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The Gaming Table-Vol. 1-Part29_Andrew Steinmetz(1816-1877)_English Literature(文学名著)-第2页

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postulat delectantur, ut Titius pila, Brulla talis. De Orat.

lib. iii.



Quinctilian advised his pupils to avoid all sterile amusements,

which, he said, were only the resource of the ignorant.



In after-times men of merit, such as John Huss and Cardinal

Cajetan, bewailed both the time lost in the most innocent games,



and the disastrouspassions which are thereby excited. Montaigne

calls chess a stupid and childish game. `I hate and shun it,' he



says, `because it occupies one too seriously; I am ashamed of

giving it the attention which would be sufficient for some useful



purpose.' King James I., the British Solomon, forbade chess to

his son, in the famous book of royal instruction which he wrote



for him.

As to the plea of `filling up time,' Addison has made some very



pertinent observations:--`Whether any kind of gaming has ever

thus much to say for itself, I shall not determine; but I think



it is very wonderful to see persons of the best sense passing

away a dozen hours together in shuffling and dividing a pack of



cards, with no other conversation but what is made up of a

few game-phrases, and no other ideas but those of black or red



spots ranged together in different figures. Would not a man

laugh to hear any one of his species complaining that life is



short?'

Men of intellect may rest assured that whether they win or lose



at play, it will always be at the cost of their genius; the soul

cannot support two passions together. The passion of play,



although fatigued, is never satiated, and therefore it always

leaves behind protracted agitation. The famous Roman lawyer



Scaevola suffered from playing at backgammon; his head was

always affected by it, especially when he lost the game, in fact,



it seemed to craze him. One day he returned expressly from the

country merely to try and convince his opponent in a game which



he had lost, that if he had played otherwise he would have won!

It seems that on his journey home he mentally went through the



game again, detected his mistake, and could not rest until he

went back and got his adversary to admit the fact--for the sake



of his _amour propre_.[113]

[113] Quinctil., _Instit. Orat_. lib. XI. cap. ii.



`It is rare,' says Rousseau, `that thinkers take much

delight in play, which suspends the habit of thinking or diverts



it upon sterile combinations; and so one of the benefits--perhaps

the only benefit conferred by the taste for the sciences, is that



it somewhat deadens that sordidpassion of play.'

Unfortunately such was not the result among the literary and



scientific men, in France or England, during the last quarter of

the last century. Many of them bitterly lamented that they ever



played, and yet played on,--going through all the grades and

degradations appointed for his votaries by the inexorable demon



of gambling.

BEAU NASH.



Nature had by no means formed Nash for _beau_. His person was

clumsy, large, and awkward; his features were harsh, strong, and



peculiarly irregular; yet even with these disadvantages he made

love, became an universaladmirer of the sex, and was in his turn



universally admired. The fact is, he was possessed of, at least,

some requisites of a `lover.' He had assiduity, flattery, fine



clothes--and as much wit as the ladies he addressed. Accordingly

he used to say--`Wit, flattery, and fine clothes are enough



to debauch a nunnery!' This is certainly a fouler calumny of

women than Pope's



`Every woman is at heart a rake.'

Beau Nash was a barrister, and had been a remarkable, a



distinguished one in his day--although not at the bar. He had

the honour to organize and direct the last grand `revel and



pageant' before a king, in the Hall of the Middle Temple, of

which he was a member.



It had long been customary for the Inns of Court to entertain our

monarchs upon their accession to the crown with a revel and



pageant, and the last was exhibited in honour of King William,

when Nash was chosen to conduct the whole with proper decorum.






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