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Volume I Volume II

The Gaming Table by Andrew Steinmetz

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GAMBLING IN FRANCE IN ALL TIMES

CHAPTER V. page 11

The winnings of the courtier Bassompierre were enormous. He
won at the Duc d'Epernon's sufficient to pay his debts, to dress
magnificently, to purchase all sorts of extravagant finery, a
sword ornamented with diamonds--`and after all these expenses,'
he says, `I had still five or six thousand crowns (two to three
thousand pounds) left, _TO KILL TIME WITH_, pour tuer le temps.'

On another occasion, and at a more advanced age, he won one
hundred thousand crowns (L50,000) at a single sitting, from M.
De Guise, Joinville, and the Marechal d'Ancre.

In reading his Memoirs we are apt to get indignant at the
fellow's successes; but at last we are tempted to laugh at his
misery. He died so poor that he did not leave enough to pay the
twentieth part of his debts! Such, doubtless, is the end of most
gamblers.

But to return to Henry IV., the great gambling exemplar of the
nation. The account given of him at the gaming table is most
afflicting, when we remember his royal greatness, his sublime
qualities. His only object was to _WIN_, and those who played
with him were thus always placed in a dreadful dilemma--either to
lose their money or offend the king by beating him! The Duke of
Savoy once played with him, and in order to suit his humour,
dissimulated his game--thus sacrificing or giving up forty
thousand pistoles (about L28,000).

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