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Click on one of these links to read about famous gambling gamesters:

Whig Middleton
Whig Middleton was a tall, handsome, fashionable man, with an adequate fortune. He one night had a run of ill-luck at Arthur's, and lost about a thousand guineas. Lord Montford, in the gambling phrase, asked him what he would do or what he would not do, to get home? `My lord,' said he, `prescribe your own terms.'

`Then,' resumed Lord Montford, `dress directly opposite to the fashion for ten years. Will you agree to it?' Middleton said that he would, and kept his word. Nay, he died nine years afterwards so unfashionably that he did not owe a tradesman a farthing--left some playing debts unliquidated, and his coat and wig were of the cut of Queen Anne's reign.

Lord Montford is said to have died in a very different but quite fashionable manner.

Captain Campbell
Captain Campbell, of the Guards, was a natural son of the Duke of ----. He lost a thousand guineas to a Shark, which he could not pay. Being questioned by the duke one day at dinner as to the cause of his dejection, he reluctantly confessed the fact. `Sir,' said his Grace, `you do not owe a farthing to the blackguard. My steward settled with him this morning for _TEN_ guineas, and he was glad to take them, only saying--"I was damned far North, and it was well it was no worse." '

Wrothesly, Duke Of Bedford
Wrothesly, Duke of Bedford, was the subject of a conspiracy at Bath, formed by several first-rate sharpers, among whom were the manager of a theatre, and Beau Nash, master of the ceremonies. After being plundered of above L70,000 at Hazard, his Grace rose in a passion, put the dice in his pocket, and intimated his resolution to inspect them. He then retired into another room, and, flinging himself upon a sofa, fell asleep.

The winners, to escape disgrace, and obtain their money, cast lots who should pick his pockets of the loaded dice, and introduce fair ones in their place. The lot fell on the manager of the theatre, who performed his part without discovery. The duke inspected the dice when he awoke, and finding them correct, renewed his party, and lost L30,000 more.

The conspirators had received L5000, but disagreed on its division, and Beau Nash, thinking himself ill-used, divulged the fact to his Grace, who saved thereby the remainder of the money. He made Nash a handsome present, and ever after gave him his countenance, supposing that the secret had been divulged through pure friendship.

The Duke Of Norfolk
A similar anecdote is told of another gamester. `The late Duke of Norfolk,' says the author of `Rouge et Noir,' writing in 1823, `in one evening lost the sum of L70,000 in a gambling house on the right side of St James's Street: suspecting foul play, he put the dice in his pocket, and, as was his custom when up late, took a bed in the house. The blacklegs were all dismayed, till one of the worthies, who is believed to have been a principal in poisoning the horses at Newmarket, for which Dan Dawson was hanged, offered for L5000 to go to the duke's room with a brace of pistols and a pair of dice, and, if the duke was awake, to shoot him, if asleep to change the dice! Fortunately for the gang, the duke "snored," as the agent stated, "like a pig;" the dice were changed. His Grace had them broken in the morning, when, finding them good, he paid the money, and left off gambling.'[141] [141] Rouge et Noir; the Academicians of 1823.

General Ogle: A Bold Stroke
A few weeks before General Ogle was to sail for India, he constantly attended Paine's, in Charles Street, St James's Square. One evening there were before him two wooden bowls full of gold, which held L1500 guineas each, and L4000 in rouleaus, which he had won.

When the box came to him, he shook the dice and with great coolness and pleasantry said--`Come, I'll either win or lose seven thousand upon this hand. Will any gentleman set on the whole? Seven is the main.' Then rattling the dice once more, cast the box from him and quitted it, the dice remaining uncovered.

Although the General did not think this too large a sum for one man to risk at a single throw, the rest of the gentlemen did, and for some time the bold gamester remained unset.

He then said--`Well, gentlemen, will you make it up amongst you?'

