The Fitz-Boodle Papers | Page 3

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THE FITZ-BOODLE PAPERS.
by William Makepeace Thackeray

CONTENTS
THE FITZ-BOODLE PAPERS.
FITZ-BOODLE'S CONFESSIONS:--
Preface
Dorothea
Ottilia
FITZ-BOODLE'S PROFESSIONS:--
First Profession
Second Profession

FITZ-BOODLE'S CONFESSIONS.*
PREFACE.
GEORGE FITZ-BOODLE, ESQUIRE, TO OLIVER YORKE,
ESQUIRE.
OMNIUM CLUB, May 20, 1842.
DEAR SIR,--I have always been considered the third-best whist- player
in Europe, and (though never betting more than five pounds) have for
many years past added considerably to my yearly income by my skill in
the game, until the commencement of the present season, when a
French gentleman, Monsieur Lalouette, was admitted to the club where
I usually play. His skill and reputation were so great, that no men of the
club were inclined to play against us two of a side; and the consequence
has been, that we have been in a manner pitted against one another. By
a strange turn of luck (for I cannot admit the idea of his superiority),

Fortune, since the Frenchman's arrival, has been almost constantly
against me, and I have lost two-and-thirty nights in the course of a
couple of score of nights' play.
* The "Fitz-Boodle Papers" first appeared in Fraser's Magazine for the
year 1842.
Everybody knows that I am a poor man; and so much has Lalouette's
luck drained my finances, that only last week I was obliged to give him
that famous gray cob on which you have seen me riding in the Park (I
can't afford a thoroughbred, and hate a cocktail),--I was, I say, forced to
give him up my cob in exchange for four ponies which I owed him.
Thus, as I never walk, being a heavy man whom nobody cares to mount,
my time hangs heavily on my hands; and, as I hate home, or that
apology for it--a bachelor's lodgings--and as I have nothing earthly to
do now until I can afford to purchase another horse, I spend my time in
sauntering from one club to another, passing many rather listless hours
in them before the men come in.
You will say, Why not take to backgammon, or ecarte, or amuse
yourself with a book? Sir (putting out of the question the fact that I do
not play upon credit), I make a point never to play before candles are
lighted; and as for books, I must candidly confess to you I am not a
reading man.
'Twas but the other day that some one recommended me to your
Magazine after dinner, saying it contained an exceedingly witty article
upon--I forget what. I give you my honor, sir,