CHARLES VI. and CHARLES VII.--The early French annals record the deeds
of haughty and idle lords, whose chief occupations were tormenting their
vassals, drinking, fighting, and gaming; for most of them were desperate
gamblers, setting at defiance all the laws enacted against the practice,
and outraging all the decencies of society. The brother of Saint Louis
played at dice in spite of the repeated prohibitions of that virtuous
prince. Even the great Duguesclin gamed away all his property in
prison.(38) The Duc de Touraine, brother of Charles VI., 'set to work
eagerly to win the king's money,' says Froissart; and transported
with joy one day at having won five thousand livres, his first cry
was--_Monseigneur, faites-moi payer_, 'Please to pay, Sire.'
(38) Hist. de Dugueselin, par Menard.
Gaming went on in the camp, and even in the presence of the enemy.
Generals, after having ruined their own fortunes, compromised the safety
of the country. Among the rest, Philibert de Chalon, Prince d'Orange,
who was in command at the siege of Florence, under the Emperor Charles
the Fifth, gambled away the money which had been confided to him for
the pay of the soldiers, and was compelled, after a struggle of
eleven months, to capitulate with those whom he might have forced to
surrender.(39)
(39) Paul. Jov. _Hist_. lib. xxix.
In the reign of Charles VI. we read of an Hotel de Nesle which
was famous for terrible gaming catastrophes. More than one of its
frequenters lost their lives there, and some their honour, dearer than
life. This hotel was not accessible to everybody, like more modern
gaming _salons_, called _Gesvres_ and _Soissons;_ its gate was open only
to the nobility, or the most opulent gentlemen of the day.
There exists an old poem which describes the doings at this celebrated
Hotel de Nesle.(40) The author, after describing the convulsions of the
players and recording their blasphemies, says:--
(40) The title of this curious old poem is as follows:--'C'est le dit du
Gieu des Dez fait par Eustace, et la maniere et contenance des Joueurs
qui etoient a Neele, ou etoient Messeigneurs de Berry, de Bourgogne, et
plusieurs autres.'
Que maints Gentils-hommes tres haulx Y ont perdu armes et chevaux,
Argent, honour, et Seignourie, Dont c'etoit horrible folie.
'How many very eminent gentlemen have there lost their arms and horses,
their money and lordship--a horrible folly.'
In another part of the poem he says:--
Li jeune enfant deviennent Rufien, Joueurs de Dez, gourmands et plains
d'yvresse, Hautains de cuer, et ne leur chant en rien D'onneur, &c.
'There young men become ruffians, dice-players, gluttons, and drunkards,
haughty of heart, and bereft of honour.'
Still it seems that gaming had not then confounded all conditions, as
at a later period. It is evident, from the history and memoirs of the
times, that the people were more given to games of skill and exercise
than games of chance. Before the introduction of the arquebus and
gunpowder, they applied themselves to the practice of archery, and in
all times they played at quoits, ninepins, bowls, and other similar
games of skill.(41)
(41) Sauval, _Antiquites de Paris_, ii.
The invention of cards brought about some change in the mode of
amusement. The various games of this kind, however, cost more time than
money; but still the thing attracted the attention of the magistrates
and the clergy. An Augustinian friar, in the reign of Charles VII.,
effected a wonderful reformation in the matter by his preaching. At his
voice the people lit fires in several quarters of the city, and eagerly
flung into them their cards and billiard-balls.(42)
(42) Pasquier, _Recherche des Recherches_.
With the exception of a few transient follies, nothing like a rage for
gambling can be detected at that period among the lower ranks and
the middle classes. The vice, however, continued to prevail without
abatement in the palaces of kings and the mansions of the great.
It is impossible not to remark, in the history of nations, that delicacy
and good faith decline in proportion to the spread of gambling. However
select may be the society of gamesters, it is seldom that it is exempt
from all baseness. We have seen a proof of the practice of cheating
among the Hindoos. It existed also among the Romans, as proved by the
'cogged' or loaded dice dug up at Herculaneum. The fact is that cheating
is a natural, if not a necessary, incident of gambling. It may be
inferred from a passage in the old French poet before quoted,
that cheats, during the reign of Charles VI., were punished with
'bonnetting,'(43) but no instance of the kind is on record; on the
contrary, it is certain that many of the French kings patronized and
applauded well-known cheats at the gaming table.
(43) Se votre ami qui bien vous sert En jouant vous changeoit les Dez,
Auroit-il pas _Chapeau de vert_.
LOUIS XI.--Brantome says that Louis XI., who seems not to have had a
special secretary, being one day desirous of getting something written,
perceived an ecclesiastic who had an inkstand hanging at his side; and
the latter having opened it at the king's request, a set of dice fell
out. 'What kind of _SUGAR-PLUMS_ are these?' asked his Majesty. 'Sire,'
replied the priest, 'they are a remedy for the Plague.' 'Well said,'
exclaimed the king, 'you are a fine _Paillard_ (a word he often used);
'_YOU ARE THE MAN FOR ME_,' and took him into his service; for this king
was fond of bon-mots and sharp wits, and did not even object to thieves,
provided they were original and provocative of humour, as the following
very funny anecdote will show. 'A certain French baron who had lost
everything at play, even to his clothes, happening to be in the king's
chamber, quietly laid hands on a small clock, ornamented with massive
gold, and concealed it in his sleeve. Very soon after, whilst he was
among the troop of lords and gentlemen, the clock began to strike
the hour. We can well imagine the consternation of the baron at this
contretemps. Of course he blushed red-hot, and tightened his arm to try
and stifle the implacable sound of detection manifest--the _flagrans
delictum_--still the clock went on striking the long hour, so that at
each stroke the bystanders looked at each other from head to foot in
utter bewilderment.
