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The Gaming Table by Andrew Steinmetz

 CHAPTER XII. page 23

THE DUKE OF NORFOLK.

A similar anecdote is told of another gamester. `The late Duke
of Norfolk,' says the author of `Rouge et Noir,' writing in 1823,
`in one evening lost the sum of L70,000 in a gaming house on
the right side of St James's Street: suspecting foul play, he put
the dice in his pocket, and, as was his custom when up late, took
a bed in the house. The blacklegs were all dismayed, till one of
the worthies, who is believed to have been a principal in
poisoning the horses at Newmarket, for which Dan Dawson was
hanged, offered for L5000 to go to the duke's room with a
brace of pistols and a pair of dice, and, if the duke was awake,
to shoot him, if asleep to change the dice! Fortunately for the
gang, the duke "snored," as the agent stated, "like a pig;"
the dice were changed. His Grace had them broken in the morning,
when, finding them good, he paid the money, and left off
gambling.'[141]

[141] Rouge et Noir; the Academicians of 1823.

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