The Gaming Table: Its Votaries and Victims. Volume 1 (of 2)
- Pages
- about 309
- Category
- History
- Language
- English
- Reading time
- 5.7 h at 250 wpm
From the opening
The Duke of Wellington, K.G. THIS WORK IS DEDICATED, WITH PERMISSION, BY
HIS GRACE'S MOST DEVOTED SERVANT
To the readers of the present generation much of this book will,
doubtless, seem incredible. Still it is a book of facts--a section of
our social history, which is, I think, worth writing, and deserving of
meditation.
Forty or fifty years ago--that is, within the memory of many a living
man--gambling was 'the rage' in England, especially in the metropolis.
Streets now meaningless and dull--such as Osendon Street, and streets
and squares now inhabited by the most respectable in the land--for
instance, St James's Square, THEN opened doors to countless votaries of
the fickle and capricious goddess of Fortune; in the rooms of which
many a nobleman, many a gentleman, many an officer of the Army and
Navy, clergymen, tradesmen, clerks, and apprentices, were 'cleaned
out'--ruined, and driven to self-murder, or to crimes that led to the
gallows. 'I have myself,' says a writer of the time, 'seen hanging in
chains a man whom a short time before I saw at a Hazard table!'
History, as it is commonly written, does not sufficiently take
cognizance of the social pursuits and practices that sap the vitality
of a nation; and yet these are the leading influences in its
destiny--making it what it is and will be, at least through many
generations, by example and the inexorable laws that preside over what
is called 'hereditary transmission.'
Have not the gambling propensities of our forefathers influenced the
present generation?....
No doubt gambling, in the sense treated of in this book, has ceased in
England. If there be here and there a Roulette or Rouge et Noir table in
operation, its existence is now known only to a few 'sworn-brethren;'
if gambling at cards 'prevails' in certain quarters, it is 'kept quiet.'
The vice is not barefaced. It slinks and skulks away into corners and
holes, like a poisoned rat.
A short sample. Read the whole book
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