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The Gaming Table-Vol.2-Part21_Andrew Steinmetz(1816-1877)_English Literature(文学名著)-第2页

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his nose, covered his face with blood, and knocked him down. On



getting up he was knocked down again. He arose once more, and

instantly received another blow, which would have laid him upon



his back, but one of the porters by this time had got behind him,

and as he was falling struck him at the back of his head, which



sent him upon his face. The watch had now arrived, into whose

hands the keeper of the "hell" and the porter were given. At the



watch-house they were ordered to find bail. The gentleman was

then about quitting, when he was suddenly called back. A certain



little lawyer, who alternately prosecutes and defends keepers of

gaming houses, was sent for. He whispered to the ex- butcher to



charge the gentleman with stealing his handkerchief and hat,

which, it was alleged, had been lost in the affray. Though



nothing was found upon the gentleman, who desired to be searched,

this preposterous and groundless charge was taken, and the



hellites admitted to bail; but the gentleman who had been so

cruelly beaten, being charged with a felony on purpose to cause



his detention, and the power held by magistrates to take bail in

doubtful cases not extending to night-constables, he was locked



up below with two wretches who had stolen lead, and five

disorderlies--his face a mass of blood and bruises--and there



detained till Monday morning, in a most pitiable condition. The

magistrate before whom the party appeared on that day,



understanding that the affair took place at a gaming house,

dismissed both complaints, leaving the parties to their remedy at



the sessions.'

GAFFING.



Gaffing is or was one of the ten thousand modes of swindling

practised in London. Formerly it was a game in very great vogue



among the macers, who congregated nightly at the 'flash houses.'

One of these is described as follows:--This gaffer laughed a



great deal and whistled Moore's melodies, and extracted music

from a deal table with his elbow and wrist. When he hid a



half-penny, and a flat cried 'head' for L10, a 'tail' was sure to

turn up. One of his modes of commanding the turn-up was this: he



had a half-penny with two heads, and a half-penny with two tails.

When he gaffed, he contrived to have both half-pence under his



hand, and long practice enabled him to catch up in the wrinkles

or muscles of it the half-penny which it was his interest to



conceal. If 'tail' was called a 'head' appeared, and the 'tail'

half-penny ran down his wrist with astonishingfidelity. This



ingenious fellow often won 200 or 300 sovereigns a night by

gaffing; but the landlord and other men, who were privy to the



robbery, and 'pitched the baby card' (that is, encouraged the

loser by sham betting), always came in for the 'regulars,' that



is, their share of the plunder.

This gaffer contrived to 'bilk' all the turnpikes in the kingdom.



In going to a fight or to a race-course, when he reached a

turnpike he held a shilling between his fingers, and said to the



gatekeeper--'Here, catch,' and made a movement of the hand

towards the man, who endeavoured to catch what he saw. The



shilling, however, by a backward jerk, ran down the sleeve of the

coat, as if it had life in it, and the gate-keeper turned round



to look in the dust, when the tall gaffer drove on, saying--'Keep

the change.'



A young fellow, who previously was a marker at a billiard-table,

and who had the appearance of a soft, inexperienced country-lad,



was another great hand at gaffing. There was a strong adhesive

power in his hand, and such exquisite sensibility about it, that



he could ascertain by dropping his palm, even upon a worn-out

half-penny or shilling, what side was turned up. Indeed, so



perfect a master was he of the science that Breslaw could never

have done more upon cards than he could do with a pair of 'grays'



(gaffing-coins).

A well-known macer, who was celebrated for slipping an 'old



gentleman' (a long card) into the pack, and was the inheritor by

birth of all the propensities of this description, although the



inheritance was equally divided between his brother and himself,

got hold of a young fellow who had L170 in his pocket, and



introduced him to one of the 'cock-and-hen' houses near Drury

Lane Theatre, well-primed with wine. Gaffing began, and the






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