The Earl of Chesterfield was a frequent visitor at Bath, where he found many admirers of his wit, and many opportunities of exercising it. Bath, indeed, was the very place for such a genius to shine in, for in no other city in the kingdom were manners and morals, such as his lordship's, more highly appreciated. His lordship was fond of play too; and was partial to the company of Mr. Lookup, one of the most noted professional gamesters of the day. Lookup, as well as Colonel Charteris,—of notorious memory in the annals of gaming and debauchery,—was from the north of the Tweed. He was born in the neighbourhood of Jedburgh, and was bred an apothecary. On the expiration of his apprenticeship, he proceeded southward, and obtained a situation in the shop of an apothecary at Bath. On the death of his master, he wooed and won the widow; and having thus obtained possession of about five hundred pounds in ready money, he gave up the shop, and devoted himself entirely to play, an itch for which he is said to have brought with him from his native country. In Lookup's youth, and, indeed, for many years afterwards, a fondness for card-playing was more prevalent in Jedburgh than in any other town on the Scottish border.
Lookup, having determined to make gaming his business, devoted, like a sensible man, his whole attention to it: he calculated the odds coolly, played steadily, and, consequently, won considerably from those fashionable amateurs whose confidence was not according to knowledge. He was not only a proficient in all the usual games at cards, but also played well at billiards. Lord Chesterfield used sometimes to amuse himself at billiards with Lookup; and on one occasion had the laugh turned against him by a ruse of his antagonist, who, after winning a game or two, asked his lordship how many he would give if he were to put a patch over one eye. His lordship agreed to give him five; [206] and Lookup having won several games in succession, his lordship threw down his mace, declaring that he thought Lookup played as well with one eye as with two. "I don't wonder at it, my lord," replied Lookup, "for I have only seen out of one these ten years." The eye of which Lookup had lost the use appeared as perfect as the other, even to a near observer. With the money which he had at various times won of Lord Chesterfield, chiefly at Piquet, he built some houses at Bath, which he jocularly called "Chesterfield Row."
Lookup's gambling career, though successful, was not uniformly smooth; and on one occasion he got himself very awkwardly entangled in the meshes of the law. A gentleman, who had lost between three and four hundred pounds to Lookup at Cribbage, being persuaded that there had been "a pull" upon him, brought an action against Lookup for double damages, according to the statute made and provided for the special protection of the Tom-Noddy class of gamesters,—pitiful, whimpering, greedy fools, who call upon the world to commiserate their losses, though occasioned solely by their attempts on the purses of people more knowing, though not a whit more knavish, than themselves. In the course of some proceedings arising out of this action, Lookup, through the blunder of his attorney, it is said, swore to the truth of a circumstance which was subsequently proved to be false. Lookup was hereupon prosecuted for perjury, and imprisoned; and only escaped the pillory in consequence of a flaw in the indictment: the blunder of his own attorney brings him into peril, and the blunder of his opponent's sets him free; John a-Nokes's broken arm is a set-off against Tom a-Styles's broken leg; each party is left to pay his own costs, and thus the Law at least is satisfied. The oyster is swallowed, and the scales of justice are evenly balanced with a shell in each.
