c. xiii.; Juvenal, Sat. vi.

Tolomnius, King of the Veii, happened to be playing at dice when the
arrival of Roman ambassadors was announced. At the very instant he
uttered the word KILL, a term of the game; the word was misinterpreted
by the hearers, and they went forthwith and massacred the ambassadors.
Livy suggests that this was an excuse alleged AFTER the commission of
the deed; but gamesters are subject to such absence of mind that
there is really nothing incredible or astonishing in the act. 'Sire,'
exclaimed a messenger to the Caliph Alamin, 'it is no longer time for
play--Babylon is besieged!' 'Silence!' said the caliph, 'don't you see
I am on the point of giving checkmate?' The same story is told of a Duke
of Normandy.

Wars have arisen from very trivial causes--among the rest gambling.
Henry, the son of William the Conqueror, was playing at chess with
Louis, the son of Philip, King of France. The latter, perceiving that he
was losing the game got into a passion, and calling Henry the son of a
bastard, flung the chess-board into his face. Henry took the chess-board
and struck Louis with it so violently that he drew blood, and would have
killed him if his brother, who happened to come in, had not prevented
him. The two brothers took to flight, but a great and lasting war was
the consequence of the gambling fracas.

A gaming quarrel was the cause of the slap in the face given by the Duc
Rene to Louis XII., then only Duc d'Orleans. This slap was the origin of
a ligue which was termed 'the mad war.' The resentment of the outraged
prince was not appeased until he mounted the throne, when he uttered
these memorable words:--'A King of France does not avenge insults
offered to a Duke of Orleans.'

Many narratives of suicide committed by desperate gamblers are on
record, some of which I now adduce.

SIR JOHN BLAND, OF KIPPAX PARK.

Sir John Bland, of Kippax Park, flirted away his whole fortune at
Hazard. 'He, t'other night,' says Walpole, 'exceeded what was lost by
the late Duke of Bedford, having at one period of the night (though he
recovered the greater part of it) lost two and thirty thousand pounds.'
Sir John Kippax shot himself in 1705.

LORD MOUNTFORD.

Lord Mountford came to a tragic end through his gambling. He had
lost money; feared to be reduced to distress; asked for a government
appointment, and determined to throw the die of life or death on the
answer received from court. The answer was unfav