Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1880-11-27
WONDERFUL WAGERS.



| A Fashtannble Amusrment Ira the
Times Of Charles James Fox.
| SOME OF THE CURIOUS BITS That wSRE MADE
ON VARIOUS CURIOUS SUBJECTS.
tTrevelYans History of Fox
TheTe exists at Brooks Cub curious memo
rial OF tie society IN which Fox lived aad
| the constant and minute attention which tina
society bestowed upon all his proceedings A
FAR back as the reign or William the Third
and small the only sure test OF English op nton4
was the state OF the odds. Our ancestors wer-
men OF their haDdS-more ready with sword an
purse than with word and pen-who REGARDED
Que! as the natural issue OF quarrel and a b-t
as the most authoritative solution or an argI-
ment- TO drag through newspapers and law
courts the frightening scandal OF a dispute
when single interview ia one Of the parsS
would settle with credit II not with satisfaction
70 DOth parties, was not more repugnant to cir
iqea OF Wnat was becoming and convenient
than TO spend twenty minutes in committing q
man who had so little faith In his own view thai
ne would not back 1t With twenty guinaas Bit
by me time George the Third was on the throle
persons OF rank and position were tire OF beiag
challenged to stake their money by freauentarS
OF public coffee houses whose capacity to nav
was doubtful, and about whose anticipations as
TO the date OF the coming dissolution and the
destination OF the next blue ribbon they did NOT
care farthiDg. The first London clubs of he
MODEL TO which that name is now exclusively
applied were instituted among other kindred
purposes, with the object of providing the world
fashion with a central office for making
Wagers. and registry for recording them. Aud
so II comes about that the betting b 1okS
at Brooks has an interest OF its own which
resembles nothing In any library or mu-
scum IN the country. The entries in its
pages, most characteristic OF the time
ana the men, standing, each In their proper
ORDER. between the covers within which they
! were originally mathematician in their gen
efai character put with variety of detail as in
eXhaustible as the circumstances OF our national
history ana the changes in our national mau-
ners-iorm volume which is 10 an ordinary
CORRECTION or autOgra phS what the Z" Itoer
VeritatisH OF Claude Is to portfolio OF de-
tached sketches by the great masters. Fifty
gufneas that Thuriow gets tellership OF the
Ekchequer Tor his son; fifty guinedS that
Mademoiselle Heinel does not dance at the OPP
era house next winter; fifty guineaS that two
thousand people were at the Pantheon last
evening; fifty gulneas that Lord Leicester gives
his first vote In opposition and hits eight out
OF his first ten pheaSantS; three hundred 10
hity from a nobleman who appreciated tne
privileges OF bachelor that the Duke OF
| DevonShire, Lord CholmOndeley and two given
ccmmoners are married before him: five guineaS
GOWN. TO receive a hundred il the Duke or
Queensbury dies before half an hour after i've
In the afternoon OF the eth of June 1873; a
hundred guineas On the Duke Of Queensberry's
life against Lord Palmerston's; a hundred
guineas that Lord Derby does not see the next
general election. and hundred guIneas. be.
tween two usually discreet members OF the
club, that some one 10 their eye does not live
ten years from the present date. The betting
while notorious criminal remained untried or
unhanged; for the disciples of George Selwyn
were never tired OF calculating the chances
OF people dying elsewhere than In their beds
The Old yellow leaves are scored thick with
bets that one OF the PerreauS would be hanged;
that neither Of them would be hanged and tnat
MRS. Rudd would be admitted to bail; that DR..
Dodd would be executed within two months;
that he would anticipate the gallows by suicile,
and that Ii he killed himself 1t would be by pls-
fal and not BY ,y, poison Fpatrek Tying al
that none of the cabinet were beheaded by that
day three years; and another gentleman, who
believed the melancholy contingency to be not
only possible. but probable was Tree spoken
enough 10 name his minister. Still holder
spirits did not shrink from placing their monay
upon prophecies which the delicacy Of a later
age has taken effectual care to render ineligible
for, indeed there was no event or experience tn
the whole compass OF human existence which
March and his friends thought it necessary TO
exclude from the field of legitimate speculation.
It was In allusion to quite the most innocent
class OF these personal and domestic wagers
that Lord MountfOrd, when asked whether his
dagghter, was golng to present him With
not know. l have no bet upon It,"
SOME OF FoX'S BETS.
For ten years, from III onward, Charles Fox
Detted frequently, largely. and judtciously On
the social and political occurrences Of the times.
he laid two hundred guineaS that Lord North
would be First Lord of the Treasury In March
la.3, aud twenty guineas that he would still De
L.
dred and fifty to fifty that the tea act was not
repealed In the winter session Of l1I4; twenty
gu1neas that Lord Northington, VINO took more
kindly to water than his father, did not swim
one mile the next time he went into the
Thames or any other river; ten guineas down
to receive five hundred whenever Turkey
In Europe belonged to Il European power or
powers and guinea down, TO receive fifty
whenever Mr.. Croft forgets two honors in
Mr. FoX's presence" He was fond OF wager5
the settlement OF which was dependent upon
an antecedent condition. Lord OSsory bets
that Dr.. North is not Bishop OF Durham
this day two months, provided the present
bishop dies within that time" .'Mr. E. Foley
bets Mr.. Charles Fox fifty guineaS England is
at war with France this day two years. Suppos-
ing Louis XIV. dead" And Mr.. Charles Fox hin
self bets hundred guineas against the Duke o.
DevonShire having the Garter within seven
years, "the Duke TO live or no bet" When the
PerreauS were on their trial for forgery Fox was
concerned In five bets out OF consecutive group
OF six. and IL is pleasant to remark that even In
his hours OF sport the young reforIner of the
penal code was on the side OF mercy. Many
pages together during l1T4 and 1115 are half
covered by his uniformed but frank, resoIute and
most readable handwriting, and no single name
appears anything like so often as his, until at
the outbreak OF the Revolutionary war. under
the excitement OF the down ward and upward
rush OF cOnsOlS and OF defeats on land alternat-
Ing with victories at sea, Sheridan brought
fort from its retirement the almost neglected
volume and turned 1t into something very like
private betting book of his own.