Lookup, like his contemporary, Elwes the miser, who was also a great card-player, frequently lost large sums by projects which he was allured to engage in by the tempting bait of a large return for his capital; a corrective occasionally administered by fortune to her spoiled children when they leave their old successful course of retail trickery, to embark as merchant adventurers on the sea of speculation. But though fortune frowned on him when he gave up gaming as a regular profession, to become the principal partner in a saltpetre manufactory at Chelsea, she yet looked favorably on some of his other speculations which were more in accordance with his old vocation: the shares which he held in several privateers, in the French war from 1758 to 1763, paid well; and he was highly successful as an adventurer in the slave trade. He is said to have died "in harness, "—that is, with cards in his hand,—when engaged in playing at his favorite game of Humbug, or two-handed Whist. Foote—who is supposed to have represented him in the character of Loader, in the farce of the Minor—is said to have observed, on learning the circumstances of his death, that "Lookup was humbugged out of the world at last." He died in November, 1770, aged about seventy. His biographer thus sums up his character: "Upon the whole, Mr. Lookup was as extraordinary a person as we have met with for several years in the metropolis. He possessed a great share of good sense, cultivated by a long acquaintance with the world; had a smattering of learning, and a pretty retentive memory; was fluent in words, and of a ready imagination. We cannot add, he was either generous, grateful, or courageous. In his sentiments, his cunning, and his fate, he nearly resembles the famous Colonel Charteris; a Scotchman by birth, and a gamester by profession, he narrowly escaped condign punishment for a crime that was not amongst the foremost of those of which he probably might be accused." [207] Had he lived in the railway era, he would, most assuredly, have been either a king or a stag royal:
The reign of George II is a historical picture of "great breadth," abounding in strongly marked characters, strikingly contrasted; but chiefly undignified, and generally low. The Carnal man is a ruffian rioting in Gin Lane; whilst the Spiritual is typified by a sinister-looking personage, with lank hair, cadaverous visage, and a cock-eye, preaching Free Grace from a tub to a miscellaneous company at Mile-end Green,—the indifference of the unregenerate being indicated by a prize fight in the background. Here a poor rogue is going, drunk, to Tyburn, for having robbed a thief-taker's journeyman of a silver watch, a steel chain, and a tobacco-stopper,—worth altogether forty shillings and threepence, the value required by law to entitle the thief-taker to his price of blood; and there a wealthy soap-boiler, who has made a fortune by cheating the excise, is going in state to Guildhall as Lord Mayor of London. Here a young rake is making violent love to his mother's maid, who has been induced to encourage his attentions from her reading Pamela; and there his aunt, a maiden lady of fifty-two, but having in her own right three thousand a year, is complacently listening to the matrimonial proposals of a young New-light preacher. Here is Colley Cibber sipping his wine at the table of "my lord;" and there sits Samuel Johnson, behind the screen in Cave's back shop, eagerly devouring the plate of meat which the considerate bookseller has sent him from his own table. Here are Johnny Cope and the dragoons riding a race from Preston Pans; and there sits the young Chevalier, unkempt and bare-legged, smoking a short pipe in a Highland hut. Here hangs the sign of the Duke of Cumberland's head; and there, grinning down on it from the elevation of Temple Bar, are the heads of the decapitated rebels. Here Ranelagh is seen shut up on account of the earthquake at Lisbon; [208] and there a batch of gambling senators are hurrying down to the House from the club at White's, to give their votes in favour of a bill to repress gaming.
The several acts passed against gaming, in the reign of George II, appear to have had but little effect in restraining the practice, either at the time, or in any subsequent reign; for though occasionally a solitary loose fish might become entangled in their meshes, they never interrupted the onward course of the great shoal.
The shameless inconsistency of many of the noble lords and honorable gentlemen who were parties to the enactment of those laws, is cleverly shown up in an ironical pamphlet entitled, "A Letter to the Club at White's. In which are set forth the great Expediency of repealing the Laws now in force against Excessive Gaming, and the many Advantages that would arise to this Nation from it. By Erasmus Mumford, Esq.," 1750. The following passages appear most worthy of transcription, both as showing the composition of a celebrated club about a hundred years ago, and as containing the pith of the writer's argument.
"The pertinency of my address to you, my Lords and Gentlemen, on this occasion, must be evident to every one that knows anything of your history; as that you are a Club of about Five Hundred, much the greatest part of you Peers and Members of Parliament, who meet every day at a celebrated Chocolate House, near St. James's, with much greater assiduity than you meet in the Court of Requests; and there, all party quarrels being laid aside, all State questions dropped, Whigs and Tories, Placemen and Patriots, Courtiers and Country Gentlemen, you all agree for the good of the Public, in the salutary measures of excessive gaming. But then as this is against laws of your own making, though now become old-fashioned, musty things, it would save appearances a little to the world methinks, that they should be repealed in the same solemn form in which they were enacted. And as you are, by yourselves and your relations, a great majority of the Legislature, and have no party bias whatsoever on this article, so it would certainly be as easy for you, as it is, in my opinion, incumbent on you, to accomplish such a repeal.... For, whatever we mean in our hearts, the forms of government should be carefully preserved; and though gaming is of the highest advantage to this nation, as I shall presently make appear, yet to practise it in defiance of all order, in the very sight, as it were, of the Government, and against the spirit and letter of the laws which you made yourselves, is entirely inconsistent with the character of Patriots, Nobles, Senators, Great Men, or whatever name of public honour you would chuse to call yourselves by.
