The times., 1898-10-31
FAMOUS WOMEN GAMBLERS.
Fabulous SUMS Won and Lost by
Mme. MOntespan.
From the Philadelphia Telegram.


History is found to contain many in
stances of women and slaves alike. in
whom the passion of gambling has gained
complete mastery.
These women seem to lose all restraint
over themselves, they become transform
ed. and in the end, when all their finer in
stincts have deserted them, they sink into
the uttermost degradation.
1t is notorious that English women are
fond of betting. With the majority. of
course. this is merely a harmless amuse-
ment.
Others have been known to lose every
thing that they possessed and finally to
have gambled their souls to the highest
bidder and then to have crept away and
put an end to their wasted lives.
Goldsmith's story of the old woman
who. knowing that she had not long to
live. played cards with her undertaken
for her funeral expenses. is well known
Parallels are to be found in everyday
life
The women of France. perhaps on ac-
count of their warmer blood were at
one time the most ardent gamblers in the
world. In Louis XIV's reign so many
a;c love of the mothers and daughters tor
a game known as the "hoca" that it was
forbidden by law on pain of death.
At Versailles an exception was made to
this rule and here the queen herself fre-
cuently lost large sums of money.
The frenzied gambling of Nine Monte
span has become proverbial in France as
lie Jeu de la Montespan." At basset she
| would play for as much as $4,000 and
would grumble heartily, and the king also.
| if no one dared to cover her stakes.
One Christmas evening she lost an i'm
mense fortune. but recovered with three
| cards 100000. Three months later she lost
| $500 900, but won it back almost immedi-
| ately.
| In 1852 the crash came. At "hoca'' alone
she had played away as much as $500 O0G
In Louis XVs time matters were in
much the same state. On June p. I765. for
| instance. the Due de Richelieu undertook
to teach Nine. de Barry lansqueust in her
boudoir. In few minutes however, he
| had lost no less than 500. go
| This immensely amused the king. who
| was looking on. and who was delighted
with his favorite's good luck. Nine. de
| PompadOur, ii will be remembered gam
! bled for enormous stakes
In Charles Is time women played freely
That they had few scruples about so doing
Is shown from the fact that the kings
| wife. Henrietta Maria. Bassomp!erre, a
well-known sport" and Buckingham. in
1926 played for stakes in a window over
looking Cheapside. while they waited for
| procession to pass
In Charles IFS time, however women
| Sambied to an extent hitherto unknown
| in English history. In those dissolute
! days the pleasures of the English court
were not far different from those of the
| French.
| The Duchess de Mazarin, for instance. a
| niece of the famous cardinal lost more
| than million pounds and ended her days
| in beggary. Neil Gwynne lost 800. 900 20
her rival, The Duchess of Cleveland and
this at one sitting. The latter in her
| turn, sguandered an immense fortune at
| the basSet table.
| So fast was the evil spreading that in
| 1876 Chief Justice Kenyon threatened to
send any lady to the pillory however
high in rank she might be, who should
be convicted before him of playing faro.
This provoked from GiIray. the WELL
known caricaturist, an-imaginary picture
of the first ladies in the land standing in
the pillory. Beneath was the inscription:
Daughters of Pharaoh. -
During the following year many ladies
were heavily punished for refusing to
comply with the law. Lady Bucking-
ham, for instance, together with Lady