'He who has never seen the gamblers' apartments in some of the
magnificent houses in the neighbourhood of St James's, has never
seen the most horrid sight that the imagination of a thinking man
can conceive.

'A new pack of cards is called for at every deal, and the "old"
ones are then thrown upon the floor, and in such an immense
quantity, that the writer of this letter has seen a very large
room nearly ANKLE-DEEP, in the greatest part of it, by four
o'clock in the morning! Judge, then, to what height they must
have risen by daylight.'

It is a melancholy truth, but confirmed by the history of all
nations, that the most polite and refined age of a kingdom is
never the most virtuous; not, indeed, that any such compliment
can be paid to that gross age, but still it was refined compared
with the past. The distinctions of personal merit being but
little regarded--in the low moral tone that prevailed--there
needed but to support a certain 'figure' in life (managed by the
fashionable tailor)[4], to be conversant with a few etiquettes of
good breeding and sentiments of modern or current honour, in
order to be received with affability and courteous attention in
the highest circles. The vilest sharper, having once gained
admission, was sure of constant entertainment, for nothing formed
a greater cement of union than the spirit of HIGH GAMING. There
being so little cognizance taken of the good qualities of the
heart in fashionable assemblies, no wonder that amid the medley
of characters to be found in these places the 'sharper' of polite
address should gain too easy an admission.