'The king, who, as it chanced, had detected the theft, burst out
laughing, not only at the astonishment of the gentlemen present, who
were at a loss to account for the sound, but also at the originality
of the stunning event. At length Monsieur le Baron, by his own blushes
half-convicted of larceny, fell on his knees before the king, humbly
saying:--"Sire, the pricks of gaming are so powerful that they have
driven me to commit a dishonest action, for which I beg your mercy."
And as he was going on in this strain, the king cut short his words,
exclaiming:--"The _PASTIME_ which you have contrived for us so far
surpasses the injury you have done me that the clock is yours: I give it
you with all my heart."'(44)
(44) Duverdier, _Diverses Lecons_.
HENRY III.--In the latter part of the sixteenth century Paris was
inundated with brigands of every description. A band of Italian
gamesters, having been informed by their correspondents that Henry III.
had established card-rooms and dice-rooms in the Louvre, got admission
at court, and won thirty thousand crowns from the king.(45)
(45) Journal de Henri III.
If all the kings of France had imitated the disinterestedness of Henry
III., the vice of gaming would not have made such progress as became
everywhere evident.
Brantome gives a very high idea of this king's generosity, whilst he
lashes his contemporaries. Henry III. played at tennis and was very
fond of the game--not, however, through cupidity or avarice, for he
distributed all his winnings among his companions. When he lost he paid
the wager, nay, he even paid the losses of all engaged in the game. The
bets were not higher than two, three, or four hundred crowns--never,
as subsequently, four thousand, six thousand, or twelve thousand--when,
however, payment was not as readily made, but rather frequently
compounded for.(46)
(46) Henry III. was also passionately fond of the childish toy
_Bilboquet_, or 'Cup and Ball,' which he used to play even whilst
walking in the street. Journal de Henri III., i.
There was, indeed, at that time a French captain named La Roue, who
played high stakes, up to six thousand crowns, which was then deemed
exorbitant. This intrepid gamester proposed a bet of twenty thousand
crowns against one of Andrew Doria's war-galleys.
Doria took the bet, but he immediately declared it off, in apprehension
of the ridiculous position in which he would be placed if he lost,
saying,--'I don't wish that this young adventurer, who has nothing worth
naming to lose, should win my galley to go and triumph in France over my
fortune and my honour.'
Soon, however, high stakes became in vogue, and to such an extent that
the natural son of the Duc de Bellegarde was enabled to pay, out of
his winnings, the large sum of fifty thousand crowns to get himself
legitimated. Curiously enough, it is said that the greater part of this
sum had been won in England.(47)
(47) Amelot de la Houss. _Mem. Hist_. iii.
HENRY IV.--Henry IV. early evinced his passion for gaming. When very
young and stinted in fortune, he contrived the means of satisfying this
growing propensity. When in want of money he used to send a promissory
note, written and signed by himself, to his friends, requesting them to
return the note or cash it--an expedient which could not but succeed, as
every man was only too glad to have the prince's note of hand.(48)
(48) Mem. de Nevers. ii.
There can be no doubt that the example of Henry IV. was, in the matter
of gaming, as in other vices, most pernicious. 'Henry IV.,' says
Perefixe, 'was not a skilful player, but greedy of gain, timid in high
stakes, and ill-tempered when he lost.' He adds rather naively, 'This
great king was not without spots any more than the sun.'(49)
(49) Hist. de Henri le Grand.
Under him gambling became the rage. Many distinguished families were
utterly ruined by it. The Duc de Biron lost in a single year more than
five hundred thousand crowns (about L250,000). 'My son Constant,' says
D'Aubigne, 'lost twenty times more than he was worth; so that, finding
himself without resources, he abjured his religion.'
It was at the court of Henry IV. that was invented the method of speedy
ruin by means of written vouchers for loss and gain--which simplified
the thing in all subsequent times. It was then also that certain Italian
masters of the gaming art displayed their talents, their suppleness, and
dexterity. One of them, named Pimentello, having, in the presence of the
Duc de Sully, appealed to the honour which he enjoyed in having often
played with Henry IV., the duke exclaimed,--'By heavens! So you are the
Italian blood-sucker who is every day winning the king's money! You have
fallen into the wrong box, for I neither like nor wish to have anything
to do with such fellows.' Pimentello got warm. 'Go about your business,'
said Sully, giving him a shove; 'your infernal gibberish will not alter
my resolve. Go!'(50)
(50) Mem. de Sully.
The French nation, for a long time agitated by civil war, settled down
at last in peace and abundance--the fruits of which prosperity are
often poisoned. They were so by the gambling propensity of the people at
large, now first manifested. The warrior, the lawyer, the artisan, in a
word, almost all professions and trades, were carried away by the fury
of gaming. Magistrates sold for a price the permission to gamble--in the
face of the enacted laws against the practice.
We can scarcely form an idea of the extent of the gaming at this period.
