement:--
'There is now living in Barnaby Street, Carnaby Market, a man who,
although exercising the menial office of penny barber, was in his
younger days in possession of estates and personal property to a large
amount, and is the only lineal descendant remaining of the very ancient
family of the H--s of Bristol.
'His relations dying when he was young, he was placed under proper
guardians, and received a liberal education, first at Westminster, and
afterwards at Cambridge, suitable to his rank and fortune. When of age
he converted his estates into money, and retired to Dublin, where he
remained some time. He then made the tour of Europe, and returned to
Ireland, where he went through all the scenes of dissipation to which
young men are so much addicted, till at last he was beset by those
harpies the gamblers, and stripped of his immense fortune in one single
night!
'He then subsisted for some little time on the bounty of his undoers,
who intended to make him one of them; but, not having sufficient address
for the profession, he was dismissed and "left in the lurch;" and most
of his friends discarding him, he embarked with his last guinea for
England. Here he has encountered many difficulties, often been in gaol
for debt, and passed through various scenes of life, as valet, footman,
thief-taker, and at length, a penny-barber! He has a wife and large
family and lives in a very penurious manner, often lamenting his early
folly.'(11)
(11) 'The Western County Magazine, 1791. By a Society of Gentlemen.'
This well-conducted old magazine was printed and published at Salisbury,
and was decidedly a credit to the town and county.
PENSIONED OFF BY A GAMING HOUSE.
A visitor at Frascati's gaming house in Paris tells us:--
'I saw the Chevalier de la C--(a descendant of the once celebrated
romance-writer) when he was nearly ninety. The mode of life of this old
man was singular. He had lost a princely property at the play-table,
and by a piece of good fortune of rare occurrence to gamesters, and
unparalleled generosity, the proprietors of the salon allowed him a
pension to support him in his miserable senility, just sufficient to
supply him with a wretched lodging--bread, and a change of raiment
once in every three or four years! In addition to this he was allowed a
supper--which was, in fact, his dinner--at the gaming house, whither he
went every night at about eleven o'clock. Till supper-time (two o'clock
in the morning) he amused himself in watching the games and calculating
the various chances, although incapable of playing a single coup. At
four o'clock he returned to his lodging, retired to bed, and lay till
between nine and ten o'clock on the following night. A cup of coffee was
then brought to him, and, having dressed himself, at the usual hour
he again proceeded to the salon. This had been his round of life for
several years; and he told me that during all that time (excepting on a
few mornings about Midsummer) he had never beheld the sun!'
A Mr R--y, son of a baronet, left Wattier's club one night with only L4
in his pocket, saying that he would look in at the hells.
He did so, and, returning after three o'clock in the morning, offered to
bet L500 that he had above L4000. The result proved that he had L4300,
all won at gaming tables, from the small beginning of L4. He then sat
down to play games of skill at Wattier's, and went home at six o'clock
without a single pound! The same man subsequently won L30,000, and
afterwards lost it all, with L15,000 more, and then 'went to the
Continent.'
A major of the Rifle Brigade, in consequence of gambling in London, by
which he lost vast sums of money, went out of his senses and died a
few years ago in an asylum. This occurred within the last ten or twelve
years.
Says Mr Seymour Harcourt, in his 'Gaming Calendar,' 'I have myself seen
hanging in chains a man whom, a short time before, I saw at a Hazard
table!'
Hogarth lent his tremendous power to the portrayal of the ruined
gamester, and shows it to the life in his print of the gaming house in
the 'Rake's Progress.'
Three stages of that species of madness which attends gaming are there
described. On the first shock all is inward dismay. The ruined gamester
is represented leaning against a wall with his arms across, lost in an
agony of horror. Shortly after this horrible gloom bursts into a storm
and fury. He tears in pieces whatever comes near him, and, kneeling
down, invokes curses on himself. His next attack is on others--on every
one whom he imagines to have been instrumental in his ruin. The eager
joy of the winning gamester, the attention of the usurer, and the
profound reverie of the highwayman, are all strongly marked in this
wonderful picture.
HOW MANY GAMESTERS LIVE BY PLAY?
It is an observation made by those who calculate on the gaming world,
that above nine-tenths of the persons who play LIVE by it.
Now, as the ordinary establishment of a GENTEEL gamester, as he is
commonly called, cannot be less than L1000 per annum, luck, which turns
out EQUAL in the long run, will not support him; he must therefore LIVE
by what they call among themselves the BEST OF THE GAME--or, in plain
English, cheating.
So much for the inner and outer life of gamblers. And now I shall
introduce Mr Ben. Disraeli, recounting, in the happiest vein of his
younger days, a magnificent gambling scene, quite on a par with the
legend of the Hindoo epic before quoted,(12) and which, I doubt not,
will (to use the young Disraeli's own words) make the reader 'scud along
and warm up into friskiness.'
(12) Chapter II.
A curious phrase occurs in the 9th chapter of 'The Young Duke,' in the
paragraph at the beginning, after the words--'O ye immortal gods!'
Although the scene of the drama is part of a novel, yet there can be no
doubt of its being 'founded on fact'--at any rate, I think there never
was a narrative of greater verisimilitude.
'After dinner, with the exception of Cogit, who was busied in
compounding some wonderful liquid for the future refreshment, they sat
down to Ecarte. Without having exchanged a word upon the subject, there
seemed a general understanding among all the parties, that to-night was
to be a pitched battle--and they began at once, very briskly. Yet,
in spite of their universal determination, midnight arrived without
anything very decisive. Another hour passed over, and then Tom Cogit
kept touching the baron's elbow, and whispering in a voice which
everybody could understand. All this meant that supper was ready. It was
brought into the room.
'Gaming has one advantage--it gives you an appetite; that is to say,
so long as you have a chance remaining. The duke had thousands,--for
at present his resources were unimpaired, and he was exhausted by
the constant attention and anxiety of five hours. He passed over the
delicacies, and went to the side-table, and began cutting himself some
cold roast beef. Tom Cogit ran up, not to his Grace, but to the baron,
to announce the shocking fact, that the Duke of St James was enduring
great trouble; and then the baron asked his Grace to permit Mr Cogit to
serve him.
'Our hero devoured--we use the word advisedly, as fools say in the House
of Commons--he devoured the roast beef, and rejecting the hermitage with
disgust, asked for porter.
'They set to again, fresh as eagles. At six o'clock, accounts were so
complicated, that they stopped to make up their books. Each played with
his memorandums and pencil at his side. Nothing fatal had yet happened.
The duke owed Lord Dice about L5000, and Temple Grace owed him as many
hundreds. Lord Castlefort also was his debtor to the tune of 750, and
the baron was in his books, but slightly.
'Every half-hour they had a new pack of cards, and threw the used ones
on the floor. All this time Tom Cogit did nothing but snuff the candles,
stir the fire, bring them a new pack, and occasionally made a tumbler
for them.
'At eight o'clock the duke's situation was worsened. The run was greatly
against him, and perhaps his losses were doubled. He pulled up again
the next hour or two; but, nevertheless, at ten o'clock owed every one
something. No one offered to give over; and every one, perhaps, felt
that his object was not obtained. They made their toilets, and went
down-stairs to breakfast. In the mean time the shutters were opened, the
room aired; and in less than an hour they were at it again.
'They played till dinner-time without intermission; and though the duke
made some desperate efforts, and some successful ones, his losses were,
nevertheless, trebled. Yet he ate an excellent dinner, and was not at
all depressed; because the more he lost the more his courage and his
resources seemed to expand. At first, he had limited himself to 10,000;
after breakfast, it was to have been 20,000; then 30,000 was the
ultimatum; and now he dismissed all thoughts of limits from his mind,
and was determined to risk or gain everything.
'At midnight he had lost L48,000.
'Affairs now began to be serious. His supper was not so hearty. While
the rest were eating, he walked about the room, and began to limit his
ambition to recovery, and not to gain.
'When you play to win back, the fun is over: there is nothing to
recompense you for your bodily tortures and your degraded feelings; and
the very best result that can happen, while it has no charms, seems to
your cowed mind impossible.
'On they played, and the duke lost more. His mind was jaded. He
floundered--he made desperate efforts, but plunged deeper in the slough.
Feeling that, to regain his ground, each card must tell, he acted on
each as if it must win, and the consequences of this insanity (for a
gamester at such a crisis is really insane) were, that his losses were
prodigious.
'Another morning came, and there they sat, ankle-deep in cards. No
attempt at breakfast now--no affectation of making a toilet, or airing
the room. The atmosphere was hot, to be sure, but it well became such a
hell. There they sat, in total, in positive forgetfulness of everything
but the hot game they were hunting down. There was not a man in the
room, except Tom Cogit, who could have told you the name of the town
in which they were living. There they sat, almost breathless, watching
every turn with the fell look in their cannibal eyes, which showed their
total inability to sympathize with their fellow-beings. All the forms of
society had been forgotten. There was no snuff-box handed about now, for
courtesy, admiration, or a pinch; no affectation of occasionally making
a remark upon any other topic but the all-engrossing one.
'Lord Castlefort rested with his arms on the table:--a false tooth had
got unhinged. His Lordship, who, at any other time, would have been
most annoyed, coolly put it in his pocket. His cheeks had fallen, and he
looked twenty years older.
'Lord Dice had torn off his cravat, and his hair flung down over his
callous, bloodless checks, straight as silk.
'Temple Grace looked as if he were blighted by lightning; and his
deep-blue eyes gleamed like a hyaena.
'The baron was least changed.
'Tom Cogit, who smelt that the crisis was at hand, was as quiet as a
bribed rat.
'On they played till six o'clock in the evening, and then they agreed
to desist till after dinner. Lord Dice threw himself on a sofa. Lord
Castlefort breathed with difficulty. The rest walked about. While they
were resting on their oars, the young duke roughly made up his accounts.
He found that he was minus about L100,000.
'Immense as this loss was, he was more struck--more appalled, let us
say--at the strangeness of the surrounding scene, than even by his own
ruin. As he looked upon his fellow-gamesters, he seemed, for the first
time in his life, to gaze upon some of those hideous demons of whom he
had read. He looked in the mirror at himself. A blight seemed to have
fallen over his beauty, and his presence seemed accursed. He had pursued
a dissipated, even more than a dissipated, career. Many were the
nights that had been spent by him not on his couch; great had been the
exhaustion that he had often experienced; haggard had sometimes even
been the lustre of his youth. But when had been marked upon his brow
this harrowing care? When had his features before been stamped with
this anxiety, this anguish, this baffled desire, this strange, unearthly
scowl, which made him even tremble? What! was it possible?--it could not
be--that in time he was to be like those awful, those unearthly, those
unhallowed things that were around him. He felt as if he had fallen from
his state, as if he had dishonoured his ancestry, as if he had betrayed
his trust. He felt a criminal.
'In the darkness of his meditations a flash burst from his lurid mind,
a celestial light appeared to dissipate this thickening gloom, and his
soul felt, as it were, bathed with the softening radiancy. He thought
of May Dacre, he thought of everything that was pure, and holy, and
beautiful, and luminous, and calm. It was the innate virtue of the
man that made this appeal to his corrupted nature. His losses seemed
nothing; his dukedom would be too slight a ransom for freedom from these
ghouls, and for the breath of the sweet air.
'He advanced to the baron, and expressed his desire to play no more.
There was an immediate stir. All jumped up, and now the deed was done.
Cant, in spite of their exhaustion, assumed her reign. They begged him
to have his revenge,--were quite annoyed at the result,--had no doubt he
would recover if he proceeded.
'Without noticing their remarks, he seated himself at the table, and
wrote cheques for their respective amounts, Tom Cogit jumping up and
bringing him the inkstand. Lord Castlefort, in the most affectionate
manner, pocketed the draft; at the same time recommending the duke not
to be in a hurry, but to send it when he was cool. Lord Dice received
his with a bow, Temple Grace with a sigh, the baron with an avowal of
his readiness always to give him his revenge.
'The duke, though sick at heart, would not leave the room with
any evidence of a broken spirit; and when Lord Castlefort again
repeated--"Pay us when we meet again," he said, "I think it very
improbable that we shall meet again, my Lord. I wished to know what
gaming was. I had heard a great deal about it. It is not so very
disgusting; but I am a young man, and cannot play tricks with my
complexion."
'He reached his house. The Bird was out. He gave orders for himself not
to be disturbed, and he went to bed; but in vain he tried to sleep. What
rack exceeds the torture of an excited brain and an exhausted body? His
hands and feet were like ice, his brow like fire; his ears rung with
supernatural roaring; a nausea had seized upon him, and death he would
have welcomed. In vain, in vain he courted repose; in vain he had
recourse to every expedient to wile himself to slumber. Each minute he
started from his pillow with some phrase which reminded him of his late
fearful society. Hour after hour moved on with its leaden pace; each
hour he heard strike, and each hour seemed an age. Each hour was only
a signal to cast off some covering, or shift his position. It was, at
length, morning. With a feeling that he should go mad if he remained any
longer in bed, he rose, and paced his chamber. The air refreshed him.
He threw himself on the floor, the cold crept over his senses, and he
slept.'(13)
(13) 'The Young Duke,' by B. Disraeli, chapter VIII. This gambling
is the turning-point in the young duke's career; he proves himself
at length not unworthy of his noble ancestry arm his high hereditary
position,--takes his place in the Senate, and weds the maiden of his
love.
CHAPTER IV. ATROCITIES, DUELS, SUICIDES, AND EXECUTION OF GAMBLERS.
The history of all nations is but the record of their cupidity; and when
the fury of gaming appears on the scene, it has never failed to double
the insolence and atrocities of tyranny.
The atrocious gambling of the Hindoo Rajas has been related;(14) and I
have incidentally adverted to similar concomitants of the vice among
all nations. I now propose to bring together a series of facts specially
elucidative of the harrowing theme.
