The Gaming Table: Its Votaries and Victims. Volume 1 (of 2)

The Gaming Table: Its Votaries and Victims. Volume 1 (of 2)

To the readers of the present generation much of this book will, doubtless, seem incredible. Still it is a book of factsa section of our social history, which is, I think, worth writing, and deserving of meditation. Forty or fifty years agothat is, within the memory of many a living mangambling was 'the rage' in England, especially in the metropolis. Streets now meaningless and dullsuch as Osendon Street, and streets and squares now inhabited by the most respectable in the landfor instance, St James's Square, THEN opened doors to countless votaries of the fickle and capricious goddess of Fortune; in the rooms of which many a nobleman, many a gentleman, many an officer of the Army and Navy, clergymen, tradesmen, clerks, and apprentices, were 'cleaned out'ruined, and driven to self-murder, or to crimes that led to the gallows. 'I have myself,' says a writer of the time, 'seen hanging in chains a man whom a short time before I saw at a Hazard table!' History, as it is commonly written, does not sufficiently take cognizance of the social pursuits and practices that sap the vitality of a nation; and yet these are the leading influences in its destinymaking it what it is and will be, at least through many generations, by example and the inexorable laws that preside over what is called 'hereditary transmission.' ......Buy Now (To Read More)

Product details

Ebook Number: 466
Author: Steinmetz, Andrew
Release Date: Mar 1, 1996
Format: eBook
Language: English