Bassompierre declares, in his Memoirs, that he won more than five
hundred thousand livres (L25,000) in the course of a year. 'I won them,'
he says, 'although I was led away by a thousand follies of youth; and my
friend Pimentello won more than two hundred thousand crowns (L100,000).
Evidently this Pimentello might well be called a _blood-sucker_ by
Sully.(51) He is even said to have got all the dice-sellers in Paris
to substitute loaded dice instead of fair ones, in order to aid his
operations.
(51) In the original, however, the word is piffre, (vulgo)
'greedy-guts.'
Nothing more forcibly shows the danger of consorting with such bad
characters than the calumny circulated respecting the connection between
Henry IV. and this infamous Italian:--it was said that Henry was well
aware of Pimentello's manoeuvres, and that he encouraged them with the
view of impoverishing his courtiers, hoping thereby to render them
more submissive! Nero himself would have blushed at such a connivance.
Doubtless the calumny was as false as it was stupid.
The winnings of the courtier Bassompierre were enormous. He won at the
Duc d'Epernon's sufficient to pay his debts, to dress magnificently,
to purchase all sorts of extravagant finery, a sword ornamented with
diamonds--'and after all these expenses,' he says, 'I had still five or
six thousand crowns (two to three thousand pounds) left, _TO KILL TIME
WITH_, pour tuer le temps.'
On another occasion, and at a more advanced age, he won one hundred
thousand crowns (L50,000) at a single sitting, from M. De Guise,
Joinville, and the Marechal d'Ancre.
In reading his Memoirs we are apt to get indignant at the fellow's
successes; but at last we are tempted to laugh at his misery. He died
so poor that he did not leave enough to pay the twentieth part of his
debts! Such, doubtless, is the end of most gamblers.
But to return to Henry IV., the great gambling exemplar of the nation.
The account given of him at the gaming table is most afflicting, when we
remember his royal greatness, his sublime qualities. His only object
was to _WIN_, and those who played with him were thus always placed in
a dreadful dilemma--either to lose their money or offend the king by
beating him! The Duke of Savoy once played with him, and in order to
suit his humour, dissimulated his game--thus sacrificing or giving up
forty thousand pistoles (about L28,000).
When the king lost he was most exacting for his 'revanche,' or revenge,
as it is termed at play. After winning considerably from the king,
on one occasion, Bassompierre, under the pretext of his official
engagements, furtively decamped: the king immediately sent after him; he
was stopped, brought back, and allowed to depart only after giving the
'revanche' to his Majesty. This 'good Henri,' who was incapable of the
least dissimulation either in good or in evil, often betrayed a degree
of cupidity which made his minister, Sully, ashamed of him;--in order
to pay his gaming debts, the king one day deducted seventy-two thousand
livres from the proceeds of a confiscation on which he had no claim
whatever.
On another occasion he was wonderfully struck with some gold-pieces
which Bassompierre brought to Fontainebleau, called _Portugalloises_. He
could not rest without having them. Play was necessary to win them,
but the king was also anxious to be in time for a hunt. In order to
conciliate the two passions, he ordered a gaming party at the Palace,
left a representative of his game during his absence, and returned
sooner than usual, to try and win the so much coveted _Portugalloises_.
Even love--if that name can be applied to the grovelling passion of
Henry IV., intensely violent as it was--could not, with its sensuous
enticements, drag the king from the gaming table or stifle his
despicable covetousness. On one occasion, whilst at play, it was
whispered to him that a certain princess whom he loved was likely to
fall into other arms:--'Take care of my money,' said he to Bassompierre,
'and keep up the game whilst I am absent on particular business.'
During this reign gamesters were in high favour, as may well be
imagined. One of them received an honour never conceded even to princes
and dukes. 'The latter,' says Amelot de la Houssaie, 'did not enter the
court-yard of the royal mansions in a carriage before the year 1607,
and they are indebted for the privilege to the first Duc d'Epernon, the
favourite of the late king, Henry III., who being wont to go every day
to play with the queen, Marie de Medicis, took it into his head to have
his carriage driven into the court-yard of the Louvre, and had himself
carried bodily by his footmen into the very chamber of the queen--under
the pretext of being dreadfully tormented with the gout, so as not to be
able to stand on his legs.'(52)
(52) Mem. Hist. iii.
It is said, however, that Henry IV. was finally cured of gambling.
_Credat Judaeus!_ But the anecdote is as follows. The king lost an
immense sum at play, and requested Sully to let him have the money to
pay it. The latter demurred, so that the king had to send to him several
times. At last, however, Sully took him the money, and spread it out
before him on the table, exclaiming--'There's the sum.' Henry fixed
his eyes on the vast amount. It is said to have been enough to purchase
Amiens from the Spaniards, who then held it. The king thereupon
exclaimed:--'I am corrected. I will never again lose my money at
gaming.'
During this reign Paris swarmed with gamesters. Then for the first time
were established _Academies de Jeu_, 'Gaming Academies,' for thus were
termed the gaming houses to which all classes of society beneath
the nobility and gentility, down to the lowest, rushed in crowds and
incessantly. Not a day passed without the ruin of somebody. The son of a
merchant, who possessed twenty thousand crowns, lost sixty thousand. It
seemed, says a contemporary, that a thousand pistoles at that time were
valued less than a _sou_ in the time of Francis I.
The result of this state of things was incalculable social affliction.
Usury and law-suits completed the ruin of gamblers.
