Permissible gambling—Early Marine Assurance—Oldest and
old Policies—Lloyd’s—Curious Insurances—Marine Assurance
Companies—Fire Insurance—Its origin and early Companies—Life
Insurance—Early Companies—Curious story of Life Insurance 275
INTRODUCTORY
Difference between Gaming and Gambling—Universality and Antiquity of
Gambling—Isis and Osiris—Games and Dice of the Egyptians—China and
India—The Jews—Among the Greeks and Romans—Among Mahometans—Early
Dicing—Dicing in England in the 13th and 14th Centuries—In the 17th
Century—Celebrated Gamblers—Bourchier—Swiss Anecdote—Dicing in the
18th Century.
Gaming is derived from the Saxon word _Gamen_, meaning _joy_,
_pleasure_, _sports_, or _gaming_—and is so interpreted by Bailey,
in his Dictionary of 1736; whilst Johnson gives Gamble—_to play
extravagantly for money_, and this distinction is to be borne in mind
in the perusal of this book; although the older term was in use until
the invention of the later—as we see in Cotton’s _Compleat Gamester_
(1674), in which he gives the following excellent definition of the
word:—“_Gaming_ is an enchanting _witchery_, gotten between _Idleness_
and _Avarice_: an itching disease, that makes some scratch the head,
whilst others, as if they were bitten by a _Tarantula_, are laughing
themselves to death; or, lastly, it is a paralytical distemper, which,
seizing the arm, the man cannot chuse but shake his elbow. It hath this
ill property above all other Vices, that it renders a man incapable of
prosecuting any serious action, and makes him always unsatisfied with
his own condition; he is either lifted up to the top of mad joy with
success, or plung’d to the bottom of despair by misfortune, always in
extreams, always in a storm; this minute the Gamester’s countenance
is so serene and calm, that one would think nothing could disturb
it, and the next minute, so stormy and tempestuous that it threatens
destruction to itself and others; and, as he is transported with
joy when he wins, so, losing, is he tost upon the billows of a high
swelling passion, till he hath lost sight, both of sense and reason.”
_Gambling_, as distinguished from _Gaming_, or playing, I take to mean
an indulgence in those games, or exercises, in which _chance_ assumes
a more important character; and my object is to draw attention to the
fact, that the _money motive_ increases, as chance predominates over
skill. It is taken up as a quicker road to wealth than by pursuing
honest industry, and everyone engaged in it, be it dabbling on the
Stock Exchange, Betting on Horse Racing, or otherwise, hopes to win,
for it is clear that if he knew he should lose, no fool would embark
in it. The direct appropriation of other people’s property to one’s
own use, is, undoubtedly, the more simple, but it has the disadvantage
of being both vulgar and dangerous; so we either appropriate our
neighbour’s goods, or he does ours, by gambling with him, for it
is certain that if one gains, the other loses. The winner is not
reverenced, and the loser is not pitied. But it is a disease that is
most contagious, and if a man is known to have made a lucky _coup_,
say, on the Stock Exchange, hundreds rush in to follow his example,
as they would were a successful gold field discovered—the warning of
those that perish by the way is unheeded.
Of the universality of gambling there is no doubt, and it seems to be
inherent in human nature. We can understand its being introduced from
one nation to another—but, unless it developed naturally, how can
we account for aboriginals, like the natives of New England, who had
never had intercourse with foreign folk, but whom Governor Winslow[1]
describes as being advanced gamblers. “It happened that two of their
men fell out, as they were in game (for they use gaming as much as
anywhere; and will play away all, even the skin from their backs;
yea, and for their wives’ skins also, although they may be many miles
distant from them, as myself have seen), and, growing to great heat,
the one killed the other.”[2]
The antiquity of gambling is incontestable, and can be authentically
proved, both by Egyptian paintings, and by finding the materials in
tombs of undoubted genuineness; and it is even attributed to the gods
themselves, as we read in Plutarch’s Ἰσιδος και Ὀσιριδος “Now the
story of Isis and Osiris, its most insignificant and superfluous parts
omitted, is thus briefly narrated:—Rhea, they say, having accompanied
with Saturn by stealth, was discovered by the Sun, who, hereupon,
denounced a curse upon her, _that she should not be delivered in any
month or year_. Mercury, however, being likewise in love with the same
goddess, in recompense for the favours which he had received from her,
_plays at tables_ with the Moon, and wins from her the seventieth
part of each of her illuminations; these several parts, making, in
the whole, five new days, he afterwards joined together, and added to
the three hundred and sixty, of which the year formerly consisted:
which days are even yet called by the Egyptians, the _Epact_, or
_Superadded_, and observed by them as the birth days of their Gods.”
But to descend from the sublimity of mythology to prosaic fact,
we know that the Egyptians played at the game of _Tau_, or Game of
Robbers, afterwards the _Ludus Latrunculorum_ of the Romans, at that of
_Hab em hau_, or _The Game of the Bowl_, and at _Senat_, or _Draughts_.
Of this latter game we have ocular demonstration in the upper Egyptian
gallery of the British Museum, where, in a case containing the throne,
&c., of Queen Hatasu (B.C. 1600) are her draught board, and twenty
pieces, ten of light-coloured wood, nine of dark wood, and one of
ivory—all having a lion’s head. These were all, probably, games of
skill; but in the same case is an ivory Astragal, the earliest known
form of dice, which could have been of no use except for gambling.
The Astragal, which is familiarly known to us as a “knuckle bone,”
or “huckle bone,” is still used by anatomists, as the name of a bone
in the hind leg of cloven footed animals which articulates with the
tibia, and helps to form the ankle joint. The bones used in gambling
were, generally, those of sheep; but the Astragals of the antelope
were much prized on account of their superior elegance. They also had
regular dice, numbered like ours, which have been found at Thebes and
elsewhere; and, although there are none in our national museum, there
are some in that of Berlin; but these are not considered to be of great
antiquity. The Egyptians also played at the game of _Atep_, which is
exactly like the favourite Italian game of Mora, or guessing at the
number of fingers extended. Over a picture of two Egyptians playing at
this gambling game is written, “Let it be said”: or, as we might say,
“Guess,” or “How Many?” Sometimes they played the game back to back,
and then a third person had to act as referee.
The Chinese and Indian games of skill, such as Chess, are of great
antiquity; but, perhaps, the oldest game is that of _Enclosing_, called
_Wei-ki_ in Chinese, and _Go_ in Japanese. It is said to have been
invented by the Emperor Yao, 2300 B.C., but the earliest record of the
game is in 300 B.C. It is a game like _Krieg spiel_, a game of war.
There are not only typical representatives of the various arms, but the
armies themselves, some 200 men on each side; they form encampments,
and furnish them with defences; and they slay, not merely a single man,
as in other games, but, frequently, hosts of men. There is no record
of its being a gambling game, but the modern Chinese is an inveterate
gambler.
As far as we know, the ancient Jews did not gamble except by drawing,
or casting lots; and as we find no word against it in the inspired
writings, and, as even one of the apostles was chosen by lot (Acts
i. 26), it must be assumed that this form of gambling meets with the
Divine approval. We are not told how the lots were _drawn_; but the
_casting_ of lots pre-supposes the use of dice, and this seems to
have been practised from very early times, for we find in Lev. xvi.
8, that “Aaron shall cast lots upon the two goats; one lot for the
Lord, and the other lot for the scape goat.” And the promised land was
expressly and divinely ordained to be divided by an appeal to chance.
Num. xxvi. 52 and 55, 56, “And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying....
Notwithstanding the land shall be divided by lot: according to the
names of the tribes of their fathers they shall inherit. According to
the lot shall the possession thereof be divided between many and few.”
The reader can find very many more references to the use of the “lot”
in any Concordance of the Bible. But in their later days, as at the
present time, the Jews did gamble, as Disney[3] tells us when writing
on Gaming amongst the Jews.
“Though they had no written law for it, Gamesters were _excluded
from the Magistracy_, incapable of being chosen into the greater or
lesser Sanhedrim; nor could they be admitted as _Witnesses_ in any
Court of Justice, till they were perfectly reformed. Some of their
reasons for excluding such from the Magistracy were, that their gaming
gave sufficient presumption of their _Avarice_, and, besides, was an
employment _no way conducing to the public good_: a covetous man, and
one who is not wise and public spirited, being very unfit for offices
of so much trust and power, as well as dignity. The presumption of
_Avarice_ was the cause, also (and a very good one), of not admitting
_the evidence_ of such a man. And that other notion they had, that the
gain arising from play was a _sort of Rapine_, is as just a ground for
the _Infamy_ which stained his character, and subjected him to these
incapacities.
“This last consideration, that money won by gaming was looked upon as
got by _Theft_, makes it reasonable to conclude that such money was
to be _restored_, and that the winning gamester was _punished_ as for
_Theft_: which was not, by their law, a capital crime; but answered
for, in smaller cases (and, probably, in this, among the rest), by
_double Restitution_: Exod. xxii. 9.
“But the partiality of that people is evident, in extending the notion
of Theft, only to _Gaming amongst themselves_; _i.e._, native Jews
and proselytes of righteousness; for, if a Jew played, and won of a
Gentile, it was no Theft in him: but it was forbidden to him on another
account, as Gaming is an application of mind entirely useless to human
society. For, say the Talmudists, ‘Tho’ he that games with a Gentile
does not offend against the prohibition of Theft, he violates that
_de rebus inanibus non incumbendo_: it does not become a man, at any
time of his life, to make anything his business which does not relate
to the study of wisdom or the public good.’ Now, as this was only a
prohibition of their doctors, perhaps the law, or usage in such cases
might take place, that the offender was to be scourged.”
Among the Greeks and Romans the first gambling implement was the
ἀστραγαλος, or (Lat.) _Talus_, before spoken of. In the course of time
the sides were numbered, and, afterwards, they were made of ivory,
onyx, &c., specimens of which may be seen in the Etruscan Saloon of the
British Museum, Case N. In the Terra Cotta room is a charming group
of two girls playing with Astragals, and in the Third Vase room, on
Stand I., is a vase, or drinking vessel, in the shape of an Astragal
(E. 804). Subsequently the Tessera, or cubical die, similar to that
now used, came into vogue (samples of which may be seen in Case N. in
the Etruscan Saloon), and they were made of ivory, bone, porcelain,
and stone. Loaded dice have been found in Pompeii. They also had other
games among the Romans, such as _Par et Impar_ (odd or even), in which
almonds, beans, or anything else, were held in the hand, and guessed
at—and the modern Italian game of Mora was also in vogue.
But gambling was looked down upon in Rome, and the term _aleator_,
or gambler, was one of reproach—and many were the edicts against it:
utterly useless, of course, but it was allowed during the Saturnalia.
Money lost at play could not be legally recovered by the winner, and
money paid by the loser might by him be recovered from the person who
had won and received the same.
The excavations at Pompeii and other places in modern times have
revealed things not known in writings; and, treating of the subject
of gambling, we are much indebted to Sig. Rodolfo Lanciani, Professor
of Archæology in the University of Rome. Among other things, he
tells us how, in the spring of 1876, during the construction of
the Via Volturno, near the Prætorian Camp, a Roman tavern was
discovered, containing besides many hundred amphoræ, the “sign” of the
establishment engraved on a marble slab.
ABEMVS INCENA
PVLLVM PISCEM
PERNAM PAONEM
BENA TORES
The meaning of this sign is double: it tells the customers that a good
supper was always ready within, and that the gaming tables were always
open to gamblers. The sign, in fact, is a _tabula lusoria_ in itself,
as shown by the characteristic arrangement of the thirty-six letters in
three lines, and six groups of six letters each. Orthography has been
freely sacrificed to this arrangement (_abemus_ standing for _habemus_,
_cena_ for _cenam_). The last word of the fourth line shows that the
men who patronised the establishment were the _Venatores immunes_, a
special troop of Prætorians, into whose custody the _vivarium_ of wild
beasts and the _amphitheatrum castrense_ were given.
He also tells us that so intense was the love of the Roman for games of
hazard, that wherever he had excavated the pavement of a portico, of a
basilica, of a bath, or any flat surface accessible to the public, he
always found gaming tables engraved or scratched on the marble or stone
slabs for the amusement of idle men, always ready to cheat each other
out of their money.
The evidence of this fact is to be found in the Forum, in the Basilica
Julia, in the corridors of the Coliseum, on the steps of the temple of
Venus at Rome, in the square of the front of the portico of the Twelve
Gods, and even in the House of the Vestals, after its secularisation
in 393. Gaming tables are especially abundant in barracks, such as
those of the seventh battalion of _vigiles_, near by St Critogono, and
of the police at Ostia and Porto, and of the Roman encampment near
Guise, in the Department of the Aisne. Sometimes when the camp was
moved from place to place, or else from Italy to the frontiers of the
empire, the men would not hesitate to carry the heavy tables with their
luggage. Two, of pure Roman make, have been discovered at Rusicade, in
Numidia, and at Ain-Kebira, in Mauritania. Naturally enough they could
not be wanting in the Prætorian camp and in the taverns patronised
by its turbulent garrison, where the time was spent in revelling and
gambling, and in riots ending in fights and bloodshed. To these scenes
of violence the wording of the tables often refers; such as
LEVATE LVDERE
NESCIS DALVSO
RILOCV RECEDE
“Get up! You know nothing about the game; make room for better
players!” Two paintings were discovered, in Nov. 1876, in a tavern at
Pompeii, in one of which are seen two players seated on stools opposite
each other, and holding on their knees the gaming table, upon which are
arranged, in various lines, several _latrunculi_[4] of various colours,
yellow, black and white. The man on the left shakes a yellow dice box,
and exclaims, “_Exsi_” (I am out). The other points to the dice, and
says, “_Non tria, duas est_” (Not three points, but two). In the next
picture the same individuals have sprung to their feet, and show fight.
