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The Gaming Table by Andrew Steinmetz

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THE RISE AND PROGRESS OF MODERN GAMING IN ENGLAND

CHAPTER VI. page 15


`Faro gradually dropped out of fashion; Macao took its place;
Hazard was never wanting; and Whist began to be played for stakes
which would have satisfied Fox himself, who, though it was
calculated that he might have netted four or five thousand a year
by games of skill, complained that they afforded no excitement.

`Wattier's Club, in Piccadilly, was the resort of the Macao
players. It was kept by an old _maitre d'hotel_ of
George IV., a character in his way, who took a just pride in the
cookery and wines of his establishment.

`All the brilliant stars of fashion (and fashion was power then)
frequented Wattier's, with Beau Brummell for their sun. `Poor
Brummell, dead, in misery and idiotcy, at Caen! and I remember
him in all his glory, cutting his jokes after the opera, at
White's, in a black velvet great-coat, and a cocked hat on his
well-powdered head.

`Nearly the same turn of reflection is suggested as we run over
the names of his associates. Almost all of them were ruined--
three out of four irretrievably. Indeed, it was the forced
expatriation of its supporters that caused the club to be broken
up.

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