Part 16
"The Play-house is the first place of resort, which from the frequency of his visits, instead of being an instructive amusement, or a moral lesson, turns out a rendezvous of intrigue, and intemperance, where he soon acquires an intimacy with the idle, the profligate, the gambler, and the prostitute, who eye him as their lawful prey, and with all that ease, dexterity, and artifice, which a knowledge of the town, and its vicissitudes, has furnished them with, they imperceptibly lead him from one crime to another, till at length he becomes extravagant, and irregular, callous, and abandoned. Bagnios, gaming-tables, horses, and black-legs, are now his only wish, theme, and delight, and, so long as his pocket will endure the burden, so long, and no longer, is he duped, flattered, caressed, and encouraged, by those who surround him. But everything must have an end, and enormous expenditures cannot keep pace with that income which should be managed with care and frugality. The young Gentleman _runs short_, as it is termed, and, on his first embarrassment, is advised to apply for the assistance of some _friendly advertising money lender_, who, upon proper security, has the _modesty_ to procure him from time to time, sums of money, at the _equitable premium of 100 per cent_. A repetition so involves him, that, by degrees, his estate falls into the hands of Mr. Usurer, who takes an _absolute assignment of his estate_, for a consideration less than half its true value: and reflection never once enters his head, but he unfortunately squanders the last shilling: but it is, now, he conceives, a folly to repent, or retreat: consequently he gets into debt, is arrested, carried to a spunging house, and from thence is removed to the King's Bench, or Fleet Prison.
"Far be it from me to throw any odium on an unfortunate class of people immured in the walls of either of those places, there are no doubt, imprisoned, as worthy, and as good a set of people, as any in society. But the young spark I am speaking of, being mortified at his late companions standing aloof, and resigning him to his fate, becomes loaded with obloquy, associates with characters equally as vicious as himself, smoaks, swears, and carouses, and, all at once, is wholly lost, as it were to himself, and to the world.
"R. K--y."
--(_Times, Dec. 31, 1795._)
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"Capt. H. of the Guards, the nephew of the Banker, who a short time since lost 13,000 guineas at one sitting, at Backgammon, to an Irish Gambler, revenged himself last week for this loss, by winning the enormous sum of _45,000 Guineas_, at Billiards, in one night, of Mr. B. S. of the Guards. It is said that £25,000 of the money was paid him the next day."--(_Times, March 16, 1796._)
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"It is said to be the intention of some of the leading circles in the Fashionable World, to abolish the tax of _Card-money_,[4] as an imposition upon hospitality. This would prove the return of good sense, inasmuch as it tends to substantiate the truth--that when one person invites another to partake of the conviviality of his house, he should not lay an impost upon him, even more exorbitant than that which he would pay, were he to attend a Tavern Club. When a friend is invited, it is an insult to friendship to make that friend pay for his entertainment."--(_Times, Dec. 17, 1794._)
[Footnote 4: The guests paid a small sum each, for every new Pack of Cards used, which it was supposed the servants took.]
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"The _tabbies_ at Bath are in a state of insurrection, in consequence of an example set by Lady Elcho, who neither visits, nor receives, company that _pay for_ Cards: the laudable reformation is adopted so generally, that many of the _Dowagers_, who have so long fed upon _Card-money_, are turning their thoughts to some more creditable means of earning their livelihood."--(_Times, March 22, 1796._)
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"We hope the Ladies in London, who stand upon a nice point of honour, will follow the example of the Bath Ladies, and exclude the odious, and pitiful, custom of taking card-money at their houses. It is a meanness, which no persons who pretend to the honour of keeping good company, ought to allow. We are afraid that many a party is formed, rather to derive benefit from the Card tables, than for the sake of hospitality."--(_Times, March 24, 1796._)
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"We hope, now that the business of informations against the Gambling Houses has found its way into the Court of King's Bench, that we shall hear of some effectual measures being taken to suppress them. What other than the most unworthy considerations could have suffered these houses to be open night after night, in defiance of every law, and to the destruction of young women, whose parents are so profligate, as to take them thither. If certain Mammas have no regard for their reputation, surely they should consider that their daughters are yet to be provided for.
"We state it as a fact, within our own knowledge, that two Ladies of Fashion who keep open houses for Gaming, at the West End of the Town, have lately paid large _douceurs_, to ward off the hand of justice."--(_Times, Apr. 23, 1796._)
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"The Gambling-houses in and about Oxenden St., live in a stile of unprecedented luxury, and dissipation. It was stated some time ago, in the Court of King's Bench, that their dinners amounted to £150,000 per annum."--(_Times, May 27, 1796._)
These two illustrations are almost Hogarthian in their contrast, and preach a homily, better than pages of text would do, on the similarity of plunder. St. James, with Lady Archer and Lady Buckinghamshire quarrelling over gold, bank notes, a sword, and an Order. One other lady, probably Lady Mount Edgcumbe, scrutinising a bill--whilst the fourth, with a pile of gold, and notes, before her, looks calmly on. The artist (who, unfortunately, is anonymous,) shows what very little difference there is between that, and the woman of St. Giles--who, to the accompaniment of Gin, are dividing _their_ spoil, a pipe, a foot rule, a razor, &c.--little things reft from working men--on a very common deal table.
