Some of the witnesses had seen the trick done 50 or 100 times by
Lord de Ros, but could neither say on what day, in what week,
month, or even year, they had so seen it done. People were
excessively struck at this deviation from the extreme punctuality
required in criminal cases by the British courts of law.'
'The disclosures,' says Mr Grant,[27] 'which took place in the
Court of Queen's Bench, on the occasion of the trial of Lord de
Ros, for cheating at cards, furnished the strongest demonstration
that he was not the only person who was in the habit of cheating
in certain clubs; while there were others who, if they could not
be charged with direct cheating, or cheating in their own
persons, did cheat indirectly, and by proxy, inasmuch as they, by
their own admission, were, on frequent occasions, partners with
Lord de Ros, long after they knew that he habitually or
systematically cheated. The noble lord, by the confession of the
titled parties to whom I allude, thus cheated for himself and
them at the same time.'
[37] Sketches in London.
Lord de Ros was at the head of the barons of England. He was the
son of Lord Henry Fitzgerald, and Lady de Ros, who inherited in
her own right that ancient title, which dates from the reign of
Henry III.
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