16. A Runner,--who was to get intelligence of the Justices'
meetings.
17. Link Boys, Coachmen, Chairmen, Drawers, and others, who
brought the first intelligence of Justices' meetings, of
constables going out, at half a guinea reward.
18. Common Bail, Affidavit Men, Ruffians, Bravos, Assassins, &c.
&c.
It may be proper to remark that the above list of officials was
only calculated for gambling houses of an inferior order. In
these it is evident that the fear of interruption and the
necessity for precaution presided over the arrangements. There
were others, however, which seemed to defy law, to spurn at
justice, and to remain secure, in every way, by the
'respectability' of their frequenters. These were houses
supported at an amazing expense--within sight of the palace--
which were open every night and all night--where men of the first
rank were to be found gambling away immense sums of money, such
as no man, whatever his fortune might be, could sustain. 'What,
then,' says a writer at the time, 'are the consequences? Why,
that the UNDONE part of them sell their VOTES for bread, and the
successful give them for honours.
'He who has never seen the gamblers' apartments in some of the
magnificent houses in the neighbourhood of St James's, has never
seen the most horrid sight that the imagination of a thinking man
can conceive.
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