It was about this time that special attention was called to this gaming mania, and Gillray (?) on the 16th May, 1796, published a Caricature called "Faro's Daughters, or the Kenyonian blow up to gamblers." Here we see the Lady Archer, and Mrs. Concannon, placed together in the pillory, and mutually upbraiding each other.
The _motif_ for this picture was a speech of Lord Kenyon's, who, at a trial to recover £15, won at gaming, on Sunday, at a public house--commented very severely on the hold, the vice of gaming had, on all classes of society, from the highest, to the lowest. The former, he said, set the example to the latter--and, he added, "They think they are too great for the law; I wish they could be punished,"--and then continued, "If any prosecutions of this kind are fairly brought before me, and the parties are justly convicted, whatever be their rank, or station, in the country--though they be the first ladies in the land--they shall certainly exhibit themselves in the pillory."
"A new stratagem has been hit on to gain early intelligence of the drawings of the ensuing Irish Lottery. As _Pigeons_ are found sometimes not to fly quick enough, some of our speculating Lottery Rooks have been for some time past trying experiments on high eminences in North Wales, by exhibiting rockets about seven o'clock in the evening. It is to be seen whether this mode of communication can be rendered sufficiently intelligible, to answer the purposes of fraud."--(_Times, Nov. 4, 1796._)
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"It is said, and we hope with truth, that the Archbishop of Canterbury, at the head, and with the concurrence of the Episcopal Lords, means to introduce a Bill into Parliament to prevent _gambling on a Sunday_. An act at present does exist against this pernicious practice; but the penalty amounts to a fine, that the Groom-porters at Hazard, or the Dealer at Faro, can with ease pay by the _profits of an hour_. The punishment for the offence of playing any game of chance on a Sunday is, by this new intended Bill, to be _transportation for seven years to Botany Bay_. The owner of the house, by a particular clause, is more severely dealt with. _He_, or _she_, permitting such gambling, shall be transported for life."--(_Times, Feb. 13, 1797._)
"PUBLIC OFFICE, MARLBOROUGH St. FARO BANKS. On Saturday came on to be heard, informations against Lady Buckinghamshire, Lady Elizabeth Luttrell, Mrs. Sturt, and Mr. Concannon, for having, on the night of the 30th of last January, played at _Faro_, at Lady Buckinghamshire's house, in St. James's Square, and Mr. Martindale was charged with being the proprietor of the table.
"The evidence went to prove that the Defendants had gaming parties at their different houses by rotation, and that when they met at Lady B.'s, the witnesses used to wait upon them in the gambling room, and that they played at _E.O._, _Rouge et Noir_, &c., from about eleven, or twelve, till three, or four, o'clock in the morning. After hearing Counsel, the Magistrates convicted _Hy. Martindale_ in the penalty of £200, and _each of the Ladies_ in £50. The Information against Mr. _Concannon_ was quashed, on account of his being summoned by a wrong Christian name."--(_Times, Mar. 13, 1797._)
The Magistrates were not quite so severe as Lord Kenyon had promised to be, should he ever get any of these ladies into his clutches: perhaps they had heard of the recent loss of Lady Buckinghamshire's, when in Feb{y}. her Faro Bank was stolen, or, at least, _she said it had been_. Gillray caricatured it very cleverly--as also he did in the accompanying illustration, "Discipline à la Kenyon"--in which the Lord Chief Justice, is administering a sound flogging to Lady Buckinghamshire, whilst Lady Archer, and Mrs. Concannon, stand in the pillory, guarded by a stalwart constable.
"The expence of entertainments at a Gaming House of the highest class, in St. James' Square, during the eight months of last season, has been said to exceed _6000 Guineas_! what must be the profits to afford such a profusion?"--(_Times, March 21, 1797._)
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"The Pharo _Trade_ is likely to experience a more severe check from the recent refusal of some fashionable Gamesters to liquidate their debts, than from the accumulated terrors of _Police_ persecution. If the punters won't _pay_, the dealers may as well _shut up_ shop."--(_Times, Sept. 23, 1797._)
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"If a man should happen, in a Cockpit, to make a bet which he is not able to answer, he is put into a basket, and pulled up to the ceiling, where he remains suspended during the sport. It is recommended to the Pharo Bankers to institute some such punishment for the Lady 'Levanters.'"--(_Times, Sept. 23, 1997._)
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"To such a height has the spirit of gambling arisen, that at some of the great Tables it is not uncommon to see the stake consist wholly of property _in kind_. A house of furniture was last week lost to a Lady in the neighbourhood of Pall Mall.
