As before stated, the court of the Roman Emperor Augustus, in
spite of the many laws enacted against gambling, diffused the
frenzy through Rome; in like manner the court of Louis XIV.,
almost in the same circumstances, infected Paris and the entire
kingdom with the vice.

There is this difference between the French monarch and the Roman
emperor, that the latter did not teach his successors to play
against the people, whereas Louis, after having denounced gaming,
and become almost disgusted with it, finished with established
lotteries. High play was always the etiquette at court, but the
sittings became less frequent and were abridged. `The king,'
says Madame de Sevigne, `has not given over playing, but the
sittings are not so long.'

LOUIS XV.--At the death of Louis XIV. three-fourths of the nation
thought of nothing but gambling. Gambling, indeed, became itself
an object of speculation, in consequence of the establishment and
development of lotteries--the first having been designed to
celebrate the restoration of peace and the marriage of Louis XIV.

The nation seemed all mad with the excitement of play. During
the minority of Louis XV. a foreign gamester, the celebrated
Scotchman, John Law, having become Controller-General of France,
undertook to restore the finances of the nation by making every
man a player or gamester. He propounded a _SYSTEM;_ he
established a bank, which nearly upset the state; and seduced
even those who had escaped the epidemic of games of chance. He