Gluttonous Wager-Walk to Constantinople and back-Sir John Lade and Lord Cholmondeley-Other Wagers-Betting on Napoleon-Bet on a Coat-Lord Brougham-Brunel and Stephenson-Captain Barclay Horse Racing-Early mention-Thirteenth Century-Racing for bells— Racing in Hyde Park-Newmarket—Oliver Cromwell and Running horses-Charles II.-James II.-Anne-Her fondness for racing- Sporting in her reign-Epsom-Tregonwell Frampton-The three Georges-A duel-Turf anecdotes of the Eighteenth Century . 173 Match between Mrs Thornton and Mr Flint-Its sequel-Daniel Dawson poisons horses - Origin of Bookmaking — Turf frauds — The Gambling on Race Courses-E. O. tables-Description of Race Courses- Evidence before the Committee-Description of the betting-rooms at Doncaster in 1846—Beginning of tipsters and betting-rooms The Lottery-Its etymology and origin-The first in England-Succeeding ones- -Prince Rupert's jewels-Penny lottery-Suppression and revival-Rage for them in Queen Anne's reign-Lotteries for public Promotors and Projectors-Government loans-Commencement of Bank First mention of the Stock Exchange-Attempt at hoax-Daniel's fraud -Berenger's fraud-Bubbles of 1825-The Railway Mania-30th The Comic side of the Railway Mania-"Jeames's Diary," &c.-Universal Speculation, as shown by Parliamentary Return-Rise of Discount Permissible gambling-Early Marine Assurance-Oldest and old Policies- Lloyd's-Curious Insurances-Marine Assurance Companies-Fire Insurance-Its origin and early Companies-Life Insurance-Early INTRODUCTORY Difference between Gaming and Gambling-Universality and Antiquity of Gambling-Isis and Osiris-Games and Dice of the Egyptians-China and India-The Jews-Among the Greeks and Romans-Among Mahometans -Early Dicing-Dicing in England in the 13th and 14th Centuries-In the 17th Century-Celebrated Gamblers-Bourchier-Swiss AnecdoteDicing in the 18th Century. GAMING is derived from the Saxon word Gamen, meaning joy, pleasure, sports, or gaming-and is so interpreted by Bailey, in his Dictionary of 1736; whilst Johnson gives Gamble-to play extravagantly for money, and this distinction is to be borne in mind in the perusal of this book; although the older term was in use until the invention of the later as we see in Cotton's Compleat Gamester (1674), in which he gives the following excellent definition of the word :-" Gaming is an enchanting witchery, gotten between Idleness and Avarice: an itching disease, that makes some scratch the head, whilst others, as if they were bitten by a Tarantula, are laughing themselves to death; or, lastly, it is a paralytical distemper, which, seizing the arm, the man cannot chuse but shake his elbow. It hath this ill property above all other Vices, that it renders a man incapable of prosecuting any serious action, and makes him always unsatisfied with his own condition; he is either lifted up to the top of mad joy with success, or plung'd to the bottom of despair by misfortune, always in extreams, always in a storm; this minute the Gamester's countenance is so serene and calm, that one would think nothing could disturb it, and the next minute, so stormy and tempestuous that it threatens destruction to itself and others; and, as he is transported with joy when he wins, so, Tosing, is he tost upon the billows of a high swelling passion, till he hath lost sight, both of sense and reason." Gambling, as distinguished from Gaming, or playing, I take to mean an indulgence in those games, or exercises, in which chance assumes a more important character; and my object is to draw attention to the fact, that the money motive increases, as chance predominates over skill. It is taken up as a quicker road to wealth than by pursuing honest industry, and everyone engaged in it, be it dabbling on the Stock Exchange, Betting on Horse Racing, or otherwise, hopes to win, for it is clear that if he knew he should lose, no fool would embark in it. The direct appropriation of other people's property to one's own use, is, undoubtedly, the more simple, but it has the disadvantage of being both vulgar and dangerous; so we either appropriate our neighbour's goods, or he does ours, by gambling with him, for it is certain that if one gains, the other loses. and the loser is not pitied. The winner is not reverenced, But it is a disease that is most contagious, and if a man is known to have made a lucky coup, say, on the Stock Exchange, hundreds rush in to follow his example, as they would were a successful gold field discoveredthe warning of those that perish by the way is unheeded. Of the universality of gambling there is no doubt, and it seems to be inherent in human nature. We can understand its being introduced from one nation to another-but, unless it developed naturally, how can we account for aboriginals, like the natives of New England, who had never had intercourse with foreign folk, but whom Governor Winslow 1 describes as being advanced gamblers. "It happened that two of their men fell out, as they were in game (for they use gaming as much as anywhere; and will play away all, even the skin from their backs; yea, and for their wives' skins also, although they may be many miles distant from them, as myself have seen), and, growing to great heat, the one killed the other." 2 1 Good News from New England. . . . Written by E. W. Lon. 1624. The antiquity of gambling is incontestable, and can be authentically proved, both by Egyptian paintings, and by finding the materials in tombs of undoubted genuineness; and it is even attributed to the gods themselves, as we read in Plutarch's 'Ioidos xai 'Osipidos. "Now the story of Isis and Osiris, its most insignificant and superfluous parts omitted, is thus briefly narrated:-Rhea, they say, having accompanied with Saturn by stealth, was discovered by the Sun, who, hereupon, denounced a curse upon her, that she should not be delivered in any month or year. Mercury, however, being likewise in love with the same goddess, in recompense for the favours which he had received from her, plays at tables with the Moon, and wins from her the seventieth part of each of her illuminations; these several parts, making, in the whole, five new days, he afterwards joined together, and added to the three hundred and sixty, of which the year formerly consisted: which days are even yet called by the Egyptians, the Epact, or Superadded, and observed by them as the birth days of their Gods." But to descend from the sublimity of mythology to prosaic fact, we know that the Egyptians played at the game of Tau, or Game of Robbers, afterwards the Ludus Latrunculorum of the Romans, at that of Hab em hau, or The Game of the Bowl, and at Senat, or Draughts. Of this latter game we have ocular demonstration in the upper Egyptian gallery of the British Museum, where, in a case containing the throne, &c., of Queen Hatasu (B.C. 1600) are her draught board, and twenty pieces, ten of lightcoloured wood, nine of dark wood, and one of ivory—all having a lion's head. These were all, probably, games of skill; but in the same case is an ivory Astragal, the earliest known form of dice, which could have been of no use except for gambling. The Astragal, which is familiarly known to us as a "knuckle bone," or "huckle bone," is still used by anatomists, as the name of a bone in the hind leg of cloven footed animals which articulates with the tibia, and helps to form the ankle joint. The bones used in |