The trade increased, and first on the Exchange and then in coffee-
houses it got life, till the brokers, those vermin of trade, got
hold of it, and then particular offices were set apart for it, and
an incredible resort thither was to be seen every day.

These offices had not been long in being, but they were thronged
with sharpers and setters as much as the groom-porters, or any
gaming-ordinary in town, where a man had nothing to do but to make a
good figure and prepare the keeper of the office to give him a
credit as a good man, and though he had not a groat to pay, he
should take guineas and sign polities, till he had received,
perhaps, 300 pounds or 400 pounds in money, on condition to pay
great odds, and then success tries the man; if he wins his fortune
is made; if not, he's a better man than he was before by just so
much money, for as to the debt, he is your humble servant in the
Temple or Whitehall.

But besides those who are but the thieves of the trade, there is a
method as effectual to get money as possible, managed with more
appearing honesty, but no less art, by which the wagerer, in
confederacy with the office-keeper, shall lay vast sums, great odds,
and yet be always sure to win.

For example: A town in Flanders, or elsewhere, during the war is
besieged; perhaps at the beginning of the siege the defence is
vigorous, and relief probable, and it is the opinion of most people
the town will hold out so long, or perhaps not be taken at all: the
wagerer has two or three more of his sort in conjunction, of which
always the office-keeper is one; and they run down all discourse of