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The Gaming Table-Vol. 1-Part30_Andrew Steinmetz(1816-1877)_English Literature(文学名著)-第2页

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painful and unaccountable pleasure. When the first Lord Holland

was on his death-bed he was told that Selwyn, who had lived on



terms of the closest intimacy with him, had called to inquire

after his health. "The next time Mr Selwyn calls," he said,



"show him up; if I am alive I shall be delighted to see him, and

if I am dead he will be glad to see me." When some ladies



bantered him on his want of feeling in attending to see the

terrible Lord Lovat's head cut off--"Why," he said, "I made



amends by going to the undertaker's to see it sewed on again."

And yet this was the same individual who delighted in the first



words and in the sunny looks of childhood; whose friendship

seems to have partaken of all the softness of female affection;



and whose heart was never hardened against the wretched and

depressed. Such was the "original" George Selwyn.'



This celebrated conversational wit was a devoted frequenter of

the gaming table. Writing to Selwyn, in 1765, Lord Holland



said:--`All that I can collect from what you say on the subject

of money is, that fortune has been a little favourable lately; or



may be, the last night only. Till you leave off play entirely

you must be--in earnest, and without irony--_en verite le



serviteur tres-humble des evenements_, "in truth, the

very humble servant of events." '



His friend the Lord Carlisle, although himself a great gambler,

also gave him good advice. `I hope you have left off Hazard,' he



wrote to Selwyn; `if you are still so foolish, and will play, the

best thing I can wish you is, that you may win and never throw



crabs.[117] You do not put it in the power of chance to

make you them, as we all know; and till the ninth miss is born I



shall not be convinced to the contrary.'

[117] That is, aces, or ace and deuce, twelve, or seven. With



false dice, as will appear in the sequel, it was impossible to

throw any of these numbers, and as the caster always called the



main, he was sure to win, as he could call an impossible number:

those who were in the secret of course always took the odds.



Again:--`As you have played I am happy to hear you have won; but

by this time there may be a triste revers de succes_.'



Selwyn had taken to gaming before his father's death--probably

from his first introduction to the clubs. His stakes were high,



though not extravagantly so, compared with the sums hazarded by

his contemporaries. In 1765 he lost L1000 to Mr Shafto, who



applied for it in the language of an `embarrassed tradesman.'

`July 1, 1765.



`DEAR SIR,--I have this moment received the favour of your

letter. I intended to have gone out of town on Thursday, but as



you shall not receive your money before the end of this week, I

must postpone my journey till Sunday. A month would have made no



difference to me, had I not had others to pay before I leave

town, and must pay; therefore must beg that you will leave the



whole before this week is out, at White's, as it is to be paid

away to others to whom I have lost, and do not choose to leave



town till that is done. Be sure you could not wish an

indulgence I should not be happy to grant, if it my power.'



Nor was this the only dun of the kind that Selwyn had `to put up

with' on account of the gaming table. He received the following



from Edward, Earl of Derby.[118]

[118] Edward, twelfth Earl of Derby, was born September 12, 1752,



and died October 21, 1834. He married first, Elizabeth, daughter

of James, sixth Duke of Hamilton, who died in 1799, and secondly,



the celebratedactress, Miss Farren, who died April 23, 1829.

_The Earl of Derby to George Selwyn_.



`Nothing could equal what I feel at troubling you with this

disagreeable note; but having lost a very monstrous sum of money



last night, I find myself under the necessity of entreating your

goodness to excuse the liberty I am taking of applying to you for



assistance. If it is not very inconvenient to you, I should be

glad of the money you owe me. If it is, I must pay what I can,



and desire Brookes to trust me for the remainder. I repeat again




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