The younger says, “Not two, but three; I have the game!” Whereupon,
the other man, after flinging at him the grossest insult, repeats his
assertion, “Ego fui.” The altercation ends with the appearance of the
tavernkeeper, who pushes both men into the street, and exclaims, “Itis
foris rix satis” (Go out of my shop if you want to fight).
During Sig. Lanciani’s lifetime, a hundred, or more, tables have been
found in Rome, and they belong to six different games of hazard; in
some of them the mere chance of dice-throwing was coupled with a
certain amount of skill in moving the men. Their outline is always
the same: there are three horizontal lines at an equal distance, each
line containing twelve signs—thirty-six in all. The signs vary in
almost every table; there are circles, squares, vertical bars, leaves,
letters, monograms, crosses, crescents and immodest symbols: the
majority of these tables (sixty-five) contain words arranged so as
to make a full sentence with the thirty-six letters. These sentences
speak of the fortune, and good, or bad, luck of the game, of the skill
and pluck of the players, of the favour, or hostility, of bystanders
and betting men. Sometimes they invite you to try the seduction of
gambling, sometimes they warn of the risks incurred.
Children were initiated into the seductions of gambling by playing
“nuts,” a pastime cherished also by elder people. In the spring of
1878 a life-size statuette of a boy playing at nuts was discovered in
the cemetery of the Agro Verano, near St Lorenzo fuori le mura. The
statuette, cut in Pentelic marble, represents the young gambler leaning
forward, as if he had thrown, or was about to throw, the nut; and his
countenance shows anxiety and uncertainty as to the success of his
trial.
The game could be played in several ways. One, still popular among
Italian boys, was to make a pyramidal “castle” with four nuts, three
at the base and one on the top, and then to try and knock it down
with the fifth nut thrown from a certain distance. Another way was to
design a triangle on the floor with chalk, subdividing it into several
compartments by means of lines parallel to the base; the winnings
were regulated according to the compartment in which the nut fell
and remained. Italian boys are still very fond of this game, which
they call _Campana_, because the figure drawn on the floor is in the
shape of a bell: it is played with coppers. There was a third game at
nuts, in which the players placed their stakes in a vase with a large
opening. The one who succeeded first in throwing his missile inside the
jar would gain its contents.
They also tossed “head or tail,” betting on which side a piece of
money, thrown up in the air, would come down. The Greeks used for this
game a shell, black on one side, white on the other, and called it
“Night or day.” The Romans used a copper “_as_” with the head of Janus
on one side, and the prow of a galley on the other, and they called
their game _Capita aut navim_ (head or ship).
Mahomet discountenanced gambling, as we find in the Koran (Sale’s
translation, Lon. 1734), p. 25. “They will ask thee concerning wine and
lots. Answer: In both there is great sin, and also some things of use
unto men; but their sinfulness is greater than their use.” Sale has
explanatory footnotes. He says “Lots. The original word, _al Meiser_,
properly signifies a particular game performed with arrows, and much
in use with the pagan Arabs. But by Lots we are here to understand
all games whatsoever, which are subject to chance or hazard, as dice,
cards, &c.” And, again, on p. 94. “O true believers, surely wine, and
lots, and images, and divining arrows are an abomination of the work of
Satan; therefore avoid them, that ye may prosper.”
_À propos_ of this denunciation of gambling in the Koran, is the
following highly interesting letter of Emmanuel Deutsch, in the
_Athenæum_ of Sep. 28, 1867:—
“It may interest the writer of the note on κυβεια (Eph. iv. 14), (the
only word for ‘gambling’ used in the Bible) in your recent ‘Weekly
Gossip,’ to learn that this word was in very common use among Paul’s
kith and kin for ‘cube,’ ‘dice,’ ‘dicery,’ and occurs frequently in the
Talmud and Midrash. As Aristotle couples a dice player (κυβευτης) with
a ‘bath robber’ (λωποδυτης), and with a ‘thief’ (ληστης—a word no less
frequently used in the Talmud); so the Mishnah declares unfit either as
judge or witness ‘a κυβεια-player, a usurer, a pigeon-flyer (betting
man), a vender 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, 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 hath risen,’ Jacob is made to reply
to him, ‘Art thou 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 Talmudical passage, an early Biblical critic is discussing
certain arithmetical difficulties in the Pentateuch. Thus, he finds
the number of the 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_?” 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 First-born, 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 been
erroneously explained to mean a “man-stealer”—he has no redress. He
must keep him, as he bought him, or send him away, for he bought him
with all his vices.
No wonder dice-playing was tantamount to a crime in those declining
days. There was, notwithstanding the severe laws against it, hardly
a more common and more ruinous pastime—a pastime in which Cicero
himself, who places a gambler on a par with an adulterer, did not
disdain to indulge in his old days, claiming it as a privilege
of “Age.” Augustus was a passionate dice-player. Nero played the
points—for they also played it by points—at 400,000 sesterces.
Caligula, after a long spell of ill-luck, in which he had lost all his
money, rushed into the streets, had two innocent Roman knights seized,
and ordered their goods to be confiscated. Whereupon he returned to
his game, remarking that this had been the luckiest throw he had
had for a long time. Claudius had his carriages arranged for dicing
convenience, and wrote a work on the subject. Nor was it all fair play
with those ancients. Aristotle already knows of a way by which the dice
can be made to fall as the player wishes them; and even the cunningly
constructed, turret-shaped dice cup did not prevent occasional
“mendings” of luck. The Berlin Museum contains one “charged” die, and
another with a double four. The great affection for this game is seen,
among other things, by the common proverbs taken from it, and the no
less than sixty-four names given to the different throws, taken from
kings, heroes, gods, hetairæ, animals, and the rest. But the word was
also used in a mathematical sense. In a cosmogonical discussion of the
Midrash, the earth is likened to a “cubus.”
The use of dice in England is of great antiquity, dating from the
advent of the Saxons and the Danes and Romans; indeed, all the northern
nations were passionately addicted to gambling. Tacitus (_de Moribus
Germ._) tells us that the ancient Germans would not only hazard all
their wealth, but even stake their liberty upon the throw of the dice;
“and he who loses submits to servitude, though younger and stronger
than his antagonist, and patiently permits himself to be bound, and
sold in the market; and this _madness_ they dignify by the name of
_honour_.”
In early English times we get occasional glimpses of gambling with
dice. Ordericus Vitalis (1075-1143) tells us that “the clergymen and
bishops are fond of dice-playing”—and John of Salisbury (1110-1182)
calls it “the damnable art of dice-playing.” In 1190 a curious edict
was promulgated, which shows how generally gambling prevailed even
among the lower classes at that period. This edict was established for
the regulation of the Christian army under the command of Richard the
First of England and Philip of France during the Crusade. It prohibits
any person in the army, beneath the degree of knight, from playing at
any sort of game for money: knights and clergymen might play for money,
but none of them were permitted to lose more than twenty shillings in
one whole day and night, under a penalty of one hundred shillings,
to be paid to the archbishops in the army. The two monarchs had the
privilege of playing for what they pleased, but their attendants were
restricted to the sum of twenty shillings, and, if they exceeded, they
were to be whipped naked through the army for three days. The decrees
established by the Council held at Worcester in the twenty-fourth year
of Henry III. prohibited the clergy from playing at _dice_ or _chess_,
but neither the one nor the other of these games are mentioned in
the succeeding statutes before the twelfth year of Richard II., when
_diceing_ is particularised and expressly forbidden.
The letter books of the Corporation of the City of London, during
the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, give us several examples of
diceing. “4 Ed. II., A.D. 1311. Elmer de Multone was attached, for that
he was indicted in the Ward of Chepe for being a common night walker;
and, in the day, is wont to entice strangers and persons unknown, to a
tavern, and there deceive them by using false dice. And, also, for that
he was indicted in Tower Ward, for being a bruiser and night walker,
against the peace; as, also, for being a common _rorere_.[5] And, also,
for that he was indicted in the Ward of Crepelgate for playing at dice,
and for that he is wont to entice men into a tavern, and to make them
play at dice there against their will. He appeared, and, being asked
how he would acquit himself thereof, he said that he was not guilty,
and put himself upon the country as to the same. And the jury came, by
Adam Trugge and others, on the panel; and they said, upon their oath,
that he is guilty of all the trespasses aforesaid. Therefore he was
committed to prison,” &c.
The next is from a Proclamation made for the safe keeping of the
City. 8 Ed., III. A.D. 1334. “Also, we do forbid, on the same pain of
imprisonment, that any man shall go about, at this Feast of Christmas,
with companions disguised with false faces,[6] or in any other manner,
to the houses of the good folks of the City, for playing at dice there;
but let each one keep himself quiet and at his ease within his own
house.”
“50 Ed. III., A.D. 1376. Nicholas Prestone, tailor, and John Outlawe,
were attached to make answer to John atte Hille, and William, his
brother, in a plea of deceit and falsehood; for that the same John
Outlawe, at divers times between the Feast of Our Lord’s Nativity, in
the 49th year, &c., and the First Sunday in Lent, then next ensuing,
came to the said John atte Hille and William, and asked if they wished
to gain some money at tables or at chequers, commonly called ‘_quek_’;
to which they said ‘Yes’; whereupon the same John Outlawe said they
must follow him, and he would show them the place, and a man there,
from whom they could easily win; and further said that he would be
partner with them, to win or to lose.
“And they followed him to the house of the said Nicholas in Friday
Street, and there they found the said Nicholas with a pair of tables,
on the outside of which was painted a chequer board, that is called a
‘_quek_.’ And the said Nicholas asked them if they would play at tables
for money; whereupon the said complainants, knowing of no deceit,
or ill-intent, being urged and encouraged thereto by the same John
Outlawe, played with him at tables and lost a sum of money, owing to
false dice.
“And the said John then left them to play alone; and, after that, they
still continued to lose. The said tables were then turned, and the
complainants played with the defendant Nicholas at ‘_quek_’ until they
had lost at the games of tables and _quek_ 39s. 2d. After which the
complainants, wondering at their continued losing, examined the board
at which they had been playing and found it to be false and deceptive;
seeing that in three quarters of the board all the black points were so
depressed that all the white points in the same quarters were higher
than the black points in the same; and, on the fourth quarter of the
board, all the white points were so depressed that all the black points
in that quarter were higher than the white. They inspected and examined
also the dice with which they had first played at tables, and found
them to be false and defective. And, because they would play no longer,
the said Nicholas and John Outlawe stripped John atte Hille of of a
cloak, 16 shillings in value, which they still retained.”
They were found guilty and sentenced to return the money lost and the
cloak, or its value, and “Afterwards, on the prosecution of Ralph
Strode, Common Serjeant of the said City, by another jury, they were
found guilty of the fraud and deception so imputed to them. Therefore
it was awarded that they should have the punishment of the pillory, to
stand thereon for one hour in the day, and that the said false chequer
board should be burnt beneath them, the Sheriff causing the reason for
their punishment to be proclaimed. And, after that, they were to be
taken back to the Prison of Newgate, there to remain until the Mayor
and Aldermen should give orders for their release.”
And so dicing went on, unimpaired in popularity, in spite of legal
fulminations, until Elizabeth’s time, when we probably hear more of it,
owing to the greater dissemination of literature in that reign. In 1551
there was a famous murder, in which Mr Arden of Feversham was killed
whilst playing a game of tables with one Mosbie, the paramour of his
wife, who had made Mosbie a present of a pair of _silver dice_ to
reconcile a disagreement that had subsisted between them. Shakespeare
mentions dice and dicing thirteen times in seven plays, and in Jonson,
and the early dramatists, there are many allusions to this species of
gambling.
In the British Museum is a little MS. book[7] called “New Passages
and Jests,” which were collected by Sir Nicholas L’Estrange of
Hunstanton, Bart., who died in 1669, and in one of the anecdotes we
get an insight into cheating at dice. “Sir William Herbert, playing
at dice with another gentleman, there arose some questions about a
cast. Sir William’s antagonist declared it was a four and a five; he
as positively insisted that it was a five and a six: the other then
swore with a bitter imprecation that it was as he said. Sir William
then replied, ‘Thou art a perjured knave; for, give me a sixpence, and
if there be a four upon the dice, I will return you a thousand pounds’;
at which the other was presently abashed, for, indeed, the dice were
false, and of a _high cut_, without a four.”
Charles Cotton, in his _Compleat Gamester_, gives us a vivid account of
dicing, as it then was, at an ordinary, after dark.
“The day being shut in, you may properly compare this place to those
Countries which lye far in the North, where it is as clear at midnight
as at noonday.... This is the time (when ravenous beasts usually seek
their prey) when in comes shoals of _Huffs_, _Hectors_, _Setters_,
_Gilts_, _Pads_, _Biters_, _Divers_, _Lifters_, _Filers_, _Budgies_,
_Droppers_, _Crossbyters_, &c., and these may all pass under the
general and common appellation of _Rooks_.... Some of these _Rooks_
will be very importunate to borrow money of you without any intention
to pay you; or to go with you seven to twelve, half a crown, or more,
whereby, without a very great chance (ten to one, or more), he is sure
to win. If you are sensible hereof, and refuse his proposition, they
will take it so ill, that, if you have not an especiall care, they will
pick your pocket, nim your gold or silver buttons off your Cloak or
Coat, or, it may be, draw your silver-hilted sword out of your belt,
without discovery, especially if you are eager upon your Cast, which
is done thus: the silver buttons are strung, or run upon Cats guts
fastened at the upper and nether ends; now, by ripping both ends very
ingeniously, give it the gentle pull, and so rub off with the buttons;
and, if your Cloak be loose, ‘tis ten to one they have it.