The profits of the keepers of gaming houses must have been enormous, to
judge from the rents they paid. A house in the Faubourg Saint-Germain
was secured at the rental of about L70 for a fortnight, for the purpose
of gambling during the time of the fair. Small rooms and even closets
were hired at the rate of many pistoles or half-sovereigns per hour; to
get paid, however, generally entailed a fight or a law-suit.
All this took place in the very teeth of the most stringent laws enacted
against gaming and gamesters. The fact was, that among the magistrates
some closed their eyes, and others held out their hands to receive the
bribe of their connivance.
LOUIS XIII.--At the commencement of the reign of Louis XIII. the
laws against gaming were revived, and severer penalties were enacted.
Forty-seven gaming houses at Paris, which had been licensed, and from
which several magistrates drew a perquisite of a pistole or half a
sovereign a day, were shut up and suppressed.
These stringent measures checked the gambling of the 'people,' but not
that of 'the great,' who went on merrily as before.
Of course they 'kept the thing quiet'--gambled in secret--but more
desperately than ever. The Marechal d'Ancre commonly staked twenty
thousand pistoles (L10,000).
Louis XIII. was not a gambler, and so, during this reign, the court did
not set so bad an example. The king was averse to all games of chance.
He only liked chess, but perhaps rather too much, to judge from the fact
that, in order to enable him to play chess on his journeys, a chessboard
was fitted in his carriage, the pieces being furnished with pins at
the bottom so as not to be deranged or knocked down by the motion.
The reader will remember that, as already stated, a similar gaming
accommodation was provided for the Roman Emperor Claudius.
The cup and ball of Henry III. and the chessboard of Louis XIII. are
merely ridiculous. We must excuse well-intentioned monarchs when they
only indulge themselves with frivolous and childish trifles. It is
something to be thankful for if we have not to apply to them the
adage--Quic-quid delirant reges plectuntur Achivi--'When kings go mad
their people get their blows.'
LOUIS XIV.--The reign of Louis XIV. was a great development in every
point of view, gaming included.
The revolutions effected in the government and in public morals by
Cardinal Richelieu, who played a game still more serious than those we
are considering, had very considerably checked the latter; but these
resumed their vigour, with interest, under another Cardinal, profoundly
imbued with the Italian spirit--the celebrated Mazarin. This minister,
independently of his particular taste that way, knew how to ally gaming
with his political designs. By means of gaming he contrived to protract
the minority of the king under whom he governed the nation.
'Mazarin,' says St Pierre, 'introduced gaming at the court of Louis XIV.
in the year 1648. He induced the king and the queen regent to play; and
preference was given to games of chance. The year 1648 was the era of
card-playing at court. Cardinal Mazarin played deep and with finesse,
and easily drew in the king and queen to countenance this new
entertainment, so that every one who had any expectation at court
learned to play at cards. Soon after the humour changed, and games of
chance came into vogue--to the ruin of many considerable families: this
was likewise very destructive to health, for besides the various
violent passions it excited, whole nights were spent at this execrable
amusement. The worst of all was that card-playing, which the court had
taken from the army, soon spread from the court into the city, and from
the city pervaded the country towns.
'Before this there was something done for improving conversation; every
one was ambitious of qualifying himself for it by reading ancient and
modern books; memory and reflection were much more exercised. But on the
introduction of gaming men likewise left of tennis, billiards, and other
games of skill, and consequently became weaker and more sickly, more
ignorant, less polished, and more dissipated.
'The women, who till then had commanded respect, accustomed men to treat
them familiarly, by spending the whole night with them at play. They
were often under the necessity of borrowing either to play, or to pay
their losings; and how very ductile and complying they were to those of
whom they had to borrow was well known.'
From that time gamesters swarmed all over France; they multiplied
rapidly in every profession, even among the magistracy. The Cardinal de
Retz tells us, in his Memoirs, that in 1650 the oldest magistrate in
the parliament of Bordeaus, and one who passed for the wisest, was not
ashamed to stake all his property one night at play, and that too,
he adds, without risking his reputation--so general was the fury
of gambling. It became very soon mixed up with the most momentous
circumstances of life and affairs of the gravest importance. The
States-general, or parliamentary assemblies, consisted altogether
of gamblers. 'It is a game,' says Madame de Sevigne, 'it is an
entertainment, a liberty-hall day and night, attracting all the world.
I never before beheld the States-general of Bretagne. The States-general
are decidedly a very fine thing.'
The same delightful correspondent relates that one of her amusements
when she went to the court was to admire Dangeau at the card-table;
and the following is the account of a gaming party at which she was
present:--
'29th July, 1676.
'I went on Saturday with Villars to Versailles. I need not tell you
of the queen's toilette, the mass, the dinner--you know it all; but at
three o'clock the king rose from table, and he, the queen, Monsieur,
Madame, Mademoiselle, all the princes and princesses, Madame de
Montespan, all her suite, all the courtiers, all the ladies, in short,
what we call the court of France, were assembled in that beautiful
apartment which you know. It is divinely furnished, everything is
magnificent; one does not know what it is to be too hot; we walk about
here and there, and are not incommoded anywhere:--at last a table of
reversi(53) gives a form to the crowd, and a place to every one. _THE
KING IS NEXT TO MADAME DE MONTESPAN_, who deals; the Duke of Orleans,
the queen, and Madame de Soubise; Dangeau and Co.; Langee and Co.; a
thousand louis are poured out on the cloth--there are no other counters.
