LEATHER-MORE: OR ADVICE CONCERNING GAMING: The Second Edition. Faelix quem faciunt aliena pericula cautum. Licenced, Novemb. 4th. 1667. LONDON, Printed in the year. 1668. LEATHERMORE'S Advice; CONCERNING GAMING. GAming is an enchanting Witchery, begot betwixt Idleness and Avarice; which has this ill property above all other Vices, that it renders a man incapable of prosecuting any serious Action; and makes him always unsatisfied with his own Condition; he is either lifted up to the top of mad joy with success; or plunged to the bottom of despair by misfortune; always in extremes, always in a storm. Hannibal said of Marcellus, that Nec bonam nec malam ferre potest, he could be quiet neither Conqueror nor Conquered: Thus (such is the itch of play) Gamesters neither winning nor losing can rest satisfied; if they win, they think to win more; if they lose, they hope to recover. One propounded this Question, Whether men in Ships at Sea were to be accounted among the Living or the Dead, because there were but few inches betwixt them and Drowning. The same Quaere may be made of great Gamesters, though their Estates be never so considerable, Whether they are to be esteemed poor or rich, since there are but a few casts at Dice, betwixt a Person of Fortune (in that Circumstance) and a Beggar? But speculation in this particular will not be convincing, unless we show somewhat of the modern practice; we must therefore lay our Scene at the Ordinary, and proceed to our Action. Betwixt twelve and one of the Clock a good Dinner is prepared by way of Ordinary, and some Gentlemen of Civility and Condition ofttimes eat there, and play a while for recreation after Dinner, both moderately and most commonly without deserving reproof. Towards night, when Ravenous Beasts usually seek their Prey, there comes in shoals of Hector's, Trappanners, Guilts, Pads, Biters, Prigs, Divers, Lifters, Kidnappers, Vouchers, Mill-kens, Pymen, Decoys, Shop-Lifters, Foilers, Bulkers, Droppers, Famblers, Donnakers, Crosbyters, etc. Under the general appellation of Rooks, and in this particular it serves as a Nursery for Tyburn; for every year some of this Gang march thither: One Millard was hanged in April. 1694. for Burglary, and others since. When a young Gentleman or Apprentice comes into this School of Virtue, unskiled in the quibbles and devices there practised, they call him a Lamb, than a Rook (who is properly the Wolf) follows him close, and engages him in advantageous Bets, and at length worryes him, that is, gets all his Money, and then they smile and say, the Lamb is bitten. Of these Rooks some will be very importunate to borrow Money of you, without any intention of repaying, or to go with you 7 to 12, half a Crown, and take it ill if they are refused, others watch, if when you are serious at your Game, your Sword hang lose behind, and lift that away; others will not scruple if they spy an opportunity, directly to pick your Pocket, yet if all fail, some will nim off the Gold Buttons of your Cloak, or steal the Cloak itself if it lie lose, others will throw at a sum of Money with a dry fist (as they call it) that is, if they neck you, 'tis theirs, if they lose, they own you so much, with many other Quillets; or if you chance to neck them, 'tis odds they wait your coming out at night and beat you, as one Cock was served in June, 1664. Blaspheming, Drunkenness, and Swearing, are here so familiar; that Civility is by the rule of contraries accounted a Vice. I do not mean Swearing when there is occasion to attest a Truth, but upon no occasion, or rather all occasions; As God Dam me, how dost? What a Clock is it by God? etc. Then before two hours are at an end, some one who has been heated with Wine, or made Choleric with loss of his Money, raises a Quarrel, Swords are drawn, and perhaps the boxes and Candlesticks thrown at one another; and all the House in a Garboil, forming a perfect Type of Hell. Would you imagine it to be true? that a grave Gentleman well stricken in years, in so much as he cannot see the pip's of the Dice, is so infatuated with this Witchery, as to play here with others eyes, of whom this Quibble was raised, That Mr.— such a one plays at Dice by the Ear. Another Gentleman stark blind, I have seen play at Hazzard, and sure that must be by the Ear too. Late at night when the Company grows thin, and your eyes dim with watching, false dice are often put upon the ignorant, or they are otherwise cozened with topping, or slurring, etc. And if you be not vigilant, the Box-keeper shall score you up double or treble Boxes, and though you have lost your Money, dun you as severely for it, as if it were the justest debt in the World. There are yet some gentiler and more subtle Rooks, whom you shall not distinguish by their outward demeanour from persons of Condition: and who will sit by, a whole evening, and observe who wins; and than if the Winner be bubbleable, they will insinuate themselves into his acquaintance, and civilly invite him to drink a glass of Wine, wheadle him into play and win all his Money, either by false dice, as high Fullams, low Fullams, 5, 4, 2, s. etc. Or by Palming, Topping, Knapping, or Slurring; Or in case he be past that Classis of Ignoramusses, then by Crossbyting, or some other dexterity, of which they have variety unimaginable; Note by the way, that when they have you at the Tavern and think you a sure Bubble, they will many times purposely lose some small sum to you the first time, to engage you more freely to Bleed (as they call it) at the second meeting, to which they will be sure to invite you. A Gentleman whom ill Fortune had