"Besides, we have some odd queer maxims in our heads, that the Law is the same for the King and the Cobler, &c., nor is there in any Act of Parliament that has come to my knowledge, any exception of this same house called White's and the good company who frequent it. If you have any act against Gaming with any such exception in it, be so good as to produce it; for I believe verily that, besides yourselves, there is not a man in the kingdom who knows any thing of it. I have read the last Act over and over, and I protest that I can't see any such thing; and yet I don't know how to persuade myself that so many noble Lords and so many of the House of Commons, of all parties and denominations, should every day meet together in open contradiction to such an Act, without a saving clause to shelter themselves under.—
"But though it does no other harm at present, yet still it continues to be an act of the Lords and Commons of the kingdom, (of which you, to your eternal praise, are a great part,) and which has had the Royal assent. And whilst it does so continue, it not only hinders the rest of the kingdom, who are so silly as to mind Acts of Parliament, from Gaming, but it prevents a scheme, which I have had in my head for some time, from taking place; which is, that you should use your utmost endeavours with his Majesty, that he would be pleased, in consideration of the great good of his people, to give neither place nor pension to any Peer, howsoever deserving in all other respects, who is not of your body; and that a Bill should be brought in to render every one incapable of sitting as a member in either House of Parliament, how sound soever his political principles may be, who is not likewise a member of the Gaming Club at White's. This, I apprehend, would be an effectual way of introducing this wholesome innocent diversion into every house of Fashion and Politeness in the kingdom, and make your illustrious body more in vogue, if that can be, than it is at present.—
"But this scheme, which I apprehend to be of such great utility, can never be executed whilst these Acts of Parliament remain unrepealed.... There is one difficulty indeed which I am aware of, which, as I don't know how to get over very well myself, I must submit to your greater wisdom; and that is, getting the king and his chief ministers to consent. For as to the former, though he allows of the practice in his palace once a year, from mere antient custom, [209] yet it is well known that he discourages it very much; and the moment he heard of a table at his house at Kensington, sent immediate orders to forbid it. And as to the Secretaries of State, though they have this diversion once a year or so at their houses, for the entertainment of the Foreign Ministers, yet they never play themselves, nor show any other countenance to it, directly nor indirectly." [210]
In the political pamphlets which appeared in opposition to the ministry in the latter part of the reign of George II, the club at White's is frequently alluded to; and in 'A Political and Satirical History of the years 1756, 1757, 1758, 1759, and 1760, in a series of one hundred and four Humourous and Entertaining Prints,' [211] the gaming propensities of Lord Anson, the circumnavigator, who was at the same time a member of the club and of the government, are keenly satirised. In Plate 7 he is represented as a Sea Lion, with the body of a man and the tail of a fish; in one hand he holds a dice-box, and in the other a card; and on the wall are two pictures, the one showing an E.O. table, and the other a table covered with money, with the inscription "Blacks and Whites." In another print he figures as the Knave of Diamonds, with the inscription at the top, "Hic niger est;" and at the bottom, "Acapulca." In the Key prefixed to the work the person represented is thus denounced: "This caricatura's propensity to gaming tells us at once how valuable he must be to a shipwrecked state, and that he deserves (like a drunken pilot in a storm) to be thrown overboard, to make room for one of clearer brains and more integrity." The three other Knaves are: Spades, inscribed "Monsr. Dupe;" and in the Key it is said that, by the flower-de-luces, seen on the ground, is expressed, "how much this caricatura was connected with our enemies, and was even a Dupe to them against the interests of his country." Hearts, with a fox's head, and inscribed "Monsr. Surecard:" in the Key it is said that this character "infers, by the sharpness of the nose, that craft and subtilty which is natural to creatures of a similar kind, known by the name of Foxes, and is here pointed out as a Knave." Clubs, with a broken yoke in his hand, and inscribed "Null Marriage:" the Key says, "this caricatura was esteemed the most atrocious Knave in the pack, and the worst of the black sort."