“But that which will provoke (in my opinion) any man’s rage to a just
satisfaction, is their throwing many times at a good Sum with a _dry
fist_; (as they call it) that is, if they nick you, ‘tis theirs; if
they lose, they owe you so much, with many other quillets: some I have
known so abominably impudent, that they would snatch up the Stakes,
and, thereupon, instantly draw, saying, if you will have your money,
you must fight for it; for he is a Gentleman, and will not want:
however, if you will be patient, he will pay you another time; if you
are so tame as to take this, go no more to the Ordinary; for then the
whole Gang will be ever and anon watching an opportunity to make a
_Mouth_ of you in the like nature. If you nick them, ‘tis odds, if
they wait not your coming out at night and beat you: I could produce
you an hundred examples of this kind, but they will rarely adventure
on the attempt, unless they are backt with some _Bully-Huffs_ and
_Bully-Rocks_, with others, whose fortunes are as desperate as their
own. We need no other testimony to confirm the danger of associating
with these Anthropophagi, or Man-Eaters, than Lincolns Inn Fields,
whilst _Speering’s_ Ordinary was kept in Bell Yard, and that you do not
want a pair of Witnesses for the proof thereof, take in, also, Covent
Garden.
“Neither is it the House itself to be exempted; every night, almost,
some one or other, who, either heated with Wine, or made cholerick with
the loss of his Money, raises a quarrel, swords are drawn, box and
candlesticks thrown at one another’s heads. Tables overthrown, and all
the House in such a Garboyl, that it is the perfect type of Hell. Happy
is the man now that can make the frame of a Table or Chimney corner his
Sanctuary; and, if any are so fortunate as to get to the Stair head,
they will rather hazard the breaking of their own necks, than have
their souls pushed out of their bodies in the dark by they know not
whom.
“I once observed one of the _Desperadoes_ of the Town, (being
half drunk) to press a Gentleman very much to lend him a crown:
the Gentleman refus’d him several times, yet, still, the Borrower
persisted; and, holding his head too near the _Caster’s_ elbow, it
chanced to hit his nose: the other, thinking it to be affront enough
to be denied the loan of Money, without this slight touch of the nose,
drew, and, stepping back, (unawares to the Gentleman) made a full pass
at him, intending to have run him through the body; but his drunkenness
misguided his hand, so that he ran him only through the arm: this
put the house into so great a confusion and fright, that some fled,
thinking the Gentleman slain. This wicked Miscreant thought not this
sufficient; but, tripping up his heels, pinn’d him, as he thought to
the floor: and after this, takes the Gentleman’s silver sword, leaving
his in the wound, and, with a _Grand Jury_ of _Dammees_, bid all stand
off, if they lov’d their lives, and, so, went clear off with sword and
liberty, but was, notwithstanding, (the Gentleman recovering) compel’d
to make what satisfaction he was capable of making, beside a long
imprisonment; and was not long abroad, before he was apprehended for
Burglary committed, condemned, and justly executed.
“But, to proceed on as to play: late at night, when the company grows
thin, and your eyes dim with watching, false Dice are frequently
put upon the ignorant, or they are otherwise cheated by _Topping_,
_Slurring_, _Stabbing_, &c., and, if you be not vigilant and careful,
the box-keeper shall score you up double, or treble Boxes; and, though
you have lost your money, dun you as severely for it, as if it were the
justest debt in the world.
“The more subtile and genteeler sort of _Rooks_, you shall not
distinguish, by their outward demeanour, from persons of condition;
these will sit by, a whole evening, and observe who wins; if the winner
be _bubbleable_, they will insinuate themselves into his company, by
applauding his success, advising him to leave off while he is well:
and, lastly, by civilly inviting him to drink a glass of wine, where,
having well warm’d themselves to make him more than half drunk, they
wheadle him in to play: to which, if he condescend, he shall quickly
have no money left him in his pocket, unless, perchance, a Crown the
Rooking winner lent him, in courtesie, to bear his charges homewards.
“This they do by false Dice, as _High Fullams_, 4. 5. 6. _Low Fullams_,
1. 2. 3. By _Bristle_ Dice, which are fitted for their purpose by
sticking a Hog’s bristle, so in the corners, or otherwise in the Dice,
that they shall run high, or low, as they please. This bristle must be
strong and short, by which means, the bristle bending, it will not lie
on that side, but will be tript over; and this is the newest way of
making a high, or low _Fullam_. The old ways are by drilling them, and
loading them with quicksilver; but that cheat may be easily discovered
by their weight, or holding two corners between your forefinger and
thumb; if, holding them so, gently between your fingers, they turn, you
may conclude them false: or, you may try their falsehood otherwise,
by breaking, or splitting them. Others have made them by filing and
rounding; but all these ways fall short of the Art of those who make
them; some whereof are so admirably skilful in making a Bale of Dice to
run what you would have them, that your Gamesters think they can never
give enough for their purchase, if they prove right. They are sold in
many places about the Town; price current, (by the help of a friend)
eight shillings; whereas an ordinary Bale is sold for sixpence: for my
part, I shall tell you plainly, I would have those Bales of false Dice
to be sold at the price of the ears of such destructive knaves that
made them.
“Another way the Rook hath to cheat, is first by _Palming_, that is,
he puts one Dye into the Box, and keeps the other in the hollow of his
little finger; which, noting what is uppermost when he takes him up,
the same shall be when he throws the other Dye, which runs doubtfully,
any cast. Observe this—that the bottom and top of all Dice are
_Seven_, so that if it be four above, it must be a 3 at bottom; so 5
and 2, 6 and 1. Secondly, by _Topping_, and that is when they take up
both Dice, and seem to put them in the Box; and, shaking the Box, you
would think them both there, by reason of the rattling occasioned with
the screwing of the Box; whereas, one of them is at the top of the box,
between his two forefingers, or secur’d by thrusting a forefinger into
the Box. Thirdly, by _Slurring_: that is, by taking up your Dice as you
will have them advantageously lie in your hand, placing the one a top
the other, not caring if the uppermost run a Millstone, (as they used
to say) if the undermost run without turning, and, therefore, a smooth
table is altogether requisite for this purpose: on a rugged rough
board, it is a hard matter to be done, whereas, on a smooth table (the
best are rub’d over with Bee’s Wax to fill up all chinks and crevices)
it is usual for some to slur a Dye two yards, or more, without turning.
Fourthly—by _Knapping_: that is, when you strike a Dye dead, that it
shall not stir. This is best done within the Tables; where, note, there
is no securing but of one Dye, although there are some, who boast of
securing both. I have seen some so dexterous at Knapping, that they
have done it through the handle of a quart-pot, or, over a Candle and
Candlestick: but that which I most admired, was throwing the same, less
than Ames Ace, with two Dice, upon a Groat held in the left hand, on
the one side of the handle, a foot distance, and the Dice thrown with
the right hand on the other.
“Lastly—by _Stabbing_—that is, having a Smooth Box, and small in the
bottom, you drop in both your Dice in such manner as you would have
them sticking therein, by reason of its narrowness, the Dice lying
upon one another; so that, turning up the Box, the Dice never tumble;
if a smooth Box, if true, but little; by which means you have bottoms
according to the tops you put in; for example—if you put in your Dice
so that two fives or two fours lie a top, you have, in the bottom,
turned up two twos, or two treys; so, if Six and Ace a top, a Six and
an Ace at bottom.”
At this time were played several games requiring tables and dice,
such as _Irish_; _Backgammon_; _Tick-tack_; _Doublets_; _Sice-Ace_
and _Catch-Dolt_; whilst the games requiring no special tables were
_In and In_; _Passage_ and _Hazard_, which latter was the game most
usually played, and of which Cotton remarks “Certainly, Hazard is the
most bewitching game that is played on the Dice; for when a man begins
to play, he knows not when to leave off; and, having once accustomed
himself to play at Hazard, he hardly, ever after, minds anything else.”
Ned Ward[8] (1663-1714), of course, mentions gamblers and gambling,
but his experiences are of low Coffee Houses and Alsatia: and,
presumably most of the Gambling Houses were of that type, for Thomas
Brown[9] (1663-1704) speaks of them as follows. “In some places they
call Gaming Houses _Academies_; but I know not why they should inherit
that honourable name, since there is nothing to be learn’d there,
unless it be _Sleight of Hand_, which is sometimes at the Expence of
all our Money, to get that of other Men’s by Fraud and Cunning. The
Persons that meet are generally Men of an _Infamous_ character, and
are in various Shapes, Habits, and Employments. Sometimes they are
Squires of the _Pad_, and now and then borrow a little Money upon the
_King’s High Way_, to recruit their losses at the _Gaming House_; and,
when a Hue and Cry is out to apprehend them, they are as safe in one
of these Houses as a _Priest_ at the _Altar_, and practise the old
trade of _Cross-biting Cullies_, assisting the frail _Square Die_ with
high and low _Fullams_, and other napping tricks, in comparison of
whom the common Bulkers and Pickpockets, are a very honest society.
How unaccountable is this way to _Beggary_, that when a man has but
a little money, or knows not where in the world to compass any more,
unless by hazarding his neck for’t, will try an experiment to leave
himself none at all: or, he that has money of his own should play the
fool, and try whether it shall not be another man’s. Was ever anything
so nonsensically pleasant?
“One idle day I ventured into one of these _Gaming Houses_, where
I found an _Oglio of Rakes_ of several Humours and Conditions met
together. Some of them had never a Penny left them to bless their Heads
with. One that had play’d away even his Shirt and Cravat, and all his
Clothes but his Breeches, stood shivering in a Corner of the Room,
and another comforting him, and saying, _Damme_ Jack, whoever thought
to see thee in a State of Innocency: cheer up, Nakedness is the best
Receipt in the World against a Fever; and then fell a Ranting as if
Hell had broke loose that very Moment.... I told my friend, instead of
_Academies_ these places should be called _Cheating Houses_: Whereupon
a Bully of the _Blade_ came strutting up to my very Nose, in such a
Fury, that I would willingly have given half the Teeth in my Head for a
Composition, crying out, Split my Wind Pipe, Sir, you are a Fool, and
don’t understand _Trap_, the whole World’s a Cheat.”
In the reigns of Charles II., James II., William III., and Queen
Anne were many notorious gamblers, such as Count Konigsmarck, St
Evremont, Beau Fielding, Col. Macartney, who was Lord Mohun’s second
in his celebrated duel with the Duke of Hamilton, and the Marquis de
Guiscard, who stabbed Harley, Earl of Oxford. There is a little book
by Theophilus Lucas,[10] which gives a more or less accurate life of
notorious gamblers of those days; amongst them there is a notice of
Col. Panton, of whom Lucas says: “There was no Game but what he was
an absolute Artist at, either upon the Square, or foul Play: as at
_English Ruff and Honours_, _Whist_, _French Ruff_, _Gleek_, _L’Ombre_,
_Lanterloo_, _Bankafalet_, _Beast_, _Basset_, _Brag_, _Piquet_: he was
very dextrous also at _Verquere_, _Tick-tack_, _Grand Trick-track_,
_Irish_ and _Back-Gammon_; which are all Games play’d within Tables;
and he was not Ignorant of _Inn and Inn_, _Passage_ and _Draughts_,
which are Games play’d without the Tables. Moreover, he had great
skill at _Billiards_ and _Chess_; but, above all, his chief game was
at _Hazard_, at which he got the most Money; for, in one Night, at
this Play, he won as many thousand pounds as purchased him an Estate
of above £1500 _per Annum_, insomuch as he built a whole Street near
_Leicester-fields_, which, after his own name, he called _Panton
Street_. After this good Fortune, he had such an Aversion against all
manner of Games, that he would never handle Cards nor Dice again, but
liv’d very handsomely on his Winnings to his dying Day, which was in
the year 1681.”
Perhaps the most amusing of Lucas’s _Lives_ is that of Richard
Bourchier—about whom I extract the following anecdotes. “Fortune not
favouring Mr _Bourchier_ always alike, he was reduced to such a very
low Ebb, that, before he was Four-and-twenty, he was obliged to be
a Footman to the Right Honourable the Earl of _Mulgrave_, now Duke
of _Buckingham_; in this Nobleman’s Service he wore a Livery above a
year and a half, when, by his genteel Carriage and Mien, marrying one
Mrs _Elizabeth_ Gossinn, a Lace Woman’s Grand Daughter, in _Exeter
Change_ in the _Strand_, with whom he had about 150 Pounds; it being
then the solemn Festival of _Christmas_, in the Twelve Days whereof,
great Raffling was then wont to be kept in the _Temple_, he carried his
Wife’s Portion thither to improve it, but was so unsuccessful as to
lose every Farthing. This ill Luck made Mr _Bourchier_ Stark Mad; but,
borrowing 20 Pounds of a Friend, he went to the _Temple_ again, but had
first bought a Twopenny Cord to hang himself, in case he lost that too:
but the Dice turning on his side, and having won his own Money back
again, and as much more to it, of one particular Gentleman who was now
fretting and fuming in as bad manner as _Bourchier_ was before, he very
courteously pull’d the cord out of his pocket, and giving it to the
Loser, said, _Having now, Sir, no occasion for this Implement myself,
it is at your Service with all my Heart_: Which bantering expression
made the Gentleman look very sour upon the Winner, who carried off his
booty whilst he was well.”
