fair
dice; and, having learned to 'secure,'(33) called different mains at
pleasure; threw sixteen times; won all the aristocrat's money, and
wished him good night. Such is the effect of not knowing your man!

(33) This term means making sure of what you throw.

A BLIND GAMESTER.

John Metcalfe, much better known by the nickname of blind Jack of
Knaresborough, was a celebrity at Harrowgate during the first quarter
of the present century. This extraordinary man had been deprived of his
eyesight at so early a period that he retained no idea of either light
or vision; but his remaining faculties were so actively employed that
few persons in the full enjoyment of sight have surpassed him in the
execution of undertakings, which seemed particularly to require the
exercise of that faculty. He traversed the neighbourhood without a guide
or companion; surveyed tracts of country to plan and lay down roads,
where none had ever been before; contracted for the building of bridges,
and fulfilled his contracts without the assistance of another person,
either as architect or superintendent of the work; became a guide
to those who, possessing sight, could not find their way across the
neighbouring moors when covered with deep falls of snow and impenetrable
fogs; rode well, and followed the hounds with a zeal and spirit equal to
that of the most dashing horseman in the field, and, finally, played
at many games of chance, or skill, with a knowledge and ingenuity that
enabled him to come off victorious in many contests with persons eager
to try his ability or to prove their own.

Such a man was sure to attract notice in any place or neighbourhood,
but particularly at a place of general resort. Besides, he possessed
a facetious mode of talking, and on several occasions exercised a
practical sort of wit, which was equally certain of gaining patronage.
Visitors of the highest rank treated him with kindness, and even
familiarity; and as he never forgot himself, or trespassed upon those
who thus favoured him, he continued in fashion as long as he lived, and
terminated his singular career at more than 80 years of age.

Among his many exploits was the following. Various trials of his skill
and activity were proposed by gentlemen who offered to support their
opinions with their money. But Metcalfe had a determination of his own,
and refused taking a share in any of the ingenious proposals urged upon
him, until a country squire, the Nimrod of