tightened his arm to try and stifle the implacable sound of

detection manifest--the _flagrans delictum_--still the clock went
on striking the long hour, so that at each stroke the bystanders

looked at each other from head to foot in utter bewilderment.
`The king, who, as it chanced, had detected the theft, burst out

laughing, not only at the astonishment of the gentlemen present,
who were at a loss to account for the sound, but also at the

originality of the stunning event. At length Monsieur le Baron,
by his own blushes half-convicted of larceny, fell on his knees

before the king, humbly saying:--"Sire, the pricks of gaming are
so powerful that they have driven me to commit a dishonest

action, for which I beg your mercy." And as he was going on in
this strain, the king cut short his words, exclaiming:--"The

_PASTIME_ which you have contrived for us so far surpasses the
injury you have done me that the clock is yours: I give it you

with all my heart." '[44]
[44] Duverdier, _Diverses Lecons_.

HENRY III.--In the latter part of the sixteenth century Paris was
inundated with brigands of every description. A band of Italian

gamesters, having been informed by their correspondents that
Henry III. had established card-rooms and dice-rooms in the

Louvre, got admission at court, and won thirty thousand crowns
from the king.[45]

[45] Journal de Henri III.
If all the kings of France had imitated the disinterestedness of

Henry III., the vice of gaming would not have made such progress
as became everywhere evident.

Brantome gives a very high idea of this king's generosity,
whilst he lashes his contemporaries. Henry III. played at tennis

and was very fond of the game--not, however, through cupidity or
avarice, for he distributed all his winnings among his

companions. When he lost he paid the wager, nay, he even paid
the losses of all engaged in the game. The bets were not higher

than two, three, or four hundred crowns--never, as subsequently,
four thousand, six thousand, or twelve thousand--when, however,

payment was not as readily made, but rather frequently compounded
for.[46]

[46] Henry III. was also passionately" target="_blank" title="ad.多情地；热烈地">passionately fond of the childish
toy _Bilboquet_, or `Cup and Ball,' which he used to play even

whilst walking in the street. Journal de Henri III., i.
There was, indeed, at that time a French captain named La Roue,

who played high stakes, up to six thousand crowns, which was then
deemed exorbitant. This intrepid gamester proposed a bet of

twenty thousand crowns against one of Andrew Doria's war-galleys.
Doria took the bet, but he immediately declared it off, in

apprehension of the ridiculous position in which he would be
placed if he lost, saying,--`I don't wish that this young

adventurer, who has nothing worth naming to lose, should win
my galley to go and triumph in France over my fortune and my

honour.'
Soon, however, high stakes became in vogue, and to such an extent

that the natural son of the Duc de Bellegarde was enabled to pay,
out of his winnings, the large sum of fifty thousand crowns to

get himself legitimated. Curiously enough, it is said that the
greater part of this sum had been won in England.[47]

[47] Amelot de la Houss. _Mem. Hist_. iii.
HENRY IV.--Henry IV. early evinced his passion for gaming. When

very young and stinted in fortune, he contrived the means of
satisfying this growing propensity. When in want of money he

used to send a promissory note, written and signed by himself, to
his friends, requesting them to return the note or cash it--an

expedient which could not but succeed, as every man was only too
glad to have the prince's note of hand.[48]

[48] Mem. de Nevers. ii.
There can be no doubt that the example of Henry IV. was, in the

matter of gaming, as in other vices, most pernicious. `Henry
IV.,' says Perefixe, `was not a skilful player, but greedy

of gain, timid in high stakes, and ill-tempered when he
lost.' He adds rather naively, `This great king was not without

spots any more than the sun.'[49]
[49] Hist. de Henri le Grand.

Under him gambling became the rage. Many distinguished families
were utterly ruined by it. The Duc de Biron lost in a single

year more than five hundred thousand crowns (about L250,000).
`My son Constant,' says D'Aubigne, `lost twenty times more

than he was worth; so that, finding himself without resources, he
abjured his religion.'

It was at the court of Henry IV. that was invented the method of
speedy ruin by means of written vouchers for loss and gain--which

simplified the thing in all subsequent times. It was then also
that certain Italian masters of the gaming art displayed their

talents, their suppleness, and dexterity. One of them, named
Pimentello, having, in the presence of the Duc de Sully, appealed

to the honour which he enjoyed in having often played with Henry
IV., the duke exclaimed,--`By heavens! So you are the Italian

blood-sucker who is every day winning the king's money! You have
fallen into the wrong box, for I neither like nor wish to have

anything to do with such fellows.' Pimentello got warm. `Go
about your business,' said Sully, giving him a shove; `your

infernal gibberish will not alter my resolve. Go!'[50]
[50] Mem. de Sully.

The French nation, for a long time agitated by civil war, settled
down at last in peace and abundance--the fruits of which

prosperity are often poisoned. They were so by the gambling
propensity of the people at large, now first manifested. The

warrior, the lawyer, the artisan, in a word, almost all
professions and trades, were carried away by the fury of gaming.

Magistrates sold for a price the permission to gamble--in the
face of the enacted laws against the practice.

We can scarcely form an idea of the extent of the gaming at this
period. Bassompierre declares, in his Memoirs, that he won

more than five hundred thousand livres (L25,000) in the course
of a year. `I won them,' he says, `although I was led away by a

thousand follies of youth; and my friend Pimentello won more than
two hundred thousand crowns (L100,000). Evidently this

Pimentello might well be called a _blood-sucker_ by Sully.[51]
He is even said to have got all the dice-sellers in Paris to

substitute loaded dice instead of fair ones, in order to aid his
operations.

[51] In the original, however, the word is piffre, (vulgo)
`greedy-guts.'

Nothing more forcibly shows the danger of consorting with such
bad characters than the calumny circulated respecting the

connection between Henry IV. and this infamous Italian:--it was
said that Henry was well aware of Pimentello's manoeuvres, and

that he encouraged them with the view of impoverishing his
courtiers, hoping thereby to render them more submissive! Nero

himself would have blushed at such a connivance. Doubtless the
calumny was as false as it was stupid.

The winnings of the courtier Bassompierre were enormous. He
won at the Duc d'Epernon's sufficient to pay his debts, to dress

magnificently, to purchase all sorts of extravagant finery, a
sword ornamented with diamonds--`and after all these expenses,'

he says, `I had still five or six thousand crowns (two to three
thousand pounds) left, _TO KILL TIME WITH_, pour tuer le temps.'