(14) Chapter II.
One of the Ptolemys, kings of Egypt, required all causes to be submitted
to him whilst at play, and pronounced even sentence of death according
to chance. On one occasion his wife, Berenice, pronounced thereanent
those memorable words:--'There cannot be too much deliberation when
the death of a man is concerned'--afterwards adopted by Juvenal--Nulla
unquam de morte hominis cunctatio longa est.(15)
(15) Aelian, Var. Hist. lib. XLIV. c. xiii.; Juvenal, Sat. vi.
Tolomnius, King of the Veii, happened to be playing at dice when the
arrival of Roman ambassadors was announced. At the very instant he
uttered the word KILL, a term of the game; the word was misinterpreted
by the hearers, and they went forthwith and massacred the ambassadors.
Livy suggests that this was an excuse alleged AFTER the commission of
the deed; but gamesters are subject to such absence of mind that
there is really nothing incredible or astonishing in the act. 'Sire,'
exclaimed a messenger to the Caliph Alamin, 'it is no longer time for
play--Babylon is besieged!' 'Silence!' said the caliph, 'don't you see
I am on the point of giving checkmate?' The same story is told of a Duke
of Normandy.
Wars have arisen from very trivial causes--among the rest gambling.
Henry, the son of William the Conqueror, was playing at chess with
Louis, the son of Philip, King of France. The latter, perceiving that he
was losing the game got into a passion, and calling Henry the son of a
bastard, flung the chess-board into his face. Henry took the chess-board
and struck Louis with it so violently that he drew blood, and would have
killed him if his brother, who happened to come in, had not prevented
him. The two brothers took to flight, but a great and lasting war was
the consequence of the gambling fracas.
A gaming quarrel was the cause of the slap in the face given by the Duc
Rene to Louis XII., then only Duc d'Orleans. This slap was the origin of
a ligue which was termed 'the mad war.' The resentment of the outraged
prince was not appeased until he mounted the throne, when he uttered
these memorable words:--'A King of France does not avenge insults
offered to a Duke of Orleans.'
Many narratives of suicide committed by desperate gamblers are on
record, some of which I now adduce.
SIR JOHN BLAND, OF KIPPAX PARK.
Sir John Bland, of Kippax Park, flirted away his whole fortune at
Hazard. 'He, t'other night,' says Walpole, 'exceeded what was lost by
the late Duke of Bedford, having at one period of the night (though he
recovered the greater part of it) lost two and thirty thousand pounds.'
Sir John Kippax shot himself in 1705.
LORD MOUNTFORD.
Lord Mountford came to a tragic end through his gambling. He had
lost money; feared to be reduced to distress; asked for a government
appointment, and determined to throw the die of life or death on the
answer received from court. The answer was unfavourable. He consulted
several persons, indirectly at first, afterwards pretty directly, on
the easiest mode of finishing life; invited a dinner-party for the day
after; supped at White's, and played at Whist till one o'clock of the
New Year's morning. Lord Robert Bertie drank to him 'a happy new year;'
he clapped his hand strangely to his eyes. In the morning, he sent for
a lawyer and three witnesses, executed his will, made them read it over
twice, paragraph by paragraph, asked the lawyer if that will would stand
good though a man were to shoot himself. Being assured it would, he
said--'Pray stay, while I step into the next room;' went into the next
room and shot himself, placing the muzzle of the pistol so close to his
head that the report was not heard.
A SUICIDE ROBBING PETER TO PAY PAUL.
Gamblers have been known to set as coolly and deliberately about blowing
out their brains as if they had only been going to light their cigars.
Lord Orford, in his correspondence with Horace Walpole, mentions two
curious instances.
One of the fashionable young men of Lord Orford's day had been unhappily
decoyed into a gambling house, where his passion for play became so
great that he spent nearly the whole of his time in throwing the dice.
He continued to gamble until he had not only lost a princely fortune,
but had incurred a large amount of debt among his tradesmen. With the
loss of his money, and the utter beggary which stared him in the face,
the unfortunate victim of play lost all relish for life; and sought in
death the only refuge he could fancy from the infamy and misery which he
had brought upon himself. But whilst fully resolved on self-destruction,
he thought, before carrying his fatal purpose into execution, he might
as well do his tradesmen an act of justice, even if in so doing he
should do injustice to others. He insured his life to the extent of
his debts, amounting to several thousand pounds. Being acquainted
with several of the directors of the company (he called them his
life-and-death brokers) in which he insured, he invited them to
dinner the following day, with the ostensible view of celebrating the
completion of the insurance. The tradesmen also received strict orders
to be present; and as the non-payment of their accounts for a long
period to come was the penalty of not acceding to his wishes in
this respect, it can scarcely be necessary to say that they were all
'punctual as lovers to the moment sworn.' The dinner over, and a liberal
allowance of wine having been quaffed, the ruined gambler desired the
servant to call up all who were in the hall below. In a few seconds the
dining-room was filled with tradesmen, all eager to receive payment
of their accounts. 'Now, gentlemen,' said the gambler, addressing his
guests, and pointing to the little crowd of tradesmen,--'now, gentlemen,
these are all my tradesmen; they are honest industrious men, to whom I
am indebted, and as I see no other earthly means of being ever able to
meet their just claims, you will be so kind as to pay them out of the
sum for which I insured my life yesterday. Allow me, gentlemen, to bid
you farewell.' And so saying, he pulled a pistol from his pocket, and
placing it to his head, that instant blew out his brains. Of course his
insurance office must have been one that undertook to pay insurances
whatever might be the cause of death, not excepting suicide--which, like
duelling, has usually been a bar to such claims.
REVELATIONS OF A GAMBLER ON THE POINT OF COMMITTING SELF-MURDER.
The following is 'A full and particular account of a person who threw
himself into the Thames, from Blackfriars Bridge, on Wednesday, July 10,
1782; with the melancholy paper he left behind him, accounting to
his wife and children for so rash an action.' It is said that several
thousands of the papers were dispersed through London, and it is to be
hoped that some of them might produce that good effect which seems
to have been so anxiously desired by the person who wished them to be
distributed.
'Midnight, July 10, 1782.
'Whoever thou art that readest this paper, listen to the voice of one
from the DEAD. While thine eyes peruse the lines their writer may be
suffering the most horrid punishments which an incensed Creator can
inflict upon the greatest sinner.
'Reader, art thou of my own sex? Art thou a man? Oh, in whatever rank
of life, whether high or low,--beware of gambling! Beware of so much as
approaching an E O table! Had I ever met with such a dreadful warning as
I now offer thee, I might perhaps have been saved from death--have been
snatched from damnation. Reader, art thou a woman? Oh, whether rich or
poor, whether wife, mother, sister, or daughter,--if thou suspect that
the late hours, the feverish body, the disturbed mind, the ruffled
temper, the sudden extravagance of him whom thou lovest, are caused
by frequenting the gaming table, oh, fail not to discover thy
suspicions--fail not to remonstrate! Had but my dear wife remonstrated
with me, when she saw me, in consequence of my winnings, indulge in
expense, which she must have known I could not honestly afford, she
would not now, within the next hour, be deprived of her husband--of the
only support of herself and her three poor children in this world,--and
deprived of him in a manner which effectually cuts off all hopes of our
ever meeting in the happiness of another. * * * *
'Yes, in less than an hour, coward as I am, I shall have deserted my
duty and my family in this world; and, wretch as I am, shall have rushed
into all the horrors of hell in another world, by drowning myself.
'By curiosity I was first led to the E O table. Ashamed to stand idle
I put upon E, it came E; upon O, it came O. Fortune favoured me (as I
foolishly called it), and I came away a winner.
Something worse than curiosity, though hardly more dangerous, carried me
to another table another night. My view in going was answered. My view
was to WIN, and again I WON in the course of the evening. Again I went,
and again I won. For some weeks this was the constant story. Oh, happy
had I lost at first! Now I went every night. Everything I ought to have
done, neglected. Up all night, I was forced to lie in bed all day. The
strength of my mind, which at THIS moment might save me, was hourly
wasting away. My wife was deceived with continual falsehoods, to which
nothing but her fondness for me blinded her. Even my winnings, with the
expense and extravagance in which I indulged myself and family, were
every day more than half exhausted. But I felt that I was always to win.
Fortune favoured me. Fortune was now my deity. * * * *
'But fortune, my new, my false deity, deserted me. My luck TURNED. I
am undone! Ruined! A beggar! My wife and children will want a morsel of
bread to eat. * * * * To destroy myself is the only way to preserve my
family from want, and to keep myself from the GALLOWS. This morning I
absolutely hesitated whether I should not procure a sum of money with
which to try my luck by FORGERY. Gamesters, think of that--FORGERY! O
my dear wife, is not anything better than seeing me conveyed to Tyburn?
Yes, it is better that before many hours you and your three helpless
daughters should be hanging in tears (I little merit) over my lifeless,
cold, and swollen body.
'Readers, farewell! From my sad and voluntary death, learn wisdom. In
consequence of gaming I go to seek my destruction in the Thames. Oh,
think in what manner he deserves to be punished who commits a crime
which he is fully persuaded merits, and will not fail to meet, the
severest punishment.'
The narrative proceeds to state that, 'between one and two
o'clock in the morning he took a sad farewell of this world, and leaped
over Blackfriars Bridge. It pleased Providence, however, that he should
be seen committing this desperate action by two watermen, who found his
body after it had been a considerable time under water. In consequence
of the methods used by the men of the Humane Society, he was at length
almost miraculously restored to life and to his family. It is further
stated that--'In consequence of the advice of a worthy clergyman he was
restored to reason and to religion. He now wonders how he could think of
committing so horrid a crime; and is not without hope that by a life
of continual repentance and exemplary religion, he may obtain pardon
hereafter. The paper which he wrote before he set forth to drown himself
he still desires should be made as public as possible, and that this
narrative should be added to it.
INCORRIGIBLE.
In the year 1799, Sir W. L--, Bart., finding his eldest son extremely
distressed and embarrassed, told him that he would relieve him from
all his difficulties, on condition that he would state to him, without
reserve, their utmost extent, and give him his honour never to play
again for any considerable sum. The debts--amounting to L22,000--were
instantly discharged. Before a week had elapsed he fell into his old
habits again, and lost L5000 more at a sitting; upon which he next
morning shot himself!
SUICIDE IN 1816.
In 1816 a gentleman, the head of a first-rate concern in the city, put
a period to his existence by blowing out his brains. He had gone to the
Argyle Rooms a few nights before the act, and accompanied a female home
in a coach, with two men, friends of the woman. When they got to her
residence the two men proposed to the gentleman to play for a dozen
champagne to treat the lady with, which the gentleman declined. They,
however, after a great deal of persuasion, prevailed on him to play for
small sums, and, according to the usual trick of gamblers, allowed him
to win at first, till they began to play for double, when there is no
doubt the fellows produced loaded dice, and the gentleman lost to the
amount of L1800! This brought him to his senses--as well it might. He
then invented an excuse for not paying that sum, by saying that he was
under an agreement with his partner not to draw for a larger amount than
L300 for his private account--and gave them a draft for that amount,
promising the remainder at a future day. This promise, however, he
did not attend to, not feeling himself bound by such a villainous
transaction, especially after giving them so much. But the robbers found
out who he was and his residence, and had the audacity to go, armed with
bludgeons, and attack him publicly on his own premises, in the presence
of those employed there, demanding payment of their nefarious 'debt of
honour,' and threatening him, if he did not pay, that he should fight!
This exposure had such an effect on his feelings that he made an excuse
to retire--did so--and blew out his brains with a pistol!
This rash act was the more to be lamented because it prevented the
bringing to condign punishment, the plundering villains who were the
cause of it.(16)
(16) Annual Register, vol. lviii.
OTHER INSTANCES.
A gallant Dutch officer, after having lost a splendid fortune not long
since (1823) in a gambling house at Aix-la-Chapelle, shot himself. A
Russian general, also, of immense wealth, terminated his existence
in the same manner and for the same cause. More recently, a young
Englishman, who lost the whole of an immense fortune by gambling at
Paris, quitted this world by stabbing himself in the neck with a fork. A
short time previously another Englishman, whose birth was as high as his
wealth had been considerable, blew his brains out in the Palais Royal,
after having literally lost his last shilling. Finally, an unfortunate
printer at Paris, who had a wife and five children, finished his earthly
career for the same cause, by suffocating himself with the fumes of
charcoal; he said, in his farewell note to his unhappy wife--'Behold the
effect of gaming!'(17)
(17) Ubi supra.
'IF I LOSE I SHALL COMMIT SUICIDE.'
A young man having gambled away his last shilling, solicited the loan
of a few pounds from one of the proprietors of the hell in which he had
been plundered. 'What security will you give me?' asked the fellow.
'My word of honour,' was the reply. 'Your word of honour! That's poor
security, and won't do,' rejoined the hellite; 'if you can pawn nothing
better than that, you'll get no money out of me.' 'Then you won't lend
me a couple of pounds?' 'Not without security,' was the reply. 'Why,
surely, you won't refuse me a couple of sovereigns, after having lost so
much?' 'I won't advance you a couple of shillings without security.'
Still bent upon play, and greedy for the means to gratify his passion,
the unhappy man, as if struck by a sudden thought, exclaimed--'I'll
give you security--the clothes on my back are quite new, and worth eight
guineas; you shall have them as security. Lend me two sovereigns on
them.'
'Suppose you lose,' doggedly rejoined the other, 'I cannot strip them
off your back.' 'Don't trouble yourself on that head,' replied the
desperate wretch; 'if I lose I shall commit suicide, which I have been
meditating for some time, and you shall surely have my clothes. I
shall return to my lodgings before daylight, in the most worn-out and
worthless dressing-gown or great-coat you can procure for me, leaving my
clothes with you.'
