Online Casino Players.com

Home / History / Lady gamestresses
Volume I Volume II

The Gaming Table by Andrew Steinmetz

I | II | III | IV | V | VI | VII | VIII | IX | X | XI | XII | XIII | XIV

Lady gamestresses

CHAPTER X. page 9

`The facts,' says Mr Massey,[98] `confirm the theory.
Walpole's Letters and Mr Jesse's volumes on George Selwyn and his
Contemporaries, teem with allusions to proved or understood cases
of matrimonial infidelity; and the manner in which notorious
irregularities were brazened out, shows that the offenders did
not always encounter the universal reprobation of society.

[98] History of England, ii.

`Whist was not much in vogue until a later period, and was far
too abstruse and slow to suit the depraved taste which required
unadulterated stimulants.'

The ordinary stakes at these mixed assemblies would, at the
present day, be considered high, even at the clubs where a rubber
is still allowed.

`The consequences of such gaming were often still more lamentable
than those which usually attended such practices. It would
happen that a lady lost more than she could venture to confess to
her husband or father. Her creditor was probably a fine
gentleman, or she became indebted to some rich admirer for the
means of discharging her liabilities. In either event, the
result may be guessed. In the one case, the debt of honour was
liquidated on the old principle of the law-merchant, according to
which there was but one alternative to payment in purse. In
the other, there was likewise but one mode in which the
acknowledgment of obligation by a fine woman would be acceptable
to a man of the world.'

Page   1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9   10   11   12   13   14   15   16   17   18   19   20   21   22   23   24   25