He grew prosperous, and got into high society, as bookmakers and others
now do at Horse Races; for we find that “being at the _Groom Porter’s_,
he flung one Main with the Earl of _Mulgrave_ for £500, which he won;
and his Honour, looking wistly at him, quoth he: _I believe I should
know you. Yes_, (replied the winner), _your Lordship must have some
knowledge of me, for my Name is_ Dick Bourchier, _who was once your
Footman_. Whereupon, his Lordship, supposing that he was not in a
Capacity of paying 500 pounds in case he had lost, cry’d out, _A Bite,
A Bite_. But the _Groom Porter_ assuring his Honour that Mr _Bourchier_
was able to have paid 1000 pounds, provided his Lordship had won such a
sum, he paid him what he plaid for, without any farther Scruple.”
But he was not content to gamble with mere Earls, he flew at higher
game. “By the favour of some of his own Nation, he was soon admitted
to the presence of _Lewis le grand_, as a Gamster: he not only won
15,000 Pistoles of the King, but the Nobility also tasted of the same
Fortune; for he won 10,000 Pistoles of the Duke of _Orleans_; almost
as much of the Duke _D’Espernon_, besides many of his jewels, and a
prodigious large piece of Ambergreese, valued at 20,000 crowns, as
being the greatest piece that ever was seen in _Europe_, and which was
afterwards laid up by the Republick of _Venice_ in their treasury, to
whom it was sold for a great Rarity.... Once, Mr _Bourchier_ going over
to _Flanders_, with a great Train of Servants, set off in such a fine
Equipage, that they drew the Eyes of all upon them wherever they went,
to admire the Splendor and Gaiety of their Master, whom they took for
no less than a Nobleman of the first Rank. In this Pomp, making his
Tour at King _William’s_ Tent, he happened into Play with that great
Monarch, and won of him above £2500. The Duke of _Bavaria_ being also
there, he then took up the cudgels, and losing £15,000, the Loss put
him into a great Chafe, and doubting some foul Play was put upon him,
because Luck went so much against him, quoth Mr _Bourchier_—_Sir, if
you have any suspicion of any sinister trick put upon your Highness, if
you please, I’ll give you a Chance for all your Money at once, tossing
up at Cross and Pile,[11] and you shall have the advantage of throwing
up the Guinea yourself_. The Elector admir’d at his bold Challenge,
which, nevertheless, accepting, he tost up for £15,000, and lost the
Money upon Reputation, with which _Bourchier_ was very well satisfied,
as not doubting in the least; and so, taking his leave of the King and
those Noblemen that were with him, he departed. Then the Elector of
_Bavaria_, enquiring of his Majesty, who that Person was, that could
run the Hazard of playing for so much Money at a Time, he told him it
was a subject of his in _England_, that though he had no real estate
of his own, yet was he able to play with any Sovereign Prince in
_Germany_. Shortly after, _Bourchier_ returning into England, he bought
a most rich Coach and curious Sett of six Horses to it, which cost him
above £3000, for a present to the Elector of _Bavaria_, who had not
yet paid him anything of the £30,000 which he had won of him. Notice
hereof being sent to his Highness, the generous action incited him to
send over his Gentleman of Horse, into _England_, to take care of this
present, which he received kindly at _Bourchier’s_ Hands, to whom he
return’d Bills of Exchange also, drawn upon several eminent merchants
in _London_, for paying what money he had lost with him at play.”
Bourchier became very rich by gambling, and purchased an estate near
Pershore in Worcestershire, where he was buried—but he died in London
in 1702, aged 45.
Lucas tells a story about gamblers, which, although it has no
reference to England, is too good to leave out.
“But, for a farther unquestionable Testimony of the Mischiefs that
often arise from Gaming, this is a very remarkable, but dreadful
Passage, which I am now going to recite. Near _Bellizona_, in
_Switzerland_, Three Men were playing at Dice on the _Sabbath Day_; and
one of ‘em, call’d _Ulrick Schrœteus_, having lost his Money, and, at
last, expecting a good Cast, broke out into a most blasphemous Speech,
threatening, _That, if Fortune deceiv’d him then, he would thrust
his Dagger into the very body of God, as far as he could_. The cast
miscarrying, the Villain drew his Dagger, and threw it against Heaven
with all his Strength; when, behold, the Dagger vanish’d, and several
Drops of Blood fell upon the table in the midst of them: and the Devil
immediately came and carry’d away the blasphemous Wretch, with such a
Noise and Stink, that the whole City was amaz’d at it. The others, half
distracted with Fear, strove to wipe out the Drops of Blood that were
upon the Table, but the more they rubb’d ‘em, the more plainly they
appear’d. The Rumour hereof flying to the City, multitudes of People
flock’d to the Place, where they found the Gamesters washing the Board;
whom they bound in Chains, and carried towards the Prison; but, as they
were upon the way, one of ‘em was suddenly struck dead, with such a
Number of Lice crawling out of him, as was wonderful and loathsome to
behold: And the Third was immediately put to Death by the Citizens,
to avert the Divine Indignation and Vengence, which seem’d to hang
over their heads. The Table was preserv’d in the Place, and kept as a
Monument of the Judgments of God on Blasphemers and Sabbath-breakers;
and to show the mischiefs and inconveniences that often attend Gaming.”
Loaded Dice continued to be used—for on 18th April 1740 were
committed to Newgate, on the oaths of seven gentlemen of distinction,
Thomas Lyell, Lawrence Sydney, and John Roberts, for cheating and
defrauding with false and loaded dice, those particular gentlemen,
at the Masquerade, to the value of about £400, and other gentlemen
not present at the examination of about £4000 more; and out of about
nine pairs of dice which were cut asunder, only one single dice was
found unloaded. For this, Lyell and Sidney stood in the Pillory, near
the Opera House, on 2nd June 1742, two years after the offence was
committed.
And two days afterwards, a cause was tried in the Court of King’s
Bench, on an indictment against a gentleman for winning the sum of £500
at hazard about seven years before; and, after a long trial, the jury
found him guilty, the penalty being £2500.
To show the prevalence of dicing, it may be mentioned that when
the floors of the Middle Temple Hall were taken up somewhere about
1764, among other things were found nearly one hundred pairs of dice
which had fallen through the chinks of the flooring. They were about
one-third smaller than those now in use. And Malcolm[12] says: “However
unpleasant the yells of barrow women with their commodities are at
present, no other mischief arises from them than the obstruction of
the ways. It was far otherwise before 1716 when they generally carried
Dice with them, and children were enticed to throw for fruit and
nuts, or, indeed, any persons of a more advanced age. However, in the
year just mentioned, the Lord Mayor issued an order to apprehend all
retailers so offending, which speedily put an end to street gaming;
though I am sorry to observe that some miscreants now (1808) carry
little wheels marked with numbers, which, being turned, govern the
chance by the figure a hand in the centre points to when stopped.”
When I was young the itinerent vendors of sweets had a “dolly,” which
was a rude representation of a man, hollowed spirally; a marble was
dropped in at its head, and coming out at its toes, spun round a board
until it finally subsided into one of the numerous numbered hollows it
contained. When that was made illegal, a numbered teetotum was used,
and now childhood is beguiled with the promise of a threepenny piece,
or other prize, to be found in packets of sweets.
CHAPTER I
Latimer and Cards—Discourse between a Preacher and a Professor—The
Perpetual Almanack, or Soldier’s Prayer Book—Origin of Playing
Cards—Earliest Notice—Royal Card Playing.
Before going into the history, &c., of playing cards, it may be as well
to note the serious application that was made of them by some persons:
and first, we will glance at the two sermons of Latimer’s on cards,
which he delivered in St Edward’s Church, Cambridge, on the Sunday
before Christmas Day 1529. In these sermons he used the card playing
of the season for illustrations of spiritual truth. By having recourse
to a series of similes, drawn from the rules of Primero and Trump, he
illustrated his subject in a manner that for some weeks after caused
his pithy sentences to be recalled at well nigh every social gathering;
and his Card Sermons became the talk both of Town and University. The
novelty of his method of treatment made it a complete success; and it
was felt throughout the University that his shafts had told with more
than ordinary effect. But, of course, these sermons being preached
in pre-Reformation days, were considered somewhat heretical, and
Buckenham, the Prior of the Dominicans at Cambridge, tried to answer
Latimer in the same view. As Latimer derived his illustrations from
Cards, so did Buckenham from Dice, and he instructed his hearers how
they might confound Lutheranism by throwing quatre and cinque: the
quatre being the “four doctors” of the Church, and the cinque being
five passages from the New Testament selected by the preacher.
Says Latimer in the first of these sermons: “Now then, what is
Christ’s rule? Christ’s rule consisteth in many things, as in the
Commandments, and the Works of Mercy and so forth. And for because I
cannot declare Christ’s rule unto you at one time, as it ought to be
done, I will apply myself according to your custom at this time of
Christmas. I will, as I said, declare unto you Christ’s rule, but that
shall be in Christ’s Cards. And, whereas you are wont to celebrate
Christmas by playing at Cards, I intend, by God’s grace to deal unto
you Christ’s Cards, wherein you shall perceive Christ’s rule. The game
that we will play at shall be called The Triumph, which, if it be well
played at, he that dealeth shall win; the players shall likewise win;
and the standers and lookers on shall do the same; insomuch that no
man that is willing to play at this Triumph with these Cards, but they
shall be all winners, and no losers.”
Next, is a curious little Black Letter tract, by James Balmford
published in 1593.[13] It is a dialogue between a Professor and a
Preacher.
“_Professor._ Sir, howsoever I am perswaded by that which I reade in
the common places of _Peter Martyr, par. 2, pag. 525, b._ that Dice
condemned both by the Civill lawes (and by the Fathers), are therefore
unlawfull, because they depend upon chance; yet not satisfied with that
which he writeth of Table playing, _pag. 516, b._ I would crave your
opinion concerning playing at Tables and Cards.
_Preacher._ Saving the judgement of so excellent a Divine, so Farre
as I can learne out of God’s word, Cardes and Tables seeme to mee no
more lawfull, (though less offensive) than Dice. For Table playing
is no whit the more lawfull, because _Plato_ compares the life of
man thereunto, than a theefe is the more justifiable, because Christ
compareth his second coming to burglarie in the night (Mat. xxiv. 43,
44). Againe, if Dice be wholly evill, because they wholly depend upon
chance, then Tables and Cardes must needes be somewhat evill, because
they somewhat depend upon chance. Therefore, consider well this reason,
which condemneth the one as well as the other: Lots are not to be used
in sport; but games consisting in chance, as Dice, Cardes, Tables, are
Lots; therefore not to be used in sport.
_Professor._ For my better instruction, prove that Lots are not to be
used in sport.
_Preacher._ Consider with regard these three things: First, that we
reade not in the Scriptures that Lots were used, but only in serious
matters, both by the Jewes and Gentiles. Secondly, that a Lot, in the
nature thereof doth as necessarily suppose the special providence and
determining presence of God, as an oth in the nature thereof doth
suppose the testifying presence of God. Yea, so that, as in an oth, so
in a lot, prayer is expressed, or to bee understoode (I Sam. xiv. 41).
Thirdly, that the proper end of a Lot, as of an oth (Heb. vi. 16) is
to end a controversie: and, therefore, for your better instruction,
examine these reasons. Whatsoever directly, or of itselfe, or in a
speciall manner, tendeth to the advancing of the name of God, is to
be used religiously, and not to be used in sport, as we are not to
pray or sweare in sport: but the use of Lots, directly of itselfe, and
in a speciall manner, tendeth to the advancing of the name of God,
in attributing to His speciall Providence in the whole and immediate
disposing of the Lot, and expecting the event (Pro. xvi. 33; Acts i.
24, 26). Therefore the use of Lots is not to be in sport. Againe, we
are not to tempte the Almightie by a vaine desire of manifestation of
his power and speciall providence (Psal. lxxviii. 18, 19; Esa. vii. 12;
Matth. iv. 6, 7). But, by using Lots in sport, we tempt the Almighty,
vainly desiring the manifestation of his speciall providence in his
immediate disposing. Lastly, whatsoever God hath sanctified to a proper
end, is not to be perverted to a worse (Matth. xxi. 12, 13). But God
hath sanctified Lots to a proper end, namely to end controversies (Num.
xxvi. 55; Pro. xviii. 18), therefore man is not to pervert them to
a worse, namely to play, and, by playing, to get away another man’s
money, which, without controversie, is his owne. For the common saying
is, _Sine lucro friget lusus_, no gaining, cold gaming.
_Professor._ God hath sanctified Psalmes to the praise of his name,
and bread and wine to represent the bodie and bloud of our crucified
Saviour, which be holie ends; and the children of God may sing Psalmes
to make themselves merie in the Lord, and feede upon bread and wine,
not only from necessitie, but to cheere themselves; why, then, may not
God’s children recreate themselves by lotterie, notwithstanding God
hath sanctified the same to end a controversie?