The two sovereigns were advanced, and in ten or twelve minutes were
lost. The keeper of the table demanded the clothes, and the unfortunate
man stripped himself with the utmost coolness of manner, and wrapping
his body in a worn-out greatcoat, quitted the place with the full
purpose of committing self-murder. He did not direct his steps homeward,
however, but resolved to accomplish the horrid deed by suspending
himself from a lamp-post in a dark lane near the place. While making the
necessary preparations he was observed by a constable, who at once took
him into custody, and on the following morning he was carried before the
magistrate, where all the circumstances of the affair came out.
SUICIDE AT VERDUN.
During the great French War, among other means resorted to in order to
ease the English prisoners at Verdun of their loose cash, a gaming table
was set up for their sole accommodation, and, as usual, led to scenes of
great depravity and horror. For instance, a young man was enticed into
this sink of iniquity, when he was tempted to throw on the table a
five-franc piece; he won, and repeated the experiment several times
successfully, until luck turned against him, and he lost everything he
had. The manager immediately offered a rouleau of a thousand francs,
which, in the heat of play, he thoughtlessly accepted, and also lost. He
then drew a bill on his agent, which his captain (he was an officer in
the English army) endorsed. The proceeds of this went the way of the
rouleau. He drew two more bills, and lost again. The next morning he was
found dead in his bed, with his limbs much distorted and his fingers
dug into his sides. On his table was found an empty laudanum bottle, and
some scraps of paper on which he had been practising the signature of
Captain B----. On inquiry it was found that he had forged that officer's
name to the two last bills.
'IN AT THE DEATH.'
In 1819 an inquest was held on the body of a gentleman found hanging
from one of the trees in St James's Park. The evidence established
the melancholy fact that the deceased was in the habit of frequenting
gambling houses, and had sunk into a state of dejection on account of
his losses; and it seemed probable that it was immediately after his
departure from one of these receptacles of rogues and their dupes that
he committed suicide. The son of the gate-keeper at St James's saw
several persons round the body at four o'clock in the morning, one of
whom, a noted gambler, said: 'Look at his face; why, have you forgotten
last night? Don't you recollect him now?' They were, no doubt, all
gamblers--in at the death.'
The three following stories, if not of actual suicide, relate crimes
which bear a close resemblance to self-murder.
A GAMBLER PAWNING HIS EARS.
A clerk named Chambers, losing his monthly pay, which was his all, at
a gaming table, begged to borrow of the manager's; but they knew his
history too well to lend without security, and therefore demanded
something in pawn. 'I have nothing to give but my ears,' he replied.
'Well,' said one of the witty demons, 'let us have them.' The youth
immediately took a knife out of his pocket and actually cut off all
the fleshy part of one of his cars and threw it on the table, to the
astonishment of the admiring gamesters. He received his two dollars, and
gambled on.
A GAMBLER SUBMITTING TO BE HANGED.
The following incident is said to have occurred in London:--Two fellows
were observed by a patrol sitting at a lamp-post in the New Road; and,
on closely watching them, the latter discovered that one was tying up
the other, who offered no resistance, by the neck. The patrol interfered
to prevent such a strange kind of murder, and was assailed by both, and
very considerably beaten for his good offices; the watchmen, however,
poured in, and the parties were secured. On examination next morning, it
appeared that the men had been gambling; that one had lost all his money
to the other, and had at last proposed to stake his clothes. The winner
demurred--observing that he could not strip his adversary naked in the
event of his losing. 'Oh,' replied the other, 'do not give yourself
any uneasiness about that; if I lose I shall be unable to live, and you
shall hang me, and take my clothes after I am dead, for I shall then,
you know, have no occasion for them.' The proposed arrangement was
assented to; and the fellow having lost, was quietly submitting to
the terms of the treaty when he was interrupted by the patrol, whose
impertinent interference he so angrily resented.
TWO GAMBLERS TOSSING WHO SHOULD HANG THE OTHER.
In the year 1812 an extraordinary investigation took place at Bow
Street. Croker, the officer, was passing along Hampstead Road; he
observed at a short distance before him two men on a wall, and directly
after saw the tallest of them, a stout man, about six feet high, hanging
by his neck from a lamp-post attached to the wall, being that instant
tied up and turned off by the short man.
This unexpected and extraordinary sight astonished the officer; he made
up to the spot with all speed, and just after he arrived there the tall
man, who had been hanged, fell to the ground, the handkerchief with
which he had been suspended having given way. Croker produced his staff,
said he was an officer, and demanded to know of the other man the cause
of such conduct; in the mean time the man who had been hanged recovered,
got up, and on Croker's interfering, gave him a violent blow on his
nose, which nearly knocked him backward. The short man was endeavouring
to make off; however, the officer procured assistance, and both were
brought to the office, where the account they gave was that they worked
on canals. They had been together on Wednesday afternoon, tossed for
money, and afterwards for their CLOTHES; the tall man who was hanged
won the other's jacket, trousers, and shoes; they then tossed up which
should HANG THE OTHER, and the short one won the toss. They got upon
the wall, the one to submit, and the other to hang him on the lamp-iron.
They both agreed in this statement. The tall one, who had been hanged,
said if he had won the toss he would have hanged the other. He said he
then felt the effects upon his neck of his hanging, and his eyes were so
much swelled that he saw DOUBLE.
The magistrates, continues the report in the 'Annual Register,'
expressed their horror and disgust; and ordered the man who had been
hanged to find bail for the violent and unjustifiable assault upon the
officer; and the short one, for hanging the other--a very odd decision
in the latter case--since the act was murder 'to all intents and
purposes' designed and intended. The report says, however, that, not
having bail, they were committed to Bridewell for trial.(20) The result
I have not discovered.
(20) Annual Register, 1812, vol. liv.
Innumerable duels have resulted from quarrels over the gaming table,
although nothing could be more Draconic than the law especially directed
against such duels. By the Act of Queen Anne against gaming, all persons
sending a challenge on account of gaming disputes were liable to forfeit
all their goods and to be committed to prison for two years. No case of
the kind, however, was ever prosecuted on that clause of the Act, which
was, in other respects, very nearly inoperative.
GAMBLING DUELS IN THE YEAR 1818.
It so happened that almost every month of the year 1818 was
'distinguished' by a duel or two, resulting from quarrels at gambling or
in gambling houses.
January. 'A meeting took place yesterday at an early hour, between
Captain B--r--y and Lieutenant T--n--n, in consequence of a dispute at
play. Wimbledon Common was the ground, and the parties fired twice, when
the lieutenant was slightly wounded in the pistol hand, the ball grazing
the right side; and here the affair ended.'
January. 'A meeting took place on the 9th instant, at Calais, between
Lieut. Finch, 20th regiment of Dragoons, and Lieut. Boileau, on half-pay
of the 41st regiment. Lieut. Finch was bound over, some days back,
to keep the peace in England; in consequence of which he proceeded
to Calais, accompanied by his friend, Captain Butler, where they were
followed by Lieut. Boileau and his friend Lieut. Hartley. It was settled
by Captain Butler, previous to Lieut. Finch taking his ground, that HE
WAS BOUND IN HONOUR to receive LIEUT. BOILEAU'S FIRE as he had given
so serious a provocation as a blow. This arrangement was, however,
defeated, by Lieut. Finch's pistol "accidentally" going off, apparently
in the direction of his opponent, which would probably have led to fatal
consequences had it not been for the IMPLICIT RELIANCE placed by Lieut.
Boileau's friend on the STRICT HONOUR of Capt. Butler, whose anxiety,
steadiness, and gentlemanly conduct on this and every other occasion,
were too well known to leave a doubt on the minds of the opposite
party, that Lieut. Finch's pistol going off was ENTIRELY ACCIDENTAL. A
reconciliation, therefore, immediately took place.'
February 17. 'Information was received at the public office, Marlborough
Street, on Saturday last, that a duel was about to take place yesterday,
in the fields contiguous to Chalk Farm, between Colonel Tucker and
Lieut. Nixon, the latter having challenged the former in public company,
for which and previous abuse the colonel inflicted severe chastisement
with a thick stick. Subsequent information was received that the
colonel's friends deemed it unnecessary for him to meet the challenger,
but that his remedy was to repeat the former chastisement when insulted.
It was further stated that a few half-pay officers, of inferior rank,
had leagued together for the purpose of procuring others to give a
challenge, and which it was the determination to put down by adopting
the colonel's plan.'
February. 'A captain in the army shook hands with a gallant
lieut.-colonel (who had distinguished himself in the Peninsula) at
one of the West End gaming houses, and Lieut. N--, who was present,
upbraided the colonel with the epithet of "poltroon." On a fit
opportunity the colonel inflicted summary justice upon the lieutenant
with a cane or horse-whip. This produced a challenge; but the colonel
was advised that he would degrade himself by combat with the challenger,
and he therefore declined it, but promised similar chastisement to that
inflicted. It was then stated that the colonel was bound to fight any
other person who would stand forth as the champion of Lieut. N--, to
which the colonel consented,--when a Lieut. J--n--e appeared as the
champion, and the meeting was appointed for Tuesday morning at Turnham
Green. The information of the police was renewed, and Thomas Foy
apprehended the parties at an inn near the spot, early in the morning.
They were consequently bound over to keep the peace. It appears,
however, that the lieutenant in this instance was not the champion of
the former, but had been challenged by the colonel.'
April. 'A meeting was to have taken place yesterday in consequence of a
dispute at play, between Captain R--n--s and Mr B--e--r, a gentleman of
fortune; but it was prevented by the interference of the police, and
the parties escaped. It took place, however, on the following day, on
Wimbledon Common, and after exchanging a single shot the matter was
adjusted.'
May. 'In consequence of a dispute at a gaming table, on Monday night,
in the vicinity of Piccadilly, Mr M--, who was an officer in the British
service at Brussels, and Mr B--n, a medical man, met, at three in the
morning, on Tuesday, in the King's Road. They fought at twelve paces.
Mr B--n was wounded on the back part of the hand, and the affair was
adjusted.'
July. 'A duel was fought yesterday morning, on Wimbledon Common, between
a Mr Arrowsmith and Lieut. Flynn, which ended in the former being
wounded in the thigh. The dispute which occasioned the meeting
originated in a gaming transaction.'
September. 'A duel was fought this morning on Hounslow Heath, between
Messrs Hillson and Marsden. The dispute arose in one of the stands at
Egham races. The latter was seriously wounded in the left side, and
conveyed away in a gig.'
November. 'A duel originating, over a dispute at play was fixed to
take place on Wimbledon Common, at daybreak, yesterday morning, but
information having been received that police officers were waiting, the
parties withdrew.'
GAMING DUEL AT PARIS, 1827.
A medical student, named Goulard, quarrelled at billiards with a
fellow-student named Caire. Their mutual friends, having in vain tried
every means of persuasion to prevent the consequences of the dispute,
accompanied the young men without the walls of Paris. Goulard seemed
disposed to submit to an arrangement, but Cairo obstinately refused.
The seconds measured the ground, and the first shot having been won by
Goulard, he fired, and Caire fell dead. Goulard did not appear during
the prosecution that followed; he continued absent on the day fixed
for judgment, and the court, conformably to the code of criminal
proceedings, pronounced on the charge without the intervention of a
jury. It acquitted Goulard of premeditation, but condemned him for
contumacy, to perpetual hard labour, and to be branded; and this in
spite of the fact that the advocate-general had demanded Goulard's
acquittal of the charge.
THE END OF A GAMESTER.
In 1788, a Scotch gentleman, named William Brodie, was tried and
convicted at Edinburgh, for stealing bank-notes and money, with
violence. This man, at the death of his father, twelve years before,
inherited a considerable estate in houses, in the city of Edinburgh,
together with L10,000 in money; but, by an unhappy connection and a
too great propensity to gaming, he was reduced to the desperation which
brought him at last to the scaffold. It is stated that his demeanour
on receiving the dreadful sentence was equally cool and determined;
moreover, that he was dressed in a blue coat, fancy vest, satin
breeches, and white silk stockings; a cocked hat; his hair full dressed
and powdered; and, lastly, that he was carried back to prison in a
chair. Such was the respectful treatment of 'gentlemen' prisoners in
Scotland towards the end of the last century.
DUEL WITH A SHARPER.
A Monsieur de Boisseuil, one of the Kings equerries, being at a
card-party, detected one of the players cheating, and exposed his
conduct.
The insulted 'gentleman' demanded satisfaction, when Boisseuil replied
that he did not fight with a person who was a rogue.
'That MAY be,' said the other, 'but I do not like to be CALLED one.'
They met on the ground, and Boisseuil received two desperate wounds from
the sharper.
This man's plea against Boisseuil is a remarkable trait. Madame de
Stael has alluded to it in her best style. 'In France,' she says, 'we
constantly see persons of distinguished rank, who, when accused of an
improper action, will say--"It may have been wrong, but no one will
dare assert it to my face!" Such an expression is an evident proof of
confirmed depravity; for, what would be the condition of society if it
was only requisite to kill one another, to commit with impunity every
evil action,--to break one's word and assert falsehood--provided no one
dared tell you that you lied?'
In countries where public opinion is more severe on the want of probity
and fair-dealing, should a man transgress the laws of these principles
of human conduct, ten duels a day would not enable him to recover the
esteem he has forfeited.
MAJOR ONEBY AND MR GOWER.
This duel originated as follows:--It appears that a Major Oneby, being
in company with a Mr Gower and three other persons, at a tavern, in a
friendly manner, after some time began playing at Hazard; when one
of the company, named Rich, asked if any one would set him three
half-crowns; whereupon Mr Gower, in a jocular manner, laid down three
half-pence, telling Rich he had set him three pieces, and Major Oneby at
the same time set Rich three half-crowns, and lost them to him.