"The successful party had played against it, the stock of a farm in the County of Essex."--(_Times, Sept. 25, 1797._)
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"At some of our first Boarding Schools, the fair pupils are now taught to play whist, and cassino. Amongst their _winning_ ways, this may not be the least agreeable to Papa and Mamma.
"It is calculated, that a clever child, by its cards, and its novels, may pay for its own education."--(_Times, Nov. 2, 1797._)
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"At a boarding-school in the neighbourhood of Moorfields, the mistress complains that she is unable to teach her scholars either Whist, or Pharo. However, she says, they play perfectly well at _Kissino_, and all-fours."--(_Times, Nov. 2, 1797._)
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"So completely has gambling got the better of dancing, that at a private Ball, last week, a Gentleman asking a young Lady, from Bath, to dance the two next dances, she very ingenuously replied,'Yes, if you will play two rubbers at Cassino.'"--(_Times, Dec. 22, 1797._)
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"Gaming, that hydra of calamities, has again made its appearance with its black catalogue of horrors. Notwithstanding the late interference of the Police, there are at present, exclusive of subscription tables, no less than 18 public gambling houses, at the West End of the Town. The golden table in Leicester Square takes the lead in guilty pre-eminence. The _gaming crimps_ are already very numerous. They dress well, frequent the most fashionable taverns, and coffee houses, and, having succeeded in insinuating themselves into company, take an opportunity of introducing a card, or bill of fare, of their respective establishments."--(_Times, Sept. 13, 1798._)
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"Last week 1272 packs of cards, _unstamped_, pretended to be made for exportation, but really intended for home consumption, were burned in the High Street of Shoreham, by order of the Commissioners."--(_Times, Dec. 6, 1798._)
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"In every part of the Metropolis, that most destructive game of E. O.[5] is now in high practice, but more particularly so in the neighbourhood of S. James's Street, Pall Mall, and what is called the fashionable end of the town. The Tables, even if they were fairly constructed, must be the ruin of all adventurers; because, in the course of one hour, they play at a game where the Table has clearly _one hundred and twenty-four_ chances to _one_ in its favor within that hour. If this does not rouse the Magistracy, Justice may then be announced to be in a somniferous state--occasioned probably, by a yellow mineral application."--(_Times, June 22, 1795._)
[Footnote 5: "A thousand witnesses might be produced to prove, that at every Ridolio, part of the company is seated at a round table, which has a hollow, moveable, circle in the middle, with a declivity from the centre, and its circumference divided into little separate cavities, or cells, distinguished by the letters E, and O, placed over them alternately: the hollow circle is put in motion, and a small ivory ball thrown upon it in a contrary direction; after several turns, the inclination of the surface carries the ball down towards the cavities prepared for its reception, in one of which, having rebounded several times, it at last rests, and the parties concerned in this interesting event, succeed, or fail, as they chance to have chosen, or not, the letter under which the ball happens to lie."--"The World," No. 180, 10th June, 1756.]
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"It is impossible that the Magistrates can be ignorant of the number of E. O. Tables, now held at the West end of the town. At one of these, established close to King's Place, a young man lost, on Sunday, £1500."--(_Times, June 20, 1795._)
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"PRIVATE LOTTERIES.
"Amongst the various species of Gaming that have ever been practised, we think none exceeds the mischiefs, and calamities, that arise from the practice of private Lotteries, which at present are carrying on, in various parts of the town, to very alarming extents, much to the discredit of those whose province it is to suppress such nefarious practices, as they cannot be ignorant of such transactions. 'The little go,' which is the technical term for a private Lottery, is calculated only for the meridian of those understandings, who are unused to calculate, and discriminate, between right, and wrong, and roguery, and fair-dealing; and, in this particular case, it is those who compose the lower order of society, whom it so seriously affects, and on whom it is chiefly designed to operate. No man of common sense can suppose that the Lottery Wheels are fair, and honest, or that the proprietors act upon principles anything like honor, or honesty; for, by the art, and contrivance, of the Wheels, they are so constructed, with secret springs, and the application of gum, glue, &c., in the internal part of them, that they can draw the numbers out, or keep them in, at pleasure, just as it suits their purposes; so that the insurer, robbed, and cajoled, by such unfair means, has not the most distant chance of ever winning: the whole being a gross fraud, and imposition, in the extreme. We understand the most notorious of these standards of imposition are situated in Carnaby Market, Oxford Road, in the Borough, Islington, Clerkenwell, and various other places, most of which are under the very nose of Magistracy, in seeming security, bidding defiance to law, and preying upon the vitals of the poor and ignorant.
