SCENE IN A GAMBLING HOUSE

Westport Times, Volume II, Issue 316, 5 August 1868, Page 3

SCENE IN A GAMBLING HOUSE

(From Dickens, " All theyarc round.' I '' Some evening, after three or four flasks of wine, the deluder pretends with his own jovial laugh, to be tired of Garrick and Quin, of Vauxhall and Ranelagh, of the Mall and fencing-

school, of the masquerade and the park. Some people they meet by chance at will's turn out very lively acquaintances, with a turn for faro or chicken-hazard. They adjourn to a gambling-house, and set to work with the dice and the red and black pipes. Mr Littlebrain, the rich young gentleman from Somersetshire, at first wins surprisingly. The gold tide sets in towards him. They call for more Burgundy. He insists on higher stakes, astonished to find how he is startling the old dice-shakers of Covent Garden. More Burgundy, the room seems to get lighter aud larger, the dice fly out faster and faster. The tide at last turns —the gold floats from him in shoals. He has now lost all he had won, and five thousand guineas more, besides the large farm near Taunton. He has also signed some papers that a good-natured old lawyer present requires as securities for the loan of another thousand, already half gone. Gradually the fumes of the wine begin to subside, and one suspicious glance discloses to him, the old lawyer changes a pack of cards which he (novice) had placed ready at his elbow. He sees a friend make signs to the benevolent lawyer. Then be feels into what a pack of wolves he has fallen.lu a moment Littlebrain dashes over the chair, leaps on the settee, sets down his hat and sword on the peg behind the door, and shouts " Thieves! from the window to the watch, who have just passed, crying sleepily " Past four, and a rainy morning." The gang is furious, their eyes glare, they prepare for a stampede. The gallant captain, whose red face, blarred with black plaister, looks like a hot fire s en between the bars of a grate, sweeps two or three dozen guineas from the green cloth into hispanniers of pockets. Then some one knocks out the lights, several swords clash with Littlebrain's and one passes through his unlucky body. He staggers to the stairs, and falls headlong down them—dead. There is a dash at the watchmen, who threaten the gamblers with their staves. The old men, however, fall before the tempestuous charge, and the next moment there was no one in the gambling-house, but two frightened women, an old watch-man, who is holding the dim lantern to the dead man's face with one hand and removing his watch aud purse with the other ; the only sound is the wind whistling through the keyhole.'

Tho Tasmanian Government Gazette contains a despatch, announcing the Colonial secretary's decision upon the question of precedence, raised in Tasmania during the Prince's visit and referred home :—"ln the ahsence of any local law or authoritative usage, it would be your duty to conform on these points to the colonial regulations. The term 'bishop ' used in these regulations was intended to include Roman Catholic as well as Anglican prelates, according to the spirit of Lord Grey's circular despatch, 20th Nhvember, 1847, and subsequent instructions given by his Lordship and the Duke of Newcastle." In a table of precedence accompanying, "the

bishops " immediately follow the Governor and the senior officer in command of the trosps. It is said that A. E, Eooke, Ksq., has concented to be nominated for the representation ofDeloraine. Sometime ago a lode was discovered on the Kiver Don, in the Devon distriet, yielding cobalt, silver, copper and untiinony. The Mercnry states that an analysis has been made of some specimens sent home, and from the Illustrated London News we learn the result as follows: — Cobalt, 4oz to the ton ; silver, 100 oz to the ton; and copper, 14 per cent. Pleasant Undek-Watku Companion.—A Prussian engineer (states M. Esquiros) had been working for about an hour on the scene of a shipwreck, when by the fantastic light of the sea, he fancied that he perceived a sunken vessel at Rome distance oft" which he had not before remarked. He went forward to examine the unknown object ; but it was in motion and glided through the water without any visible movement, darting forth fearful glances, and shedding a kind of livid glimmer. There was no mistake this time; it was certainly a shark. M. Euder, with his companion, turned to seek refuge behind the shattered hull of the shipwricked vessel. Their position was a critical one. Their friends, not receiving any signals from them, might at any moment hoist them up to the surface ; this would have given a great advantage to the monster in attacking them; they therefore made up their minds to cut the rope. The creature came occasionally to watch them, glaring at them through the displaced planks of the ship. They fancied they could discover some signs of astonishment in his cruel physiognomy ; he certainly had never before met with anything in the sea of •a similar appearance, his surprise was not to be wondered at. The two divers had made every preparation to sell their lives as dearly as possible ; but, after mature deliberation, the shark slowly took himself off.