Page:Narrative of a captivity and adventures in France and Flanders between the years 1803 and 1809.djvu/59

 *ticed into this sink of iniquity, when he was tempted to throw on the table a half crown; he won, and repeated the experiment several evenings successfully, till at length he lost. The manager immediately offered him a "rouleau" of fifty pounds, which, in the heat of play, he thoughtlessly accepted, and lost. He then drew a bill on his agent, which Captain Brenton endorsed, this he also lost; he drew two others, which met with the same fate; and the next morning he was found dead in his bed, with his limbs much distorted, and his fingers buried in his sides. On his table was found an empty laudanum bottle, and scraps of paper whereon he had been practising the signature of Captain Brenton. On inquiry, it was found that he had forged that officer's name to the two last bills. Thus did a once respectable young man meet a most dreadful and disgraceful end, from being exposed, at too early a period in life, to the temptation of gambling. Another cir-*