hurried into Passion, took a Box and Dice to a side Table and there sell to throwing by himself, at length swears with an Emphasis,— Damn, now I throw for nothing, I can win a thousand pounds; but when I play for Money, I lose my Arse. If the House find you free to the Box and a constant Caster, you shall be Treated below with Suppers at night, and Caudle in the morning, and have the Honour to be styled, A Love of the House, whilst your Money lasts, which certainly will not be long; For as the Lamiaes destroyed men, under pretence of kindness, so 'tis here. In a word, this course of life shall afford you so many Affronts, and such a number of vexations, as shall in time convert both your Soul and Body into Anguish, and Anguish in some has turned to madness. Thus one Bull, a young fellow not many years since, had by strange Fortune run up a very small sum to fifteen hundred pounds, and put himself into a Garb accordingly, could not give over, played on, fortune turned, lost it all, run mad, and so died. If what has been said will not make you detest this abominable kind of life, will the almost certain loss of your Money do it? I'll undertake to demonstrate, that 'tis ten to one you shall be a loser at the years end with constant Play upon the square.— If then 20 persons bring 200 l. apiece, which makes 4000 l. and resolve to play; for example, three or four hours a day for a year, I'll wager the Box shall have 1500 l. of the Money, and that 18 of the 20 persons shall be losers. I have seen (in a lower instance) three persons sit down at twelve penny Inn and Inn, and each draw 40 shillings apiece, and in little more than two hours, the Box has had 3 l. of the Money, and all the three Gamesters have been loser's, and laughed at for their indiscretion. At an Ordinary you shall scarce have a night pass without a quarrel, and you must either tamely put up an Affront, or else be engaged in a Duel next morning, upon some trifling insignificant occasion, pretended to be a point of Honour. Most Gamesters begin at small game, and by degrees, if their Money or Estates hold out, they rise to great sums; some have played first all their Money, than their Rings, Coach and Horses, even their wearing , and Perry-wiggs, and then such a Farm, and at last perhaps a Lordship. You may read in our Histories how Sir Miles Partridge played at dice with King Henry the 8th. Stow's Survey. p. 357. for Jesus Bells, so called, which were the greatest in England, and hung in a Tower of St. Paul's Church, and won them; whereby he brought them to ring in his pocket: but the ropes afterwards catched about his neck, for in Edward the sixths' days he was hanged for some criminal offences. Consider how many persons have been ruined by play, Sir Arthur Smithouse is yet fresh in memory, he had a fair Estate, which in a few years he so lost at play, that he died in great want and penury. Since that, Mr. Ba— who was a Clerk in the six Clerks Office and well cliented, fell to play, won by extraordinary fortune 2000 pieces in ready Gold; was not content with that, played on, lost all he had won, and almost all his own Estate, sold his place in the Office, and at last marched off to a foreign Plantation, to begin a new world with the sweat of his brow: For that is commonly the destiny of a decayed Gamester, either to go to some foreign Plantation, or to be preferred to the Dignity of a Box-keeper. It is not denied but most Gamesters have at one time or other a considerable run of winning, but (such is the infatuation of Play) I could never hear of the Man that gave over a winner, (I mean to give over, as never to play again) I am sure 'tis rara avis; For if you once break bulk (as they phrase it) you are in again for all. Sir Humphrey Foster had lost the greatest part of his Estate, and then playing, as 'tis said, for a dead Horse, did by happy Fortune recover it again, then gave over, and wisely too. If a Man have a competent Estate of his own, and plays whether himself or another Man shall have it, 'tis extreme folly: If his Estate be small, then to hazard the loss even of that, and reduce himself to absolute beggary, is direct madness. Besides it has been generally observed, that the loss of one hundred pounds shall do you more prejudice, in disquieting your mind, than the gain of two hundred pounds shall do you good, were you sure to keep it. Consider also your loss of time which is invaluable, and remember what Seneca says— Nulla major est jactura, quam tempor is amissio. Lastly, consider the great damage the very watching brings to your health, and in particular to your eyes, (for Gamesters wor● most by night) confirm'd by this Distich, Allia, vina, venus, fumus, faba, lumen & ignis, Ista nocent oculis, sed vigilare magis. FINIS. A penitent Sonnet, written by the Lord FITZ-GIRALD (a great Gamester) a little before his death, which was in the year 1580. By loss in play men oft forget, The duty they do owe, To him that did bestow the same, And thousand Millions more. I loathe to hear them swear and stare When they the Main have lost, Forgetting all the Bees that wear, With God and Holy Ghost. By Wounds and Nails they think to win, But truly it is not so, For all their frets and fumes in sin, They moneyless must go. There is no Wight that used it more Than he that wrote this Verse, Who cries peccavie now therefore, His Oaths his heart do pierce. Therefore example take by me That curse the luckless-time That ever Dice mine eyes did-see Which bred in me this crime, Pardon me for that is past I will offend no more, In this most vile and sinful east, Which I will still abhor. FINIS.