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The Gaming Table by Andrew Steinmetz

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Lady gamestresses

CHAPTER X. page 11

But, indeed, the thing was perfectly understood. In the
_Guardian_ (No. 120) we read:--`All play-debts must be paid in
specie or by equivalent. The "man" that plays beyond his
income pawns his estate; the "woman" must find out something
else to mortgage when her pin-money is gone. The husband has his
lands to dispose of; the wife her person. Now when the female
body is once dipped, if the creditor be very importunate, I
leave my reader to consider the consequences.' . . . .

A lady was married when very young to a noble lord, the honour
and ornament of his country, who hoped to preserve her from the
contagion of the times by his own example, and, to say the truth,
she had every good quality that could recommend her to the bosom
of a man of discernment and worth. But, alas! how frail and
short are the joys of mortals! One unfortunate hour ruined his
darling visionary scheme of happiness: she was introduced to an
infamous woman, was drawn into play, liked it, and, as the
unavoidable consequence, she was ruined,--having lost more in one
night than would have maintained a hundred useful families for a
twelvemonth; and, dismal to tell, she felt compelled to sacrifice
her virtue to the wretch who had won her money, in order to
recover the loss! From this moment she might well exclaim--

`Farewell the tranquil mind! farewell content!'

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