`The spirit of adventure was now growing on me every day. I was
sometimes very successful. Yet my health was impaired, and my
temper soured by the alternation of good and bad fortune, and my
pity or contempt for those with whom I associated. From the
nobleman, whose acres were nightly melting in the dice box, there
were adventurers even to the _UNFLEDGED APPRENTICE_, who came
with the pillage of his unsuspecting master's till, to swell the
guilty bank of Dame N-- and Co. Were the Commissioners of
Bankruptcy to know how many citizens are prepared for them at
those houses, they would be bound to thank them.
`Many a score of guineas have I won of tradesmen, who seemed only
to turn an honest penny in Leadenhall Street, Aldgate, Birchin
Lane, Cornhill, Cheapside, Holborn, the Borough, and other
eastern spots of industry; but I fleeced them only for the
benefit of the Faro bank, which is sure, finally, to absorb the
gain of all. Some of the croupiers would call their gold
_GIFTS OF THE WISE MEN OF THE EAST;_ others termed their guineas
_COCKNEY COUNTERS!_