Litchfield enquirer., 1872-07-25

town at this early age he quickly exhaust ed the pleasures to which duller men de- vote their best years. nay, to which some men offer the costly oblation of an entire life. For him the tame, insipid routine of London fashionable life. with it's friy 0lous heaEtlessness, had little charm. With that passionate craving for excite ment which seldom fails to accompany high intellectual powers. he yearned for something real and tangible even in his pursuit of pleasure. At this eventful mo- ment of his life, any accidental circum- stance might have moulded the noble ma terials of his character into a vessel fram- ed for honor. .l..s- ta E
 ''The authority of judicious father, the ennobling influence of an honest wo- mans love, even the stimulus of the pur- suit of academic distinction, would have suficed to make Arthur Leslie into man whose name would have lived in the his- tory of his country. Alas no hand was stretched forth to rescue him from him. self His father had long been dead; wo- mans love he sought not, or how could he have failed to win it? Fate had placed him in 8 position more dangerous to one of his mercurial temperament than the deadhest chances of war He became what many 8 noble and ardent nature, for want of healthy excitement of active life, has degenerated into-an inveterate gam bier.
 "But to return In my first converse tion with Arthur Leslie was startled, al- belt dearly loved whist myself, at the strange and vehement earnestness with which he spoke of his own passion for the game. AS for whist, he exclaimed, she is the goddess of my heart! I positively adore her, and to-day consider myself publicly enrolled as votary dedicated to her service He then added that he was we'll aware how inferior his powers as 8 whist-player were to those of the majority of the members of Graham's Club; but with hia zeal and attachment to the game, he doubted not that he should improve quickly.
 "I may as well here mention that a very short time served to convince me that Ar thur Leslie loved whist better as vehicle for gambling than as 8 science pure ct simple The habitual stakes at Graham s were at that time fearfully high; and he had been in reality attracted by the fame of the sums of money won and lost there, rather than by any inherent love for the game which occasioned such gain and loss.
 "After we had talked together for some minutes, our friend B-- joined us again, and introduced us to several of our new associates. Among them were some, conspicuous in many different walks of life, with whose names I was familiar, and at whom looked upon that occasion with feelings of no slight respect. Alas with what feelings do I regard them noaO? My answer is, with regret and pity; re- gret, that the powers and gifts which many of them possess shonld be degraded into the polished weapons of finished gamblers; pity, that poor weak human na- ture should be unable to emancipate itself from the perilous thralldom of play, to which some of them are at this hour as fondly addicted as ever.
 '1 shall have to speak hereafter of two of the men whose acquaintance I made that day, and, as their names will be in- terwoven with my tale, I will pause for a moment to describe them now. Colonel D. was at that time fifty years old. He was then (and is, I believe still) re- putVd to De ElIe nrst t.p1ayOr- in Flu rope. +......
 ''He possessed, in an unrivaled degree, all the attributes essential to success in any worldly pursuit Cold, unimpassion- ed, persevering, of tenacious memory, possessing an iron constitution, fortified by temperate and abstemous habits, hand. some in person, exquisitely refined and courteous in his manners, he is we'll en- titled to all the fame Gf fame it can be called, which he has achieved, not only as whist player but also as the most fin ished gentleman whom London can pro- duce. -
 Scarcely inferior to Colonel D. as successful whist-player (although in 8 different style), W, the 1rise Veter. an, as he is commonly called, remains to be briefly described. He numbered some ten years or so more than the Colonel; and by this time he must, by-the-by, have played cards professionally for almost half century. I suppose he finds his re- ward in very comfortable income, which he is said to net thereby. Originally call- ed to the Irish Bar, he relinquished good prospects and the certainty of success as an advocate for the profession which he adopted. Under the apparent warmth and frothy heartiness of an Irishman's manner he concealed the selfs hness of an old man of the world; and although, in style and conception, his game was far inferior to that played by Colonel D., he was thought, by many good judges, to be the most winning player of the two.
 ''Such were two of the men against whom Arthur Leslie was about to try his prentice handi Y
 "But must push on with my tale. So far as an unwearied devotion to whist was concerned, Arthur Leslie and proved to be no ordinary recruits to the service of Graham's. Before month had passed. we might have been found, day after day. and night after night, seated at the green cloth tables, devoting hour upon hour to this absorbing pursuit My life was very much on this wise: whist from 8 or 4p. m. until ' p. m; dinner from 7 till 10; whist again from 10 p. m. till or 6 the next morning; sleep from or 6 a. m. till noon. This is faithful sketch of the or dinary life of a professional whist player in London during the season. You may easily imagine that law and every other useful pursuit were banished from my thoughts almost as effectually as they were from my practice. eg'4 AA-Ss
 GAS general rule I endeavored to avoid the table at which the highest stakes were played, and as there were usually three or four rubbers going on simultane- ously in the club. I seldom found myself seated at the same table with Colonei D. or the Irish Veteran. Arthur Les lie, on the contrary, took his place from the very outset at the highest table; and thereby not only risked much more than I did, but invariably had for his opponents the most formidable customers that the club could furnish. } ts t7EHisl sa ~.
 stIt so happened that Arthur and I gen. erally walked home together, when we left Graham's, after devoting three-quar- ters of the night to whist. Not long after my election to that fatal club T had found my Temple chambers inconveniently dis tant from the scene of action, and, with out giving them up, had engaged rooms in the Albany, wherein I passed the small residue of my time which was not given to whist, Mrs. Leslie's house, at which Ar thur lived, is, as you know, in a street close to the Albany; and thus we were companions not only by choice and scon Gnaore,' but also necessarily, from the proximity of our homes to each other.
 Many and many time have we walk ed home together. in the bright fresh light