Show OF CHANCE i Gambling Passion Has Swayed Men for Thousands of Y Years Cheating eats eats- Ch by No Means leans Modern I t I. 1 I f Man Ian is the only which arriving J ing inS at nt an adult age still requires amusement And with the desire for tor entertainment there is also linked a longing for tor or excitement which seems j i. i if Inbred in human nature ture pong Ping or tl de winks may satisfy nis longing for excitement ment In some men but most I of ot us thirst for or something of or less tameI tame- tame I t ness nese And with th the v proclivity lt for playing 1 games sames m men n also possess possess-an an desIre desire de- de sire to risk something on the chance of ot his winning Be the game one of or skill or absolute chance he wants to tot t wager something He Is a a. gambling t animal anima The only living thing in creation crea crea- lion tion that is foolish enough to venture his own property on the chance of I winning that of or another Is Platos Plato's featherless biped The most sheepish of or sheep will wm not I draw lots Jots for or choice of pasturage and the silliest cur would not be tempted to risk his dinner at odd and even een Man is the unique animal content to stake his money moncy and happiness on the treacherous turn of a die or the chance deal of ot a pack of cards Now gambling is a fashion b by no means new The Thc go good d people who were horrified over the state of or affairs in New York for lor instance when a 0 ring of professional gamblers pretty nearly ran the town should have lived cd back r a a. fe feW hundred years ears when every ruler er c every noble and e even en n the scum of or humanity Itself lC were inveterate game gAme- gamet The rhe convulsions cOn of ot nature which destroyed de de- de- de l Pompeii surprised a 3 party part of ot men at the hnz hazard rd table where the they were discovered ered 2000 OO years ears later InteL with the dice firmly clutched d In their lingers fingers If It one may credit Horace the they could cog a die in m the Augustinian age as well as n n the English Georgian Sophocles says S 'S of that he invented dice to serve r e Instead of ot dinner which office the they fulfill to this day for ninny a man whom they have rob robbed d of the tho means of ot paying for hi his dinner The Emp Emperor rol Claudius who was so eo 4 exceedingly prodigal in his pIa play that he adventured on cat cast cf of a die wrote a treatise upon gaming In Lii tho those e hoi ho which he spared from tram the pursuit itself for 01 which fact Seneca in tn hUt sarcastic relation of ot the Emperors Emperor's apotheosis fetches s him after man many adventures to hell heli where he Is condemned d to play with a bottomless bottomless bottom bottom- less Jus dice box without any cessation Int in t ls way his hopes were to be fed red continually con con- but n never ner er satisfied Perhaps there might have ha been heen good cause caUte for this supposed punishment o of ofa a a. ruler who so 80 fostered gambling for Cheating and Chance ar are twin sisters sl There Ther mn may be honor among thieves but among professional gamblers there butI is it I little o of it The man who welches turns turn on his partners or tricks themis thernIs them thern- is greatly greath decried by his alS associates but together they will HI fleece the unwary unwary unwary un un- un- un wary b by every art known to th the pro pro- n. n It Is told of ot the Italian gamester same PI metal who vho flourished nourished at the end of ol the century and the beginning of or the seventeenth that In hearing hear fn ing that a a. humor of ot play reigned at the thc French Court he ho caused a great num ber bel of false raIse dice to be made an and secretly conveyed eed to Parts Paris he only p knowing the secret e He then by m means menn ans pS p'S S of or emissaries ought Bought up all the die dice in the market martet and ind nd supplied hi his own ii In t 1 their thell stead This Thin done he obtained at an 7 introduction at Court d an-d gambled ata to ti a such good purpose s that 11 he lie cl cleaned on out outa a n. great part of or the nobility's pockets l Lord ord De Ros one of ot the thc most respect respectable ct- ct able of ot the thc gambling element In England Eng land Jand under the Georges was accuse accused d of ot practicing a c certain trick at whist When In 1837 13 the matter mattot came up fo for tor r trl trial l. l It was vas proved that he heated cheated a z habitually and that some cf ot his noble nobl a as associates knowing this prudently y pla played d with him rather than against t him tim The noble Lord did not long sur 1 I I v vive ive ive his disgrace After Arter his death Theo Theo- d dore ore Hook proposed as his epitaph I Here lies England's Elgland's premier Baron p