University of Virginia Library

CARDS THAT WOULD BEAT THE D — L HIMSELF!

A number of sharpers were detected in a trick by which they had won enormous sums. An Ecarté party, consisting of a nobleman, a captain in the army, an Armenian gentleman, and an Irish gentleman, sat down in one of the private chambers attached to one of the large wine and shell-fish rooms. The Armenian and the Irishman were partners, and were wonderfully successful; indeed, so extraordinary was their luck in turning up cards, that the captain, who had been in the town for some time, suspected the integrity of his competitors, and, accordingly, handled the cards very minutely. He soon discovered that there was an `old gentleman' (a card somewhat larger and thicker than the rest of the pack, and in considerable use among the legs) in the midst of them. The captain and his partner exclaimed that they were robbed, and the cards were sealed up, and referred to a card-maker for his opinion.

`The old saying,' said the referee, `that the cards would beat the card-maker, was never more true than it is in this instance, for this pack would beat not only me, but the very d — l himself; there is

not only an old gentleman, but an old lady (a card broader than the rest) amongst them.'

The two `gentlemen' were immediately accused of the imposition, but they feigned ignorance of the fraud, refused to return a farthing of the `swag,' and, in their turn, charged the losers with having got up the story in order to recover what they had fairly lost.