MADNESS.—This dreadful CANINE malady, with its consequences, when
communicated to the human frame, will be found enlarged upon under the
head DOG in the first Volume.
MAIN.—The main is a principal term used in the fashionable and
_destructive_ nocturnal game of HAZARD, at which so many immense
fortunes have been squandered away, and so very few realized. The person
who is the holder of the BOX containing a PAIR of DICE, being _set_ by
an individual, or any part of the company, what money he, or they, may
propose, and the money staked, (or, as it is _technically_ called,
_covered_,) he, the CASTER, (that is, the _holder_ of the box,) shaking
the dice, throws them out upon the table: if the surface of both display
a number above _four_, and not over _nine_, that number is then publicly
announced "the MAIN" by the GROOM PORTER, (who is the officiating
attendant upon the company and the game;) but the Caster throwing
_under_ four, or _over_ nine, at the first throw, it is then called
aloud, "No main;" and the Caster repeats his throw till a number appears
between _four_ and _ten_, whenever which happens, (as for instance,
_eight_,) the Groom Porter instantly vociferates, "Eight is the main,
eight;" and it is called the MAIN, because it is the _main_ for the
_company_ against the next throw of the CASTER, which is called the
CHANCE; as being _his own_ against the main previously thrown, and by
both which the CASTER and the SETTERS must abide, when main and chance
are thrown; though either party may _draw_ their _money_, upon not
approving or fancying the main, provided they declare it before the
_chance_ is _thrown_. The Caster throwing _eight_ or _twelve_, the very
next throw to the main of eight, is said to "nick it," and wins the
money. If he throws SEVEN for a MAIN, and immediately follows it with
another seven, or an eleven, he nicks again, and wins likewise. Six and
twelve are a nick to six; five and nine nick themselves, and win when
they follow in succession, as described of _eight_. If, after throwing
the main, the CASTER at the _next_ throw produces _under four_, they are
called CRABS; he then loses, and his box-hand is said to be out, and he
passes it to his next neighbour; when bets are made round the table
according to fancy; some that the "Caster throws in;" others, that "he
throws out;" exclusive of the constantly standing business, of SETTING
the CASTER what money he requires before he throws a main; when which,
and the chance, are both thrown, and declared by the Porter, the odds
are _laid_ and _taken_ in every part of the room, as opinion may prompt,
or judgment dictate. These odds are regulated upon a scale of equity,
from which there can be no departure; it being an invariable principle
of the game, that any person laying an unfair bet, or deviating from the
_fixed odds_, can never win. Every minute particular of the game cannot
be reduced to paper here, or indeed perfectly understood from theory;
but a farther elucidation will be found under its proper head, HAZARD.
MAIN OF COCKS.—When two parties, whether individuals, or an aggregate
composed of gentlemen in one county, agreeing to fight a COCK-MATCH with
an individual, or the gentlemen of another, the MATCH invariably
consists of an _odd_ number of BATTLES; as twenty-one, thirty-one, or
forty-one; which match once made, and the cocks weighed, is then called
a MAIN of COCKS: when fought, and finished, the winner of the ODD battle
(or _more_ a-head) is the winner of the main. Whenever a MATCH is made
between parties of respectability and honour, the following agreement is
drawn up, and reciprocally entered into.