The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1826-10-31 00:00:00

GAMBLING IN HIGH LIFE.

The following account of an affair which has csuso
much noise is from a Sunday Paper :-
1 About a month ago, or rather less, a Captain, with a big 0, fire
shall not give the names in full this week, for reasons which we shall
hereafter explain,) focused en aegaaiwlanee with a young gentleman
who is Verge, and a yaw Mreai that time of maturity. They hej
previously met in the society eases or two mutual friends, et ham
descriptions,
sahnipds.cmlin.
dinners, the opera, and the theatres. The young gentleman is the
wacrthosftaanldaintegt7comtenmsivereciaWledepirndecilaatillo7r dieevtoloraiedwhwupeonPlTisPertheir;tnoptan.
amount of one hundred thousand pounds in the fends, and nearly a,
gemuncthininteremeoTaniineretriat sec.
iunttilt,ieesfoofrndliffoerf Inztepdiez.l.p
The
t gentleman had not been reared to lousiness—his health being deli.
1 ate, and his habits inactive and inobtrusive. Upon coming of age.
however, he stepped out a little, and did show off but rather c
ard
pair, but no establishment, his residence being in the hotels of
Boflel.street, and sornetimeiln the Albany. The Captain with the
big 0 did at last "bring him out," but only Seer, and then, as s e
Chrmrirle truly ears, at a dinner party at a tavern, at the foot
oi
Richmond-hill. The company consisted of, not two Irish Earl-,
but an Irish Marquis, recently married to the beautiful and arrow.
plished daughter of a great orator, if nut Statesman, in the Coo:.
mons House of Parli amens. This Marquis, though under thirty
Iyears of age, Is already well known to the fashionable circles at the
west end of the town ; he is fond of horses, fond of show, and fond.
very fond, of play ; ar,d, since his marriage, aimed a little at being
trained to diplomacy—at all events, to official life; and, to quality
himself, did promise to abstain from some accustomed pursuits,
and pass a little more time in • well-furoished library. He is a
Marquis of great family pride, and boasts of an ancient lineage, the
traces of which are lost in the antiquity of Irish history. The
second of the company is an Iridi Lad, very young (being only
just of age). hardly known in London, inheriting a very small for-
tune ; Ina family having mostly sought refuge in the church, but
very full of " old Irish pride," as an ancestor of his was a popular
Hibernian King, who fell in battle, and whose same has been
chanted in dirges from Carotin to Moore.
The third party is a Commoner (not an Irishman) lately returned
for an English borough, already of sufficient notoriety for its elm.
muter of representatien, without this addition to its fame—the vs.
lidity of its last return remains to be settled by an Election Con:.
mittee in the New Parliament. The fourth in company, except
the loser, is the big 0, who is no Member of Parliament, though
an active, and, occasionally, very bustling man in the sporting, in.
Jutting the milling world.
They sat down to dinner at half-past five o'clock; the fare was
sumptuous, the wines abundant, and of the rarest vintage. The
parties quaffed freely, but young Belmar (if the name,I heir
will allow us to designate him by that appropriate although
his proper cognomen begins wi;li the preceding letter in the alpha.
bet) more liberally than all the rest. When 8 o'clock struck, a
pack of cards was accidentally observed over the mantelpiece, and
they were, half earnest, half.fun, opened and tossed upon the table.
Sonic small bets were made by the three principal members of the
company, upon turning up particular cards; and a little by-play,
in the way of jugglers' tricks, was taught young Brkuer. A game
was at length baldly hinted ; there were just live present, and the
odd man (poor Helaine, for he being neither Marquis, Earl, ('orn.
moner, nor Captain, was, according to etiquette, counted last) was
destined to have the hick ! They played at first for pence (mean.
ing pounds), the cash was on the table after every game, and the
bumpers were called 'to ' the winner, that the social purpose for
which the company had met should not be waved by the acci-
dental interposition of the cards, which, somehow or other, had
leaped front the mantel-piece. Belinnir won and drank. and
exclaimed that the odd man's luck was true enough; but " pass.
ing strange," though true, for that though he knew so little of
the game, the chances fell to him involuntarily and spontaneously.
11/cll, that was as it should be ; Fortune was a fickle goddess
and blind, and sometimes left her favourites, as Venus did t:er
lovers, for new faces. Belronr at length lost one or two bets—they
were for pence, and paid on the instant, out of leek at the table.—
At length the title turned against him, and he lost what be had
previously won, end some 501. or 1001. note additional, which lie
had in his purse; still lie remained at the table; the coronets first
began to dance round him, then the tables to spin upon their own
centre, and there was no ace upon the cards, or else his eyes saw
double. The film at lergth thickened, and he fell asleep in his
chair. Tole cards were speedily cast aside, and cursed for coming
there, the bill paid, and while the waiter was receiving I is money,
an account of profit and loss at the card table was made out, in
which Belronr was debited 10,4001; but to make the accown
round numbers, the hundreds were struck off, and separate memo.
tandems made out of each man's share of the winnings ; these were
denied by the loser, so that as he had not denied his hand-s citing,
he must have been awakened into a condition to write his name fogy
times upon as many pieces of paper, and without blotting or d:.
facing the memorandums.
Thu burness done, the company returned in the job carriage
with four horses lo which they act out, and Brlenur was set down
at his hotel. Ile was unable to reach his chamber without assist.
new, and the rest of the coach company either were, or affected to
be, in the same condition. They talked loud, blustered, and stag-
gered again to their vehicle, from which, however, only two besides
the loser alighted.
Morning nillows the night of battle as of a tempest, and the sun
is often as serene as if' no i load had fallen on the snow, or vessel
sunk Into the deep. Equally serene and equally cheerful did the
Captain make his appearance at Brleour's breakfast table, at
twelve o'clock on the following clay, to inquire how his bead felt ?
how the cursed bad wine agreed with limos ? for he had just left
their quondam companions, who were unable to leave their beds.
Bekonr's head was well enough—his pockets light, for his hilt!.
was gone; but no matter fur that, it was the fortune of war, and a
man cannot expect to play all night, and be always winning. Re.
sides, the sum was trifling. " Oh, yea," said the Captain, " what
signifies a few thousands to you ?—it is opening into the Ledo
nunidr.'"• A few thouaands !" cried Beleonr, " a few pounds
you mean." " Why, yea—but the bond." " What bond ?"
The Marquis, and the Earl, and the Commoner, h :re got
your own signature to the statement of account, and the balance
Is 10,000/. against you." Out came Re/cont.—a meeting took
place between the parties, or sonic of them—and it was arranged
that, as he declared at the time lie was no player, but yet would
play; and, besides, as he was " showing fight" on the occasion,
that he should be let down gently upon a cash payment of 10s. in
the pound. A round sum, rather less, was named—the memo.
randums were given up and the money compounded fur paid im-
mediately.
Belronr having thus paid away the whole of bin stock in hard,
became speedily sulky. He disclosed the transaction to his friend.,
who urged him not only tgr remonvratz, but to seek redress. Yield.
Mg to their wish, a Solicitor was employed, to require a repayment
of the sum handed over to the Lim Company. Resistance was made
to the demand by the Captain and the Cotnninner ; the Peer quitted
Pall-mall and Orosvenor•square—some said fur Ireland, others on
a trip to France.

