The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction. Volume 10, No. 281, November 3, 1827

And swears that all is over!
Short-sighted mortals, can't you see,
Your mourning will be chang'd to glee—
For then you'll live in clover.

Necessitas non habet legem

ON SIR JOHN ANSTRUTHER

By the Honourable Thomas Erskine

Necessity and Law are alike each other:
Necessity has no Law—nor has Anstruther.

EPITAPH ON A CONTROVERSIALIST

On the death of that turbulent and refractory enthusiast, John Lilburne, alias Free-born John, alias Lilburne the Trouble-world, there appeared the following epigrammatic epitaph:—

Is John departed, and is Lilburne gone?
Farewell to both, to Lilburne and to John!
Yet being gone, take this advice from me,
Let them not both in one grave buried be.

Here lay ye John; lay Lilburne thereabout,
For if they both should meet, they would fall out.

This alluded to a saying, that John Lilburne was so quarrelsome, that if he were the only man in the world, John would quarrel with Lilburne, and Lilburne with John. Lilburne, it will be remembered, was a sad thorn in Cromwell's sore side, for which the protector amply repaid him.

HOSPITAL OF SURGERY

A new surgical hospital is to be forthwith erected in the neighbourhood of Charing Cross, where the King, with his usual and characteristic munificence, has given a spot of ground on which it is to be erected. A benevolent individual has given, within these few days, 1,500l. towards a fund for the building.

Printed and Published by J. Limbird, 143, Strand, (near Somerset House,) and sold by all Newssmen and Booksellers.

notes

1

As the Palais Royal may be considered the central point of the maisons de jeu, or gambling-houses, it will not be irrelevant to give a brief sketch of them:—

The apartments which they occupy are on the first floor, and are very spacious. Upon ascending the staircase is an antechamber, in which are persons called bouledogues (bull-dogs), whose office it is to prevent the entrance of certain marked individuals. In the same room are men to receive hats, umbrellas, &c., who give a number, which is restored upon going out.

The antechamber leads to the several gaming rooms, furnished with tables, round which are seated the individuals playing, called pontes (punters), each of whom is furnished with a card and a pin to mark the rouge and noir, or the number, in order to regulate his game. At each end of the table is a man called bout de table, who pushes up to the bank the money lost. In the middle of the table is the man who draws the cards. These persons, under the reign of Louis XIV., were called coupeurs de bourses (purse-cutters); they are now denominated tailleurs. After having drawn the cards, they mate known the result as follows:—Rouge gagne et couleur perd.—Rouge perd et couleur gagne.

At roulette, the tailleurs are those who put the ball in motion and announce the result.

At passe-dix, every time the dice are thrown, the tailleurs announce how many the person playing has gained.

Opposite the tailleur, and on his right and left, are persons called croupiers, whose business it is to pay and to collect money.

Behind the tailleurs and croupiers are inspectors, to see that too much is not given in payment, besides an indefinite number of secret inspectors, who are only known to the proprietors. There are also maîtres de maison, who are called to decide disputes; and messieurs de la chambre, who furnish cards to the pontes, and serve them with beer, &c., which is to be had gratis. Moreover, there is a grand maître, to whom the apartments, tables, &c., belong.

When a stranger enters these apartments, he will soon find near him some obliging men of mature age, who, with an air of prudence and sagacity, proffer their advice. As these advisers perfectly understand their own game, if their protégés lose, the mentors vanish; but it they win, the counsellor comes nearer, congratulates the happy player, insinuates that it was by following his advice that fortune smiled on him, and finally succeeds in borrowing a small sum of money on honour. Many of these loungers have no other mode of living.

There is likewise another room, furnished with sofas, called chamber des blessés, which is far from being the most thinly peopled.

The bank pays in ready money every successful stake and sweeps off the losings with wooden instruments, called rateaux (rakes).

It was in one of the houses in this quarter that the late Marshal Blucher won and lost very heavy sums, during the occupation of Paris by the allied armies.

There are two gaming-houses in Paris of a more splendid description than those of the Palais Royal, where dinners or suppers are given, and where ladies are admitted.—Galignani's History of Paris.