I saw Dangeau play!--what fools we all are compared to him--he minds
nothing but his business, and wins when every one else loses: he
neglects nothing, takes advantage of everything, is never absent; in a
word, his skill defies fortune, and accordingly 200,000 francs in ten
days, 100,000 crowns in a fortnight, all go to his receipt book.
(53) A kind of game long since out of fashion, and now almost forgotten;
it seems to have been a compound of Loo and Commerce--the _Quinola_ or
_Pam_ was the knave of hearts.
'He was so good as to say I was a partner in his play, by which I got a
very convenient and agreeable place. I saluted the king in the way you
taught me, which he returned as if I had been young and handsome--I
received a thousand compliments--you know what it is to have a word from
everybody! This agreeable confusion without confusion lasts from three
o'clock till six. If a courtier arrives, the king retires for a moment
to read his letters, and returns immediately. There is always some music
going on, which has a very good effect; the king listens to the music
and chats to the ladies about him. At last, at six o'clock, they stop
playing--they have no trouble in settling their reckonings--there are no
counters--the lowest pools are five, six, seven hundred louis, the great
ones a thousand, or twelve hundred; they put in five each at first, that
makes one hundred, and the dealer puts in ten more--then they give four
louis each to whoever has Quinola--some pass, others play, but when you
play without winning the pool, you must put in sixteen to teach you how
to play rashly: they talk all together, and for ever, and of everything.
"How many hearts?" "Two!" "I have three!" "I have one!" "I have four!"
"He has only three!" and Dangeau, delighted with all this prattle, turns
up the trump, makes his calculations, sees whom he has against him, in
short--in short, I was glad to see such an excess of skill. He it is who
really knows "le dessous des cartes."
'At ten o'clock they get into their carriages: _THE KING, MADAME DE
MONTESPAN_, the Duke of Orleans, and Madame de Thianges, and the good
Hendicourt on the dickey, that is as if one were in the upper gallery.
You know how these calashes are made.
'The queen was in another with the princesses; and then everybody else,
grouped as they liked. Then they go on the water in gondolas, with
music; they return at ten; the play is ready, it is over; twelve
strikes, supper is brought in, and so passes Saturday.'
This lively picture of such frightful gambling, of the adulterous
triumph of Madame de Montespan, and of the humiliating part to which the
queen was condemned, will induce our readers to concur with Madame de
Sevigne, who, amused as she had been by the scene she has described,
calls it nevertheless, with her usual pure taste and good judgment,
_l'iniqua corte_, 'the iniquitous court.'
Indeed, Madame de Sevigne had ample reason to denounce this source of
her domestic misery. Writing to her son and daughter, she says:--'You
lose all you play for. You have paid five or six thousand francs for
your amusement, and to be abused by fortune.'
If she had at first been fascinated by the spectacle which she so
glowingly describes, the interest of her children soon opened her eyes
to the yawning gulf at the brink of the flowery surface.
Sometimes she explains herself plainly:--'You believe that everybody
plays as honestly as yourself? Call to mind what took place lately at
the Hotel de la Vieuville. Do you remember that _ROBBERY?_'
The favour of that court, so much coveted, seemed to her to be purchased
at too high a price if it was to be gained by ruinous complaisances. She
trembled every time her son left her to go to Versailles. She says:--'He
tells me he is going to play with his young master;(54) I shudder at the
thought. Four hundred pistoles are very easily lost: _ce n'est rien pour
Admete et c'est beaucoup pour lui_.(55) If Dangeau is in the game he
will win all the pools: he is an eagle. Then will come to pass, my
daughter, all that God may vouchsafe--_il en arivera, ma fille, tout ce
qu'il plaira a Dieu_.'
(54) The Dauphin.
(55) 'It is nothing for Admetus, but 'tis much for him.'
And again, 'The game of _Hoca_ is prohibited at Paris _UNDER THE PENALTY
OF DEATH_, and yet it is played at court. Five thousand pistoles before
dinner is nothing. That game is a regular cut-throat.'
Hoca was prodigiously unfavourable to the players; the latter had only
twenty-eight chances against thirty. In the seventeenth century this
game caused such disorder at Rome that the Pope prohibited it and
expelled the bankers.
The Italians whom Mazarin brought into France obtained from the king
permission to set up _Hoca_ tables in Paris. The parliament launched two
edicts against them, and threatened to punish them severely. The king's
edicts were equally severe. Every of offender was to be fined 1000
livres, and the person in whose house Faro, Basset, or any such game
was suffered, incurred the penalty of 6000 livres for each offence.
The persons who played were to be imprisoned. Gaming was forbidden the
French cavalry under the penalty of death, and every commanding officer
who should presume to set up a Hazard table was to be cashiered, and all
concerned to be rigorously imprisoned. These penalties might show great
horror of gaming, but they were too severe to be steadily inflicted, and
therefore failed to repress the crime against which they were directed.
The severer the law the less the likelihood of its application, and
consequently its power of repression.