One set him 500 guineas, another 500. `Come,' said he, `whilst you are making up the money I'll tell you a story.' Here he began--but perceiving that he was at last completely set for the cast, stopt short--laid his hand on the box, saying--`I believe I am completely set, gentlemen?' `Yes, sir, and Seven is the main,' was the reply. The General threw out, and lost! Seven thousand guineas!

Then with astonishing coolness he took up his snuff-box and smiling exclaimed--`Now, gentlemen, if you please, I'll finish my story.'

Horace Walpole
There can be no doubt that Horace Walpole was an inveterate gambler, although he managed to keep always afloat and merrily sailing--for he says himself:--`A good lady last year was delighted at my becoming peer, and said--"I hope you will get an Act of Parliament for putting down Faro." As if I could make Acts of Parliament! and could I, it would be very consistent too in me, who for some years played more at Faro than anybody.'[142] [142] Letters, IX.

Mr Lumsden
Mr Lumsden, whose inveterate love of gambling eventually caused his ruin, was to be seen every day at Frascati's, the celebrated gambling house kept by Mme Dunan, where some of the most celebrated women of the demi-monde usually congregated. He was a martyr to the gout, and his hands and knuckles were a mass of chalk-stones. He stuck to the Rouge et Noir table until everybody had left; and while playing would take from his pocket a small slate, upon which he would rub his chalk-stones until blood flowed. `Having on one occasion been placed near him at the Rouge et Noir table, I ventured,' says Captain Gronow, `to expostulate with him for rubbing his knuckles against his slate. He coolly answered, "I feel relieved when I see the blood ooze out." '

Mr Lumsden was remarkable for his courtly manners; but his absence of mind was astonishing, for he would frequently ask his neighbour where he was! Crowds of men and women would congregate behind his chair, to look at `the mad Englishman,' as he was called; and his eccentricities used to amuse even the croupiers. After losing a large fortune at this den of iniquity, Mr Lumsden encountered every evil of poverty, and died in a wretched lodging in the Rue St Marc.[144] [144] Gronow, _Last Recollections._

General Scott, The Honest Winner Of L200,000
General Scott, the father-in-law of George Canning and the Duke of Portland, was known to have won at White's L200,000, thanks to his notorious sobriety and knowledge of the game of Whist. The general possessed a great advantage over his companions by avoiding those indulgences at the table which used to muddle other men's brains. He confined himself to dining off something like a boiled chicken, with toast and water; by such a regimen he came to the Whist table with a clear head; and possessing as he did a remarkable memory, with great coolness of judgment, he was able honestly to win the enormous sum of L200,000.

Richard Bennet
Richard Bennet had gone through every walk of a blackleg, from being a billiard sharper at a table in Bell Alley until he became a keeper or partner in all the `hells' in St James's. In each stage of his journey he had contrived to have so much the better of his competitors, that he was enabled to live well, to bring up and educate a large legitimate family, and to gratify all his passions and sensuality. But besides all this, he accumulated an ample fortune, which this inveterate gamester did actually possess when the terriers of justice overtook and hunted him into the custody of the Marshal of the Court of Queen's Bench. Here he was sentenced to be imprisoned a certain time, on distinct indictments, for keeping different gambling houses, and was ordered to be kept in custody until he had also paid fines to the amount, we believe, of L4000. Bennet, however, after undergoing the imprisonment, managed to get himself discharged without paying the fines.

Major Baggs
This famous gambling gamester died in 1792, by a cold caught in `a round-house,' or place of detention, to which he had been taken by Justice Hyde, from a gambling table.

When too ill to rise out of his chair, he would be carried in that chair to the Hazard table. He was supposed to have been the utter ruin of above forty persons at play. He fought eleven duels.

The Duc De Mirefoix
The Duc de Mirefois was ambassador at the British Court, and was extremely fond of chess. A reverend gentleman being nearly his equal, they frequently played together. At that time the clergyman kept a petty day-school in a small village, and had a living of not more than twenty pounds a-year. The French nobleman made uncommon interest with a noble duke, through whose favour he obtained for his reverend protege a living of about L600 per annum--an odd way of obtaining the `cure of souls!'

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