Another plate in the same series of caricatures displays the gamester's coat of arms. The shield is charged with cards, dice, and dice-boxes, and is surrounded by a chain, from which hangs a label inscribed "Claret." Supporters, two Knaves. Crest, a hand holding a dice-box. Motto, "Cog it Amor nummi." In Plate 90, of which a copy is here given, the principal performers figuring on the political stage in 1759 are represented as coat cards. [212] In the suit of Hearts, the King, Optimus, is George II; Queen, Britannia; Knave, Pitt. Diamonds, King, the King of Prussia; Queen, the City of London; Knave, Prince Ferdinand. Spades, King, the King of Poland; Queen, the Queen of Hungary; Knave, Holland. Clubs, King, the King of France; Queen, Gallia; Knave, Marshal Broglie. In the Key it is said that "the labels and characters here represented are sufficient to explain the meaning of the print, with the least application."
In a work relating to the authorship of Junius's Letters, [213] the following account is given of the volume of caricatures in question. It is not, however, correct in every point; for though it may be true that the earlier plates were at first privately distributed, it is certain that subsequently they were publicly sold. The first collection of them, published in a volume, consisted only of the caricatures for 1756-7; and appears to have been enlarged from time to time, by the addition of such plates as had been published separately in the preceding year. The edition of the first volume which I have consulted, containing the plates from 1756 to 1760, is the fifth,—a proof that latterly those caricatures were not privately distributed, whatever they might have been at the commencement. Though Lord George Townshend might have supplied the publisher with sketches or hints, [214] for some of the subjects, and even have suggested the publication of the series, it would be absurd to conclude that he was the designer of the whole. There are only four subjects in the volume relating to Lord George Sackville; and they are among the most worthless of the series, both with respect to conception and design.
"Soon after the unfortunate misunderstanding at Minden, Lord George Townshend (who had formerly been on friendly terms with Lord George Sackville, particularly at the battle of Dettingen) joined with the court party in publicly censuring his conduct. He had an ingenious turn for drawing, and he even went so far as to caricature Lord George flying from Minden, which, with many others, he privately circulated among his friends. This book of caricatures, bearing date from 1756 to 1762, is extremely curious. As they were privately distributed, they are, of course, seldom to be met with. I never saw but one complete set, now in the possession of W. Little, Esq., of Richmond, who has obligingly allowed me to copy the one in question, which is submitted to the reader's inspection. We have Lord Orford's testimony to prove that this book was the production of Lord George Townshend. Lord Orford has described the first of the series, vol. ii, p. 68, 'A new species of this manufacture now first appeared, invented by Lord George Townshend; they were caricatures on cards. The original one, which had amazing vent, was of Newcastle and Fox, looking at each other, and crying with Peachum, in the Beggar's Opera, 'Brother, brother, we are both in the wrong.' On the Royal Exchange a paper was affixed, advertising 'Three kingdoms to be let: inquire of Andrew Stone, broker, in Lincoln's Inn Fields.'—The whole series forms a curious collection. Those on Lord George Sackville were very severe."
The example set by the club at White's appears to have been much more influential in promoting gaming than the denunciation of an Act of Parliament to have been effective in repressing it: the letter of the act was, indeed, killing, but the spirit of the legislators, as displayed at White's, kept the game alive. New clubs of the same kind,—on the principle of mutual insurance against informers,—were established in the metropolis; and even in the provinces, country gentlemen and tradesmen, becoming aware of the advantages of the social compact, formed themselves into little clubs for the purpose of indulging in a quiet game at cards or dice. Card-playing about the same time, or a little later, was greatly promoted by the establishment of assembly-rooms in country towns, where cock-fighting squires, after attending the pit in the morning, might enjoy in the evening the more refined amusements of dancing and cards. [215] The example set by the higher classes was followed by the lower; and at a "merry night" in a Cumberland village, some fifty years since, cards were as indispensable as at an assize ball in the county town: with the exception of the dress of the company and the arrangement of the rooms, the one assembly, at the commencement at least, seems to have displayed all the essentials of the other.
