A very pretty anecdote is told of such a wife and a gaming
husband.

In order to simplify the signs of loss and gain, so as not to be
overburdened with the weight of gold and silver, the French
players used to carry the representation of their fortunes in
small boxes, more or less elegant. A lady (who else could have
thought of such a device?), trembling for the fate of her
husband, made him a present of one of these dread boxes. This
little master-piece of conjugal and maternal affection
represented a wife in the attitude of supplication, and weeping
children, seeming to say to their father--_THINK OF US!_ . . . .

It is, therefore, only with the view of avenging good and
honourable women, that I now proceed to speak of those who have
disgraced their sex.

I have already described a remarkable gamestress--the Persian
Queen Parysatis.[96]


[96] Chapter III.


There were no gamestresses among the Greeks; and the Roman
women were always too much occupied with their domestic affairs
to find time for play. What will our modern ladies think, when I
state that the Emperor Augustus scarcely wore a garment which had
not been woven by his wife, his sister, or grand-daughters.[97]