Immediately after this, Major Oneby, in a angry manner, turned about to
Mr Gower and said--'It was an impertinent thing to set down half-pence,'
and called him 'an impertinent puppy' for so doing. To this Mr Gower
answered--'Whoever calls me so is a rascal. 'Thereupon Major Oneby took
up a bottle, and with great force threw it at Mr Gower's head, but did
not hit him, the bottle only brushing some of the powder out of his
hair. Mr Gower, in return, immediately tossed a candlestick or a bottle
at Major Oneby, which missed him; upon which they both rose to fetch
their swords, which were then hung in the room, and Mr Gower drew his
sword, but the Major was prevented from drawing his by the company.
Thereupon Mr Gower threw away his sword, and the company interposing,
they sat down again for the space of an hour.
At the expiration of that time, Mr Gower said to Major Oneby--'We have
had hot words, and you were the aggressor, but I think we may pass
it over'--at the same time offering him his hand; but the Major
replied--'No, d--n you, I WILL HAVE YOUR BLOOD.'
After this, the reckoning being paid, all the company, excepting Major
Oneby, went out to go home, and he called to Mr Gower, saying--'Young
man, come back, I have something to say to you.' Whereupon Mr Gower
returned to the room, and immediately the door was closed, and the rest
of the company excluded--when a clashing of swords was heard, and Major
Oneby gave Mr Gower a mortal wound. It was found, on the breaking up of
the company, that Major Oneby had his great coat over his shoulders, and
that he had received three slight wounds in the fight. Mr Gower, being
asked on his death-bed whether he had received his wounds in a manner
among swordsmen called fair, answered--'I think I did.' Major Oneby was
tried for the offence, and found guilty of murder, 'having acted upon
malice and deliberation, and not from sudden passion.'
THE NEPHEW OF A BRITISH PEER.
In 1813, the nephew of a British peer was executed at Lisbon. He had
involved himself by gambling, and being detected in robbing the house of
an English friend, by a Portuguese servant, he shot the latter dead to
prevent discovery. This desperate act, however, did not enable him to
escape the hands of justice. After execution, his head was severed from
his body and fixed on a pole opposite the house in which the murder and
robbery were committed.
The following facts will show the intimate connection between gambling
and Robbery or Forgery.
EDWARD WORTLEY MONTAGU AND THE JEW ABRAHAM PAYBA.
Edward Wortley Montagu was the only son of the celebrated Lady Mary
Wortley Montagu, whose eccentricities he inherited without her genius.
Montagu, together with Lords Taffe and Southwell, was accused of having
invited one Abraham Payba, alias James Roberts, a Jew, to dine with them
at Paris, in the year 1751; and of having plied him with wine till he
became intoxicated, and so lost at play the sum of 800 louis d'ors. It
was affirmed that they subsequently called at his house, and that on
his exhibiting an evident disinclination to satisfy their demands,
they threatened to cut him across the face with their swords unless he
instantly paid them. Terrified by their violence, and, at the same time,
unwilling to part with his gold, the Jew had cunning enough to give them
drafts on a Paris banker, by whom, as he had no dealings with him,
he well knew that his bills would be dishonoured; and, to escape the
vengeance of those whom he had outwitted, quitted Paris. On ascertaining
how completely they had been duped, Montagu, with his associates
Lords Taffe and Southwell, repaired to the house of the Jew, and after
ransacking his drawers and strong boxes, are said to have possessed
themselves of a very considerable sum of money, in addition to diamonds,
jewels, and other valuable articles. The Jew had it now in his power to
turn on his persecutors, and accordingly he appealed to the legislature
for redress. Lord Southwell contrived to effect his escape, but Lord
Taffe and Montagu were arrested, and were kept in separate dungeons in
the Grand Chatelet, for nearly three months. The case was subsequently
tried in a court of law, and decided in favour of the accused,--the
Jew being adjudged to make reparation and defray the costs! Against the
injustice of this sentence he appealed to the high court of La Tournelle
at Paris, which reversed it. Lord Taffe and Montagu afterwards appealed,
in their turn, but of the definitive result there is no record.
DR WILLIAM DODD.
Le Sage, in his 'Gil Blas,' says that 'the devil has a particular
spite against private tutors;' and he might have added, against popular
preachers. By popular preachers I do not mean such grand old things as
Bossuet, Massillon, and Bourdaloue. All such men were proof against the
fiery darts of the infernal tempter. From their earliest days they had
been trained to live up to the Non nobis Domine, 'Not unto us, O Lord,
but unto thy name, give glory.' All of them had only at heart the glory
of their church-cause; though, of course, the Jesuit Bourdaloue worked
also for his great Order, then culminating in glory.
The last-named, too, was another La Fontaine in simplicity, preparing
for his grandest predications by sorrily rasping on an execrable fiddle.
So, if the devil had lifted him up to a high mountain, showing him all
he would give him, he would have simply invited him to his lonely cell,
to have a jig to the tune of his catguts.
Your popular preachers in England have been, and are, a different
sort of spiritual workers. They have been, and are, individualities,
perpetually reminded of the fact, withal; and fiercely tempted
accordingly. The world, the flesh, and the devil, incessantly knock at
their door. If they fall into the snare it is but natural, and much to
be lamented.
Dr Dodd had many amiable qualities; but his reputation as a scholar, and
his notoriety as a preacher, appear to have entirely turned his head.
He had presented to him a good living in Bedfordshire; but the income
thereof was of no avail in supplying his wants: he was vain, pompous, in
debt, a gambler. Temptation came upon him. To relieve himself he tried
by indirect means to obtain the rectory of St George's, Hanover Square,
by sending an anonymous letter to Lady Apsley, offering the sum of L3000
if by her means he could be presented to the living; the letter was
immediately sent to the chancellor, and, after being traced to the
sender, laid before the king. His name was ordered to be struck out of
the list of chaplains; the press abounded with satire and invective;
Dodd was abused and ridiculed, and even Foote, in one of his
performances at the Haymarket, made him a subject of entertainment.
Dodd then decamped, and went to his former pupil, Lord Chesterfield,
in Switzerland, who gave him another living; but his extravagance being
undiminished, he was driven to schemes which covered him with infamy.
After the most extravagant and unseemly conduct in France, he returned
to England, and forged a bond as from his pupil, Lord Chesterfield, for
the sum of L4200, and, upon the credit of it, obtained a large sum of
money; but detection instantly following, he was committed to prison,
tried and convicted at the Old Bailey, Feb. 24, and executed at Tyburn,
June 27 (after a delay of four months), exhibiting every appearance of
penitence. The great delay between the sentence and execution was owing
to a doubt for some time respecting the admissibility of an evidence
which had been made use of to convict him.
Lord Chesterfield has been accused of a cold and relentless disposition
in having deserted his old tutor in his extremity. But Mr Jesse says
that he heard it related by a person who lived at the period, that at a
preliminary examination of the unfortunate divine, Lord Chesterfield, on
some pretence, placed the forged document in Dodd's hands, with the kind
intention that he should take the opportunity of destroying it, but the
latter wanted either the courage or the presence of mind enough to avail
himself of the occasion. This, however, is scarcely an excuse, for,
certainly, it was not for Dr Dodd to destroy the fatal document. If Lord
Chesterfield had wished to suppress that vital evidence he could have
done so.
Dr Johnson exerted himself to the utmost to try and save poor Dodd; but
George III. was inexorable. Respecting this benevolent attempt of the
Doctor, Chalmers writes as follows:--
Dr Johnson appears indeed in this instance to have been more swayed by
popular judgment than he would perhaps have been willing to allow. The
cry was--"the honour of the clergy;" but if the honour of the clergy was
tarnished, it was by Dodd's crime, and not his punishment; for his life
had been so long a disgrace to his cloth that he had deprived himself of
the sympathy which attaches to the first deviation from rectitude, and
few criminals could have had less claim to such a display of popular
feeling.'
All applications for the Royal mercy having failed, Dr Dodd prepared
himself for death, and with a warmth of gratitude wrote to Dr Johnson as
follows:--
'June 25, Midnight.
'Accept, thou GREAT and GOOD heart, my earnest and fervent thanks and
prayers for all thy benevolent and kind efforts in my behalf.--Oh! Dr
Johnson! as I sought your knowledge at an early hour in my life, would
to Heaven I had cultivated the love and acquaintance of so excellent
a man!--I pray God most sincerely to bless you with the highest
transports--the infelt satisfaction of HUMANE and benevolent
exertions!--And admitted, as I trust I shall be, to the realms of bliss
before you, I shall hail YOUR arrival there with transport, and rejoice
to acknowledge that you were my comforter, my advocate, and my FRIEND.
God be EVER with YOU!'
Dr Johnson's reply.
'To the Reverend Dr Dodd.
'Dear Sir,--That which is appointed to all men is now coming upon you.
Outward circumstances, the eyes and thoughts of men, are below the
notice of an immortal being about to stand the trial for eternity,
before the Supreme Judge of heaven and earth. Be comforted: your crime,
morally or religiously considered, has no very deep dye of turpitude.
It corrupted no man's principles. It attacked no man's life. It involved
only a temporary and reparable injury. Of this, and of all other sins,
you are earnestly to repent; and may God, who knoweth our frailty, and
desireth not our death, accept your repentance, for the sake of His Son
Jesus Christ our Lord!
'In requital of those well-intended offices which you are pleased so
emphatically to acknowledge, let me beg that you make in your devotions
one petition for my eternal welfare. 'I am, dear Sir,
'Your affectionate servant,
'SAM. JOHNSON.
Next day, 27th June, Dr Dodd was executed.
CAPTAIN DAVIS.
Captain Davis was some time in the Life Guards, and a lieutenant in the
Yeomen of the Household--a situation which placed him often about the
persons of the Royal family. He was seldom known to play for less
stakes than L50, often won or lost large sums, and was represented as
a gentleman of extensive and independent fortune, although some of
his enemies declared otherwise, and repeated anecdotes to confirm
the assertion. He was at length committed for forgeries to an immense
amount. To the fidelity of a servant he owed his escape from Giltspur
Street prison--another fatal example of the sure result of gambling.
Heir to a title--moving in the first society--having held a commission
in the most distinguished of the Royal regiments--he was reduced to
the alternative of an ignominious flight with outlawry, or risking the
forfeiture of his wretched life, to the outraged laws of his country.
When in Paris, he at one time had won L30,000, and on his way home he
dropped into another gambling house, where he lost it all but L3000. He
set out in life with L20,000 in money!
DESPERATE CAREER OF HENRY WESTON.
Henry Weston was nephew to the distinguished Admiral Sir Hugh Palliser.
Having unlimited control of the large property of his employer, a Mr
Cowan, during the absence of the latter from town, he was tempted first
to gamble in the funds, wherein being unfortunate, he next went to a
gambling house in Pall Mall, and lost a very large sum; and at length,
gamed away nearly all his master's property.
In this tremendous result--lost to all intents and purposes--he made a
supreme effort to 'patch up' the ruin he had made. He forged the name
of General Tonyn; and so dexterously, that he obtained from the Bank of
England the sum of L10,000.
This huge robbery from Peter was not to pay Paul. Not a bit of it. It
was to try the fickle goddess of gaming once more--a Napoleonic stroke
for an Austerlitz of fortune.
He lost this L10,000 in two nights.
Did he despair at this hideous catastrophe? Did he tear his hair--rush
out of the room--blow his brains out or drown himself?
Not a bit of it. He 'set his wits to work' once more. He procured a
woman to personate General Tonyn's sister--forged again--and again
obtained from the Bank of England another large supply of ready
cash--with which, however, he 'went off' this time.
He was caught; and then only he thought of self-murder, and cut his
throat--but not effectually. He recovered, was tried at the Old Bailey,
and hanged on the 6th of July, 1796.
No doubt the reader imagines that the man of such a career was an OLD
stager--some long-visaged, parchment-faced fellow the OTHER side of
forty at least. Well, this hero of the gaming table, Henry Weston, was
aged only TWENTY-THREE years! What terrible times those must have been
to produce such a prodigy!
To the judge who tried him Henry Weston sent a list of a number of
PROFESSIONAL GAMBLERS, among them was a person of high rank. Weston,
at different times, lost above L46,000 at play; and at a house in Pall
Mall, where he lost a considerable part of it, three young officers also
lost no less than L35,000.
ARTHUR THISTLEWOOD.
It seems that the wretched traitor Arthur Thistlewood, who paid the
forfeit of his life for his crimes, had dissipated by gaming the
property he had acquired by a matrimonial connection--L12,000. An
unfortunate transaction at cards, during the Lincoln races, involved him
in difficulties, which he found it impossible to meet; and he fled
to avoid the importunities of his more fortunate associates. He was
afterwards known only as the factious demagogue and the professed
gambler!
FOUNTLEROY, THE FORGER.
Henry Fountleroy was a gentleman of rank, a partner in the banking
house of Marsh, Sibbold, and Co., of Berners Street. He was convicted of
having forged a deed for the transfer of L5450 long annuities, in fraud
of a certain Frances Young. Like Thurtell, Fountleroy defended himself,
and battled with the prejudicial reports circulated against him--among
the rest his addiction to gambling. 'I am accused,' he said, 'of being
an habitual gambler, an accusation which, if true, might easily account
for the diffusion of the property. I am, indeed, a member of two clubs,
the Albion and the Stratford, but never in my life did I play in either
at cards, or dice, or any game of chance; this is well known to the
gentlemen of these clubs; and my private friends, with whom I more
intimately associated, can equally assert my freedom from all habit or
disposition to play.'(21)
(21) See the case in 'Celebrated Trials,' vol. vi
I close this record of crime and misery by a few narratives of a more
miscellaneous character.
