"21. No gaming in the eating room, except tossing up for reckonings, on penalty of paying the whole bill of the members present. "40. That every person playing at the new guinea table do keep fifty guineas before him. "41. That every person playing at the twenty guinea table do not keep less than twenty guineas before him." Here is an extract from the Club books which shows the style of play. "Mr Thynne having won only 12,000 guineas during the last two months, retired in disgust. March 21, 1772." The Club subsequently became Goosetree's, and after him was taken by a wine merchant and money lender named Brookes, and Brookes's it is to this day, at 60 St James Street, to which locality it moved from Pall Mall in October 1778. These, with Arthur's, were all the clubs for the nobility and gentry, until the Regency, when clubs multiplied. There were any amount of gambling houses, but they were public-but, of course, a club was strictly confined to its members. So gambling went on merrily among all classes, as we may see by the following notices from the Morning Post : "5 July 1797. Is Mr Ogden (now called the Newmarket Oracle), the same person who, five-and-twenty years since, was an annual pedestrian to Ascot, covered with dust, amusing himself with pricking in the belt, hustling in the hat, &c., amongst the lowest class of rustics, at the inferior booths of the fair? “Is D—k—y Bw, who has now his snug farm, the same person who, some years since, drove post chaise for Ty of Bagshot, could neither read nor write, and was introduced to the family only by his pre-eminence at cribbage? "Is Mr Twycross (with his phaeton), the same person who, some years since, became a bankrupt in Tavistock Street, immediately commenced the Man of Fashion at Bath, kept running horses, &c., secundum artem? "Is Mr Phillips (who has now his town and country house, in the most fashionable style,) the same who was, originally, a linen draper and bankrupt at Salisbury, and who made his first family entré in the metropolis, by his superiority at Billiards (with Capt. Wallace, Orrell, &c.) at Cropley's in Bow Street? "Was poor carbuncled P- -e (so many years the favourite decoy duck of the family) the very barber of Oxford who, in the midst of the operation upon a gentleman's face, laid down his razor, swearing that he would never shave another man so long as he lived, and immediately became the hero of the Card Table, the bones, the box, and the cock-pit?" “5 April 1805. The sum lately lost at play by a lady of high rank is variously stated. Some say it does not amount to more than £200,000, while others assert that it is little short of £700,000. Her Lord is very unhappy on the occasion, and is still undecided with respect to the best mode to be adopted in the unfortunate predicament." "30 June 1806. The Marquis of Hd is said to have been so successful at play, this season, as to have cleared £60,000. The Earl of B- -e has won upwards of £50,000, clear of all deductions. A Right Reverend is stated to be amongst those who are minus on this occasion.” "8 July 1806. A certain Noble Marquis, who has been very fortunate, this season, in his gaming speculations, had a run of ill-luck last week. At one sitting his Lordship was minus no less a sum than thirteen thousand pounds!” 15 July 1806. The noble Marquis, who has been so great a gainer this season, at hazard, never plays with anyone, from a PRINCE, to a Commoner, without having the stakes first laid on the table. His lordship was always considered as a sure card, but, now, his fame is established, from the circumstance of his having cleared £35,000, after deducting all his losses for the last six months." Morning Herald, 16 June 1804. A noble Lord, lately high in office, and who manifests a strong inclination to be re-instated in his political power, lost, at the UNION, a night or two back, 4000 guineas before twelve o'clock; but, continuing to play, his luck took a turn, and he rose a winner of a 1000 before five the next morning." I have, also, two newspaper cuttings, but know not whence they came. "Mar. 28, 1811. The brother of a Noble Marquis is said to have lately won, at hazard, upwards of £30,000, all in one night!" April 3, 1811. A young gentleman of family and fortune lost £7000, on Sunday Morning, at a gaming house in the neighbourhood of Pall Mall." This brings us to the time when, owing to the mental affliction of George III., the Prince of Wales became Regent, and during his reign, both as Regent and King, gambling throve; and I propose to quote somewhat from Captain Gronow, whose chatty Reminiscences are about the best of those times. But before doing so I must tell the following anecdote