_Preacher._ Because we finde not in the Scriptures any dispensation
for recreation by lotterie, as we do for godlie mirth by singing (Jam.
v. 13), and for religious and sober cheering ourselves by eating
and drinking (Deut. viii. 9, 10). And, therefore, (it being withall
considered that the ends you speake of, be not proper, though holy)
it followeth, that God who only disposeth the Lot touching the event,
and is, therefore, a principall actor, is not to bee set on worke by
lotterie in any case, but when hee dispenseth with us, or gives us
leave so to doe. But dispensation for recreation by lotterie cannot be
shewed.
_Professor._ Lots may be used for profit in a matter of right (Num.
xxvi. 55), why not, for pleasure?
_Preacher._ Then othes may be used for pleasure, for they may for
profit, in a matter of truth (Exod. xxii. 8, 11). But, indeede, lots,
(as othes) are not to be used for profit or pleasure, but only to end a
controversie.
_Professor._ The wit is exercised by Tables and Cards, therefore they
be no lots.
_Preacher._ Yet Lotterie is used by casting Dice, and by shufling and
cutting, before the wit is exercised. But how doth this follow? Because
Cards and Tables bee not naked Lots, consisting only in chance (as
Dice) they are, therefore, no lots at all. Although (being used without
cogging, or packing) they consist principally in chance, from whence
they are to receive denomination. In which respect, a Lot is called in
Latin, _Sors_, that is, chance or hazard. And _Lyra_ upon Pro. xvi.
saith, To use Lots, is, by a variable event of some sensible thing,
to determine some doubtfull or uncertaine matter, as to draw cuts,
or to cast Dice. But, whether you will call Cards and Tables, Lots,
or no, you play with chance, or use Lotterie. Then, consider whether
exercise of wit doth sanctifie playing with lotterie, or playing with
lotterie make such exercising of wit a sinne (Hag. ii. 13, 14). For as
calling God to witness by vaine swearing, is a sinne, (2 Cor. i. 13) so
making God an umpire, by playing with lotterie, must needs be a sinne;
yea, such a sin as maketh the offender (in some respects) more blame
worthie. For there bee moe occasions of swearing than of lotterie.
Secondly, vaine othes most commonly slip out unawares, whereas lots
cannot be used but with deliberation. Thirdly, swearing is to satisfie
other, whereas this kind of lotterie is altogether to fulfil our own
lusts. Therefore, take heede, that you be not guiltie of perverting
the ordinance of the Lord, of taking the name of God in vaine, and of
tempting the Almightie, by a gamesome putting off things to hazard, and
making play of lotterie, except you thinke that God hath no government
in vaine actions, or hath dispensed with such lewd games.
_Professor._ In shooting, there is a chance, by a sudden blast, yet
shooting is no lotterie.
_Preacher._ It is true; for chance commeth by accident, and not of the
nature of the game, to be used.
_Professor._ Lots are secret, and the whole disposing of them is of God
(Pro. xvi. 33); but it is otherwise in tables and Cards.
_Preacher._ Lots are cast into the lap by man, and that openly, lest
conveiance should be suspected; but the disposing of the chance is
secret, that it may be chance indeed, and wholly of God, who directeth
all things (Prov. xvi. 13, 9, 33). So in Tables, man by faire casting
Dice truly made, and in Cards, by shuffling and cutting, doth openly
dispose the Dice and Cards so, as whereby a variable event may follow;
but it is only and immediately of God that the Dice bee so cast, and
the Cards so shuffled and cut, as that this or that game followeth,
except there be cogging and packing. So that, in faire play, man’s wit
is not exercised in disposing the chance, but in making the best of it,
being past.
_Professor._ The end of our play is recreation, and not to make God an
umpire; but recreation (no doubt) is lawfull.
_Preacher._ It may be the souldiers had no such end when they cast
lots for Christ his coate (Mat. xxvii. 25), but this should be your
end when you use lotterie, as the end of an oth should be, to call God
to witnesse. Therefore, as swearing, so lotterie, without due respect,
is sinne. Againe, howsoever recreation be your pretended end, yet,
remember that wee must not doe evill that good may come of it (Rom.
iii. 8). And that therefore we are to recreate ourselves by lawfull
recreations. Then see how Cardes and Tables be lawfull.
_Professor._ If they be not abused by swearing or brawling, playing for
too long time, or too much money.
_Preacher._ Though I am perswaded that it is not lawfull to play for
any money, considering that thankes cannot be given in faith for that
which is so gotten (Deut. xxiii. 18, Esa. lxi. 8) Gamesters worke not
with their hands the thing that is good, to be free from stealing
(Ephe. iv. 28), and the loser hath not answerable benefit for his money
so lost (Gen. xxix. 15) contrary to that equitie which Aristotle, by
the light of nature hath taught long since; yet I grant, if Cards
and Tables, so used as you speak, be lesse sinfull, but how they bee
lawfull I see not yet.
_Professor._ Good men, and well learned, use them.
_Preacher._ We must live by precept, not by examples, except they be
undoubtedly good. Therefore, examine whether they bee good and well
learned in doing so, or no. For every man may erre (Ro. iii. 4).
_Professor._ It is not good to be too just, or too wise (Eccl. vii. 18).
_Preacher._ It is not good to be too wise, or too foolish, in
despising the word of God (Prov. i. 22) and not regarding the weaknesse
of other (Rom. xiv. 21). Let us therefore beware that we love not
pleasure more than godlinesse (2 Tim. iii. 4).”
The following broadside, which was bought in the streets, about 1850,
is a copy of one which appeared in the newspapers about the year 1744,
when it was entitled “Cards Spiritualized.” The name of the soldier is
there stated to be one Richard Middleton, who attended divine service,
at a church in Glasgow, with the rest of the regiment.
“THE PERPETUAL ALMANACK, or SOLDIER’S PRAYER BOOK.
giving an Account of Richard Lane, a Private belonging to the 47th
Regiment of Foot, who was taken before the Mayor of the Town for
Playing at Cards during Divine Service.
The Sergeant commanded the Soldiers at Church, and when the Parson
had read the prayers, he took his text. Those who had a Bible, took it
out, but the Soldier had neither Bible nor Common Prayer Book, but,
pulling out a Pack of Cards he spread them before him. He, first,
looked at one card, and then at another: the Sergeant of the Company
saw him, and said, ‘Richard, put up the Cards, this is not the place
for them.’ ‘Never mind that,’ said Richard. When the service was
over, the Constable took Richard prisoner, and brought him before the
Mayor. ‘Well,’ says the Mayor, ‘what have you brought that Soldier
here for?’ ‘For playing Cards in church.’ ‘Well, Soldier, what have
you to say for yourself?’ ‘Much, I hope, Sir.’ ‘Very good; if not, I
will punish you more than ever man was punished.’ ‘I have been,’ said
the Soldier, ‘about six weeks on the march. I have had but little to
subsist on. I have neither Bible, nor Prayer Book—I have nothing but
a Pack of Cards, and I hope to satisfy your Worship of the purity of
my intentions.’ ‘Very good,’ said the Mayor. Then, spreading the cards
before the Mayor, he began with the Ace.
‘When I see the Ace, it reminds me that there is only one God.
When I see the Deuce, it reminds me of the Father and the Son.
When I see the Tray, it reminds me of Father, Son and Holy Ghost.
When I see the Four, it reminds me of the four Evangelists that
preached, viz., Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.
When I see the Five, it reminds me of the Five Wise Virgins that
trimmed their lamps. There were ten, but five were wise, and five
foolish, who were shut out.
When I see the Six, it reminds me that in Six days the Lord made Heaven
and Earth.
When I see the Seven, it reminds me that on the seventh day God rested
from the works which he had made, and hallowed it.
When I see the Eight, it reminds me of the eight righteous persons that
were saved when God drowned the world, viz., Noah and his wife, his
three sons and their wives.
When I see the Nine, it reminds me of the nine lepers that were
cleansed by our Saviour. There were ten, but nine never returned God
thanks.
When I see the Ten, it reminds me of the Ten Commandments, which God
handed down to Moses, on a table of stone.
When I see the King, it reminds me of the Great King of Heaven, which
is God Almighty.
When I see the Queen, it reminds me of the Queen of Sheba, who went
to hear the wisdom of Solomon; for she was as wise a woman as he was a
man. She brought with her fifty boys and fifty girls, all dressed in
boy’s apparel for King Solomon to tell which were boys, and which were
girls. King Solomon sent for water for them to wash themselves; the
girls washed to the elbows, and the boys only to the wrist, so King
Solomon told by that.’
‘Well,’ said the Mayor, ‘you have given a description of all the Cards
in the pack, except one.’ ‘Which is that?’ said the Soldier. ‘The
Knave,’ said the Mayor. ‘I will give your honour a description of
that, too, if you will not be angry.’ ‘I will not,’ said the Mayor,
‘if you will not term me to be the Knave.’ ‘Well,’ said the Soldier,
‘the greatest knave I know, is the constable that brought me here.’ ‘I
do not know,’ said the Mayor, ‘whether he is the greatest knave, but I
know he is the greatest fool.’
‘When I count how many spots there are in a pack of cards, I find 365,
as many days as there are in a year.[14]
When I count the number of cards in a pack, I find there are 52, as
many weeks as there are in a year.
When I count the tricks at Cards, I find 13, as many months as there
are in a year. So you see, Sir, the Pack of Cards serves for a Bible,
Almanack, and Common Prayer Book to me.’
The Mayor called for some bread and beef for the Soldier, gave him some
money, and told him to go about his business, saying that he was the
cleverest man he ever heard in his life.”
The origin of Playing Cards is involved in mystery, although the
Chinese claim to have invented them, saying that the Tien-Tsze, pae,
or dotted cards, now in use, were invented in the reign of Leun-ho,
A.D. 1120, for the amusement of his wives; and that they were in common
use in the reign of Kaow-Tsung, who ascended the throne A.D. 1131. The
generally received opinion is that they are of Oriental extraction, and
that they were brought into Europe by the gipsies, and were first used
in Spain. How, or when they were introduced into England, is not known.
In Anstis’s _History of the Order of the Garter_, vol. i., p. 307, is
to be found the earliest mention of Cards, if, indeed, the Four Kings
there mentioned are connected with Cards. The date would be 1278.
“This Enquiry touching the Title of Kings, calls to remembrance the
Plays forbidden the Clergy, denominated _Ludos de Rege et Regina_,
which might be _Cards_, _Chesse_, or the Game since used even to this
Age at _Christmas_, called _Questions and Commands_, and also that
Edward I. plaid _ad quatuor Reges_ (Wardrobe Rolls, 6 Ed. I, _Waltero
Storton ad opus Regis ad ludendum ad Quatuor Reges_ viii. s. v. d.)
which the Collector guesses might be the Game of Cards, wherein are
Kings of the four Suits; for he conceives this Play of some Antiquity,
because the term _Knave_, representing a Youth, is given to the next
Card in Consequence to the King and Queen, and is as it were the Son of
them, for, in this Sense this Word, Knave, was heretofore used; thus
_Chaucer_ saith, That _Alla_, King of _Northumberland_ begot a Knave
Child.”
The Hon. Daines Barrington, in a paper read by him to the Society of
Antiquaries, Feb. 23, 1786, after quoting Anstis, went on to say that
“Edward the First (when Prince of Wales) served nearly five years in
Syria, and, therefore, whilst military operations were suspended, must,
naturally, have wished for some sedentary amusements. Now the Asiatics
scarcely ever change their customs; and, as they play at Cards (though,
in many respects, different from ours), it is not improbable that
Edward might have been taught the game, _ad quatuor reges_, whilst he
continued so long in this part of the globe.
“If, however, this article in the Wardrobe account is not allowed to
allude to _playing cards_, the next writer who mentions the more early
introduction of them is P. Menestrier, who, from such another article
in the Privy purse expences of the Kings of France, says they were
provided for Charles VI. by his limner, after that King was deprived
of his senses in 1392. The entry is the following: ‘Donné a Jacquemin
Gringonneur, Peintre, pour _trois jeux_ de Cartes, a or et a diverses
couleurs, de plusieurs devises, pour porter vers le dit Seigneur Roi
pour son abatement, cinquante six sols Parisis.’”
Still supposing the game of “Four Kings” to have been a game at cards,
it seems strange that Chaucer, who was born fifty years afterwards,
should not have made some mention of Cards as a pastime, for, in his
_Franklin’s Tale_, he only mentions that “They dancen; and they play
at ches and tables.” The first authentic date we have of playing Cards
in England, shows that they had long been in use in 1463, and were
manufactured here, for, by an Act of Parliament (3 Edward IV. cap. 4),
the _importation_ of playing cards was forbidden.
We get an early notice of cards _temp_ Richard III. in the Paston
letters[15] from Margery Paston to John Paston, 24 Dec. 1484.
“_To my ryght worschipful husband John Paston._
Ryght worschipful husbond, I recomaund me onto you. Plese it you to
wete that I sent your eldest sunne to my Lady Morlee to have Knolage
wat sports wer husyd in her hows in Kyrstemesse next folloyng after
the decysse of my lord, her husbond; and sche seyd that ther wer non
dysgysyngs, ner harpyng, ner syngyn, ner non lowd dysports, but playing
at the tabyllys and schesse and cards. Sweche dysports sche gave her
folkys leve to play and non odyr.”
Royalty was occasionally given to gambling, and we find among the
private disbursements of Edward the Second such entries as:
“Item. paid to the King himself, to play at cross and pile, by the
hands of Richard de Meremoth, the receiver of the Treasury, Twelve
pence.