Madame de Sevigne had beheld the gamesters only in the presence of their
master the king, or in the circles which were regulated with inviolable
propriety; but what would she have said if she could have seen the
gamblers at the secret suppers and in the country-houses of the
Superintendent Fouquet, where twenty 'qualified' players, such as the
Marshals de Richelieu, de Clairembaut, &c., assembled together, with
a dash of bad company, to play for lands, houses, jewels, even for
point-lace and neckties? There she would have seen something more
than gold staked, since the players debased themselves so low as to
circumvent certain opulent dupes, who were the first invited. To leave
one hundred pistoles, ostensibly for 'the cards,' but really as the
perquisite of the master of the lordly house; to recoup him when he
lost; and, when they had to deal with some unimportant but wealthy
individual, to undo him completely, compelling him to sign his ruin on
the gaming table--such was the conduct which rendered a man _recherche_,
and secured the title of a fine player!
It was precisely thus that the famous (or infamous) Gourville,
successively valet-de-chambre to the Duc de la Rochefoucault, hanged
in effigy at Paris, king's envoy in Germany, and afterwards proposed to
replace Colbert--it was thus precisely, I say, that Gourville secured
favour, 'consideration,' fortune; for he declares, in his Memoirs, that
his gains in a few years amounted to more than a million. And fortune
seems to have cherished and blessed him throughout his detestable
career. After having made his fortune, he retired to write the
scandalous Memoirs from which I have been quoting, and died out of
debt!(56)
(56) Mem. de Gourville, i.
France became too narrow a theatre for the chevaliers d'industrie and
all who were a prey to the fury of gambling. The Count de Grammont, a
very suspicious player, turned his talents to account in England, Italy,
and Spain.
This same Count de Grammont figured well at court on one occasion when
Louis XIV. seemed inclined to cheat or otherwise play unfairly. Playing
at backgammon, and having a doubtful throw, a dispute arose, and the
surrounding courtiers remained silent. The Count de Grammont
happening to come in, the king desired him to decide it. He instantly
answered--'Sire, your Majesty is in the wrong.' 'How,' said the king,
'can you decide before you know the question?' 'Because,' replied the
count, 'had there been any doubt, all these gentlemen would have given
it in favour of your Majesty.' The plain inference is that this (at
the time) great world's idol and Voltaire's god, was 'up to a little
cheating.' It was, however, as much to the king's credit that he
submitted to the decision, as it was to that of the courtier who gave
him such a lesson.
The magnanimity of Louis XIV. was still more strikingly shown on another
gambling occasion. Very high play was going on at the cardinal's, and
the Chevalier de Rohan lost a vast sum to the king. The agreement was to
pay only in _louis d'ors;_ and the chevalier, after counting out seven
or eight hundred, proposed to continue the payment in Spanish pistoles.
'You promised me _louis d'ors_, and not pistoles,' said the king. 'Since
your Majesty refuses them,' replied the chevalier, 'I don't want them
either;' and thereupon he flung them out of the window. The king got
angry, and complained to Mazarin, who replied:--'The Chevalier de
Rohan has played the king, and you the Chevalier de Rohan.' The king
acquiesced.(57)
(57) Mem. et Reflex., &e., par M. L. M. L. F. (the Marquis de la Fare).
As before stated, the court of the Roman Emperor Augustus, in spite
of the many laws enacted against gambling, diffused the frenzy through
Rome; in like manner the court of Louis XIV., almost in the same
circumstances, infected Paris and the entire kingdom with the vice.
There is this difference between the French monarch and the Roman
emperor, that the latter did not teach his successors to play against
the people, whereas Louis, after having denounced gaming, and become
almost disgusted with it, finished with established lotteries. High play
was always the etiquette at court, but the sittings became less frequent
and were abridged. 'The king,' says Madame de Sevigne, 'has not given
over playing, but the sittings are not so long.'
LOUIS XV.--At the death of Louis XIV. three-fourths of the nation
thought of nothing but gambling. Gambling, indeed, became itself
an object of speculation, in consequence of the establishment and
development of lotteries--the first having been designed to celebrate
the restoration of peace and the marriage of Louis XIV.
The nation seemed all mad with the excitement of play. During the
minority of Louis XV. a foreign gamester, the celebrated Scotchman, John
Law, having become Controller-General of France, undertook to restore
the finances of the nation by making every man a player or gamester.
He propounded a _SYSTEM;_ he established a bank, which nearly upset the
state; and seduced even those who had escaped the epidemic of games of
chance. He was finally expelled like a foul fog; but they ought to have
hanged him as a deliberate corrupter. And yet this is the man of whom
Voltaire wrote as follows: 'We are far from evincing the gratitude which
is due to John Law.(58) Voltaire's praise was always as suspicious as
his blame. Just let us consider the tendency of John Law's 'system.'
However general may be the fury of gambling, _EVERYBODY_ does not
gamble; certain professions impose a certain restraint, and their
members would blush to resort to games the turpitude of which would
subject them to unanimous condemnation. But only change the _NAMES_ of
these games--only change their _FORM_, and let the bait be presented
under the sanction of the legislature: then, although the _THING_ be not
less vicious, nor less repugnant to true principle, then we witness the
gambling ardour of savages, such as we have described it, manifesting
itself with more risk, and communicated to the entire nation--the
ministers of the altar, the magistracy, the members of every profession,
fathers, mothers of families, without distinction of rank, means, or
duties.... Let this short generalization be well pondered, and the
conclusion must be reached that this Scotch adventurer, John Law, was
guilty of the crime of treason against humanity.
(57) Nous sommes loin de la reconnoissance qui est due a Jean Law. Mel.
de Litt., d'Hist., &c. ii.