which relates to that General Scott whom Gronow mentions. Lord C had a most unfortunate propensity to gamble; and, in one night, he lost £33,000 to General Scott. Mortified at his ill-fortune he paid the money and wished to keep the circumstance secret; it was, however, whispered about. His lordship, to divert his chagrin, went, a few nights afterwards, to a Masquerade at Carlisle House, Soho, and he found all the company running after three Irish young ladies of the name of G— -e, in the character of the three witches in Macbeth. These ladies were so well acquainted with everything that was going on in the great world that they kept the room in a continual roar of laughter by the brilliancy of their wit, and the happiness of its application to some people of rank who were present. They knew Lord C he did not know them. and they knew of his loss, though He walked up to them, and, in a solemn tone of voice, thus addressed them : "Ye black and midnight hags,-what do ye do? First Witch. "All hail, C—————e! all hail to thee ! Second Witch. "All hail, C-e! all hail to thee ! He'll drain thy youth as dry as hay Hither, Sisters, haste away!" At the concluding words, whirling a watchman's rattle, which she held in her hand, the dome echoed with the sound; the astonished peer shrunk into himself with terror -retired-vowed never to lose more than a hundred pounds at a sitting; abided by the determination, and retrieved his fortune. 1" The politics of White's Club were, then, decidedly Tory. It was here that play was carried on to an extent which made many ravages in large fortunes, the traces of which have not disappeared at the present day. General Scott, the father-in-law of George Canning and the Duke of Portland, was known to have won, at White's, £200,000; thanks to his notorious sobriety and knowledge of the game of whist. The General possessed a great advantage over his companions by avoiding those indulgences at the table, which used to muddle other men's brains. He confined himself to dining off something like a boiled chicken, with toast and water; by such a regimen he came to the whist table with a clear head, and possessing, as he did, a remarkable memory, with great coolness and judgment, he was able, honestly, to win the enormous sum of £200,000. "At Brooke's, for nearly half a century, the play was of a more gambling character than at White's. Faro and Macao were indulged in to an extent which enabled a man to win, or to lose, a considerable fortune in one night. It was here that Charles James Fox, Selwyn, Lord Carlisle, Lord Robert Spencer, General Fitzpatrick, and other great Whigs, won, 1 Reminiscences, Ist Ser. and lost, hundreds of thousands; frequently remaining at the table for many hours without rising. "On one occasion, Lord Robert Spencer contrived to lose the last shilling of his considerable fortune, given to him by his brother, the Duke of Marlborough: General Fitzpatrick, being much in the same condition, they agreed to raise a sum of money, in order that they might keep a Faro bank. The members of the club made no objection, and, ere long, they carried out their design. As is generally the case, the bank was a winner, and Lord Robert bagged, as his share of the profits, £100,000. He retired, strange to say, from the fœtid atmosphere of play, with the money in his pocket, and never again gambled. George Harley Drummond, of the famous banking house, Charing Cross, only played once, in his whole life, at White's Club, at whist, on which occasion he lost £20,000 to Brummell. This event caused him to retire from the banking house, of which he was a partner. Lord Carlisle was one of the most remarkable victims amongst the players at Brooke's, and Charles Fox, his friend, was not more fortunate, being, subsequently, always in pecuniary difficulties. Many a time, after a long night of hard play, the loser found himself at the Israelitish establishment of Howard and Gibbs, then the fashionable and patronized money-lenders. These gentlemen never failed to make hard terms with the borrower, although ample security was, invariably, demanded. "The Guard's Club was established for the three regiments of Foot Guards, and was conducted upon a military system. Billiards and low whist were the only games indulged in. The dinner was, perhaps, better than at most clubs, and considerably cheaper. Arthur's and Graham's were less aristocratic than those I have mentioned; it was, at the latter, that a most painful circumstance took place. A nobleman, of the highest position and influence in society, was detected in cheating at cards, and, after a trial, which did not terminate in his favour, he died of a broken heart. |