Page:The London Guide and Stranger's Safeguard.djvu/69

Rh with one who was a dead nail! A plant! Need the reader be told how the bull ran? It was a close rub.

We have given these as two gross instances. There are others more subtle; and some others that are meant to be lost,—in order to draw you on; and a few that are fair, but depend upon judgment. For instance, at the house in Middle row, Holborn, you shall find of a day half a dozen bets depending on the number of coaches which shall go up or go down the street in a given time; sometimes they are laid on the gross amount of their whole numbers affixed on the doors. Others again wager on the prevalence of grey horses, or black ones, &c. Judgment may be brought in aid of the wagering kiddies, even in these foolish bets; for about play-going time (six o'clock) more coaches go up than down, of course more amount in numbers will go that way, and more grey horses.

Such is the least blameable species of gambling! What must be those of blacker hue? Notwithstanding the law, concerning low games at public houses, cards are used in about one-fourth of