Item. paid there to Henry, the King’s barber, for money which he lent
to the King, to play at cross and pile, Five shillings.
Item. paid there to Peres Barnard, usher of the King’s chamber, money
which he lent to the King, and which he lost at cross and pile, to
Monsieur Robert Wattewylle, Eight pence.
Item. paid to the King himself, to play at cross and pile, by Peres
Barnard, two shillings, which the said Peres won of him.”
Also Royalty was fond of playing at cards, which, indeed, were popular
from the highest to the lowest; and we find that James IV. of Scotland
surprised his future bride, Margaret, sister to Henry VIII., when he
paid her his first visit, playing at cards.[16] “The Kynge came privily
to the said castell (of Newbattle) and entred within the chammer with
a small company, where he founde the quene playing at the cardes.”
And in the Privy purse expenses of Elizabeth of York, queen to Henry
VII., we find, under date of 1502: “Item. to the Quenes grace upon the
Feest of St Stephen for hure disporte at cardes this Christmas C.s.
(100 shillings).” Whilst to show their popularity in this reign, it
was enacted in 1494 (11 Hen. VII. c. 2), that no artificer labourer,
or servant, shall play at any unlawful game (cards included) but in
Christmas.
Shakespeare makes Henry VIII. play at Cards, for in his play of that
name (Act v. sc. i.) there occurs, “And left him at Primero with the
Duke of Suffolk”; whilst, in the _Merry Wives of Windsor_ (Act iv.
sc. 5), Falstaff says, “I never prosper’d since I forswore myself at
Primero.” Stow tells us how, in Elizabeth’s time, “from All Hallows
eve to the following Candlemas day, there was, among other sports,
playing at Cards for counters, nails, and points, in every house, more
for pastime than for gain.” When Mary was Princess, in her Privy Purse
expenses there are numerous entries of money given her wherewith to
play at cards.
CHAPTER II
Legislation as to Cards—Boy and sheep—Names of old games at Cards—
Gambling _temp._ Charles II.—Description of a gaming-house, 1669—Play
at Christmas—The Groom Porter—Royal gambling discontinued by George
III.—Gambling in church.
Legislation about Cards was thought necessary in Henry VIII.’s time,
for we see in 33 Hen. VIII., cap. 9, sec. xvi.: “Be it also enacted by
the authority aforesaid. That no manner of artificer, or craftsman of
any handicraft or occupation, husbandman, apprentice, labourer, servant
at husbandry, journeyman, or servant of artificer, mariners, fishermen,
watermen, or any serving man, shall from the said feast of the Nativity
of _St John Baptist_, play at the tables, tennis, dice, cards, bowls,
clash, coyting, logating, or any unlawful game, out of _Christmas_,
under the pain of xx s. to be forfeit for every time,” &c.—an edict
which was somewhat modified by sec. xxii., which provided “In what
cases servants may play at dice, cards, tables, bowls, or tennis.”
This interference with the amusements of the people did not lead to
good results, as Holinshed tells us (1526): “In the moneth of Maie
was a proclamation made against all unlawfull games, according to the
statute made in this behalfe, and commissions awarded to every shire
for the execution of the same; so that, in all places, tables, dice,
cards, and bouls were taken and burnt. Wherfore the people murmured
against the cardinall, saieing: that he grudged at everie man’s
plesure, saving his owne. But this proclamation small time indured.
For, when yong men were forbidden bouls and such other games, some fell
to drinking, some to feretting of other men’s conies, some to stealing
of deere in parks and other unthriftinesse.”
With the exception of the grumbles of the Elizabethan puritans, such
as Stubbes and others, we hear very little of card playing. Taylor,
the “Water Poet,” in his _Wit and Mirth_ gives a little story anent
it, and mentions a game now forgotten. “An unhappy boy that kept his
father’s sheepe in the country, did use to carry a paire[17] of Cards
in his pocket, and, meeting with boyes as good as himselfe, would fall
to cards at the Cambrian game of whip-her-ginny, or English One and
Thirty; at which sport, hee would some dayes lose a sheepe or two: for
which, if his father corrected him, hee (in revenge), would drive the
sheepe home at night over a narrow bridge, where some of them falling
besides the bridge, were drowned in the swift brooke. The old man,
being wearied with his ungracious dealing, complained to a Justice,
thinking to affright him from doing any more the like. In briefe,
before the Justice the youth was brought, where, (using small reverence
and lesse manners), the Justice said to him: Sirrah, you are a notable
villaine, you play at Cards, and lose your father’s sheepe at One and
Thirty. The Boy replied that it was a lye. A lye, quoth the Justice,
you saucy knave, dost thou give me the lye? No, qd the boy, I gave
thee not the lye, but you told me the lye, for I never lost sheepe
at One and Thirty; for, when my game was one and thirty, I alwayes
woune. Indeed, said the Justice, thou saist true, but I have another
accusation against thee, which is, that you drive your father’s sheepe
over a narrow bridge where some of them are oftentimes drowned. That’s
a lye, too, quoth the boy, for those that go over the bridge are well
enough, it is only those that fall beside which are drowned: Whereto
the Justice said to the boy’s father, Old man, why hast thou brought in
two false accusations against thy soune, for he never lost sheepe at
one and thirty, nor were there any drowned that went over the bridge.”
In _Taylor’s Motto_ the same author names many other games at cards
which were then in vogue:—
“The Prodigall’s estate, like to a flux,
The Mercer, Draper, and the Silk-man sucks;
The Taylor, Millainer, Dogs, Drabs and Dice,
They trip, or Passage, or the Most at thrice;
At Irish, Tick tacke, Doublets, Draughts, or Chesse
He flings his money free with carelessnesse:
At Novum, Mumchance, mischance (chuse ye which),
At One and Thirty, or at Poore and Rich,
Ruffe, Flam, Trump, Noddy, Whisk, Hole, Sant, New Cut,
Unto the keeping of foure Knaves, he’l put
His whole estate at Loadum, or at Gleeke,
At Tickle me quickly, he’s a merry Greeke,
At Primefisto, Post and Payre, Primero,
Maw, Whip-her-ginny, he’s a lib’rall Hero:
At My sow pigg’d; and (Reader, never doubt ye,
He’s skill’d in all games except), Looke about ye.
Bowles, Shove groate, Tennis, no game comes amiss,
His purse a purse for anybody is.”
Naturally, under the Puritans, card playing was anathema, and we hear
nothing about it, if we except the political satire by Henry Nevile,
which was published in 1659, the year after Cromwell’s death. It is
entitled “Shuffling, Cutting, and Dealing in a Game at Picquet: Being
acted from the Year 1653 to 1658 by O. P. [Oliver, Protector] and
others, with great applause. _Tempora mutantur et nos._” It is well
worth reading, but it is too long for reproduction here.
But, as soon as the King enjoyed his own again, dicing and card
playing were rampant, as Pepys tells us. “_7 Feb. 1661._ Among others
Mr Creed and Captain Ferrers tell me the stories of my Lord Duke of
Buckingham’s and my Lord’s falling out at Havre de Grace, at Cards;
they two and my Lord St Albans playing. The Duke did, to my Lord’s
dishonour, often say that he did, in his conscience, know the contrary
to what he then said, about the difference at Cards; and so did take
up the money that he should have lost to my Lord, which, my Lord
resenting, said nothing then, but that he doubted not but there were
ways enough to get his money of him. So they parted that night; and
my Lord sent Sir R. Stayner, the next morning, to the Duke, to know
whether he did remember what he said last night, and whether he would
owne it with his sword and a second; which he said he would, and so
both sides agreed. But my Lord St Albans, and the Queen, and Ambassador
Montagu did waylay them at their lodgings till the difference was made
up, to my Lord’s honour; who hath got great reputation thereby.”
“_17 Feb. 1667._ This evening, going to the Queene’s side,[18] to see
the ladies, I did find the Queene, the Duchesse of York, and another or
two, at cards, with a room full of great ladies and men, which I was
amazed at to see on a Sunday, having not believed it; but, contrarily,
flatly denied the same, a little while since, to my cousin Roger Pepys.”
“_1 Jan. 1668._ By and by I met with Mr Brisband; and having it in
my mind this Christmas to do what I never can remember that I did,
go to see the gaming at the Groome-Porter’s, I, having, in my coming
from the playhouse, stepped into the two Temple halls, and there saw
the dirty prentices and idle people playing, wherein I was mistaken in
thinking to have seen gentlemen of quality playing there, as I think it
was when I was a little child, that one of my father’s servants, John
Bassum, I think, carried me in his arms thither, where, after staying
an hour, they began to play at about eight at night; where, to see
how differently one man took his losing from another, one cursing and
swearing, and another only muttering and grumbling to himself, a third
without any apparent discontent at all: to see how the dice will run
good luck in one hand for half an hour together, and on another have
no good luck at all: to see how easily here, where they play nothing
but guinnys, a £100 is won or lost: to see two or three gentlemen come
in there drunk, and, putting their stock of gold together, one 22
pieces, the second 4, and the third 5 pieces; and these two play one
with another, and forget how much each of them brought, but he that
brought the 22 thinks that he brought no more than the rest: to see
the different humours of gamesters to change their luck, when it is
bad, to shift their places, to alter their manner of throwing, and that
with great industry, as if there was anything in it: to see how some
old gamesters, that have no money now to spend as formerly, do come
and sit and look on, and, among others, Sir Lewes Dives,[19] who was
here, and hath been a great gamester in his time: to hear their cursing
and damning to no purpose, as one man being to throw a seven, if he
could; and, failing to do it after a great many throws, cried he would
be damned if ever he flung seven more while he lived, his despair of
throwing it being so great, while others did it, as their luck served,
almost every throw: to see how persons of the best quality do here
sit down, and play with people of any, though meaner; and to see how
people in ordinary clothes shall come hither and play away 100, or 2,
or 300 guinnys, without any kind of difficulty; and, lastly, to see
the formality of the groome-porter, who is their judge of all disputes
in play, and all quarrels that may arise therein, and how his under
officers are there to observe true play at each table and to give new
dice, is a consideration I never could have thought had been in the
world had I not seen it. And mighty glad I am that I did see it, and,
it may be, will find another evening before Christmas be over, to see
it again, when I may stay later, for their heat of play begins not
till about eleven or twelve o’clock; which did give me another pretty
observation of a man that did win mighty fast when I was there. I think
he won £100 at single pieces in a little time. While all the rest
envied him his good fortune, he cursed it, saying, it come so early
upon me, for this fortune, two hours hence, would be worth something
to me, but then I shall have no such luck. This kind of prophane, mad
entertainment they give themselves. And so, I, having enough for once,
refusing to venture, though Brisband pressed me hard, and tempted me
with saying that no man was ever known to lose the first time, the
devil being too cunning to discourage a gamester, and he offered, also,
to lend me 10 pieces to venture; but I did refuse, and so went away.”
We get a good account of the Gaming-house of this period in “The Nicker
Nicked; or, the Cheats of Gaming Discovered” (1669), but as it closely
resembles Cotton’s account of an Ordinary, I only give a portion of it.
“If what has been said, will not make you detest this abominable kind
of life; will the almost certain loss of your money do it? I will
undertake to demonstrate that it is ten to one you shall be a loser at
the year’s end, with constant play upon the square. If, then, twenty
persons bring two hundred pounds a piece, which makes four thousand
pounds, and resolve to play, for example, three or four hours a day for
a year; I will wager the box shall have fifteen hundred pounds of the
money, and that eighteen out of the twenty persons shall be losers.
“I have seen (in a lower instance) three persons sit down at
Twelvepenny In and In, and each draw forty shillings a piece; and, in
little more than two hours, the box has had three pounds of the money;
and all the three gamesters have been losers, and laughed at for their
indiscretion.
“At an Ordinary, you shall scarce have a night pass without a quarrel,
and you must either tamely put up with an affront, or else be engaged
in a duel next morning, upon some trifling insignificant occasion,
pretended to be a point of honour.
“Most gamesters begin at small game; and, by degrees, if their money,
or estates, hold out, they rise to great sums; some have played, first
of all, their money, then their rings, coach and horses, even their
wearing clothes and perukes; and then, such a farm; and, at last,
perhaps, a lordship. You may read, in our histories,[20] how Sir Miles
Partridge played at Dice with King Henry the Eighth for Jesus Bells,
so called, which were the greatest in England, and hung in a tower of
St Paul’s Church; and won them; whereby he brought them to ring in his
pocket; but the ropes, afterwards, catched about his neck, for, in
Edward the Sixth’s days, he was hanged for some criminal offences.[21]
“Consider how many people have been ruined by play. Sir Arthur
Smithouse is yet fresh in memory: he had a fair estate, which in a few
years he so lost at play that he died in great want and penury. Since
that Mr Ba——, who was a Clerk in the Six Clerks Office, and well
cliented, fell to play, and won, by extraordinary fortune, two thousand
pieces in ready gold: was not content with that; played on; lost all he
had won, and almost all his own estate; sold his place in the office;
and, at last marched off to a foreign plantation to begin a new world
with the sweat of his brow. For that is commonly the destiny of a
decayed gamester, either to go to some foreign plantation, or to be
preferred to the dignity of a box-keeper.
“It is not denied, but most gamesters have, at one time or other, a
considerable run of winning, but, (such is the infatuation of play) I
could never hear of a man that gave over, a winner, (I mean to give
over so as never to play again;) I am sure it is a _rara avis_: for if
you once ‘break bulk,’ as they phrase it, you are in again for all.