The negotiation is still open : Be!cones friends sill have his
money or the law, and the attorney is determined not to remain
idle, the only pause on hia side being, whether the proceeding
ought to be by action, fur the recovery of money paid and received,
or by a criminal indictment for fraud.
Mutual friends have interposed, and the father-in-law of the prin.
sirl personage has been called upon to interfere, for the honour
of his famPy. He has tendived that interference, and at once mtg.
gested restitution ; but the Marquis Is neither in Paris nor in Lon.
don, and things remain in static quo.

PLAY IN HIGH LIFE.—We are requested to say, that
in a day or two a full and satisfactory statement of the
transaction in question will he laid before the plealic.-
21fortling Paper. _ _

PLAY .-. •
IN HIGH Ltee.—We are authorized to 'str e', that
the paragraph on the above subject, which appeared in the
Times, did not emanate, either directly or indirectly, from
Mr. Howard, the professional gettleman employed to re-
cover the money lost on the occasion ; the circumstances of
the transaction are about to undergo an investigation by
two gentlemen of distinction, named by each of the parties.
—Morning Ch rOOl
[From the John Bull.]—" The Circle" has been con-
siderably agitated during tile week by the eclat of a
transaction, differently represented by different parties:—
we are, however, authorized, in the most unqualified
manner, by a gentleman who has left his name, and
who was present at the whole transaction alluded to
in the Times and othtr papers, and several days afterward;
Was pr seat at a conversation with the principal loser, to
state, the sum lost by him was six thousand pounds, and
that an English Gentleman, a Member of Parliament, and
of high connexion and fortune, was the principal winner—
that there are not above three years difference between the
age of the loser and the three principal winners—that so far
from an offer of compromise coming from them, offers made
by the loser were decidedly rejected, and a sum of motley
sent, with a letter soliciting a compromise, was returned,
with an unqualified rejection ; that the principal loser (for
there was more than one) was not intoxicated, and nev:r
insinuated it ; nor were any of the party excited by wine
—that Macao was the game proposed, and that the princi-
pal loser was himself the first to suggest Loo instead there-
of ; adding, that he knew the game, having often played it
at College, and in the course of the play gave a decided
opinion upon two or three 'disputtd points; and that no
bills of indictment, nor any legal proceedings whatever,
have been resorted to. The statement in the Tinsts was
made known to one of the parties only yesterday in,rMng,
the rest hieing absent from town.
The R:ght Honourable Charles Grant, Vice-Preshlent
of the Board of Trade, and Representative in Parliament
for the county of Inverness, and Robert Grant, Esq. M.P.
for this district of burghs, oeing at present in Fouts, the
Provost, Magistrates, and Town Council, at their annual
Michaelmas Meeting held on the 21st current, availed
themselves of this opportunity of conferring on these
distinguished gentlemen the freedom of the burgh.