[9] De Ludis Orient.


But leaving these savages and the semi-savages of the very olden
time, let us turn to those nearer to our times, with just as much
religious truth and principle among them as among ourselves.

The warmth with which `dice-playing' is condemned in the writings
of the _Fathers_, the venerable expounders of Christianity, as
well as by `edicts' and `canons' of the Church, is unquestionably
a sufficient proof of its general and excessive prevalence
throughout the nations of Europe. When cards were introduced, in
the fourteenth century, they only added fuel to the infernal
flame of gambling; and it soon became as necessary to restrain
their use as it had been that of dice. The two held a joint
empire of ruin and desolation over their devoted victims. A king
of France set the ruinous example--Henry IV., the roue, the
libertine, the duellist, the gambler,--and yet (historically) the
_Bon Henri_, the `good king,' who wished to order things so that
every Frenchman might have a _pot-au-feu_, or dish of flesh
savoury, every Sunday for dinner. The money that Henry IV. lost
at play would have covered great public expenses.

There can be no doubt that the spirit of gaming went on acquiring
new strength and development throughout every subsequent reign in
France; and we shall see that under the Empire the thing was a
great national institution, and made to put a great deal of money
as `revenue' into the hands of Fouche.