e good
_put-cards;_ he, having two treys and an ace, will be apt to lay a
wager with you that you cannot have better than he; then you binding the
wager, he soon sees his mistake. But in this trick you must observe to
put the other three deuces under yours when you deal.'

It seems that this Monsieur Germain is not only remarkable for the
above precious addition to human knowledge, but also on account of his
expertness at the game of _Ombre_, celebrated and so elegantly described
by Pope in his 'Rape of the Lock.'

He appears to have lived with the Duchess of Norfolk ever after
the divorce; and he died a little after Lady Mary, in 1712, aged 46
years.(140)

(140) _ubi supra_.

TOM HUGHES.

This Irishman was born in Dublin, and was the son of a respectable
tradesman. Falling into dissipated company, he soon left the city to try
his fortune in London, where he played very deep and very successfully.

He threw away his gains as fast as he made them, chiefly among the frail
sisterhood, at a notorious house in those days, in the Piazza,
Covent Garden. He frequented Carlisle House in Soho Square, and was a
proprietor of E O tables kept by a Dr Graham in Pall Mall.

He had a rencontre, in consequence of a dispute at play, and was
wounded. The meeting took place under the Piazza, and his antagonist's
sword struck a rib, which counteracted its dangerous effect.

Soon afterwards he won L3000 from a young man just of age, who made over
to him a landed estate for the amount, and he was shortly after admitted
a member of the Jockey Club.

His fortune now changed, and falling into the hands of Old Pope, the
money-lender, he was not long before he had to transfer his estate to
him.

After many ups and downs he became an inmate of the spunging-house of
the infamous Scoldwell, who was afterwards transported. He actually used
his prison as a gaming house, to which his infatuated friends resorted;
but his means failed, his friends cooled, and he was removed 'over the
water,' from which he was only released by the Insolvent Act, with a
broken constitution. Arrest soon restored him to his old habitation,
a lock-up house, where he died so poor, a victim to grief, misery, and
disease, that he did not leave enough to pay for a coffin, which was
procured by his quondam friend, Mr Thornton, at whose cost he was
buried. Perhaps more than half a million of money had 'passed through
his hands.'

ANDREWS, THE GREAT BILLIARD-PL