Chapter I: Front Matter

LIGHT COME, LIGHT GO

MACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITED

LONDON · BOMBAY · CALCUTTA
MELBOURNE

THE MACMILLAN COMPANY

NEW YORK · BOSTON · CHICAGO
ATLANTA · SAN FRANCISCO

THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, LTD

TORONTO

From a scarce print by Darcis.

_Frontispiece._]

LIGHT COME, LIGHT GO

GAMBLING--GAMESTERS--WAGERS

THE TURF

BY

RALPH NEVILL

"D'un bout du monde
A l'autre bout,
Le Hasard seul fait tout."

MACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITED
ST. MARTIN'S STREET, LONDON

1909

CONTENTS

I

PAGE

The gambling spirit inborn in mankind--Its various forms in
reality identical--Resemblance of gamblers to the alchemists
of old--Capriciousness of fortune--Importance of small advantages
at play--An extraordinary run at hazard--Napoleon
and Wellington little addicted to cards--Blücher's love of
gaming--He wins his son's money--Avaricious gamesters--Anecdotes
of the miser Elwes--Long sittings at the card-table--Modern
instance in London--Two nights and a day
at whist at the Roxburgh Club--Casanova's forty-two hour
duel at piquet--Anecdotes of Fox, the Duke of Devonshire,
Sir John Lade, Beau Nash, and others--Country houses lost
at play--"Up now deuce and then a trey"--The Canterbury
barber 1

II

The spirit of play in the eighteenth century--The Duke of
Buckingham's toast--Subscription-Houses, Slaughter-Houses,
and Hells--The staff of a gaming-house--Joseph
Atkinson and Bellasis--Raids on King's Place and Grafton
Mews--Methods employed by Bow Street officers--Speculative
insurance--Increase of gaming in London owing to
arrival of _émigrés_--Gambling amongst the prisoners of war--The
Duc de Nivernois and the clergyman--Faro and E.O.--Crusade
against West-End gamblers--The Duchess of
Devonshire and "Old Nick"--Mr. Lookup--Tiger Roche--Dick
England--Sad death of Mr. Damer--Plucking a pigeon 38

III

Former popularity of dice--The race game in Paris--Description
of hazard--Jack Mytton's success at it--Anecdotes--French
hazard--Major Baggs, a celebrated gamester of the
past--Anecdotes of his career--London gaming-houses--Ways
and methods of their proprietors--Ephraim Bond and
his henchman Burge--"The Athenæum"--West-End Hells--Crockford's--Opinion
of Mr. Crockford regarding play--The
Act of 1845--Betting-houses--Nefarious tactics of their
owners--Suppression in 1853 74

IV

Craze for eccentric wagers at end of eighteenth century--Lord
Cobham's insulting freak and its results--Betting and
gaming at White's--The Arms of the Club--The old betting-book
and its quaint wagers--Tragedies of play--White's to-day--£180,000
lost at hazard at the Cocoa Tree--Brummell
as a gambler--Gaming at Brooks's--Anecdotes--General
Scott--Whist--Mr. Pratt--Wattier's Club--Scandal at
Graham's--Modern gambling clubs--The Park Club case in
1884--Dangers of private play 103

V

Talleyrand whilst at cards announces the death of the Duc
d'Enghien--"The curse of Scotland"--Wilberforce at faro--Successful
gamblers--The Rev. Caleb Colton--Colonel
Panton--Dennis O'Kelly--Richard Rigby--Anecdotes--Strange
incidents at play--Aged gamesters--A duel with
death--General Wade and the poor officer--Anecdote of a
caprice of Fortune--Stock Exchange speculation--A man
who profited by tips 137

VI

Colonel Mellish--His early life and accomplishments--His
equipage--A great gambler--£40,000 at a throw!--Posting--Mellish's
racing career--His duel--In the Peninsula--Rural
retirement and death--Colonel John Mordaunt--His
youthful freaks--An ardent card-player--Becomes aide-de-camp
to the Nawab of Oude--Anecdotes--Death from a
duel--Zoffany in India and his picture of Mordaunt's
cock-fight--Anecdotes of cock-fighting 167

VII

Prevalence of wagering in the eighteenth century--Riding a
horse backwards--Lord Orford's eccentric bet--Travelling
piquet--The building of Bagatelle--Matches against time--"Old
Q." and his chaise match--Buck Whalley's journey
to Jerusalem--Buck English--Irish sportsmen--Jumping
the wall of Hyde Park in 1792--Undressing in the water--Colonel
Thornton--A cruel wager--Walking on stilts--A
wonderful leap--Eccentric wagers--Lloyd's walking match--Squire
Osbaldiston's ride--Captain Barclay--Jim Selby's
drive--Mr. Bulpett's remarkable feats 204

VIII

Gambling in Paris--Henry IV. and Sully--Cardinal Mazarin's
love of play--Louis XIV. attempts to suppress gaming--John
Law--Anecdotes--Institution of public tables in 1775--Biribi--Gambling
during the Revolution--Fouché--The
tables of the Palais Royal--The Galeries de Bois--Account
of gaming-rooms--Passe-dix and Craps--Frascati's and the
Salon des Étrangers--Anecdotes--Public gaming ended in
Paris--Last evenings of play--Decadence of the Palais
Royal--Its restaurants--Gaming in Paris at the present day 235

IX

Public gaming in Germany--Aix-la-Chapelle--An Italian gambler--The
King of Prussia's generosity--Baden-Baden--M. de
la Charme--A dishonest croupier--Wiesbaden--An eccentric
Countess--Closing of the tables in 1873--Last scenes--Arrival
of M. Blanc at Homburg--His attempt to defeat his
own tables--Anecdotes of Garcia--His miserable end--A
Spanish gambler at Ems--Roulette at Geneva and in
Heligoland--Gambling at Ostend--Baccarat at French
watering-places--"La Faucheuse" forbidden in France 282

X

The Principality of Monaco--Its vicissitudes--Early days
of the Casino--The old Prince and his scruples--Monte
Carlo in 1858 and 1864--Its development--Fashionable in the
'eighties--Mr. Sam Lewis and Captain Carlton
Blythe--Anecdotes--Increase of visitors and present democratic
policy of administration--The _Cercle Privé_ and its short
life--The gaming-rooms and ways of their
frequenters--Anecdotes--Trente-et-quarante
and roulette--Why the cards have plain white backs--Jaggers'
successful spoliation of the bank--The croupiers and their
training--The staff of the Casino--The
_viatique_--Systems--The best of all 319