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SECTION XIII.

OF FOOLS WHO SEEK FORTUNE AT GAMES
OF CHANCE, &c.

Tantum se fortunæ permittunt, etiam ut naturam dediscant.

BEHOLD the eager fools at play;

Each thinks his fortune to enhance :
As if the road that led that way,
Concentrated in games of chance.

Now roll the dice: my Lord has won
The lands and beeves of poor Sir John.
My Lord in turn, next night's undone ;
His winnings and estate both gone.*

# Gambling is one of the most diabolical fascinations that can take possession of the human mind; and it is on this account that Erasmus, in his Praise of Folly, makes his heroine disclaim all connexion with so destructive a pastime. The gamester has no respect for any of those ties which link the generality of mankind together; and he will as

Eager to gain, the fool sits down;
Heedless of caution or advice,

He's ruin'd; not from fortune's frown,

But black-legs, arm'd with cogged dice.*

calmly pocket the last guinea of an old friend, as that of the most perfect stranger. An instance of this kind occurred at a subscription house not far from St. James's, where a Right Honourable, after winning the fortune of his friend, literally played for his house and furniture, together with the carriage and horses, then standing at the door; which fortune also placed in his power, when he very liberally permitted the loser to continue one week in his mansion, and return home from the gambling house in the carriage he had lost; but, it must be remembered, for the last time.

* The instability of fortune is not the only circumstance to be dreaded at the gambling table, where every species of fraud is practised by many of its votaries, whose premeditated dishonesty bids defiance to good fortune as well as skill. It would however be the height of injustice to accuse only the great as being prone to shake the elbow; this fascination pervades alike every rank of society; and even boors at a country wake or fare, must have their E O table, where, instead of thousands, pennies are staked and played for with equal avidity; which brings to recollection! the old French proverb: "Le jeu est le fils d'avarice et le pere du desespoir."

Or on the turf let jockeys† try,

And on the racer's power presume: They too are ruin'd-And for why?

They risk their fortunes with a groom.

If to the Stock Exchanget you speed,
To try with bulls and bears your luck,
'Tis odds, you soon from gold are freed,
And waddle forth a limping duck.

† The turf is, of all species of gambling, that which capacitates its votaries the most to pursue unjustifiable means for the attainment of gold; so many instances of which have been recorded, that it would be needless to descant further upon the topic. I should, however, be guilty of a most flagrant error, were I not to remark that, when a gentleman degrades himself by turning jockey, I conceive that he is of a bastard breed; and in despite of his estate and rank, merely descends to that natural standard, from which a variety of circumstances had raised him, only to render his real insignificance and folly the more eminently conspicuous.

These are your city gamesters, who equally have recourse to fraudulent methods in order to amass wealth; for who but remembers the expedients resorted to during the last war, when even placards were stuck up at the Mansion House! so completely was the hook swallowed by the Stock

By av'ricet led, when fortune smiles,

And answers all the gambler's ends; He still must own his golden piles

Were gain'd by ruin of his friends.

Exchange gudgeons! In short, gambling is at best but an avaricious propensity. A gli avari sempre osce una goccia di sangue avanti che diano un quatrino per amor di Dio; and as it affixes no bounds to its desires, it is equally unrestrained by any principle of honour or of justice: there fore, when a man stakes his wealth, jacta est alea, and he must abide the hazard of the adventurous enterprize, if not seconded by chicane and villany, which is generally resorted to by such as have been subjected to bad luck, and conceive it a just retort for the deprivations thus experienced at the shrine of fortune.

† Avarice being the incentive to gaming, a gambler necessarily carries with him, not only his own bane but that of others; for we may say with Juvenal:

Dives fieri qui vult,

Et cito vult fieri

is never deterred from the gratification of his insatiable pursuit, either by moral or religious obligations; consequently it not only warps the mental, but imperceptibly destroys the animal being; for he who lives a life of incessant anxiety, exists for the purpose alone which excites it, be it good or evil; therefore shun, as one of the most deadly poisons, this improper thirst for riches; and although allu

L'ENVOY OF THE POET.

To value gold, its worth should first be known: 'Tis industry gives little, all its zest.

And he whose labour makes his bread his own, May rank on earth as most supremely blest.

THE POET'S CHORUS TO FOOLS.

Come, trim the boat, row on each Rara Avis,
Crowds flock to man my Stultifera Navis.

red by the good luck of others, always remember that there is a loser as well as a winner, and that the odds are against you: so may you exclaim with Virgil:

Mene salis placidi vultum, fluctusque quietos
Ignorare jubes? mene huic confidere monstro?

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