The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1900-05-27

I The Chinese have several queer names
| fer their other varieties of gambling
| cards; one is called the hundred boys
cards" another "chariots, horses and
guns" and a third, curiously devised on
| the principle of some of our historical
cards, Is called "a thousand times ten
thousand mems names cards.
In an old life Of the Duke of EspernOn,
1t is related that in 1906 famous Ital-
ian gamester Pimental hearing what a
humOr of play reigned at the French
court, caused a great number of false
dice to be made and secretly conveyed
to Paris, he only knowing the secret He,
, therefore by means of emissaries
bought up all the dice In the market,
and supplied his own In their stead. This
done, he obtained an introduction at
court, and gambled to so good purpose
! that he cleaned out a great part of the
nobility's pockets. Playing with the Duke
Of Espernon, he got all his ready money
and many of his jewels, and after this
won of him piece of ambergr1s valued
at 10000 crowns, the greatest that ever
was seen In Europe" This piece was
afterwards sold to the Republic Of Ven
ice.
But 1t is not the French court alone
that was possessed of the gambling
rage" In England, as early as the reign
of John Lakeland, the chances of the dice
constituted the chief amusement of the
great Matthew Paris reproached the
barOns who wrested Magma Charta from
King John with spending their time in
luxury and gambling with dice when
their presence was required in the field
Later, the Merry Monarch gambled no
toriously with his courtiers. 81 WIFI bet
my soul to an orange on the gamei'
called his majesty to Rochester. Which
brought out the cool rejOinder: "If your
majesty will bet odds l will take them"
Henry Cheney, created by the virgin
queen Baron of Tudlington, played at
dice once with Henry H. of France, and
won from him diamond of great price
at one cast. When the king asked him
what he would have done had he lost,
he replied, with true British brag: Il
have sleeps tails enough in Kent, with
their wool, to buy a better diamond
than this!'
Later, the young Englishmen of fash
ion were in the habit of losing five, ten
or fifteen thousand pounds an evening at
Almack's. Lord Stavordale, not yet of
age, lost 1000 pounds in one night but
won it all back at one throw of the dice.
He thereupon swore a great OATH Now,
if L had been playing deep, l might have
won millions!" And one evening the
Marquis of Hartford said to the croupier
at Whites: Pay .e150O to Lord
Ills was TIC IOSS VI one IuUDeI DIT NIllSl.
Toward the close of the eighteenth cen
fury 1t became the fashion in England for
titled ladies to have shares in the prin-
cipal gaming tables and faro banks in
London. The grandsons of the Duchess
of Marlborough had a rule never to
dirty their fingers with silver" and when
they went to The gaming clubs We're in
the habit of throwing a guinea to the
chairmen VINO carried them. The chair
opnpT1llN- fOnpht
tive honor it goes without saving.
Betting was the prime amusement of
all classes, from king to beggar. Nothing
was too trivial or ridiculous to bet upOn
! For instance, the utmost excitement
would prevail and ruinOus sums were
staked on which of two drops OF rain.
| coursing down the window pane. would
! soonest reach the bottom: or which oe
/ two maggots would achieve in a certain
! time the greatest distance across the
cheese board; or which of two beggars
would pull the longest straw from the
rick. What will you lay?" was the
question in eVerybodys mouth and a BET
settled every dispute.
On Jan. 9, 1862 Lord Oxford, informing
Horace Walpole of the suicide of a com
mon friend, writes: He himself, with all
his judgment in bets. would have betted
any man in England against himself foc
self-murder.' Walpole, in turn, records
a clever story of cynical George SeIwNn.
Once, when a waiter at Arthur's club
house was committed to Newgate for rob,
berry, Selwyn exclaimed: .NVhat horrid
idea he will give of, US to the people in
Newgate!''
1t is said of George Fox that he once
played twenty-five consecutive hours at
faro, losing at the rate OF eco an hour,
and it is known of Lord Lauderdale that
he once staked $4,000 upon a single card.
Maj Aubrcy's favOrite toast was: play;
like the air We breathe, if we have it not
| we die. One Matthias o Byrne, an Irish
adVenturer, having won in one night
| 8lOO,OO0 of a person whom he well knew
could not pay so large g sum, shrewdlv
permitted his friend to win back all but
10000, which, being within the losers
compass, was paid. From this bit OF
strategy he received from Hare the name
of 'Xenophon O'Byrne, to commence
rate his masterly retreat with the ten
thousand.
Towards the close of the eighteenth cen
fury the gaming houses of London
known to the general public as clubs. ana
TO the gamesters as ''hells''-were fitted
UP in most extraordinary style. Fish
mongers' hall cost 100000 merely 10
furnish. The expense, however, does not
! seem SO great when it is known that the
proprietor .aetted the first year $75GG0n
The law prohibited the opening of such
houses, but the proprietor Of Fishmon-
gers is recorded to have boosted that he
was in no danger inasmuch as he count
ed among his members the majority of
| those who made the laws.