Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1900-05-26

1Ve, ten OF fifteen tIOusdiu po"h"S "
evening at Almack's. Lord Stavor-
dale, not yet of age, lost 1l,00O POUNDS
in one night. but won it all back at
one throw of the dice. He thereupon
swore a great oath: Now, IL l had
been playing deep. l might have won
millions," And one evening the Mar
quis of Hartford said to the croupieI
at Whites: Pay G1,5OO to Lord -
This was the loss on one rubper at
whist.
Toward the close of the eighteenth
century it became the fashion an Eng
land for titled ladies to have shares In
the principal gaming tables and faro
hanks in London. The grandsons of
the Duchess of Marlborough had a rule
"neyer to dirty their fingers with sill
YER" and when they went to the gam
ing Gibbs were in the habit of throw
ing a guinea to the chairmen who car
ried them. The chairmen generally
goes without saying.
Betting was the prime amusement of
all classes, from king to beggar Moth
ing was too trivial or ridiculous to bet
upon For instance. the utmost ex-
citement would prevail and ruinous
sums were staked on which of two
drops of rain, coursing down the win
dow pane, would soonest reach the
bottom; or which of two maggots
would achieve in a certain time the
Greatest distance across the cheese
board: or which of two beggars would
rull the longest straw from the rick
What will you lay?" was the question
ia everybody's mouth, and a bet set
tied every dispute.
on January 9, 1855. Lord oxford, in
forming Horace Walpole of the suicide
of a common friend, writes: He him
self, with all his judgment in bets.
would have betted any man in Eng
land against himself for self murder"
Walpole, in turn, records Il clever
story of cynical George Selwyn. once.
v hen a waiter at Arthurs club house
was committed to Newgate for rob
berry, Selwyn exclaimed: What a hor-
d 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 $500 an
hour, and it is known of Lord Lauder
dale that he once staked $4,000 upon
lite toast was: Play: like the air We
breathe, if we have it not We die"
one Matthias O'Byrne, an Irish adj
venturer, having won in one night
e100,000 of person whom he we'll
knew could not pay 50 large Il sum,
shrewdly permitted his friend to win
back all but 100000 which, being
within the losers compass, was paid.
From this bit of strategy he received
from Hare the name of 'Nenophon
O'Byrne," to commemorate his mas
terly retreat with the ten thousand.
Toward the close of the eighteenth
century the gaming houses of London
to the general public as clubs
and to the gamesters as "hells'-were
fitted up in most extraordinary style.
Fishmongers' Hall cost 5000, 900 merely
to furnish expense, however
does not seem so great when it is
known that the proprietor netted the
first year 500 600. The law prohibited
the opening of such houses, but the
proprietor of Fishmongcrs' is recorded
to have boosted that he was in no dan
ger, inasmuch as he counted among
his members the majority Of those
who made the laws.
The passion for frequenting these
houses, brought about some singular
social anomalies in England. y noble
man, the head of a highly popular
Wing family in the west of England
originally Of immense wealth, died in
1899 in wretched garnet in an obscure
quarter of London, having many years
previously lost all at faro. In 1910 one
of the oldest barOnets in England,
having lost his fortune in a similar
way, was making his living by driving
a stage coach. Finally. Lord De RoS.
one of the most respectable of the
gaming nobility. was accused Of prac-
ticinE a certain trick at whist. When,
in 1891, the matter came up for trial,
it was proved that he cheated habitu-
ally. and that some Of his noble asso-
ciates. knowing this. prudently played
with him rather than against him.
The noble lord did not long survive
his disgrace After his death Theo-
dOre Hook proposed as his epitaph:
Here lies England's Premier Baron.
Patiently Awaiting the Last Trump"