John Law, whom the French called _Jean Lass_, opened a gulf into which
half the nation eagerly poured its money. Fortunes were made in a few
days--in a few _HOURS_. Many were enriched by merely lending their
signatures. A sudden and horrible revolution amazed the entire
people--like the bursting of a bomb-shell or an incendiary explosion.
Six hundred thousand of the best families, who had taken _PAPER_ on
the faith of the government, lost, together with their fortunes, their
offices and appointments, and were almost annihilated. Some of
the stock-jobbers escaped; others were compelled to disgorge their
gains--although they stoutly and, it must be admitted, consistently
appealed to the sanction of the court.
Oddly enough, whilst the government made all France play at this John
Law game--the most seductive and voracious that ever existed--some
thirty or forty persons were imprisoned for having broken the laws
enacted against games of chance!
It may be somewhat consolatory to know that the author of so much
calamity did not long enjoy his share of the infernal success--the
partition of a people's ruin. After extorting so many millions, this
famous gambler was reduced to the necessity of selling his last diamond
in order to raise money to gamble on.
This great catastrophe, the commotion of which was felt even in Holland
and in England, was the last sigh of true honour among the French.
Probity received a blow. Public morality was abashed. More gaming houses
than ever were opened, and then it was that they received the name of
_Enfers_, or 'Hells,' by which they were designated in England. 'The
greater number of those who go to the watering-places,' writes a
contemporary, 'under the pretext of health, only go after gamesters.
In the States-general it is less the interest of the people than the
attraction of terrible gambling, that brings together a portion of the
nobility. The nature of the play may be inferred from the name of the
place at which it takes place in one of the provinces--namely, _Enfer_.
This salon, so appropriately called, was in the Hotel of the king's
commissioners in Bretagne. I have been told that a gentleman, to the
great disgust of the noblemen present, and even of the bankers, actually
offered to stake his sword.
'This name of _Enfers_ has been given to several gaming houses, some
them situated in the interior of Paris, others in the environs.
'People no longer blush, as did Caligula, at gambling on their return
from the funeral of their relatives or friends. A gamester, returning
from the burial of his brother, where he had exhibited the signs of
profound grief, played and won a considerable sum of money. "How do you
feel now?" he was asked. "A little better," he replied, "this consoles
me."
'All is excitement whilst I write. Without mentioning the base deeds
that have been committed, I have counted four suicides and a great
crime.
'Besides the licensed gaming houses, new ones are furtively established
in the privileged mansions of the ambassadors and representatives of
foreign courts. Certain chevaliers d'industrie recently proposed to a
gentleman of quality, who had just been appointed plenipotentiary, to
hire an hotel for him, and to pay the expenses, on condition that
he would give up to them an apartment and permit them to have valets
wearing his livery! This base proposal was rejected with contempt,
because the Baron de ---- is one of the most honourable and enlightened
men of the age.
'The most difficult bargains are often amicably settled by a game. I
have seen persons gaming whilst taking a walk and whilst travelling in
their carriages. People game at the doors of the theatres; of course
they gamble for the price of the ticket. In every possible manner, and
in every situation, the true gamester strives to turn every instant to
profit.
'If I relate what I have seen in the matter of play during sleep, it
will be difficult to understand me. A gamester, exhausted by fatigue,
could not give up playing because he was a loser; so he requested his
adversary to play for him with his left hand, whilst he dozed off and
slept! Strange to say, the left hand of his adversary incessantly won,
whilst he snored to the sound of the dice!
'I have just read in a newspaper,(59) that two Englishmen, who left
their country to fight a duel in a foreign land, nevertheless played at
the highest stakes on the voyage; and having arrived on the field, one
of them laid a wager that he would kill his adversary. It is stated that
the spectators of the affair looked upon it as a gaming transaction.
(59) Journal de Politique, Dec. 15, 1776.
'In speaking of this affair I was told of a German, who, being compelled
to fight a duel on account of a quarrel at the gaming table, allowed his
adversary to fire at him. He was missed.
He said to his opponent, "I never miss. I bet you a hundred ducats that
I break your right or left arm, just as you please." The bet was taken,
and he won.
'I have found cards and dice in many places where people were in want
of bread. I have seen the merchant and the artisan staking gold by
handfuls. A small farmer has just gamed away his harvest, valued at 3000
francs.'(60)
(60) Dusaulx, _De la Passion du Jeu_, 1779.
Gaming houses in Paris were first licensed in 1775, by the lieutenant
of police, Sartines, who, to diminish the odium of such establishments,
decreed that the profit resulting from them should be applied to the
foundation of hospitals. Their number soon amounted to twelve; and
women were allowed to resort to them two days in the week. Besides
the licensed establishments, several illegal ones were tolerated, and
especially styled _enfers_, or 'hells.'
Gaming having been found prolific in misfortunes and crimes, was
prohibited in 1778; but it was still practised at the court and in the
hotels of ambassadors, where police-officers could not enter. By degrees
the public establishments resumed their wonted activity, and extended
their pernicious effects. The numerous suicides and bankruptcies which
they occasioned attracted the attention of the _Parlement_, who drew up
regulations for their observance, and threatened those who violated them
with the pillory and whipping. The licensed houses, as well as those
recognized, however, still continued their former practices, and
breaches of the regulations were merely visited with trivial punishment.