patiently awaiting the last trump But to return to older records record anc and tU t to o show how what a n hold gambling am has had hod U upon pon men from the highest l tl to the lowI low low- c est cst at In fn all ales ages It may ma- mab b be mentioned t that hat Calus once converted con h his is m magnificent palace Into a n. gambling h house home ouse where the chroni chroniclers l r rs tell toil us us h he e fleeced the young nobility of ot his t time ime and It Is well known that Nero was oWns vas the mo most t. t Infatuated gambler of ot othis h his is days das Plutarch records that the fl Romans omans matched quails for wagers a and nd describes Antony lamenting nUn before t the he battle battlo o of as though his g genius enius cowered ered before that of ot his adI adversary ad ad- v ersary that the quail of ot Augustus w were ere superior to his If It dice have gained an evil repute be because be- be c cau cause ause e of oC their associations cards surpass surpass sur sur- p pass ass them In the minds of many And y yet et the modern playing cards were In Invented Invented In- In v vented by the monks of ot the fourteenth c century and were use used as the they ma may maybe maye b be e n n. n w. w in the playing of very cry Innocent I g ames But the they had not been lon long Introduced i before gambling with them b became the rage At the beginning of oC the fifteenth century we e read that this p passion assion was so prevalent In Franco France that p persons who were addicted to It endeavored endeavored en Ott- d to restrain and aIll guard buard themselves them them- s selves sel b by voluntary bonds resembling m modern temperance pledges with the tho e exception however howo that there was a p penalty for fOI breaking the pledge Illustrated Illus t tl rated te l manuscripts of or that period show n not ot anI only that women omen pla played ed but that t the he players er stood Instead of ot sitting a round around the table Henry Cheney created by Queen Elizabeth Baron of or played a at t dice once with Henry Henr II U of ot France a and lOd nd won from him a diamond of at great reat p price rice at nt one ca cast t the King Kin d a him what ho he would have done dore h had ad ho he lost he r replied with true British Brit Brit- i ish sh br brag g- g I have haie sleeps sheep tails enough i In n Kent with their wool to buy a ib b better etter diamond than this But It was not hot the French rench Court a alone lone that was po possessed of tho the gambling rage rase In as car early as 15 the reign of John Jolin Lackland the chances pf of the tha dice constituted the c chief hief amusement nt of or the great Matthew Paris reproached the Barons who wrested Magna Charta Charla from rom King John ohn for tor spending their time In luxury and anti gambling with dice when th their lr presence was wn r In the field Laer Later Later La La- t ter er the young Englishmen of ot fashion were In the tho habit of losing MOO an evening at nt Almack's Lord Sta ordale not nol then of or age lost Jost i In n one nl night ht but won It back at one throw of oC the dice He ther thereupon upon swore a n. gf great at oath oatho Now o If It I had hod been playing deep Mell I might have havo won on millIons millions millions mill mill- ions ions And one evening the Marquis of or Hertford said to tho the croupier at Whites White's Pay par 1500 1000 to Lord It was the loss of ot one rubber at whist Toward the close of the eighteenth century the gaming houses of or London known to the general public as 15 clung clubs and to the gamesters as hells were hells were fitted up in most extraordinary st style le Fishmongers' Fishmongers hall hail cost coat to fur fur- nish Th The expense however does not seem so great creat when it is known that the proprietor netted In one year ar The rhe law prohibited the opening of at such hou houses but the proprietor of at Fishmongers Fishmongers' Fishmongers Fish Fish- mongers mongers' boasted that he ho was In no danger as he counted among his patrons patrons pa pa- patrons most moat of ot the men nen who made the 1 law At this time too It became the fashIon fashIon fash- fash Ion In England for titled ladles ladies to have ho shares In th the principal gaming tables and taro tarn franks banks In London The grandSons grand- grand Sons fons om of the Duchess of ot Marlborough had a n rule never to dirty their with silver sll antl anh when they went t to the gaming clubs were In the habit of ot throwing a n guinea to to tho chairman to be fought for The passion for frequenting ftc fre these houses brought about some singular social anomalies In Eng Eng- land Jand A nobleman th the head hend of or a a. highly high high- ly popular Whig hl family in the west of at England died in 1839 in a n. wretched |