"We hope the Magistrates of each jurisdiction, and those who possess the same power, will perform their duty on behalf of the poor, over whom they preside, and put a stop to such a growing, and alarming, evil, of such pernicious, and dangerous tendency: particularly, as the Proprietors are well-known bad characters, consisting of needy beggars, desperate swindlers, gamblers, sharpers, notorious thieves, and common convicted felons, most of whose names stand recorded in the Newgate Calendar for various offences of different descriptions."--(_Times, July 22, 1795._)
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"The term of _little goes_ for the private lotteries is apt enough, for the poor devils who risk their property there, have but little, and that little goes to nought.
"If the wheels of fortune, and the cash, seized at the private lotteries, become the property of the police runners, the old adage will be strongly verified, 'What is got over the devil's back, will be spent under his belly.'"--(_Times, Aug. 13, 1795._)
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"On Friday night last, in consequence of searching warrants from the Parochial Magistrates of St. James's, Westminster, upwards of 30 persons were apprehended at the house of one M'Call, No. 2, Francis St., near Golden Square, and in the house of J. Knight, King St., where the most destructive practices _to the poor_ were carrying on, that of _Private Lotteries_ (called Little Goes.) Two wheels, with the tickets, were seized on the premises. Upon examination of those persons, who proved to be the poor deluded objects that had been there plundered, they were reprimanded, and discharged.
"The wives of many industrious mechanics, by attending these nefarious houses, have not only been duped out of their earnings (which ought to have been applied to the providing bread for their families) but have even pawned their beds, wedding rings, and almost every article they were possessed of for that purpose."--(_Times, Aug. 11, 1795._)
But nothing was said against the big State Lotteries--which were going on without let, or hindrance--and, absolutely, educating the people in the taste for gambling. Here are two anecdotes of the lottery:--
"Dr. B., a physician at _Lime_ (Dorset), a few days since, being under pecuniary embarrassment, and his house surrounded by bailiffs, made his escape by a window, into a neighbour's house, from whence he fled to London. The furniture was seized, and the sale actually commenced, when it was stopped by a letter, stating that the Doctor, upon his arrival in London, found himself the proprietor of the £20,000 prize. We guarantee the truth of this fact."--(_Times, Dec. 27, 1797._)
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"The £20,000 prize, drawn on Friday, is divided amongst a number of poor persons: a female servant in Brook St., Holborn, had a sixteenth; a woman who keeps a fruit-stall in Grays-Inn-lane another; a third is possessed by a servant of the Duke of Roxburghe's; a fourth by a Chelsea Carrier of vegetables to Covent Garden; one eighth belongs to a poor family in Rutlandshire, and the remainder is similarly divided."--(_Times, Mar. 19, 1798._)
Of Horse Racing we do not hear much--the prizes were small--and gambling on the Turf was not reduced to a Science as it is now-a-days. Even when attending races, the chief losses were at the gaming tables which accompanied them.
"Poor _Newmarket_ is completely done up! The Spring Meeting boasts so few bets in the calendar of gambling, that the chance will not pay post-chaise hire to the black legs. Thus falls the destructive sport of the Turf--and, as that is the case, it would do honour to his Majesty to change the _King's Plates_ into rewards for the _improvement of Agriculture_."--(_Times, April 17, 1794._)
"The Duke of Queensberry was a principal loser at Epsom Races. The Noble Duke had his _vis-a-vis_, and six horses, driving about the course, with two very pretty _emigrées_ in it. The Duke was in his cabriolet. The Duke of Bedford, Lords Egremont, and Derby, were also on the course. Several carriages were broken to pieces: and one Lady had her arm broken.
"There was much private business done in the _swindling way_ at the last Epsom races. One black legged fellow cleared near a thousand pounds by the old trick of an E.O. Table. Another had a _faro table_, and was on the eve of _doing business_, when he was detected with a _palmed_ card: almost the whole of what may be justly styled 'vagabond gamblers' of London were present.
"Mr. Bowes, half brother to the Earl of Strathmore, was robbed of a gold watch, and a purse, containing 30 guineas, at Epsom races, on Thursday last. Many other persons shared a similar fate, both on the same evening, and Friday. Upwards of 30 carriages were robbed coming from the races."--(_Times, May 25, 1795._)
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"Never since _racing_ was patronised by the _Merry Monarch_, has the _Turf_ been so much on the decline as at this period. His Grace of Bedford is the only person who retains a considerable stud. Lord Grosvenor has disposed of nearly the whole of his, with the reserve of two, or three, capital horses, and some few brood mares."--(_Times, Sept. 8, 1797._)
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