Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1889-03-23
FEMALE GAM BLERS.
Few Of Those who Figure Conspieuousi,
In English History.

A Few Of Those Who Figure Cohsp'cu"us'
In English History.
In England, as in France. the passion
for gambling has often reduced women
of the noblest birth to the lowest depths
of depravity. From illusions in Old
plays. such as '1he Provoked Hus'
band" and from Walpole's Letters
and other publications, it is evident
that the sacrifice of honor was not an
infrequent method OF paying gambling
debts. The stakos were generally hgh,
and the debts incurred were a first
charge on the sensitiveness OF the un'
fortunate lady players:
So tender these--if debts crowd fast upon
She'll pawn her virtue to preserve her honor
Hogarth, in his picture entitled
.Piouet, or Virtue in Danger" realized
exactly the female gamblers fall; and
his truthfulness was amply testified
to by frequent occurrences In actual
life. A single illustration OF these
may suffice. A lady was married
while very young to an English noble
| Ere long she was introduced to pro-
fessional gamestress, was led into play
and lost more in a single night than
ever she C puld hope to pay. Her honor
noid the debt. Soon afterward the
pamblcrs boasts revealed the truth to
the lady's husband, and duel was the
necessary result. The gambler was
shot dead by the injured husband, after
which the latter actually offered TO
pardon his wife and restore her to her
former position. The wife refused
gave herself up entirely TO gambling
and its consequences, and the huSoaho
died of broken heart.
The stakes for which ladies played
during the closing years OF the eigh-
teenth and the opening years oil the
present century, we're often OF consld'
cradle magnitude. In l776, lady In
fashionable quarter of London, lost at
n single sitting according to the IAN"
n,,al Register" no less than 3,OOO
puineas at loo; and at Lady Bucking-
Lamshire's faro table in ST. James
} square, there were often enormous SUMS
lost in play.
Lady Buckinghamshire, it may be re-
, marked, was perhaps tho most notori-
ous ramestress OF her day. She actu-
ally slept with pair OF pistols ana o
, blunderbuss by her side for the pro-
, lection OF her cherished bank. Her
| career, however, was "a somewhat
, checkered one. In the Times for
+. March 10, 1897, there is police court
4 report which goes to show that Lady
J.. Buckinghamshire's speculations were
# not always free from worry. A couple
:. of days prior to the appearance OF the
v report her ladyship, together witt
!. Lady f. Luttrell and Mrs, Sturt, was
brought up at the Marlborough stree
# police court and fined $50 for playing
, at faro while Henry Martindale, he
,r manager was inflicted in f2oO
h Later in the same year her croupie
,r rot into trouble through the disap
n pearance of the cash-box Awkward
j, stories of stolen purses. snutf-boxes ant
a. cloaks began to be told, and iinall
80 Martindale became bankrupt to tn
/ tune of E32S,000 besides debts o
"a honor" to the amount of fl5O,OOO
i. Lady Buckinghamshire, by the way
wa, not the only titled dame OF th'
.. plden days who not only gambled' ou
a. kept gambling establishments. One o
N these professional gamestresses actual
20 IL applied to the House OF Lords TO
4. protection against police intrusion o'
. the plea that she was a peeress O
. Great Britain.
~ a. Dame Mary. Baroness of Mord
rt ington,' ran the petition ''do hold
n house in the Great Plaza, Coven
no Garden, for and as an assembly wher
- all persons of credit are at liberty t
frequent and play at such diversions a
are used at other assemblies and
demand all those privileges that belon
to me as peeress of Great Britain al
pertaining to my said assembly ~
= The House of Lords very properly RI
fused her request. All the Year Rount