GAMBLING FOR LIFE.
Marshal Grammont used to tell a story of three soldiers, who, having
committed offences punishable by death, it was ordered that one of them
should be hanged as an example, and the three were directed to decide
which of them should suffer by throwing dice. The first threw fourteen,
the second seventeen, and the last, taking up the dice as coolly as
though he were engaged in a trivial game, threw eighteen! Thereupon
he exclaimed, with an expression of vexation, 'Ah, now! if I had been
playing for money I should not have been so lucky!'
This may appear 'taking it very cool;' but I think the following cases
of Englishmen' rather stronger.'
ONE OF MANY INSTANCES.
In the Times of February 11th, 1819, mention is made of a gang of nearly
thirty persons, male and female, and all presenting the most shocking
appearance of both want and depravity, who were brought to the
Marlborough Street Office. Among these wretched beings was a woman named
Hewitt, said to be the wife of one Captain Hewitt, a leader of the ton,
who, after ruining himself and family at the gambling table, ran away
from them, and was not since heard of. His wife being left to herself,
and having probably been tainted by his evil example, by an easy
gradation became first embarrassed, then a prostitute, then a thief, and
on the occasion above mentioned exhibited one of the most distressing
spectacles of vice and misery that could be conceived.
TRURTELL THE MURDERER.
This man, it is well known, was executed for the murder of Weare.
Thurtell was evidently no common man. His spoken defence, as reported,
is one of the finest specimens of impassioned eloquence--perfectly
Demosthenic. His indignation at the reports circulated in prejudice of
his case was overwhelming. Nothing can be finer than the turn of the
following sentence:--'I have been represented by the Press--WHICH
CARRIES ITS BENEFITS OR CURSES ON RAPID WINGS from one extremity of
the kingdom to the other--as a man more depraved, more gratuitously
and habitually profligate and cruel, than has ever appeared in modern
times.'
Touching his gambling pursuits, he said:--'I have been represented to
you as a man who was given to gambling, and the constant companion
of gamblers. To this accusation in some part my heart, with feeling
penitence, pleads guilty. I have gambled; I have been a gambler, but not
for the last three years. During that time I have not attended or betted
upon a horse-race, or a fight, or any public exhibition of that nature.
If I have erred in these things, half of the nobility of the land have
been my examples; some of the most enlightened statesmen of the country
have been my companions in them. I have, indeed, been a gambler; I have
been an unfortunate one. But whose fortune have I ruined?--whom undone?
My own family have I ruined; I have undone myself!'(22)
(22) See the entire speech in 'Celebrated Trials,' vol. vi. 547.
A MOST WONDERFUL END OF A GAMBLER.
In the Annual Register for the year 1766 occurs the following
'circumstantial and authentic account of the memorable case of Richard
Parsons,' transmitted by the high sheriff of Gloucestershire to his
friend in London.
On the 20th of February, 1766, Richard Parsons and three more met at a
private house in Chalfold, in order to play at cards, about six o'clock
in the evening. They played at Loo till about eleven or twelve that
night, when they changed their game for Whist. After a few deals a
dispute arose about the state of the game. Parsons asserted with oaths
that they were six, which the others denied; upon which he wished 'that
he might never enter the kingdom of heaven, and that his flesh might rot
upon his bones, if there were not six in the game.' These wishes were
several times repeated both then and afterwards. Upon this the candle
was put out by a party present, who said he was shocked with the oaths
and expressions he heard, and that he put out the candle with a design
to put an end to the game. Presently upon this they adjourned to another
house, and there began a fresh game, when Parsons and his partner had
great success. They then played at Loo again till four in the morning.
During the second playing Parsons complained to one Rolles, his partner,
of a bad pain in his leg, which from that time increased. There was an
appearance of a swelling, and afterwards the colour changing to that of
a mortified state. On the following Sunday he took advice of a surgeon,
who attended him until his death. Notwithstanding all the applications
that were made the mortification increased, and showed itself in
different parts of the body. He was visited by a clergyman, who
administered the sacrament to him, without any knowledge of what had
happened before--the man appearing to be extremely ignorant of religion,
having been accustomed to swear, to drink, to game, and to profane the
Sabbath. After receiving the sacrament he said--'Now, I must never sin
again.' He hoped God would forgive him, having been wicked not above six
years, and that whatever should happen he would not play at cards again.
After this he was in great agony--chiefly delirious; spoke of his
companions by name, and seemed as if his imagination was engaged at
cards. He started, had distracted looks and gestures, and in a dreadful
fit of shaking and trembling died on the 4th of March, just about a
fortnight after the utterance of his terrible imprecation.
The worthy sheriff of Gloucestershire goes on to say that the man's eyes
were open when he died, and could not be closed by the common method,
so that they remained open when he was put into the coffin. From this
circumstance arose a report that he WISHED HIS EYES MIGHT NEVER
CLOSE; 'but,' says the sheriff, 'this is a mistake; for, from the most
creditable witnesses, I am fully convinced no such wish was uttered;
and the fact is, that he did close his eyes after he was taken with the
mortification, and either dozed or slept several times.
'When the body came to be laid out, it appeared all over discoloured
or spotted; and it might, in the most literal sense, be said, that his
flesh rotted on his bones before he died.'
At the request of the sheriff, the surgeon (a Mr Pegler) who attended
the unfortunate man, sent in the following report:--'Sir,--You desire me
to acquaint you, in writing, with what I know relating to the melancholy
case of the late Richard Parsons; a request I readily comply with,
hoping that his sad catastrophe will serve to admonish all those who
profane the sacred name of God.
'February 27th last I visited Richard Parsons, who, I found, had an
inflamed leg, stretching from the foot almost to the knee, tending to a
gangrene. The tenseness and redness of the skin was almost gone off,
and became of a duskish and livid colour, and felt very lax and flabby.
Symptoms being so dangerous, some incisions were made down to the quick,
some spirituous fomentations made use of, and the whole limb dressed
up with such applications as are most approved in such desperate
circumstances, joined with proper internal medicines. The next day he
seemed much the same; but on March the 1st he was worse, the incisions
discharged a sharp fetid odor (which is generally of the worst
consequence). On the next day, which was Sunday, the symptoms seemed to
be a little more favourable; but, to my great surprise, the very next
day I found his leg not only mortified up to the knee, but the same
began anew in four different parts, viz., under each eye, on the top of
his shoulder, and on one hand; and in about twelve hours after he died.
I shall not presume to say there was anything supernatural in the case;
but, however, it must be confessed, that such cases are rather uncommon
in subjects so young, and of so good a habit as he had always been
previous to his illness.'
On one occasion Justice Maule was about to pass sentence on a prisoner,
who upon being asked to say why judgment should not be pronounced,
'wished that God might strike him dead if he was not innocent of the
crime.' After a pause, the judge said:--'As the Almighty has not thought
proper to comply with your request, the sentence of the court is,' &c.
A SAD REMINDER.
Every Englishman recollects the fate of that unhappy heiress, the
richest of all Europe, married to a man of rank and family, who was
plundered in the course of a few years of the whole of his wealth, in
one of those club houses, and was obliged to surrender himself to a
common prison, and ultimately fly from his country, leaving his wife
with her relations in the greatest despair and despondency.'(23)
(23) Rouge et Noir: the Academicians of 1823.
GEORGE IV. There are few departments of human distinction in which Great
Britain cannot boast a 'celebrity'--genteel or ungenteel. In the matter
of gambling we have been unapproachable--not only in the 'thorough'
determination with which we have exhausted the pursuit--but in the vast,
the fabulous millions which make up the sum total that Englishmen have
'turned over' at the gaming table.
I think that many thousands of millions would be 'within the mark' as
the contribution of England to the insatiate god of gambling.
I have presented to the reader the record of gambling all the world
over--the gambling of savages--the gambling of the ancient Persians,
Greeks, and Romans--the gambling of the gorgeous monarchs of France
and their impassioned subjects; but I have now to introduce upon the
horrible stage a Prince Royal, who surpassed all his predecessors in
the gaming art, having right royally lost at play not much less than
a million sterling, or, as stated, L800,000--before he was twenty-one
years of age!
If the following be facts, vouched for by a writer of authority,(24) the
results were most atrocious.
(24) James Grant (Editor of the Morning Advertiser), Sketches in London.
'Every one is aware that George IV., when Prince of Wales, was, as the
common phrase is, over-head-and-ears in debt; and that it was because
he would thereby be enabled to meet the claims of his creditors, that he
consented to marry the Princess Caroline of Brunswick. But although this
is known to every one, comparatively few people are acquainted with the
circumstances under which his debts were contracted. Those debts, then,
were the result of losses at the gaming table. He was an inveterate
gambler--a habit which he most probably contracted through his intimacy
with Fox. It is a well-ascertained fact that in two short years, after
he attained his majority, he lost L800,000 at play.
'It was with the view and in the hope that marriage would cure his
propensity for the gaming table, that his father was so anxious to see
him united to Caroline; and it was solely on account of his marriage
with that princess constituting the only condition of his debts being
paid by the country, that he agreed to lead her to the hymeneal altar.
'The unfortunate results of this union are but too well known, not only
as regarded the parties themselves, but as regarded society generally.
To the gambling habits, then, of the Prince of Wales are to be ascribed
all the unhappiness which he entailed on the unfortunate Caroline,
and the vast amount of injury which the separation from her, and the
subsequent trial, produced on the morals of the nation generally.'
CHAPTER V. ODDITIES AND WITTICISMS OF GAMBLERS.
OSTENTATIOUS GAMESTERS.
Certain grandees and wealthy persons, more through vanity or weakness
than generosity, have sacrificed their avidity to ostentation--some
by renouncing their winnings, others by purposely losing. The greater
number of such eccentrics, however, seem to have allowed themselves to
be pillaged merely because they had not the generosity or the courage to
give away what was wanted.
The Cardinal d'Este, playing one day with the Cardinal de Medicis, his
guest, thought that his magnificence required him to allow the latter to
win a stake of 10,000 crowns--'not wishing,' he said, 'to make him pay
his reckoning or allow him to depart unsatisfied.' Brantome calls this
'greatness;' the following is an instance of what he calls 'kindness.'
'Guilty or innocent,' he says, 'everybody was well received at the
house of this cardinal, who kept an open table at Rome for the French
chevaliers. These gentlemen having appropriated a portion of his plate,
it was proposed to search them: 'No, no!' said the cardinal, 'they are
poor companions who have only their sword, cloak, and crucifixes; they
are brave fellows; the plate will be a great benefit to them, and the
loss of it will not make me poorer.'
Vigneul de Marville tells us of certain extravagant abbes, named
Ruccellai and Frangipani, who carried their ostentation to such a pitch
as to set gold in dishes on their tables when entertaining their gaming
companions! Were any of these base enough to put their hands in and help
themselves? This is not stated by the historian. These two Italian abbes
were ne plus ultras in luxury and effeminacy. In the reign of Henry IV.,
they laid before their guests vermilion dishes filled with gloves, fans,
coins to play with after the repast, essences and perfumes.(25) I wonder
if the delightful scent called Frangipani, vouchsafed to us by Rimmel
and Piesse and Lubin, was named after this exquisite ecclesiastic of
old?
(25) Melanges d' Hist. et de Lit.
One day when Henry IV. was dining at the Duc de Sully's, the latter, as
soon as the cloth was raised, brought in cards and dice, and placed upon
the table two purses of 4000 pistoles each, one for the King, the other
to lend to the lords of his suite. Thereupon the king exclaimed:--'Great
master, come and let me embrace you, for I love you as you deserve: I
feel so comfortable here that I shall sup and stay the night.' Evidently
Sully was more a courtier than usual on this occasion--as no doubt
the whole affair was by the king's order, with which he complied
reluctantly; but he made the king play with his own money only. The Duc
de Lerme, when entertaining Monsieur the brother of Louis XIII. at his
quarters near Maestricht, had the boldness to bring in, at the end of
the repast, two bags of 1000 pistoles each, declaring that he gave them
up to the players without any condition except to return them when they
pleased.(26)
(26) Mem. de Jeu M. le Duc d'Orleans.
This Duc de Lerme was at least a great lord, and the army which he
commanded may have warranted his extravagance; but what are we to think
when we find the base and mean-spirited Fouquet giving himself the
same princely airs? During certain festivities prepared for Louis XIV.,
Fouquet placed in the room of every courtier of the king's suite, a
purse of gold for gambling, in case any of them should be short of
money. Well might Duclos remark that 'Nobody was shocked at this
MAGNIFICENT SCANDAL!(27)
(27) Consideration sur les Moeeurs.
They tell of a certain lordly gamester who looked upon any money that
fell from his hands as lost, and would never stoop to pick it up! This
reminds us of the freedman Pallas mentioned by Tacitus, who wrote down
what he had to say to his slaves, lest he should degrade his voice to
their level--ne vocem consociaret!(28)
(28) Ann. l. xiii
AN INSINUATING, ELEGANT GAMESTER.
Osterman, Grand Chancellor of Russia, during the reign of the Empress
Anne, obtained information that the court of Versailles had formed a
scheme to send an insinuating, elegant gamester, to attack the Duke of
Biran on his weak side--a rage for play--and thereby probably gain some
political advantage over him.
The chancellor called on the duke to make the necessary communication,
but the minister did not choose to be at home. The chancellor, then
pretending to be suffering from a severe fit of gout, wrote to his
sovereign, stating that he had important matter to reveal, but was
unable to move, and the Duke of Biran was consequently ordered to wait
on him by the empress. Osterman, affecting great pain, articulated with
apparent difficulty these words--'The French are sending a gamester!'
