n spots of
industry; but I fleeced them only for the benefit of the Faro bank,
which is sure, finally, to absorb the gain of all. Some of the croupiers
would call their gold _GIFTS OF THE WISE MEN OF THE EAST;_ others termed
their guineas _COCKNEY COUNTERS!_

'One night I had such a run of luck in the Hazard room, which was rather
thinly attended, that I won everything, and with my load of treasure
collected from the East and West, nay, probably, some of it from
_Finchley Common_ and _Hounslow Heath_, I went, in the flush of success,
to attack the Faro bank.

'It was my determination, however, if fortune favoured me through
the night, never to tempt her more. For some hours I proceeded in the
torture of suspense, alternately agitated by hope and fear--but by five
o'clock in the morning I attained a state of certainty similar to that
of a wretch ushered into the regions of the damned. I had lost L3500
guineas, which I had brought with me from the Hazard table, together
with L2000 which the bank advanced me on my credit. There they stopped;
and, with an apathy peculiar to themselves, listened to a torrent of
puerile abuse which I vented against them in my despair.

'Two days and two nights I shut myself up, to indulge in the most
racking reflections. I was ruined beyond repair, and I had, on the third
morning, worked myself up to resort for relief to a loaded pistol. I
rang for my servant to bring me some gunpowder, and was debating with
myself whether to direct its force to my brain or my heart, when he
entered with a letter. It was from Harriet ----. She had heard of my
misfortunes, and urged me with the soul and pen of a heroine, to fly the
destructive habits of the town, and to wait for nine months, when
her minority would expire, and she would come into the uncontrolled
possession of L1700. With that small sum she hoped my expenses, talents,
and domestic comfort, under her housewifery, would create a state of
happiness and independence which millions could not procure in the mad
career which I had pursued.

'This was the voice of a guardian angel in the moment of despair. In her
next, at my request, she informed me that the channel of her early and
minute information was the clerical prig, her neighbour and admirer, who
was related to one of the croupiers at ----, and had from him a regular
detail of my proceedings.

'Soothed by the magic influence of my virtuous Harriet, instead of
calling the croupier to acco