The Gaming Table | Page 5

were her admirers. As she
grew up she was courted by all the gay and extravagant of both sexes,
for she was of neither sex, and yet combining the attractions of each. At
length, however, being mostly beset by men of the sword, she formed
an unnatural union with one of them, and gave birth to twins--one
called DUELLING, and the other a grim and hideous monster named
SUICIDE. These became their mother's darlings, nursed by her with
constant care and tenderness, and her perpetual companions.
The Goddess Fortune ever had an eye on her promising daughter--
Gaming; and endowed her with splendid residences, in the most
conspicuous streets, near the palaces of kings. They were magnificently
designed and elegantly furnished. Lamps, always burning at the portals,
were a sign and a perpetual invitation unto all to enter; and, like the
gates of the Inferno, they were ever open to daily and nightly visitants;
but, unlike the latter, they permitted EXIT to all who entered--some
exulting with golden spoil,--others with their hands in empty
pockets,--some led by her half-witted son Duelling,--others escorted by
her malignant monster Suicide, and his mate, the demon Despair.
`Religion, morals, virtue, all give way, And conscience dies, the
prostitute of play. Eternity ne'er steals one thought between, Till suicide
completes the fatal scene.'
Such is the ALLEGORY;[2] and it may serve well enough to represent
the thing in accordance with the usages of civilized or modern life; but
Gaming is a UNIVERSAL thing--the characteristic of the human biped
all the world over.
[2] It appeared originally, I think, in the Harleian Miscellany. I have
taken the liberty to re-touch it here and there, with the view to
improvement.
The determination of events by `lot' was a practice frequently resorted
to by the Israelites; as, by lot it was determined which of the goats
should be offered by Aaron; by lot the land of Canaan was divided; by
lot Saul was marked out for the Hebrew kingdom; by lot Jonah was
discovered to be the cause of the storm. It was considered an appeal to

Heaven to determine the points, and was thought not to depend on
blind chance, or that imaginary being called Fortune, who,
`----With malicious joy, Promotes, degrades, delights in strife, And
makes a LOTTERY of life.'
The Hindoo Code--a promulgation of very high antiquity-- denounces
gambling, which proves that there were desperate gamesters among the
Hindoos in the earliest times. Men gamed, too, it would appear, after
the example set them by the gods, who had gamesters among them. The
priests of Egypt assured Herodotus that one of their kings visited alive
the lower regions called infernal, and that he there joined a gaming
party, at which he both lost and won.[3] Plutarch tells a pretty Egyptian
story to the effect, that Mercury having fallen in love with Rhea, or the
Earth, and wishing to do her a favour, gambled with the Moon, and
won from her every seventieth part of the time she illumined the
horizon--all which parts he united together, making up _FIVE DAYS_,
and added them to the Earth's year, which had previously consisted of
only 360 days.[4]
[3] Herod. 1. ii.
[4] Plutarch, De Isid. et Osirid.
But not only did the gods play among themselves on Olympus, but they
gambled with mortals. According to Plutarch, the priest of the temple
of Hercules amused himself with playing at dice with the god, the stake
or conditions being that if he won he should obtain some signal favour,
but if he lost he would procure a beautiful courtesan for Hercules.[5]
[5] In Vita Romuli.
By the numerous nations of the East dice, and that pugnacious little
bird the cock, have been and are the chief instruments employed to
produce a sensation--to agitate their minds and to ruin their fortunes.
The Chinese have in all times, we suppose, had cards--hence the
absurdity of the notion that they were `invented' for the amusement of
Charles VI. of France, in his `lucid intervals,' as is constantly asserted

in every collection of historic facts. The Chinese invented cards, as they
invented almost everything else that administers to our social and
domestic comfort.[6]
[6] Observations on Cards, by Mr Gough, in Archaeologia, vol. viii.
1787.
The Asiatic gambler is desperate. When all other property is played
away, he scruples not to stake his wife, his child, on the cast of a die or
on the courage of the martial bird before mentioned. Nay more, if still
unsuccessful, the last venture he makes is that of his limbs--his
personal liberty--his life--which he hazards on the caprice of chance,
and agrees to be at the mercy, or to become the slave, of his fortunate
antagonist.
The Malayan, however, does not always tamely submit to this last
stroke of