At length, the passion for play prevailing in the societies established
in the Palais Royal, under the title of _clubs_ or _salons_, a police
ordinance was issued in 1785, prohibiting them from gaming. In
1786, fresh disorder having arisen in the unlicensed establishments,
additional prohibiting measures were enforced. During the Revolution
the gaming-houses were frequently prosecuted, and licenses withheld; but
notwithstanding the rigour of the laws and the vigilance of the police,
they still contrived to exist.
LOUIS XVI. TILL THE PRESENT TIME.--In the general corruption of morals,
which rose to its height during the reign of Louis XVI., gambling kept
pace with, if it did not outstrip, every other licentiousness of
that dismal epoch.(61) Indeed, the universal excitement of the nation
naturally tended to develope every desperate passion of our nature; and
that the revolutionary troubles and agitation of the empire helped to
increase the gambling propensity of the French, is evident from the
magnitude of the results on record.
(61) It will be seen in the sequel that gambling was vastly increased
in England by the French 'emigres' who sought refuge among us, bringing
with them all their vices, unchastened by misfortune.
Fouche, the minister of police, derived an income of L128,000 a year for
licensing or 'privileging' gaming houses, to which cards of address were
regularly furnished.
Besides what the 'farmers' of the gaming houses paid to Fouche, they
were compelled to hire and pay 120,000 persons, employed in those houses
as _croupiers_ or attendants at the gaming table, from half-a-crown
to half-a-guinea a day; and all these 120,000 persons were _SPIES OF
FOUCHE!_ A very clever idea no doubt it was, thus to draw a revenue
from the proceeds of a vice, and use the institution for the purposes of
government; but, perhaps, as Rousseau remarks, 'it is a great error in
domestic as well as civil economy to wish to combat one vice by another,
or to form between them a sort of equilibrium, as if that which saps the
foundations of order can ever serve to establish it.'(62) A minister of
the Emperor Theodosius II., in the year 431, the virtuous Florentius, in
order to teach his master that it was wrong to make the vices contribute
to the State, because such a procedure authorizes them, gave to the
public treasury one of his lands the revenue of which equalled the
product of the annual tax levied on prostitution.(63)
(62) Nouv. Heloise, t. iv.
(63) Novel. Theodos. 18.
After the restoration of the Bourbons, it became quite evident that play
in the Empire had been quite as Napoleonic in its vigour and dimensions
as any other 'idea' of the epoch.
The following detail of the public gaming tables of Paris was published
in a number of the _Bibliotheque Historique_, 1818, under the title of
'Budget of Public Games.'
STATE OF THE ANNUAL EXPENSES OF THE GAMES OF PARIS.
These 20 Tables are divided into nine houses, four of which are
situated in the Palais Royal.
To serve the seven tables of _Trente-et-un_, there are:--francs
28 Dealers, at 550 fr. a month, making . . . . 15,400
28 Croupiers, at 380. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10,640
42 Assistants, at 200. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8,400
SERVICE FOR THE NINE ROULETTES AND ONE PASSE-DIX.
80 Dealers, at 275 fr. a month . . . . . . . . 22,000
60 Assistants, at 150. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9,000
SERVICE OF THE CRAPS, BIRIBI, AND HAZARD,
12 Dealers, at 300 fr. a month. . . . . . . . . 3,600
12 Inspectors, at 120 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1,440
10 Aids, at 100. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1,000
6 Chefs de Partie at the principal houses, at
700 fr. a month . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4,200
3 Chefs de Partie for the Roulettes, at
500 fr. a month. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1,500
20 Secret Inspectors, at 200 fr. a month. . . . . .4,000
1 Inspector-General, at . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1,000
130 Waiters, at 75 fr. a month. . . . . . . . . . .9,750
Cards a month . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1,500
Beer and refreshments, a month. . . . . . . . . . .3,000
Lights. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5,500
Refreshment for the grand saloon, including two
dinners every week, per month . . . . . . . . . 12,000
Total expense of each month . . . .113,930
---------
Multiplied by twelve, is. . . . . . . . . . . .1,367,160
Rent of 10 Houses, per annum. . . . . . . . . . .130,000
Expense of Offices. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50,000
---------
Total per annum. . . . . . . . . 1,547,160
If the `privilege' or license is . . . . . . . 6,000,000
If a bonus of a million is given for six years, the
sixth part, or one year, will be . . . . . . . 166,666
---------
Total expenditure . . . . . . . .7,713,826
The profits are estimated at, per month,. . . . .800,000
---------
Which yield, per annum, . . . . . . . . . . . .9,600,000
Deducting the expenditure . . . . . . . . . . .7,713,826
---------
The annual profits are. . . . . . . . . . . fr.1,886,174
---------
Thus giving the annual profit at L7860 sterling.
We omit the profits resulting from the watering-places,
amounting to fr. 200,000.
One of the new conditions imposed on the Paris gaming houses is the
exclusion of females.
Thus, at Paris, the Palais Royal, Frascati, and numerous other places,
presented gaming houses, whither millions of wretches crowded in search
of fortune, but, for the most part, to find only ruin or even death
by suicide or duelling, so often resulting from quarrels at the gaming
table.
This state of things was, however, altered in the year 1836, at the
proposition of M. B. Delessert, and all the gaming houses were ordered
to be closed from the 1st of January, 1838, so that the present gambling
in France is on the same footing as gambling in England,--utterly
prohibited, but carried on in secret.