Thereupon the duke withdrew in a pet, and represented to the empress
that the chancellor was delirious from the gout, and had really nothing
to communicate.
The subject had long been forgotten by the duke, when an elegant, easy,
dissipated marquis actually arrived. He had extensive credit on a house
of the English Factory, and presently insinuated himself into the good
graces of the duke, whom he soon eased of all his superfluous cash.
The chancellor became alarmed for the consequences, and resolved to try
and play off the French for their clever finesse. He looked about for a
match for the redoubtable French gamester, and soon got information of
a party who might serve his turn. This was a midshipman at Moscow, named
Cruckoff, who, he was assured, was without an equal in the MANAGEMENT of
cards, and the knowledge of Quizze--then the fashionable court game--and
that at which the Duke of Biran had lost his money. The chancellor
immediately despatched a courier to Moscow to fetch the Russian
gamester.
The midshipman was forthwith made an ensign of the Guards, in order to
entitle him to play at court. He set to work at once in accordance with
his instructions, but after his own plan in the execution. He began
with losing freely; and was, of course, soon noticed by the marquis, and
marked as a pigeon worth plucking. The young Russian, however, forced
him into high play, and he lost the greater part of his former gain.
The marquis got nettled, lost his self-command, and proposed a monstrous
stake, to the extent of his credit and gains, of which he thought he
might make himself sure by some master-stroke of art. Accordingly, by
means of a sleight, he managed to hold fifteen in hand, but his wily
antagonist was equal to the occasion: by the aid of some sweetmeats from
an adjoining table he SWALLOWED a card, and, being first in hand, the
chance was determined in his favour, and he ruined the marquis.
Once more the chancellor waited on the duke, and plainly told him that
he had been anxious to guard him against the French gamester, purposely
sent to fleece him, if he had had the patience to hear him. The duke
then became outrageous, and wished to arrest the Frenchman as a cheat;
but Osterman coolly said he had punished him in kind; and, producing a
large bag, returned the duke's money, bidding him in future not to be so
impatient when information was to be communicated by gouty persons.
The clever ensign was allowed to retain the rest of the spoil, with an
injunction, however, never to touch a card again, unless he wished to
end his days among the exiles of Siberia.
A PENITENT SONNET.
written by the Lord Fitz-Gerald(29) (a great gamester) a little before
his death, which was in the year 1580.
(29) This Lord Fitzgerald was eldest son to the Earl of Kildare, and
died at the age of twenty-one.
'By loss in play, men oft forget
The duty they do owe
To Him that did bestow the same,
And thousand millions moe.
'I loath to hear them swear and stare,
When they the Main have lost,
Forgetting all the Byes that wear
With God and Holy Ghost.
'By wounds and nails they think to win,
But truly 'tis not so;
For all their frets and fumes in sin
They moneyless must go.
'There is no wight that used it more
Than he that wrote this verse,
Who cries Peccavi now, therefore;
His oaths his heart do pierce.
'Therefore example take by me,
That curse the luckless time
That ever dice mine eyes did see,
Which bred in me this crime.
'Pardon me for that is past,
I will offend no more,
In this most vile and sinful cast,
Which I will still abhor.'(30)
(30) Harl. Miscel.
LOVE AND GAMBLING.
Horace Walpole, writing to Mann, says:--'The event that has made most
noise since my last is the extempore wedding of the youngest of the two
Gunnings, two ladies of surpassing loveliness, named respectively Mary
and Elizabeth, the daughters of John Gunning, Esq., of Castle Coote, in
Ireland, whom Mrs Montague calls "those goddesses the Gunnings." Lord
Coventry, a grave young lord, of the remains of the patriot breed, has
long dangled after the eldest, virtuously, with regard to her honour,
not very honourably with regard to his own credit. About six weeks
ago Duke Hamilton, the very reverse of the earl, hot, debauched,
extravagant, and equally damaged in his fortune and person, fell in love
with the youngest at the masquerade, and determined to marry her in
the spring. About a fortnight since, at an immense assembly at my
Lord Chesterfield's, made to show the house, which is really most
magnificent, Duke Hamilton made violent love at one end of the room,
while he was playing at Faro at the other end; that is, he saw neither
the bank nor his own cards, which were of three hundred pounds each: he
soon lost a thousand. I own I was so little a professor in love that
I thought all this parade looked ill for the poor girl; and could not
conceive, if he was so much engaged with his mistress as to disregard
such sums, why he played at all. However, two nights afterwards, being
left alone with her, while her mother and sister were at Bedford House,
he found himself so impatient that he sent for a parson. The Doctor
refused to perform the ceremony without license or ring; the duke swore
he would send for the archbishop; at last they were married with a ring
of the BED-CURTAIN, at half-an-hour after twelve at night, at May-fair
Chapel.'
This incident occurred in 1752, and reminds us of the marriage-scene
described by Dryden in one of his tales, which was quoted by Lord
Lyndhurst on that memorable occasion when he opposed Lord Campbell's
Bill for the suppression of indecent publications, and made a speech
which was more creditable to his wit than his taste, and perfectly
horrifying to Lord Campbell, who inflicted a most damaging verbal
castigation on his very sprightly but imprudent opponent.
'MANNERS MAKE THE MAN.
Mr Manners, a relation of the Duke of Rutland, many years ago, lost a
considerable sum to a well-known gamester, who set up his carriage
in consequence. Being at a loss for a motto, Mr Manners suggested the
following:--
MANNERS MAKE(S) THE MAN.
SHARP PRACTICE--NOT BY AN ATTORNEY.
The commanding officer of a Militia regiment having passed an evening
with several of his officers, carried one of them, who was much
intoxicated, to town with him. How the rest of the night was passed was
not known--at least to the young man; but in the morning the colonel
slipped into his hand a memorandum of his having lost to him at play
L700--for which sum he was actually arrested ON THE PARADE the same day,
and was compelled to grant an annuity to a nominee of the colonel for
L100 per annum!
A GAMESTER TO THE BACK-BONE.
Archdeacon Bruges mentions a gentleman who was so thorough a gamester,
that he left in his will an injunction that his bones should be
made into dice, and his skin prepared so as to be a covering for
dice-boxes!(31)
(31) A similar anecdote is related of a Frenchman.
FOOTE'S WITTICISMS.
A blackleg, famous for 'cogging a die,' said that there had been great
sport at Newmarket. 'What!' said Foote, 'I suppose you were detected,
and kicked out of the Hazard room.'
F--d, the Clerk of the Arraigns, brought off Lookup when indicted for
perjury. Foote, afterwards playing with him at Whist, said, 'F--d,
you can do anything, after bringing of Lookup. I don't wonder you hold
thirteen trumps in your hand. The least he could do was to teach you the
"long shuffle" for your services.'
The Rev. Dr Dodd was a very unlucky gamester, and received a guinea
to forfeit twenty if he ever played again above a guinea. This, among
gamblers, is termed being TIED UP. When the doctor was executed for
forgery a gentleman observed to Foote--'I suppose the doctor is launched
into eternity by this time.' 'How so?' said Foote, 'he was TIED UP long
ago.'
EFFECT OF A SEVERE LOSS AT PLAY.
Lord C-- lost one night L33,000 to General Scott. The amiable peer,
however, benefited by the severe lesson, and resolved never again to
lose more than one hundred at a sitting! He is said to have strictly
kept his resolve.
PADDY'S DECISION.
Some gamblers duping a country fellow at the game called Put, in a
public-house near St Pancras, one of them appealed to an Irishman who
was looking on whether he had not THREE TREYS IN HIS HAND? 'You had all
that,' said Paddy; 'and what's more, I saw you TAKE THEM ALL out of your
pocket.'
GAMBLING CAUSED BY GRIEF.
The Honourable Jesse Anker, in order to dissipate the gloom occasioned
by the loss of his wife, whom he passionately loved, had recourse to
gaming, by which, at different times, he lost considerable sums, but
not so as to injure his property, which was very large, in any material
degree. The remedy did not prove effectual; he shot himself at his
lodgings at Bath.
A GAMBLER'S EXCUSE FOR NOT BEING A SECOND IN A DUEL.
A gentleman who had been called out, applied to a friend who had won
a large sum of money to be his second. 'My dear friend,' answered the
gamester, 'I won fifteen hundred guineas last night, and shall cut a
poor figure at fighting to-day; but if you apply to the person I won
them of, he will fight like a devil, for he has not a farthing left.'
'MORE FORTUNATE.'
Lord Mark Stair and Lord Stair were at play in a coffee-house, when a
stranger overlooked the game, and disturbed them with questions.
Lord Mark said--'Let us throw dice to see which of us shall pink this
impudent fellow.' Lord Stair won. The other exclaimed--'Ah! Stair,
Stair! you have been always more fortunate in life than I.'
CAPTAIN ROCHE.
Captain Roche, alias Tyger, alias Savage Roche, who stuck his gaming
companion's hand to the table with a fork for concealing a card under
it, happened to be at the Bedford Billiard-table, which was extremely
crowded. Roche was knocking the balls about with his cue, and Major
Williamson, another celebrity, with whom he was engaged on business,
desired him to leave off, as he hindered gentlemen from playing.
'Gentlemen?' sneeringly exclaimed Roche; 'why, major, except you and me
(and two or three more) there is not a gentleman in the room--the rest
are all blacklegs.'
On leaving the place, the major expressed his astonishment at his
rudeness, and wondered, out of so numerous a company, it was not
resented. 'Oh, sir,' said Roche, 'there was no fear of that; there was
not a thief in the room who did not suppose himself one of "the two or
three gentlemen" I mentioned.'
FARO AT ROUTS.
The following advertisement appeared in the Courier newspaper in 1794:--
'As Faro is the most fashionable circular game in the haut ton in
exclusion of melancholy Whist, and to prevent a company being cantoned
into separate parties, a gentleman of unexceptionable character will,
on invitation, do himself the honour to attend the rout of any lady,
nobleman, or gentleman, with a Faro Bank and Fund, adequate to the style
of play, from 500 to 2000 guineas.
'Address, G. A., by letter, to be left at Mr Harding's, Piccadilly,
nearly opposite Bond Street.
'N.B.--This advertisement will not appear again.'
PROSPECT OF L5200 PER ANNUM FROM A CAPITAL OF L2000.
The following advertisement appeared in the Morning Chronicle in 1817:--
'Any person who can command Two Thousand Pounds in ready money, may
advance it in a speculation which will realize at least L100 per week,
and perhaps not require the advance of above one half the money. The
personal attendance of the party engaging is requisite; but there will
be no occasion for articles of partnership, or any establishment, as the
profits may be divided daily.'
OF WHAT TRADE IS A GAMING-HOUSE KEEPER?
At a Westminster election the keeper of a notorious gaming house in
St Ann's parish was asked, as usual, what his trade was, when, after a
little hesitation, he said, 'I am an ivory turner.'
THE GAME PLAYED IN THE COURT OF CHANCERY.
Mrs Law, executrix of George Law, late proprietor of the Smyrna Coffee
House, St James's Street, in 1807, found, among her husband's papers,
several notes and memoranda of money advanced to a Mr Nelthorpe,
which she put in suit. The latter alleged that they were for gambling
purposes, and called Mrs Law to say whether her husband did not keep a
common gambling house; and his counsel contended that it was clear the
notes were for gaming transactions, BECAUSE they were for 100 GUINEAS,
200 GUINEAS, and so on--disdaining the vulgar enumeration of pounds.
But the lord chancellor said that THE GAME PLAYED IN THE COURT OF
CHANCERY--as far as counsel was concerned--was for GUINEAS.
THE ORIGINAL OF A RECENT PROPOSAL.
Not long since an advertisement appeared, and was noticed by several of
the papers, purporting to enable any person to realize a large fortune
by a small advance to the advertiser. It will readily be seen that
the following is the ORIGINAL of the scheme, put forth in the Morning
Chronicle, in 1818:--
'Important Offer. A gentleman of respectability has discovered a method
of winning at any game of chance, fairly and honourably, to a
certainty, by a method hitherto unknown;--he will SELL THE SECRET for a
consideration, or treat with a gentleman able to join him with a capital
of L300, by which a fortune may be made; in either case he will engage
with one person only. This will be found well worth the attention of
a member of the superior clubs. **** No personal application will be
answered.'
GAME AND GAMBLING.
A gentleman celebrated for his quickness at repartee, when informed that
a young nobleman of his acquaintance (remarkably fond of a fashionable
game) had shot an immense number of RED partridges, and also of the
BLACK game, which abounded on his estates, replied--'I am not in the
least surprised; he was at all times, EVEN WHEN IN LONDON, devotedly
attached to the GAME OF ROUGE ET NOIR.'
CATCHING A TARTAR.
'My skill at billiards,' says a confessing gamester, 'gave me a
superiority over most I met with. I could also hide my skill very
dexterously, which is generally found a work of great difficulty,
and judiciously winning or losing, I contrived to make it answer my
purpose,--until one day, going to a table which I was very much in
the practice of frequenting, and where no one was then engaged, I was
invited by a stranger to play. I accepted the invitation for a small
stake, and won very easily, so much so, that on commencing a new game I
offered to give him six, to place us more on an equality. He accepted it
eagerly, but it produced him no benefit; he played so badly, and managed
both his cue and mace so awkwardly--for I made no objection to his
changing them as often as he pleased--that, playing very carelessly, I
could not avoid beating him. We continued increasing the stakes every
successive game; money seemed of no value to him; he appeared to have
plenty, and lost it with a spirit that told me I had got hold of an
excellent subject, who could pay me well for beating him. I did not
wish to win too palpably, and therefore kept increasing the advantage I
yielded him, till it amounted to sixteen. He now proposed making the bet
ONE HUNDRED POUNDS, and that I should give him eighteen. His eagerness,
as well as the manner in which he handled his tools, convinced me of his
inexperience, and I accepted the proposal;--but, to my surprise, he won
the game. He laughed so heartily at the event, and conducted himself
so extravagantly, that I felt persuaded the thing was accidental. He
proposed doubling the stakes, which I refused; yet I agreed to play him
for the same sum as before, but giving him only fourteen. By some chance
he won again; and then I declined playing any more; but he pushed me so
hard, and offered to play the even game rather than I should give over,
that I was induced to yield. He declared he did not want my money, and
wished to give me an opportunity of recovering it. It was the depth of
artifice, and I discovered it too late. He won . . . and I had no money
to pay! One of the bystanders took part with him; my case did not invite
or interest any one to stand by me. I was treated with great indignity;
and though I gave up my watch and every article of value I possessed,
yet I was not allowed to depart without very ill usage. I had
transgressed the laws of gaming, by betting after I had ceased to be
able to pay; but I had so confidently felt that I had my antagonist in
my own power, that I considered the stake as my own as soon as the bet
was made. The injuries I received were very severe, and confined me to
my bed for several days.'(32)
(32) Confessions of a Gamester.
