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The Gaming Table-Vol. 1-Part31_Andrew Steinmetz(1816-1877)_English Literature(文学名著)-第2页

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debt to the house for the whole. You may be sure I do not tell



you this with an idea that you can be of the least assistance to

me; it is a great deal more than your abilities are equal to.



Let me see you--though I shall be ashamed to look at you after

your goodness to me.'



This letter is endorsed by George Selwyn--`After the loss of

L10,000.' He tells Selwyn of a set which, at one point of the



game, stood to win L50,000.

`Lord Byron, it is almost needless to remark, was nearly related



to Lord Carlisle. The mother of Lord Carlisle was sister to

John, fourth Lord Byron, the grandfather of the poet; Lord



Carlisle and Lord Byron were consequently first cousins once

removed. Had they happened to have been contemporaries, it would



be difficult to form an idea of two individuals who, alike from

tastes, feelings, and habits of life, were more likely to form a



lasting and suitableintimacy. Both were men of high rank; both

united an intimate knowledge of society and the world with the



ardent temperament of a poet; and both in youth mingled a love of

frolic and pleasure with a graver taste for literary pursuits.'



CHARLES JAMES FOX.

In the midst of the infatuated votaries of the gaming god in



England, towers the mightyintellectual giant Charles James Fox.

Nature had fashioned him to be equally an object of admiration



and love. In addition to powerful eloquence, he was

distinguished by the refinement of his taste in all matters



connected with literature and art; he was deeply read in history;

had some claims to be regarded as a poet; and possessed a



thorough knowledge of the classical authors of antiquity, a

knowledge of which he so often and so happily availed



himself in his seat in the House of Commons. To these qualities

was added a good-humour which was seldom ruffled,--a peculiar



fascination of manner and address,--the most delightful powers of

conversation,--a heart perfectly free from vindictiveness,



ostentation, and deceit,--a strong sense of justice,--a thorough

detestation of tyranny and oppression,--and an almost feminine



tenderness of feeling for the sufferings of others.

Unfortunately, however, his great talents and delightful



qualities in private life rendered his defects the more glaring

and lamentable; indeed, it is difficult to think or speak with



common patience of those injurious practices and habits--that

abandonment to self-gratification, and that criminal waste of the



most transcendent abilities which exhausted in social

conviviality and the gaming table what were formed to confer



blessings on mankind.

So much for the character of Fox, as I have gathered from Mr



Jesse;[123] and I continue the extremely interesting subject by

quoting from that delightful book, `The Queens of



Society.'[124] `With a father who had made an enormous fortune,

with little principle, out of a public office--for Lord Holland



owed the bulk of his wealth to his appointment of paymaster to

the forces,--and who spoiled him, in his boyhood, Charles James



Fox had begun life _AS A FOP OF THE FIRST WATER_, and squandered

L50,000 in debt before he became of age. Afterwards he



indulged recklessly and extravagantly in every course of

licentiousness which the profligate society of the day opened to



him. At Brookes' and the Thatched House Fox ate and drank to

excess, threw thousands upon the Faro table, mingled with



blacklegs, and made himself notorious for his shameless vices.

Newmarket supplied another excitement. His back room was so



incessantly filled with Jew money-lenders that he called it his

Jerusalem Chamber. It was impossible that such a life should not



destroy every principle of honour; and there is nothing

improbable in the story that he appropriated to himself money



which belonged to his dear friend Mrs Crewe, as before related.

[123] George Selwyn and his Contemporaries, ii.



[124] By Grace and Philip Wharton.

`Of his talents, which were certainly great, he made an affected






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