' Cards were again spoken
of, and again proposed, with the additional recommendation of the
'lady,' who offered to be the partner of her friend in the game.
The consequence was inevitable. Many young noblemen and
gentlemen were plundered by this scheme, of hundreds, nay, of
thousands of pounds. To escape without loss was impossible.
They packed and distributed the cards with such amazing
dexterity, that they could give a man, as it were, whatever cards
they pleased.
CARDS THAT WOULD BEAT THE D--L HIMSELF!
A number of sharpers were detected in a trick by which they had
won enormous sums. An Ecarte party, consisting of a nobleman, a
captain in the army, an Armenian gentleman, and an Irish
gentleman, sat down in one of the private chambers attached to
one of the large wine and shell-fish rooms. The Armenian and the
Irishman were partners, and were wonderfully successful; indeed,
so extraordinary was their luck in turning up cards, that the
captain, who had been in the town for some time, suspected the
integrity of his competitors, and, accordingly, handled the cards
very minutely. He soon discovered that there was an 'old
gentleman' (a card somewhat larger and thicker than the rest of
the pack, and in considerable use among the LEGS) in the midst of
them.
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