BETTING IN BYGONE DAYS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 9116, 23 December 1907, Page 2

BETTING IN BYGONE DAYS.

RECORDS OF QUEER WAGERING

Betting is neither so general nor so \ promiscuous as it was one hundred and fifty years ago, when books for recording wagere were always kept on the tables in the much-frequented coffeehouses of London. Some of these books are still to be found among collections of antiques, and they make interesting reading. All manner of queer ! beta are entered there, on marriages, births and deaths, on the duration of a Ministry, on. the length of the lives of prominent personages'," on the possibility of earthquakes, and even on hangings. The extreme callousness of the old English gamblers, or gentlemen, as they were then called, is illustrated by the following account which Horace Walpole, the celebrated letter writer, gives of a curious occurrence at White's cof-fee-house in London. In one of his epistles to Sir Horace Mann under date of September 1, 1750, he says : " They have put into the papers a- good story, made at White's. A man dropped down dead at the door, and was carried in. The club immediately made bets whether he was dead or not j and when they were going to bleed him, the wagerers for his death interposed and said it would affect the fairness of the bet, and they stopped their efforts." Vieuxtemps, the famous violinist, nsed to tell the following story: — When crossing London Bridge, one day, he was suddenly brushed aside by a wretched tatterdemalion, who climbed the parapet and plunged into the river. The foot passengers crowded around immediately to watch the unfortunate man as he .rose to the surface, and. in a trice someone shouted, "I'll bet he drowns 1" " Two to one he'll swim ashore !" was the answer. The rest of the pedestrians joined in the betting. Meantime Vieuxtemps rushed down to the river bank, secured a waterman, and rowed out to the rescue. Just as the boatman was about to reach forth to grasp the poor fellow, who by this time was floundering about in the water, having lost his desire for death, the spectators above cried out, " Leave him alone 1 There's a bet on it!" The oarsman drew back into the boat, and the unfortunate wretch sank before their eyes. A curious bet that partakes of the | nature of a practical joke went to the Courts in the town of Dole, France, in 1634. A citizen of the district offerdd to pay one of his countrymen twentyfour francs in advance if he would agree to furnish him with a- number of grains of millet in proportion to the number of children born in the town within a year. Qne grain of millet was to be given for the first, two for the second, four for the third, eight for the fourth, and so on, doubling the number for each child. Accepting the apparently generous offer, tlie unlucky Frenchman attempted to carry out the provisions ; but six-ty-six children were born within the specified time. He was astounded at the enormous quantities of grain required to fulfil the contract, and appealed to tho Courts for annulment of the I wager, on the ground, that it was founded on an impossible condition. The judges granted his appeal, but ordered him to return the twenty-four j francs he had received, and to |>ay twenty-four francs in addition. [ There were a few frenzied financiers in England at the beginning of the eighteenth century, if the banker Bulliot, of whom the following story is told, can bo taken as an. example. The feast of Saint Swithin, July 15, 1725, wae a particularly wet and stormy day. I Trusting implicitly in the old superstition. wJiich says that if it rains oai Saint Swithin's Day it will rain for forty clays thereafter, Bnlliot opened a jxiol for everyone who was willing to bet against him. The affair attained so much notoriety that the wager was reduced to writing. "Tf dating from Saint Swithin's Day," reads the memorandum, "it rains more or little during the forty days successively, Bulliot will be considered, to have gained ; but if it ceases to rain for only one day during that time Bulliot has lost." For two weeks it continued to shower every day, and so confident did the banker become that-"he accepted as stakes not only money, but gold-headed canes, jewels, snuff-boxes and even clothes. When his cash gave out he offered notes and bills of exchange. Another week passed, and Bulliot's star was still in the ascendant. But when the twenty-second day sank into the west bright and cloudless, the unfortunate banker was ruined.