The passion for card-playing appears to have been extremely prevalent in the earlier part of the reign of George III. [217] In almost every town where there is an assembly-room, traditional anecdotes are handed down of certain keen players keeping up the game for twenty-four successive hours, till they were up to their knees in cards; and there is scarcely a county in England that has not a story to tell of two or three of its old landed gentry being ruined at cards by the Prince of Wales. Even villages have their annals of gaming; of once substantial farmers turning horse-coursers and riding headlong to ruin on a leather plater; of others going more quietly off at cards, staking their corn before it was housed; and of certain desperate cock-fighters losing their whole substance at a single match, and then straightway hanging themselves in their own barn. The love of card-playing, to the great horror of the inordinately pious, seems even to have infected ladies who were, in other respects, irreproachable:—good wives, affectionate mothers, teaching their children the Catechism, going regularly to church on Sundays, and taking the sacrament every month; yet, alas! dearly loving a snug private party of four or five tables, and immensely fond of Quadrille; and making but a poor atonement for their transgression by never touching a card in Passion week, nor the night before the Communion, nor even on the Wednesdays and Fridays in Lent,—whenever they could avoid playing, "consistently with good manners." [218]
A discourse against gaming, preached in 1793, by Dr. Thomas Rennell, Master of the Temple, seems to have made much noise about the time, but no converts. The most original passage in the work is the following, wherein he asserts that the habit of card-playing renders the mind insensible of Gospel evidence: in the present day, it may be observed in passing, that a similar effect has been ascribed to the study of Oriel-college logic. "The mind of one immersed in cards soon becomes vacant, frivolous, and captious. The habits form a strange mixture of mock gravity and pert flippancy. The understanding, by a perpetual attention to a variety of unmeaning combinations, acquires a kind of pride in this bastard employment of the faculty of thought, which is so far from having any analogy to the real exercise of reason, that we generally find a miserable eminence in it attainable by the dullest, the most ignorant, and most contemptible of mankind. The gamester, however, frequently mistakes this skill for general acuteness, and from that conceit either totally rejects the Gospel evidence, or if political or professional considerations render this indecent or inexpedient, he harbours all that contemptible chicane, all that petty sophistry, all that creeping evasion, with which a selfish heart, and a contracted understanding, meets and embraces the prevailing heresy of the times in which we live." [219]
The following appears to be levelled at an individual of no small reputation in his day, and whose memory is likely to outlast Dr. Rennell's. "What is it that converts those designed by Providence to be the GUARDIANS and PROTECTORS into the BANE and CURSE of their country? I will answer, the GAMING TABLE. The reverses here every moment occurring unite beggared fortunes, mortified pride, callous baseness, and inflamed appetites, directing their joint operations to the destruction of that common mother which gave them birth. And here I wish to be rightly understood—that with a frugal, active, dignified poverty, the discharge of public duty is perfectly compatible. Such a poverty was highly reverenced in the best ages of Pagan antiquity, as the nurse of every great and useful exertion; but as distant as light from darkness is such a poverty from that degraded, malevolent, abject MENDICITY, the offspring of vice, the organ of faction, and the parent of universal prostitution and venality."
Dr. Parr, in his copy of this discourse, wrote the following note, which may serve as a tail-piece to the present chapter: "Dr. Rennell is said, with his own hand, to have put a copy of this animated sermon under the knocker of Mr. Fox's door in South street. I could wish the story to be untrue. But the eloquent preacher did not employ his great talents in a sermon against Sabbath-breaking, though his illustrious patron, Mr. Pitt, had lately fought a duel with Mr. Tierney on Wimbledon Common."