livery! This base proposal was rejected with contempt, because
the Baron de---- is one of the most honourable and enlightened
men of the age.

`The most difficult bargains are often amicably settled by a
game. I have seen persons gaming whilst taking a walk and whilst
travelling in their carriages. People game at the doors of
the theatres; of course they gamble for the price of the ticket.
In every possible manner, and in every situation, the true
gamester strives to turn every instant to profit.

`If I relate what I have seen in the matter of play during sleep,
it will be difficult to understand me. A gamester, exhausted by
fatigue, could not give up playing because he was a loser; so he
requested his adversary to play for him with his left hand,
whilst he dozed off and slept! Strange to say, the left hand of
his adversary incessantly won, whilst he snored to the sound of
the dice!

`I have just read in a newspaper,[59] that two Englishmen, who
left their country to fight a duel in a foreign land,
nevertheless played at the highest stakes on the voyage; and
having arrived on the field, one of them laid a wager that he
would kill his adversary. It is stated that the spectators of
the affair looked upon it as a gaming transaction.


[59] Journal de Politique, Dec. 15, 1776.