Follet, and Mr
Wightman appeared for the noble plaintiff; and the keen-witted
and exquisitely polished Mr Thesiger (now Lord Cholmondeley), Mr
Alexander, and Mr W. H. Watson for the defendant. A great many
of the nobility were present, together with several foreigners of
distinction.
4. BROOKES' CLUB, IN ST JAMES'S STREET.
This was a house notorious for very high gaming, and was
frequented by the most desperate of gamblers, among the rest Fox,
Brummell, and Alderman Combe. According to Captain Gronow:--
At Brookes's, for nearly half a century, the play was of a more
gambling character than at White's. . . . On one occasion Lord
Robert Spencer contrived to lose the last shilling of his
considerable fortune given him by his brother, the Duke of
Marlborough. General Fitzpatrick being much in the same
condition, they agreed to raise a sum of money, in order that
they might keep a Faro bank. The members of the club made no
objection, and ere long they carried out their design. As is
generally the case, the bank was a winner, and Lord Robert
bagged, as his share of the proceeds, L100,000. He retired,
strange to say, from the fetid atmosphere of play, with the money
in his pocket, and never again gambled.
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