The Gaming Table | Page 8

be so superior to you.' Str. 'He takes no advantage, but plays merely as a man.' Abp. 'When you win or lose, how do you settle accounts?' Str. 'Very exactly and punctually.' Abp. 'Indeed! Pray, how stands your game now?' Str. 'There! I have just lost!' Abp. 'How much have you lost?' Str. 'Fifty guineas.' Abp. 'How do you manage to pay it? Does God take your money?' Str. 'No! The poor are his treasurers. He always sends some worthy person to receive it, and you are at present his purse-bearer.'
Saying this, the stranger put fifty guineas into his Grace's hand, and retired, adding--'I shall play no more to-day.'
The prelate was delighted; though he could not tell what to make of this extraordinary man. The guineas were all good; and the archbishop applied them to the use of the poor, as he had been directed.
The archbishop, on his return, stopped at the same town, and could not help going in search of the chess-player, whom he found engaged as before, when the following dialogue ensued:-- Abp. 'How has the chance stood since we met before?' Str. 'Sometimes for me--sometimes against me. I have lost and won.' Abp. 'Are you at play now?' Str. 'Yes, sir. We have played several games to-day.' Abp. 'Who wins?' Str. 'The advantage is on my side. The game is just over. I have a fine stroke--check-mate-- there it is.' Abp. 'How much have you won?' Str. 'Five hundred guineas.' Abp. 'That is a large sum. How are you to he paid?' Str. 'God always sends some good rich man when I win, and YOU are the person. He is remarkably punctual on these occasions.'
The archbishop had received a considerable sum on that day, as the stranger knew; and so, producing a pistol by way of receipt, he compelled the delivery of it. His Grace now discovered that he had been the dupe of a thief; and though he had greatly bruited his first adventure, he prudently kept his own counsel in regard to the last.
Such is the tale. Se non e vero e ben trovato.
SKITTLE SHARPERS.
'I know a respectable tradesman,' says a writer in Cassell's Magazine--'I know him now, for he lives in the house he occupied at the time of my tale--who was sent for to see a French gentleman at a tavern, on business connected with the removal of this gentleman's property from one of the London docks. The business, as explained by the messenger, promising to be profitable, he of course promptly obeyed the summons, and during his walk found that his conductor had once been in service in France. This delighted Mr Chase--the name by which I signify the tradesman--for he, too, had once so lived in France; and by the time he reached the tavern he had talked himself into a very good opinion of his new patron. The French gentleman was very urbane, gave Mr Chase his instructions, let him understand expense was not to be studied, and, as he was at lunch, would not be satisfied unless the tradesman sat down with him. This was a great honour for the latter, as he found his employer was a baron. Well, the foreigner was disposed to praise everything English; he was glad he had come to live in London--Paris was nothing to it; they had nothing in France like the English beer, with which, in the exuberance of his hospitality, he filled and refilled Mr Chase's glass; but that which delighted him above all that he had seen "vos de leetle game vid de ball--vot you call-- de--de--aha! de skittel." Mr Chase assented that it was a very nice game certainly; and the French gentleman seeming by this time to have had quite enough beer, insisted, before they went to the docks--which was essential--that they should see just one game played.
'As he insisted on paying Mr Chase for all the time consumed with him, and as his servant, of course, could not object, the party adjourned to the "Select Subscription Ground" at once. In the ground there was a quiet, insignificant-looking little man, smoking a cigar; and as they were so few, he was asked to assist, which, after considerable hesitation and many apologies for his bad play, he did. The end is of course guessed. The French gentleman was a foolish victim, with more money than wits, who backed himself to do almost impossible feats, when it was evident he could not play at all, and laid sovereigns against the best player, who was the little stranger, doing the easiest. What with the excitement, and what with the beer, which was probably spiced with some unknown relish a little stronger than nutmeg, Mr Chase could not help joining in winning the foreign gentleman's money; it seemed no harm,