The splendid and fascinating game of Billiards seems to have been an
English invention; and it became greatly in vogue during the reign of
Louis XIV. of France, to whom it was recommended by his physicians as an
exercise after meals.
It is said that Chamillard, who played with the king, entirely owed
his political fortune to the skill which he displayed in this game.
Billiards has not as yet been placed, like skittles and bowls, under the
interdict of the police authorities, and it is difficult to see how they
could venture upon so tremendous an experiment. The game seems to be
more in vogue than ever, and doubtless heavy sums are lost and won at
it. Billiard matches have during the last three years become quite one
of the winter exhibitions, and particularly this season have the public
shown their taste for the game. Perhaps the extraordinary performances
of some of the first-class cueists have stirred up the shades of
Kentfield's days, his homely game of cannons off list cushions and
gently-played strength strokes; or by chance those that favour Marden's
style, his losing hazards and forcing half balls, have revived once
more, and we yearn with wonder to see the great spot strokes of the
present age, when as many red hazards can be scored in one break as were
made in olden times in an evening's play. At the present time Roberts,
sen., may claim the honour in the billiard world of having brought the
spot stroke to light: he has made no less than 104 consecutive hazards
in one break, and up to the present winter that wonderful performance
stood unparalleled. Cook, however, very recently in an exhibition match
with J. Bennett, scored the spot hazard no less than 119 times, making
388 off the balls, the biggest break on record. Such feats as these,
supplemented by the but little inferior play of Roberts, jun., and
Bennett, have done more than excite surprise, and have caused old heads
carefully to look into the style of play of 1869 and to ponder thereon.
It appears that they affirm, and not without reason, that much of the
success of the spot stroke arises from the position of the spot being
further from the top cushion than formerly, and by this means not
only is the angle of the striker's ball for position made easier, by a
greater scope for screw or side, but the mouth of the pockets themselves
are easier of access; and the chance of a wobble all but avoided.
Billiard players and table makers should meet and arrange a regular
standard size for table pockets and balls, with the spots at regulated
positions. We should then be able to compare merits with greater
certainty, and such terrible scores would not trouble the markers.
As a healthful exercise, and in its tendency to promote the physical
development of the body, the game of Billiards is unsurpassed; but it is
much to be regretted that it is generally-played in ill-ventilated and
crowded rooms, often reeking with the pestilential fumes of tobacco, and
not without the adjunct of frequent alcoholic potations. Moreover, there
can be no doubt that many modern instances of billiard sharping occur,
such as I have just quoted, in which the unwary are unscrupulously
'fleeced.' I know of several.
'NOT KNOWING YOUR MAN.'
A certain high military character sat down to play with a Russian
prince, who introduced loaded dice. The travelled Englishman lost every
bet; for the Russian never missed his seven or eleven, and modestly
threw only ten times. The supposed pigeon then took up the box with fair
dice; and, having learned to 'secure,'(33) called different mains at
pleasure; threw sixteen times; won all the aristocrat's money, and
wished him good night. Such is the effect of not knowing your man!
(33) This term means making sure of what you throw.
A BLIND GAMESTER.
John Metcalfe, much better known by the nickname of blind Jack of
Knaresborough, was a celebrity at Harrowgate during the first quarter
of the present century. This extraordinary man had been deprived of his
eyesight at so early a period that he retained no idea of either light
or vision; but his remaining faculties were so actively employed that
few persons in the full enjoyment of sight have surpassed him in the
execution of undertakings, which seemed particularly to require the
exercise of that faculty. He traversed the neighbourhood without a guide
or companion; surveyed tracts of country to plan and lay down roads,
where none had ever been before; contracted for the building of bridges,
and fulfilled his contracts without the assistance of another person,
either as architect or superintendent of the work; became a guide
to those who, possessing sight, could not find their way across the
neighbouring moors when covered with deep falls of snow and impenetrable
fogs; rode well, and followed the hounds with a zeal and spirit equal to
that of the most dashing horseman in the field, and, finally, played
at many games of chance, or skill, with a knowledge and ingenuity that
enabled him to come off victorious in many contests with persons eager
to try his ability or to prove their own.
Such a man was sure to attract notice in any place or neighbourhood,
but particularly at a place of general resort. Besides, he possessed
a facetious mode of talking, and on several occasions exercised a
practical sort of wit, which was equally certain of gaining patronage.
Visitors of the highest rank treated him with kindness, and even
familiarity; and as he never forgot himself, or trespassed upon those
who thus favoured him, he continued in fashion as long as he lived, and
terminated his singular career at more than 80 years of age.
Among his many exploits was the following. Various trials of his skill
and activity were proposed by gentlemen who offered to support their
opinions with their money. But Metcalfe had a determination of his own,
and refused taking a share in any of the ingenious proposals urged upon
him, until a country squire, the Nimrod of a neighbouring district,
submitted a plan which he expected would baffle all his manoeuvres.
He asked the blind man if he was willing to run 100 yards against his
favourite mare. The offer was immediately accepted--provided he might
CHOOSE THE GROUND, which should be an open space on the adjoining moor.
The stakes were deposited the same evening; and a fine level space being
selected, and the distance marked out with great exactness early the
following morning, the decision followed with little delay. The
party selected to ride against the blind man was much admired for
his horsemanship; and at the appointed time, every preparation being
completed, the signal was given and the race commenced. The horseman was
instantly far ahead, but before he could finish his stipulated distance
the fore feet of his hunter sank deep in a bog, from which, being unable
to extricate them, he came completely over, treating his rider with a
tremendous somerset. The loud shouts of the spectators announced to
the blind man that his expectations were realized. The turf showed no
apparent difference, and was sufficiently strong to carry a man with
safety,--perhaps it would have borne a horse going only at a moderate
pace, but at full speed his feet pierced the sod, and entangled him in
the hidden danger. Metcalfe passed his extended rival, terminated his
career, and won the race before those who had run to the prostrate
horseman could render him any assistance. Indeed, it was too late for
that purpose, he had finished his earthly course having ruptured a
vessel near the heart in his fall!
A NOBLE LORD AND A COMMONER, IN 1823.
A young and wealthy commoner, who seemed to vie with the pea-green in
the desperate folly of getting rid of a suddenly obtained fortune of
L130,000 in ready money, as fast as possible, and whose relish for the
society of legs, bullies, and fighting men was equally notorious, went
to the Fishmonger's Hall Club late one morning, much flushed with wine.
The well-lighted avenues directed him to the French Hazard table. There
was no play going on at the time, but at the entrance of this PIGEON,
who before had been DRAWN of a good round sum, the box and dice were
soon put in motion, and 'seven's the main, seven,' was promptly the cry.
A certain noble lord, who had been for years an experienced NURSE of the
dice, and who knew how to NICK the MAINS or THROW CRABS, as well as the
best leg in England, held the bow. The commoner commenced by backing the
noble lord IN. The noble lord threw OUT. He then backed the noble lord
OUT, and the noble lord threw in. He backed the noble lord OUT again,
who threw five to the main. The commoner betted the odds deeply at
the rate of three to two. The noble lord threw the FIVE. The commoner,
uneasy, changed about, and backed the noble lord IN for a large
stake,--the noble lord then threw OUT. The commoner now rose in a rage,
and insinuated broadly that he was cheated, robbed, and it could not be
fair play. Of course much indignation was shown by the noble lord, and
it was with difficulty that a fight was prevented; but his lordship,
nevertheless, condescended to demonstrate that he played his own money
at the time, and what he lost found its way into the bank, with which
'he was not at all connected.' This reasoning satisfied the suspicious
young commoner (poor easy man!); an apology was given; and peace was
restored.
DIAMOND CUT DIAMOND.
A party of players were assembled to throw for a stake, which was
enormous. It was, however, agreed that the LOWEST throw should win.
The players threw until one of them turned up two aces. All but one had
thrown, and shouts of applause greeted the lucky caster, when the last
who was to throw exclaimed--'Hold! I'll try and beat that.' . . .
Rattling the dice, he turned down the box on the table, and on lifting
it up displayed the two dice ONE UPON THE TOP OF THE OTHER, and both
aces! He was therefore declared the winner.(34)
(34) Menageana.
A TENDER MOTHER.
A French lady had an only child, a handsome young man, much addicted
to gaming. He lost at one sitting L40,000, and being destitute of other
resources, he joined a company of strolling players. They chanced
some time afterwards to pass a short time at Worcester, near which
his mother, who was considerably advanced in years, resided. The lady,
though highly displeased with her son's life, yet, hearing of his
performance, could not resist a wish to see him; and for this purpose
she went thither incog. He supported the principal character in 'The
Gamester.'
The feelings of the mother were so excited at the passages which closely
applied to her son's conduct, that she exclaimed aloud, 'Ay, there he
is--the--the beggar--the scoundrel! Always the same--no change in him!'
The delusion so increased at the fifth act, when Beverley lifts his
hand to kill the child, that the lady in a most distressing tone cried
out--'Wretch that thou art, don't kill the child--I'll take it home with
me!'
TWO MASTERS OF THE ART.
A Frenchman who had become notorious for the unerring certainty with
which he won from all who ventured to play with him, at length found
himself unable to induce persons to sit down to the table with him,
there being not the slightest chance of winning against his play. After
being thus idle for some time, an Englishman, who had heard of his
triumphs, expressed his readiness to enter the lists against him. They
sat down, and played for three hours without intermission, and at the
end of that time were exactly in the same position as when they begun.
They at length paused to take some refreshment. 'Sare,' said the
Frenchman, in a sort of whisper, to a party who accompanied his
antagonist, 'your friend is a very clever man at de cards--deuced
clever, sare.' 'He is a very clever fellow,' observed the Englishman. 'I
shall try him again,' said Monsieur; and as he made the observation
he proceeded to the room in which they had been playing, and which
was fixed on as the scene of their continued contest. He had scarcely
quitted the place when the other made his appearance, and observed that
the Frenchman was the most skilful player he had ever met with. The
parties again met, and the cards were again produced. The game was
renewed at eleven o'clock, and continued without intermission till
six o'clock on the following morning, at which time they found, to the
surprise of each other, that they were still as they began. 'Sare,'
said the Frenchman, 'you are the best player I ever met with.' 'And you,
Monsieur,' returned the other, 'are the only gentleman I ever played
with, from whom I could win nothing.' 'Indeed, sare!' said Monsieur,
hesitatingly. 'It is a fact, I assure you.' 'Sare, I am quite astonished
at your skill.' 'And I'm not less so at yours, Monsieur.' 'You're de
most skilfullest man at de cards in England.' 'Not while you are in it,
Monsieur,' replied the Englishman, with a smile. 'Sare, I CHEATED, and
yet could not win from you!' remarked the Frenchman, hurriedly and with
much emphasis, feeling it impossible any longer to conceal his surprise
at the circumstance of being unable to play a winning game with the
Englishman. 'And, Monsieur, I did the same thing with you, and yet you
are no loser!' remarked the other, with corresponding energy of tone.
The problem was thus solved: both had been cheating during the whole
night, and were exactly equal in dexterity, both being unconscious of
the dishonest practices of each other; and the result was that each got
up from the table with the same amount of money as he had when he sat
down. The cheats cordially shook hands, apparently much gratified that
they had at length ascertained how it had happened that neither could
pluck the other.
CHAPTER VI. THE GAMING CLUBS.
On the subject of Clubs Mr Cunningham in his 'Clubs of London,' and Mr
Timbs in his 'Club Life in London,' have said pretty well everything
that we want to know, and by their help, and that of other writers, I
shall endeavour to give an account of the gambling carried on in such
places.
1. ALMACK'S.
'The gaming at Almack's,' writes Walpole to Horace Mann, 'which has
taken the pas of White's, is worthy of the decline of our empire, or
commonwealth, which you please. The young men of the age lose ten,
fifteen, twenty thousand pounds in an evening there. Lord Stavordale,
not one-and-twenty, lost L11,000 there last Tuesday, but recovered it
by one great hand at Hazard. He swore a great oath--"Now, if I had been
playing DEEP I might have won millions!" His cousin, Charles Fox, shines
equally here and in the House of Commons.'
Among the rules of the establishment, it was ordered 'that every person
playing at the twenty-guinea table do not keep less than twenty guineas
before him,' and 'that every person playing at the new guinea table do
keep fifty guineas before him.' That the play ran high may be inferred
from a note against the name of Mr Thynne, in the Club-books:--'Mr
Thynne having won ONLY 12,000 guineas during the last two months,
retired in disgust, March 21st, 1772.' Indeed, the play was unusually
high--for rouleaus of L50 each, and generally there was L10,000
in specie on the table. The gamesters began by pulling off their
embroidered clothes, and putting on frieze great coats, or turned their
coats inside out for luck! They put on pieces of leather (such as are
worn by footmen when they clean knives) to save their laced ruffles;
and to guard their eyes from the light, and to keep their hair in order,
wore high-crowned straw hats with broad brims adorned with flowers and
ribbons; they also wore masks to conceal their emotions when they played
at quinz.(35) Each gamester had a small neat stand by him, to hold his
tea, or a wooden bowl with an edge of ormolu, to hold the rouleaus of
guineas.
