 | ODDITIES AND WITTICISMS OF GAMBLERS. The gaming table : its votaries and victims, in all times and countries,
especially in England and in France. Vol. 2 |  |
A PENITENT SONNET,
written by the Lord Fitz-Gerald[29] (a great gamester) a little
before his death, which was in the year 1580.
[29] This Lord Fitzgerald was eldest son to the Earl of Kildare, and died at the age of twenty-one.
140
`By loss in play, men oft forget
The duty they do owe
To Him that did bestow the same,
And thousand millions moe.
The duty they do owe
To Him that did bestow the same,
And thousand millions moe.
`I loath to hear them swear and stare,
When they the Main have lost,
Forgetting all the Byes that wear
With God and Holy Ghost.
When they the Main have lost,
Forgetting all the Byes that wear
With God and Holy Ghost.
`By wounds and nails they think to win,
But truly 'tis not so;
For all their frets and fumes in sin
They moneyless must go.
But truly 'tis not so;
For all their frets and fumes in sin
They moneyless must go.
`There is no wight that used it more
Than he that wrote this verse,
Who cries Peccavi now, therefore;
His oaths his heart do pierce.
Than he that wrote this verse,
Who cries Peccavi now, therefore;
His oaths his heart do pierce.
`Therefore example take by me,
That curse the luckless time
That ever dice mine eyes did see,
Which bred in me this crime.
That curse the luckless time
That ever dice mine eyes did see,
Which bred in me this crime.
`Pardon me for that is past,
I will offend no more,
In this most vile and sinful cast,
Which I will still abhor.'[30]
I will offend no more,
In this most vile and sinful cast,
Which I will still abhor.'[30]
[30] Harl. Miscel.
| ODDITIES AND WITTICISMS OF GAMBLERS. The gaming table : its votaries and victims, in all times and countries,
especially in England and in France. Vol. 2 | |