horseman, and would run his horse for the petty prizes or plates given at the feasts in his neighbourhood, attending the races at York and other places, where he made bets with considerable skill. On one occasion he rode his horse in a match at Knaresborough Forest. The ground was marked out by posts, including a circle of a mile, and the race was three times round. Great odds were laid against the blind man, because of his supposed inability to keep the course. "But his ingenuity," writes Mr. Smiles,* "was never at fault. He procured a number of dinner bells from the Harrogate inns, and set men to ring them at the several posts. Their sound was enough to direct him during the race, and the blind man came in the winner.

"After this race was over, a gentleman who owned a notorious runaway horse came up and offered to lay a bet with Metcalf that he could not gallop the horse fifty yards and stop it within two hundred. Metcalf accepted the bet, with the condition that he might choose his ground. This was agreed to, but there was to be neither hedge nor wall in the distance. Metcalf forthwith proceeded to the neighbourhood of the large bog near the Harrogate old Spa, and having placed a person on the line in which he "Lives of the Engineers," i., 211-12.

proposed to ride, who was to sing a song to guide him by its sound, he mounted, and rode straight into the bog, where he had the horse effectually stopped within the stipulated two hundred yards, stuck up to his saddle-girths in the mire. Metcalf scrambled out and claimed his wager, but it was with great difficulty the horse could be extricated." This, among other stories, the blind engineer used to relate with much pride; and, despite his want of sight, he was not only a skilled horseman, but even a match for those who possessed the advantage of eyesight.

CHAPTER VI.

GAMBLING.

Earl of Carlisle-Lord Holland-C. J. Fox-T. Beauclerk-Lord George Anson Pitt Wilberforce George Selwyn-Earl of Derby-Sir E. Fawkener-Duke of Queensberry-Beau Nash-Alderman Combe- Lord Clive-C. J. Napier-Lord Stair-John Wilkes-Oliver Goldsmith-Marquis of Rockingham-Lord OrfordLord Robert Spencer-Duke of Bedford-Duke of Norfolk-Dennis O'Kelly-Beau Brummell-Lord Mountford-Lord Worthall-Sir William Colepepper-Mr. Payne-Lord Londesborough.

AT the latter end of the last and beginning of the present century gambling was carried on to an extravagant extent among many of our leading men who frequented the West-End clubs. George Selwyn used to declare that there was nothing in the heavens above, or the earth below, or the waters under the earth, upon which men would not contrive to bet. Some idea of the rage for this ruinous fashion may be gathered from the betting books at White's and Brookes's Clubs, wherein

may be found bets on all conceivable subjectsbets on the length of a life, on the duration of a Ministry, on a rascal's risk of the halter, on a placeman's prospect of a coronet, on the chances of an election, on the sanity of the king, on the shock of an earthquake, or on the last scandal. A man dropped down at the door of White's, and was carried into the house. Was he dead or not? The odds were immediately given and taken for and against. It was proposed to bleed him. Those who had taken the odds the man was dead protested that the use of a lance would affect the fairness of the bet. A Mr. Blake betted £1,500 that a man could live twelve hours under water; hired a desperate fellow, and sank him in a ship by way of experiment. Neither ship nor man reappeared.* The betting-book, too, at Brookes's reveals that simultaneously with the staking of five thousand pounds by the Earl of Carlisle on a single card at faro, wagers were made during the American Revolutionary War as to which of the bachelor members would be married before the other, which would first be a father, and whether the child born would be a boy or a girl. Lord Carlisle's passion for play, and reckless habit of betting, at one time threatened to plunge him hopelessly into pecuniary difficulties. But, for

*National Review.

tunately, "the deep sense which he entertained of his own folly, the almost maddening moments to which he refers in his letters of self-condemnation and bitter regret, and, subsequently, his noble victory over the siren enticements of pleasure, and his thorough emancipation from the trammels of a domineering passion, made adequate amends for his previous unhappy career."* Thus, in one of his letters to his friend George Selwyn, dated July, 1776, he writes: "I have undone myself, and it is to no purpose to conceal from you my abominable madness and folly-though, perhaps, the particulars may not be known to the rest of the world. I never lost so much in five times as I have done to-night, and am in debt to the house for the whole. You may be sure I do not tell you this with an idea that you can be of the least assistance to me; it is a great deal more than your abilities are equal to."+

Lord Holland, the great political rival of the illustrious Chatham, was at one time of his life a reckless gamester. Sad to say, the first two or three years of his life, which he passed mostly on the Continent, after his removal from Eton, were devoted to dissipation and wild frolic, during which time he contrived to squander most of his * Jesse, "George Selwyn and his Contemporaries."

This letter is endorsed by George Selwyn, "after the loss of £10,000."