AN ODD BET.

Evening Post, Volume XLVI, Issue 43, 19 August 1893, Page 2 (Supplement)

AN ODD BET.

A very curious bet is the following : — One day in the year 1812, the Rev. Mr. Gilbert found himself dining with the Yorkshire baronet, Sir Mark Sykes. After dinner the conversation turned on the extraordinary hazards to which the life of Napoleon was exposed, and Sir Mark offered if any one of his guests chose to give him 100 guineas, to pay to the said guest the sum of 1 guinea per diem so long as Napoleon should remain alive. The Rev, Mr. Gilbert, who would seem to have been the vicar of the parish, reflected for a moment, and then said; " Done with you, Sir Mark," and next morning sent the baronet over 100 guineas. The parson had done well for himself. For three years did Sir Mark have to send him over his daily guinea, or in other words the Rev. Mr. Gilbert's 100 guineas brought him in the respectable sum of £ 1,095 sterling. The three years being up, however, the affair entered on a new phase. The baronet got tired of paying the annuity, and thinking it very likoly that Napoleon might live another 20 years, declined to pay anything more. But the clergyman was not a man to be trifled with. He at once went to law with Sir Mark, whose counsel declared that he had been surprisod into the bet by his guest's hasty acceptance of it ; also that tho trims ictiuu was an illegal one, seeing- that the Rev. Mr. Gilbert, having a beneficial interest in the life of Bonaparte, might, in the event of invasion, b( tempted to use all means for the pre servation of the life of the enemy oi his country. But it was also arguec that if the parson had a personal in terest in keeping the terror of Europe alive, it was undoubtedly the interes of the baronet to have him put ou of the way by any means that migh offer, whether by bullet or knife Thus, on the one hand, an undui interest was created in the preser vation of the life of a public enemy and, on the other, a temptation migh' be induced to plot the assassinatioi of Bonaparte, any suspicion of whicl ought to be carefully guarded agaiusi by the nation at large. But thit weighty decision was not arrived ai all at once. It having been givet against the Rev. Mr. Gilbert, thai tenacious parson carried the case f rone court to court, until at length tilt judges of the Court of King'f Bench solemnly decided against him for the above weighty reasons. Were the judges right or wrong? Sii Mark Sykes had certainly made a foolish bet, but he is not the only one beforo and since who has dove the same thing, and he ought to have htuck to h'B bet. On the other hand, the Rev. Mr. Gilbert, having recoivod considerably over a thousand pounds for his 100 guineas, might well have boeu satisfied, and I much fear that the whole of that sum must have gone in law expenses. Anyway, it is very curious little glimpse into the pust.