Sir Humphrey Foster had lost the greatest part of his estate, and then
(playing, it is said, for a dead horse,) did, by happy fortune, recover
it again, then gave over, and wisely too.
“If a man has a competent estate of his own, and plays whether himself
or another man shall have it, it is extreme folly; if his estate be
small, then to hazard the loss even of that and reduce himself to
absolute beggary is direct madness. Besides, it has been generally
observed, that the loss of one hundred pounds shall do you more
prejudice in disquieting your mind than the gain of two hundred pounds
shall do you good, were you sure to keep it.”
The “Groom Porter” has been more than once mentioned in these pages.
He was formerly an officer of the Lord Steward’s department of the
Royal Household. When the office was first appointed is unknown, but
Henry Fitzalan, Earl of Arundel, Lord Chamberlain to Henry VIII. from
1526 to 1530, compiled a book containing the duties of the officers,
in which is set forth “the roome and service belonging to a groome
porter to do.” His business was to see the King’s lodgings furnished
with tables, chairs, stools, firing, rushes for strewing the floors,
to provide cards, dice, &c., and to decide disputes arising at dice,
cards, bowling, &c. The Groom Porter’s is referred to as a place of
excessive play in the seventeenth year of the reign of Henry VIII.
(1526), when it was directed that the privy chamber shall be “kept
honestly,” and that it “be not used by frequent and intemperate play,
as the Groom Porter’s house.”
Play at Court was lawful, and encouraged, from Christmas to Epiphany,
and this was the Groom Porter’s legitimate time. When the King felt
disposed, and it was his pleasure to play, it was the etiquette and
custom to announce to the company, that “His Majesty was out”; on which
intimation all Court ceremony and restraint were set aside, and the
sport commenced; and when the Royal Gamester had either lost, or won,
to his heart’s content, notice of the Royal pleasure to discontinue
the game was, with like formality, announced by intimation that
“His Majesty was at home,” whereupon play forthwith ceased, and the
etiquette and ceremony of the palace was resumed.
The fact of the Christmas gambling is noted in Jonson’s _Alchemist_—
“He will win you,
By irresistible luck, within this fortnight
Enough to buy a barony. This will set him
Upmost at the Groom Porter’s all the Christmas.”
We saw that Pepys visited the Groom Porter’s at Christmas, so also did
Evelyn.
“_6 Jan. 1662._ This evening, according to custom, his Majesty opened
the revels of that night, by throwing the dice himself in the privy
chamber, where was a table set on purpose, and lost his £100. (The
year before he won £1500.) The ladies, also, played very deep. I came
away when the Duke of Ormond had won about £1000, and left them still
at passage, cards, &c. At other tables, both there and at the Groom
Porter’s, observing the wicked folly and monstrous excess of passion
amongst some losers: sorry am I that such a wretched custom as play to
that excess should be countenanced in a Court, which ought to be an
example of virtue to the rest of the kingdom.”
“_8 Jan. 1668._ I saw deep and prodigious gaming at the Groom Porter’s,
vast heaps of gold squandered away in a vain and profuse manner. This I
looked on as a horrid vice, and unsuitable to a Christian Court.”
In the reign of James II. the Groom Porter’s was still an institution,
and so it was in William III.’s time, for we read in _The Flying Post_,
No. 573, Jan. 10-13, 1699. “Friday last, being Twelf-day, the King,
according to custom, plaid at the Groom Porter’s; where, we hear,
Esqre. Frampton[22] was the greatest gainer.”
In Queen Anne’s time he was still in evidence, as we find in the
_London Gazette_, December 6-10, 1705. “Whereas Her Majesty, by her
Letters Patent to Thomas Archer, Esqre., constituting him Her Groom
Porter, hath given full power to him and such Deputies as he shall
appoint to supervise, regulate and authorize (by and under the Rules,
Conditions, and Restrictions by the Law prescribed,) all manner of
Gaming within this Kingdom. And, whereas, several of Her Majesty’s
Subjects, keeping Plays or Games in their Houses, have been lately
abused, and had Moneys extorted from them by several ill disposed
Persons, contrary to Law. These are, therefore, to give Notice, That
no Person whatsoever, not producing his Authority from the said Groom
Porter, under Seal of his Office, hath any Power to act anything under
the said Patent. And, to the end that all such Persons offending
as aforesaid, may be proceeded against according to Law, it is
hereby desired, that Notice be given of all such Abuses to the said
Groom Porter, or his Deputies, at his Office, at Mr Stephenson’s, a
Scrivener’s House, over against Old Man’s Coffee House, near Whitehall.”
We get a glimpse of the Groom Porters of this reign in Mrs Centlivre’s
play of _The Busy Body_:
“_Sir Geo. Airy._ Oh, I honour Men of the Sword; and I presume this
Gentleman is lately come from Spain or Portugal—by his Scars.
“_Marplot._ No, really, Sir George, mine sprung from civil Fury:
Happening last night into the Groom porter’s—I had a strong
inclination to go ten Guineas with a sort of a—sort of a—kind of a
Milk Sop, as I thought: a Pox of the Dice, he flung out, and my Pockets
being empty, as Charles knows they sometimes are, he prov’d a Surly
North Briton, and broke my face for my deficiency.”
Both George I. and George the Second played at the Groom Porter’s at
Christmas. In the first number of the _Gentleman’s Magazine_, we read
how George II. and his Queen spent their Epiphany. “Wednesday, Jan. 5,
1731. This being Twelfth Day ... their Majesties, the Prince of Wales,
and the three eldest Princesses, preceded by the Heralds, &c., went to
the Chapel Royal, and heard divine Service. The King and Prince made
the Offerings at the Altar, of Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh, according
to Custom. At night, their Majesties &c. play’d at _Hazard_, for the
benefit of the Groom Porter, and ‘twas said the King won 600 Guineas,
and the Queen 360, Princess Amelia 20, Princess Caroline 10, the Earl
of Portmore and the Duke of Grafton, several thousands.” And we have
a similar record in _the Grub Street Journal_ under date of 7 Jan.,
1736. The Office of Groom Porter was abolished during the reign of
George III. probably in 1772, for in the _Annual Register_ for that
year, under date 6 Jan., it says: “Their Majesties not being accustomed
to play at Hazard, ordered a handsome gratuity to the Groom Porter;
and orders were given, that, for the future, there be no card playing
amongst the servants.”
Card playing was justifiable, and legal, at Christmas. An ordinance
for governing the household of the Duke of Clarence, in the reign of
Edward IV., forbade all games at dice, cards, or other hazard for
money _except during the twelve days at Christmas_. And, again, in the
reign of Henry VII., an Act was passed against unlawful games, which
expressly forbids artificers, labourers, servants, or apprentices to
play at any such, _except at Christmas_: and, at some of the Colleges,
Cards are introduced into the Combination Rooms, during the twelve days
of Christmas, but never appear there during the remainder of the year.
Kirchmayer[23] gives a curious custom of gambling in church on
Christmas day:
“Then comes the day wherein the Lorde
did bring his birth to passe;
Whereas at midnight up they rise,
and every man to Masse.
The time so holy counted is,
that divers earnestly
Do think the waters all to wine
are changed sodainly;
In that same house that Christ himselfe
was borne, and came to light,
And unto water streight againe
transformde and altred quight.
There are beside that mindfully
the money still do watch
That first to aultar commes, which then
they privily do snatch.
The priestes, least others should it have,
take oft the same away,
Whereby they thinke, throughout the yeare
to have good luck in play,
And not to lose: then straight at game
till daylight they do strive,
To make some pleasant proofe how well
their hallowed pence will thrive.
Three Masses every priest doth sing
upon that solemne day,
With offerings unto every one,
that so the more may play.”
CHAPTER III
Gambling, early 18th Century—Mrs Centlivre—E.
Ward—Steele—Pope—Details of a gaming-house—Grub St. Journal
on Gambling—Legislation on gambling—Peeresses as gaming-house
keepers—A child played for at cards—Raids on gaming-houses—Fielding.
But to return to the Chronology of Gambling. From the Restoration of
Charles II. to the time of Anne, gambling was common; but in the reign
of this latter monarch, it either reached a much higher pitch, or else,
in that Augustan Age of Literature, we hear more about it. Any way, we
only know what we read about it. In the epilogue to Mrs Centlivre’s
play of _the Gamester_, published in 1705, the audience is thus
addressed:
“You Roaring Boys, who know the Midnight Cares
Of Rattling Tatts,[24] ye Sons of Hopes and Fears;
Who Labour hard to bring your Ruin on,
And diligently toil to be undone;
You’re Fortune’s sporting Footballs at the best,
Few are his Joys, and small the Gamester’s Rest:
Suppose then, Fortune only rules the Dice,
And on the Square you Play; yet, who that’s Wise
Wou’d to the Credit of a Faithless Main
Trust his good Dad’s hard-gotten hoarded Gain?
But, then, such Vultures round a Table wait,
And, hovering, watch the Bubble’s sickly State;
The young fond Gambler, covetous of more,
Like _Esop’s_ Dog, loses his certain Store.
Then the Spung squeez’d by all, grows dry,—And, now,
Compleatly Wretched, turns a Sharper too;
These Fools, for want of Bubbles, too, play Fair,
And lose to one another on the Square.
* * * * *
This Itch for Play, has, likewise, fatal been,
And more than _Cupid_, drawn the Ladies in,
A Thousand Guineas for _Basset_ prevails,
A Bait when Cash runs low, that seldom fails;
And, when the Fair One can’t the Debt defray,
In Sterling Coin, does Sterling Beauty pay.”
Ward, in a Satire called _Adam and Eve stript of their furbelows_,
published in 1705, has an Article on the Gambling lady of the period,
entitled, _Bad Luck to him that has her; Or, The Gaming Lady_, of which
the following is a portion:
“When an unfortunate Night has happen’d to empty her Cabinet ... her
Jewels are carry’d privately into _Lumbard Street_, and Fortune is
to be tempted the next Night with another Sum borrow’d of my Lady’s
Goldsmith at the Extortion of a Pawnbroker; and, if that fails, then
she sells off her Wardrobe, to the great Grief of her Maids; stretches
her Credit amongst those she deals with, pawns her Honour to her
Intimates, or makes her Waiting-Woman dive into the Bottom of her
Trunk, and lug out her green Net Purse, full of old _Jacobus’s_, which
she has got in her Time by her Servitude, in Hopes to recover her
Losses by a Turn of Fortune, that she may conceal her bad Luck from the
Knowledge of her Husband: But she is generally such a Bubble to some
Smock fac’d Gamester, who can win her Money first, carry off the Loser
in a Hackney Coach, and kiss her into a good humour before he parts
with her, that she is generally driven to the last Extremity, and then
forc’d to confess all to her forgiving Spouse, who, either thro’ his
fond Affection, natural Generosity, or Danger of Scandal, supplies her
with Money to redeem her Moveables, buy her new Apparel, and to pay her
Debts upon Honour, that her Ladyship may be _in Statu quo_; in which
Condition she never long continues, but repeats the same Game over and
over, to the End of the Chapter: For she is so strangely infatuated
with the Itch of Card Playing, that she makes the Devil’s Books her
very _Practice of Piety_; and, were she at her Parish Church, in the
Height of her Devotion, should any Body, in the Interim, but stand at
the Church Door, and hold up the _Knave of Clubs_, she would take it
to be a Challenge at _Lanctre Loo_; and, starting from her Prayers,
would follow her beloved _Pam_, as a deluded Traveller does an _Ignis
fatuus_.”
No. 120 of _the Guardian_ (July 29, 1713), by Steele, is devoted to
female Gambling as it was in the time of Queen Anne, and the following
is a portion of it:
“Their _Passions_ suffer no less by this Practice than their
Understandings and Imaginations. What Hope and Fear, Joy and Anger,
Sorrow and Discontent break out all at once in a fair Assembly upon
So noble an Occasion as that of turning up a Card? Who can consider
without a Secret Indignation that all those Affections of the Mind
which should be consecrated to their Children, Husbands and Parents,
are thus vilely prostituted and thrown away upon a Hand at Loo. For my
own part, I cannot but be grieved when I see a fine Woman fretting and
bleeding inwardly from such trivial Motives; when I behold the Face of
an Angel agitated and discomposed by the Heart of a Fury.
“Our Minds are of such a Make, that they, naturally, give themselves
up to every Diversion to which they are much accustomed, and we always
find that Play, when followed with Assiduity, engrosses the whole
Woman, She quickly grows uneasie in her own Family, takes but little
Pleasure in all the domestick, innocent, Endearments of Life, and grows
more fond of _Pamm_ than of her Husband. My friend _Theophrastus_, the
best of Husbands and of Fathers, has often complained to me, with Tears
in his Eyes, of the late Hours he is forced to keep, if he would enjoy
his Wife’s Conversation. When she returns to me with Joy in her Face,
it does not arise, says he, from the Sight of her Husband, but from
the good Luck she has had at Cards. On the contrary, says he, if she
has been a Loser, I am doubly a Sufferer by it. She comes home out of
humour, is angry with every Body, displeased with all I can do, or say,
and, in Reality, for no other Reason but because she has been throwing
away my Estate. What charming Bedfellows and Companions for Life, are
Men likely to meet with, that chuse their Wives out of such Women of
Vogue and Fashion? What a Race of Worthies, what Patriots, what Heroes,
must we expect from Mothers of this Make?