(35) Quinze, the French for fifteen. This is a game at cards, in which
the winner is he who counts fifteen, or nearest to that number, in all
the points of his hand. Three, five, or six might play at it. Two entire
packs of cards are used, so disposed that the spades and clubs are on
one side, and the hearts and diamonds on the other. The entire art of
the game consists in making fifteen; below that number the party loses.
2. THE COCOA-TREE CLUB.
This club was remarkable for high if not for foul play. Walpole, writing
to Horace Mann in 1780, says:--'Within this week there has been a cast
at Hazard at the Cocoa-tree (in St James's Street) the difference of
which amounted to one hundred and fourscore thousand pounds! Mr O'Birne,
an Irish gamester, had won one hundred thousand pounds of a young Mr
Harvey of Chigwell, just started into an estate by his elder brother's
death. O'Birne said,--"You can never pay me." "I can," said the youth,
"my estate will sell for the debt." "No," said O'Birne, "I will win ten
thousand,--you shall throw for the odd ninety." They did, and Harvey
won!'
3. GRAHAM'S CLUB.
This gaming club is remarkable for a scandal which made some noise at
the time of its occurrence, and one version of which a writer in the
Times has been at some pains to rectify. In Mr Duncombe's 'Life' of his
father occurs the following account of this curious transaction.
'In Graham's Club there was also a good deal of play, and large sums
were lost and won among the noblemen and gentlemen who were its members.
An unpleasant rumour circulated in town in the winter of 1836, to the
effect that a noble lord had been detected in cheating by means of
marked cards. The presumed offender was well known in society as a
skilful card-player, but by those who had been most intimate with him
was considered incapable of any unfair practice. He was abroad when the
scandal was set afloat, but returned to England directly he heard of it,
and having traced the accusation to its source, defied his traducers.
Thus challenged, they had no alternative but to support their
allegation, and it took this shape:--They accused Henry William Lord de
Ros of marking the edges of the court cards with his thumb-nail, as well
as of performing a certain trick by which he unfairly secured an ace as
the turn-up card. His accusers were ---- ----, who had formerly kept
a gaming table; Mr ---- ----, also a professional gambler; Lord Henry
Bentinck, and Mr F. Cumming. Lord Henry appears to have taken no very
active part in the proceedings; the other three had lost money in play
with Lord de Ros, and, as unsuccessful gamblers have done before and
since, considered that they had lost it unfairly.
'Lord de Ros, instead of prosecuting the four for a libel, brought an
action only against Cumming, which permitted the others to come forward
as witnesses against him. The cause came on in the Court of King's Bench
before Lord Denman. The plaintiff's witnesses were Lord Wharncliffe,
Lord Robert Grosvenor, the Earl of Clare, and Sir Charles Dalbiac, who
had known and played with him from between 20 to 30 years, as a very
skilful but honourable Whist player. The evidence of Mr Lawrence, the
eminent surgeon, proved that Lord de Ros had long suffered under a
stiffness of the joints of the fingers that made holding a pack of
cards difficult, and the performance of the imputed trick of legerdemain
impossible. For the defence appeared the keeper of the house and
his son; two or three gamblers who had lived by their winnings; one
acknowledged to have won L35,000 in 15 years. Mr Baring Wall, one of the
witnesses, swore that he had never witnessed anything improper in the
play of Lord de Ros, though he had played with and against him many
years; another witness, the Hon. Colonel Anson, had observed nothing
suspicious; but the testimony of others went to prove that the aces and
kings had been marked inside their edges; and one averred that he had
seen Lord de Ros perform sauter la coupe a hundred times. The whole case
wore much the look of a combination among a little coterie who lived
by gambling to drive from the field a player whose skill had diminished
their income; nevertheless, the incidents sworn to by some of them wore
a suspicious significance, and a verdict was given against Lord de Ros,
which he only survived a short time.'
On this statement the Times' reviewer comments as follows:--
'If many old scandals may be revived with impunity, there are some that
cannot. Mr Duncombe the younger has hit on one which affects several
gentlemen still living, and his injurious version of it cannot be
neutralized or atoned for by an apology to one. We call attention to it
in the hope that any more serious notice will be rendered needless by
the simple exposure of its inaccuracies.
'It is difficult to conceive a more inexcusable misstatement, for the
case was fully reported,(36) and the public judgment perfectly coincided
with the verdict. Lord de Ros was not abroad when the scandal was set
afloat. He went abroad after the scene at Graham's had set all London
talking, and he returned in consequence of a peremptory call from his
friends. He was most reluctantly induced to take the required steps for
the vindication of his character; and it is preposterous to suppose that
any little coterie would have dreamt of accusing a man of his rank and
position with the view of driving a skilful player from the field. His
accusers were not challenged. Neither were they volunteers. They became
his accusers, because they formed the Whist party at which he was first
openly denounced. They signed a paper particularizing their charge, and
offered to refer the question to a tribunal of gentlemen, with the Duke
of Wellington or Lord Wharncliffe to preside. Would a little coterie,
who lived by gambling, have made this offer? Or would Lord de Ros have
refused it if he had been the intended victim of a conspiracy? Lord
Henry Bentinck signed the paper, appeared as a witness, and took quite
as active a part in the proceedings as any of the four, except Mr
Cumming, who undertook the sole legal liability by admitting the
publication of the paper.
(36) The Times of February 11 and 13, 1837.
'The evidence was overwhelming. Suspicions had long been rife; and on no
less than ten or twelve occasions the marked packs had been examined in
the presence of unimpeachable witnesses, and sealed up. These packs
were produced at the trial. Several witnesses swore to the trick called
sauter la coupe. It was the late Sir William Ingilby who swore that he
had seen Lord de Ros perform it from 50 to 100 times; and when asked
why he did not at once denounce him, he replied that if he had done
so before his Lordship began to get blown upon, he should have had no
alternative between the window and the door. Of course, every one who
had been in the habit of playing with Lord de Ros prior to the exposure
would have said the same as Sir Charles Dalbiac and Mr Baring Wall.
With regard to the gentlemen whose names we have omitted we take it
for granted that the author is not aware of the position they held, and
continue to hold, or he would hardly have ventured to describe them so
offensively. He has apologized to one, and he had better apologize to
the other without delay.
'The case was complete without the evidence of either of the original
accusers, and the few friends of Lord de Ros who tried to bear him up
against the resulting obloquy were obliged to go with the stream. When
Lord Alvanley was asked whether he meant to leave his card, he replied,
"No, he will stick it in his chimney-piece and count it among his
honours.'"
Having read through the long case as reported in the Times, I must
declare that I do not find that the evidence against Lord de Ros was,
after all, so 'overwhelming' as the reviewer declares; indeed, the
'leader' in the Times on the trial emphatically raises a doubt on the
subject. Among other passages in it there is the following:--
'In the process of the trial it appeared that the most material part of
the evidence against Lord de Ros, that called sauter la coupe,--which,
for the sake of our English readers we shall translate into CHANGING THE
TURN-UP CARD,--the times and places at which it was said to have been
done could not be specified. Some of the witnesses had seen the trick
done 50 or 100 times by Lord de Ros, but could neither say on what day,
in what week, month, or even year, they had so seen it done. People
were excessively struck at this deviation from the extreme punctuality
required in criminal cases by the British courts of law.'
'The disclosures,' says Mr Grant,(27) 'which took place in the Court of
Queen's Bench, on the occasion of the trial of Lord de Ros, for cheating
at cards, furnished the strongest demonstration that he was not the only
person who was in the habit of cheating in certain clubs; while there
were others who, if they could not be charged with direct cheating,
or cheating in their own persons, did cheat indirectly, and by proxy,
inasmuch as they, by their own admission, were, on frequent occasions,
partners with Lord de Ros, long after they knew that he habitually or
systematically cheated. The noble lord, by the confession of the titled
parties to whom I allude, thus cheated for himself and them at the same
time.'
(37) Sketches in London.
Lord de Ros was at the head of the barons of England. He was the son of
Lord Henry Fitzgerald, and Lady de Ros, who inherited in her own right
that ancient title, which dates from the reign of Henry III. He had
studied at Eton and Oxford, and afterwards on the Continent, and
there was not a more accomplished man in Europe. He possessed an ample
fortune, was a member of several of the clubs--White's, Boodle's,
Brookes', and Graham's, and one of the best Whist players in England.
It appears that at Graham's Club, at the commencement of the season,
and before Lord de Ros came to town, whispers were circulated of unfair
play, and various persons were supposed guilty. A determination was
therefore formed that the club should be dissolved and reconstructed,
leaving out the names of certain persons to whom suspicion attached. The
main object of the master of the club, and of some of those who attended
it for the purpose of professional gain, was that its character should
be cleared. Not long after Lord de Ros came to town he received an
anonymous letter, cautioning him against continuing to play at Graham's,
and intimating to him, if he did so, that measures would be taken which
he would have reason to regret. Of course his Lordship disregarded the
threat; he attended the club for several days more assiduously than
before, and continued to play until the end of the season, in the
beginning of July. In September the Satirist newspaper published a
distinct charge of unfair play against Lord de Ros, whilst the latter
was at Baden, and he returned to England and commenced an action for
libel against the newspaper.
He was charged with being in the habit of marking the cards, the effect
being to create a very slight and almost imperceptible indentation, and
to make a ridge or wave on the back, so that a practised eye would be
able, on looking at the right place, knowing where to expect a mark,
to discern whether the ace was there or not. He was also charged with
cheating by reversing the cut--that is, when the cards had come to him,
after having been cut by his adversary, instead of putting the bottom
card at the top, keeping the bottom card at the bottom, by some
shuffling contrivance when he dealt. Another witness said:--
'When he took up the two parcels of cards, after the operation of
cutting the pack by his right-hand adversary, he was always attacked
with a hacking cough, or what I may properly denominate, especially from
the result it produced, a 'king cough,' because a king or an ace was
invariably its effect. The cough always came on at the most convenient
moment to distract the attention of the other players, and was evidently
indulged in for the purpose of abstracting their attention from the
table and from the manoeuvre he was about to perform. However, I never
saw him "slip the card," and I never had cognizance of its execution,
but certain it was that the ace or the king, which was at the bottom of
the pack prior to the cut, invariably found its way to the same position
after the cut, and hence was the turn-up card. With regard to the
operation of dealing, his Lordship delivered the cards particularly
slow, examining every card minutely towards its corners, as if looking
for some mark.'
Many curious facts came out during the trial.
It was Mr Brooke Greville who admitted that he was a considerable winner
at play--having 'no hesitation in saying that he had won L35,000 in the
course of 15 years,' chiefly at Whist; that he had followed play as an
occupation, at Graham's Club. He lost, however, L14,000 at Brighton in
1828, a considerable portion of it to Lord de Ros; but this loss he
made up in three or four years (that is, won L14,000 in that time), and,
excepting that reverse, he was generally fortunate at play.'
A Captain J. Alexander, half-pay R. N., declared that he had won as much
as L700 at a time, having, however, to pay half to another partner; his
winnings might be L1600 a-year. 'I began to play,' he said, 'about 25 or
28 years ago, and, expecting that I should be asked the question, I have
looked into my accounts, and find that I am about L10,000 better than
as though I had not played. That is a yearly average of L500.' He had,
however, lost about L1000 during the previous year.
This Captain Alexander was asked how many hours he played before dinner,
and he answered--'From three to five hours'--adding, however, that 'he
HAD played ALL NIGHT.' Then the counsel said, 'I suppose you take but a
slight dinner?' He replied:--
'Why, I generally make as good a dinner as I can get.' The learned
counsel continued:--
'A small boiled chicken and a glass of lemonade, perhaps?' This seemed
an offensive question, and the captain said,--
'I believe never, and (with increased earnestness of manner) mind, I
DENY THE LEMONADE ALTOGETHER; I never take lemonade. (Laughter, in which
the noble lords on the bench joined involuntarily.)
Sir W. Ingilby entered into a description and practical illustration of
the trick of sauter la coupe with a pack of cards, and it is said that
the performance of the honourable baronet elicited demonstrations of
laughter, which the judge suppressed, and even REPROBATED. Altogether,
it must have been a most interesting and exciting trial.
As before stated, Lord Denman was the presiding judge; there was a
special jury; the attorney-general, Sir W. Follet, and Mr Wightman
appeared for the noble plaintiff; and the keen-witted and exquisitely
polished Mr Thesiger (now Lord Cholmondeley), Mr Alexander, and Mr W.
H. Watson for the defendant. A great many of the nobility were present,
together with several foreigners of distinction.
4. BROOKES' CLUB, IN ST JAMES'S STREET.
This was a house notorious for very high gaming, and was frequented
by the most desperate of gamblers, among the rest Fox, Brummell, and
Alderman Combe. According to Captain Gronow:--
At Brookes's, for nearly half a century, the play was of a more gambling
character than at White's. . . . On one occasion Lord Robert Spencer
contrived to lose the last shilling of his considerable fortune given
him by his brother, the Duke of Marlborough. General Fitzpatrick being
much in the same condition, they agreed to raise a sum of money, in
order that they might keep a Faro bank. The members of the club made no
objection, and ere long they 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 Athenaeum 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 be 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 EBook of The Gaming Table: Its Votaries and
Victims, by Andrew Steinmetz
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