These considerations, you see, have not prevented me from following out the task I had imposed upon myself, and, whatever happens, I trust the public will give me credit for a wish to enlighten them, and for having had their interest more at heart even than my own.
BRADBURY AND EVANS, PRINTERS, WHITEFRIARS.
[A] In the United States of America this perfidious scheme was brought to great perfection, and carried out by the bankers themselves at these establishments.
Robertson, in his Memoirs, thus describes it:--In the centre of the tables for play a mechanical spring is concealed, which, by being touched, can make the ball enter the division of "pair" or "impair" at pleasure.
If "Pair" is the favourite, and large stakes are on it, the spring under the table is touched, and, by tightening by the hundredth part of an inch all the "pairs," the ball is forced to enter the "impairs," which are larger.
Whilst this was going on, the victims were pricking their cards and reckoning their chances of winning, but what could the most learned calculator do against a push of the knee?
[B] Benazet is the name of the proprietor of the gambling-tables.
[D] Two well-known public-houses in the vicinity of the Marché de la Halle.
[E] Pair, Impair, Passe, Manque, Rouge, Noir, and the thirty-eight numbers in Roulette.
[F] To martingale, is to double your stake each time that you lose.
[G] See the interesting work of Edouard Gourdon, "Les faucheurs de Nuit"--the chapter on fetishes.
[H] See the technical part of this work on cards "_biseautées_."
[I] "_Sauter la coupe_" is, to pass the lower packet of cards on the top of the other, without being seen.
[J] See the figure in the article on Lansquenet, page 228.
[L] One may also make as many as two hundred points by having the four tierce majors in your hand; but the smallest _quart_ in the hand of your adversary, if it were only the tens, greatly lessens your advantages.
[M] _Jeu de règle_ is a hand to be played without discarding.
[N] "Cartes-blanches" is a hand at Piquet without a court card--it counts ten.
[O] For this trick, like the preceding one, the pack ought to be prepared beforehand, and the packs changed before the game begins.
Punctuation, hyphenation, and spelling were made consistent when a predominant preference was found in this book; otherwise they were not changed.