“I come, in the next Place, to consider all the ill Consequences which
Gaming has on the _Bodies_ of our Female Adventurers. It is so ordered
that almost everything which corrupts the Soul, decays the Body. The
Beauties of the Face and Mind are generally destroyed by the same
means. This Consideration should have a particular Weight with the
Female World, who were designed to please the Eye, and attract the
Regards of the other half of the Species. Now, there is nothing that
wears out a fine Face like the Vigils of the Card Table, and those
cutting Passions which naturally attend them. Hollow Eyes, haggard
Looks, and pale Complexions, are the natural Indications of a Female
Gamester. Her Morning Sleeps are not able to repair her Midnight
Watchings. I have known a Woman carried off half dead from _Bassette_,
and have, many a time grieved to see a Person of Quality gliding by me,
in her Chair, at two a Clock in the Morning, and looking like a Spectre
amidst a flare of Flambeaux. In short, I never knew a thorough paced
Female Gamester hold her Beauty two Winters together.
“But there is still another Case in which the Body is more endangered
than in the former. All Play Debts must be paid in Specie, or by an
Equivalent. The Man who plays beyond his Income, pawns his Estate; the
Woman must find out something else to Mortgage when her Pin Money is
gone. The Husband has his Lands to dispose of, the Wife, her Person.”
Almost all writers of the time note and deplore the gambling
propensity of Ladies: and Pope, in his _Rape of the Lock_ (Canto III.),
gives us a picture of a gambling lady, and a graphic description of the
game of _Ombre_, which was played in the afternoon:—
“Meanwhile declining from the Noon of Day,
The Sun obliquely shoots his burning Ray;
The hungry Judges soon the Sentence sign,
And Wretches hang, that Jury-men may Dine;
The Merchant from th’ _Exchange_ returns in Peace,
And the long Labours of the _Toilette_ cease—
_Belinda_ now, whom Thirst of Fame invites,
Burns to encounter two adventrous Knights,
At _Ombre_ singly to decide their Doom;
And swells her Breast with Conquests yet to come.
Strait the three Bands prepare in Arms to join,
Each Band the number of the Sacred Nine.
Soon as she spreads her Hand, th’ Aerial Guard
Descend, and sit on each important Card:
First, _Ariel_ perch’d upon a _Matadore_,
Then each, according to the Rank they bore;
For _Sylphs_, yet mindful of their ancient Race,
Are, as when Women, wondrous fond of Place.
Behold, four _Kings_ in Majesty rever’d,
With hoary Whiskers and a forky Beard;
And four fair _Queens_ whose hands sustain a Flow’r,
Th’ expressive Emblem of their softer Pow’r;
Four _Knaves_ in Garbs succinct, a trusty Band,
Caps on their heads, and Halberds in their hand;
And Particolour’d Troops, a shining Train,
Draw forth to Combat on the Velvet Plain.
The skilful Nymph reviews her Force with Care,
_Let Spades be Trumps_, she said, and Trumps they were.
Now move to War her Sable _Matadores_,
In Show, like Leaders of the swarthy _Moors_.
_Spadillo_ first, unconquerable Lord!
Led off two captive Trumps, and swept the Board.
As many more _Manillio_ forc’d to yield,
And march’d a Victor from the verdant Field.
Him _Basto_ follow’d, but his Fate, more hard,
Gain’d but one Trump and one Plebeian Card.
With his broad Sabre, next, a Chief in Years,
The hoary Majesty of _Spades_ appears;
Puts forth one manly Leg, to sight reveal’d;
The rest, his many-colour’d Robe conceal’d.
The Rebel-_Knave_, that dares his Prince engage,
Proves the just Victim of his Royal Rage.
Ev’n mighty _Pam_, that Kings and Queens o’erthrew,
And mow’d down Armies in the Fights of _Loo_,
Sad Chance of War! now, destitute of Aid,
Falls undistinguish’d by the Victor Spade!
Thus far, both Armies to _Belinda_ yield;
Now, to the _Baron_ Fate inclines the Field.
His warlike _Amazon_ her Host invades,
Th’ Imperial Consort of the Crown of _Spades_.
The _Club’s_ black Tyrant first her Victim dy’d,
Spite of his haughty Mien, and barb’rous Pride:
What boots the Regal Circle on his Head,
His Giant Limbs in State unwieldy spread?
That, long behind, he trails his pompous Robe,
And, of all Monarchs, only grasps the Globe.
The _Baron_, now his _Diamonds_ pours apace;
Th’ embroider’d _King_ who shows but half his Face,
And his refulgent _Queen_, with Pow’rs combin’d,
Of broken Troops an easie Conquest find.
_Clubs_, _Diamonds_, _Hearts_, in wild Disorder seen,
With Throngs promiscuous strow the level Green.
Thus, when dispers’d, a routed Army runs,
Of _Asia’s_ Troops, and _Africk’s_ Sable Sons;
With like Confusion different Nations fly,
In various Habits, and of various Dye,
The pierc’d Battalions dis-united fall
In Heaps on Heaps; one Fate o’erwhelms them all.
The _Knave_ of _Diamonds_ now exerts his Arts,
And wins (oh, shameful Chance!) the _Queen_ of _Hearts_.
At this, the Blood the Virgin’s Cheek forsook,
A livid Paleness spreads o’er all her Look;
She sees, and trembles at th’ approaching Ill,
Just in the Jaws of Ruin, and _Codille_.
And now, (as oft in some distemper’d State)
On one nice _Trick_ depends the gen’ral Fate,
An _Ace_ of _Hearts_ steps forth; The _King_, unseen,
Lurk’d in her Hand, and mourn’d his captive _Queen_.
He springs to Vengeance with an eager Pace,
And falls like Thunder on the prostrate _Ace_.
The Nymph exulting, fills with Shouts the Sky,
The Walls, the Woods, and long Canals reply.”
Things did not improve in the next reign, for Malcolm tells us, that
gaming was dreadfully prevalent in 1718, which might be demonstrated
by the effect of one night’s search by the Leet Jury of Westminster,
who presented no less than thirty-five houses to the Justices for
prosecution. And in the reign of George II. we have numerous notices of
gambling: and the first number of the _Gentleman’s Magazine_ in 1731
gives for the information of its readers the following list of officers
established in the most notorious gaming houses:—
“1. A _Commissioner_, always a Proprietor, who looks in of a Night,
and the Week’s Accompt is audited by him, and two others of the
Proprietors.—2. A _Director_, who superintends the Room.—3. An
_Operator_, who deals the Cards at a cheating Game, called _Faro_.—4.
Two _Crowpees_,[25] who watch the Cards, and gather the Money for
the Bank.—5. Two _Puffs_, who have Money given them to decoy others
to play.—6. A _Clerk_, who is a Check upon the Puffs, to see that
they sink none of the Money that is given them to play with.—7. A
_Squib_, is a Puff of a lower Rank, who serves at half Salary, while
he is learning to deal.—8. A _Flasher_, to swear how often the Bank
has been stript.—9. A _Dunner_, who goes about to recover Money lost
at Play.—10. A _Waiter_, to fill out Wine, snuff Candles, and attend
in the Gaming Room.—11. An _Attorney_, a _Newgate_ Solicitor.—12.
A _Captain_, who is to fight a Gentleman that is peevish at losing
his money.—13. An _Usher_, who lights Gentlemen up and down Stairs,
and gives the Word to the Porter.—14. A _Porter_, who is, generally,
a Soldier of the Foot Guards.—15. An _Orderly Man_, who walks 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 is to get Intelligence of the Justices meeting.—17. _Linkboys_,
_Coachmen_, _Chairmen_, _Drawers_, _or others_, who bring the first
Intelligence of the Justices Meetings, or, of the Constables being out,
at Half a Guinea Reward.—18. _Common Bail Affidavit Men_, _Ruffians_,
_Bravoes_, _Assassins_, cum multis aliis.”
We have read before (p. 49) of the King’s gambling at the Groom
Porter’s on 5 Jan. 1731, but, to show the fairness and equality of
the law, I will give the very next paragraph: “At Night (5 Jan.) Mr
_Sharpless_, High Constable of _Holborn_ Division, with several of his
petty Constables, searched a notorious Gaming House behind _Gray’s Inn
Walks_, by Vertue of a Warrant from the Right Hon. Lord _Delawar_, and
eleven other of his Majesty’s Justices of the Peace for the County of
_Middlesex_; but the Gamesters, having previous Notice, they all fled,
except the Master of the House, who was apprehended, and bound in a
Recognizance of £200 penalty, pursuant to the old Statute of 33 Hen.
VIII.”
The _Grub Street Journal_ of 28 Dec. 1733, gives a practical hint how
to utilise Gambling: “Dear _Bavy_.—As Gaming is becoming fashionable,
and the Increase of the Poor a general Complaint, I propose to have a
Poor’s Box fix’d up in some convenient Place in every House, which may
contain all Money that shall be won at Cards, or any other Games; and
that a proper Person be appointed in every Parish to keep the Key, and
to collect Weekly from each House what has been dropt into the Box,
in order to distribute it among the poor, every _Sunday_. A Friend of
mine, being obliged to play pretty high in a Family, where he visited,
had, generally, Luck on his Side. In some time, the Master of the
Family became extreamly embarrass’d in the World. My Friend, being
acquainted with it, and touch’d with so moving a Circumstance, went
home, and, opening a Drawer where he had deposited the Winnings brought
from his House, repaid him; thereby, he retrieved his Credit, and
whereby the whole Family was saved from Ruin.—Yours &c., JEREMY HINT.”
Another letter in the same Journal, 2 Sept. 1736, shows how the canker
of gambling was surely eating into the very heart of the nation. It
is _à propos_ of private Gaming Houses. “I beg leave, through your
Means, to make a few Remarks upon the great Encrease of a Vice, which,
if not timely prevented, will end in the Ruin of the young and unwary
of both Sexes; I mean, Play in private Houses, and more particularly
that artful and cheating _Game_ of _Quadrille_. It is the constant
business of the _Puffs_ who belong to the Gaming Societies, to make
a general Acquaintance, and, by a Volubility of Tongue, to commend
Company and Conversation: to advise young People, or those who have
but lately come to Town, to improve themselves in the _Beau Monde_.
The young and unwary, thro’ their Inexperience, greedily swallow this
Advice, and deliver themselves up to the Conduct of these Harpies who
swarm in every Corner, where Visiting is in Fashion: by whom they are
introduced into these polite Families, and taught to lose their Money
and Reputation in a genteel Manner. These Societies consist mostly of
two or three insignificant old Maids, the same number of gay Widows; a
batter’d old Beau or two, who, in King William’s time, were the Pink
of the Mode: The Master of the House, some decay’d Person of a good
Family, made use of merely as a Cypher to carry on the Business, by
having the Honour to be marry’d to the Lady, who, to oblige her Friends
and People of good Fashion only, suffers her House to be made use of
for these Purposes. In these places it is that young Ladies of moderate
Fortunes are drawn in, to the infallible Ruin of their Reputations; and
when, by false Cards, Slipping, Signs, and Crimp, they are stript of
their last Guinea, their wretched companions will not know them. Any
one acquainted with the West End of the Town cannot but have observed
all this with Regret, if they have Honour and Compassion in them. Nor
need I mention the West End only. I believe all Points of the Compass
are infected, and it were to be wished a Remedy could be found out to
prevent it.”
An attempt to remedy this state of things was made, in 1739, by
passing “an Act for the more efficient preventing of excessive and
deceitful gaming” (12 Geo. II. c. 28), which provided that the Person
that keeps a house, or other place, to game in, forfeits £200, half to
the prosecutor, and half to the poor of the parish, except at Bath,
where the half goes to poor in the Hospital. Lotteries, Sales, Shares
in Houses to be determined by Lottery, Raffle, &c., are under this Act,
the Lands, Houses, &c. forfeited. All persons gaming in the places
aforesaid, or adventurers in Lotteries, on conviction forfeit £50. The
games forbidden are Ace of Hearts, Faro, Basset and Hazard, except in
Royal Palaces. Justices of Peace refusing to act and convict on this
Act forfeit £10.
But this Act did not go far enough, and it was amended by the 18 Geo.
II. c. 34. The Journals of the House of Lords have a curious story to
tell about this Act.
“_Dies Lunæ_, _29 Aprilis 1745_. The House (according to Order) was
adjourned during Pleasure, and put into Committee upon the Bill
intituled ‘An Act to amend, explain, and make more effectual, the Laws
in being, to prevent excessive and deceitful Gaming: and to restrain
and prevent the excessive Increase of Horse Races.’
After some time the House was resumed.
And the Earl of Warwick reported from the said Committee that they had
gone through the Bill, and made some Amendments thereto; which he would
be ready to report, when the House will please to receive the same.
Ordered. That the Report be received to-morrow.
The House being informed ‘That Mr Burdus, Chairman of the Quarter
Sessions for the City and Liberty of Westminster, Sir Thomas de Veil,
and Mr Lane, Chairman of the Quarter Sessions for the County of
Middlesex, were at the door.’
They were called in, and, at the Bar, severally gave an account that
claims of privilege of Peerage were made, and insisted on, by the
Ladies Mordington and Casselis, in order to intimidate the peace
officers from doing their duty in suppressing the public gaming houses
kept by the said Ladies.
And the said Burdus thereupon delivered in an instrument in writing,
under the hand of the said Lady Mordington, containing the claim she
made of privilege for her officers and servants employed by her in the
said gaming house.
And then they were directed to withdraw.
And the said Instrument was read, as follows:—