George Selwyn: His Letters and His Life

by George Augustus Selwyn

(1781,) Dec. 29.—I stayed at Foxley till the middle of October, and then came to Town, where, for want of other amusement I chose to take the diversion of Hazard at the House in Pall Mall, and lost near 4,000 pounds in three nights to a set of fellows whom I never saw before, and have never seen since. Though it has generally happened to me to begin the winter without a guinea, I did not make up my mind to it this year so easily as I have done formerly, because I knew that I deserved to be poor for having been fool enough to lose my money at Hazard instead of saving it for Pharaoh.

Richard played at the same place, and lost 8,000 gs., which he paid immediately, though he had declared to me a few days before that he had not a quarter of that sum in the world; but you know how to estimate his veracity on these subjects as well as anybody.

Charles, in the October meetings, lost about 10,000, the greatest part of it on Races, and the rest to General Smith at picquet. The general opinion was, that Charles was extremely partial to horses of his own confederacy; this he denies, and of course is angry to hear suspected, but you and I shall not be very backward to believe it to have been the case.

Most of the joint annuitants agreed to a proposal made to them by Richard and Charles, viz., to receive 6,000 immediately, and the remainder by instalments in three years. One of them refused to accept this proposal, and seized soon after the meeting four of Charles's horses, which were of trifling value, and therefore bought in again at a small expense by Derby, in whose name they now stand; whether some time or other his protection may not be insufficient, I shall not pretend to say, but it is not quite out of the reach of possibility.

Thus, you see, the Bankers did not meet at the beginning of the winter in the same opulent circumstances as they had parted in at the end of the last campaign. Lord Robert and I proposed to have our share increased from a twelfth to an eighth. Charles consented, but Richard refused, and we remain on our former footeign (sic). The Bank has already won considerably, and would probably have done still better if money was not very scarce, as most of the punters retain their passion without the means of gratifying it.

You will be surprised when I tell you that Richard is our most valuable punter, and has lost this year full as much as his share of the winnings of the Bank; and as he would not agree to my having a larger share, I have no great remorse in taking his money. Last night he lost 3,000 pounds, and Charles above 5,000; all the other players won something, but not a sum at all equal to our partner's losses. Pray do not mention this, unless you hear it from some other person, as probably you will.

The club at Brookes's is very ill attended, and Brookes enraged to the last degree that gentlemen should presume to think of anything but making his fortune. He complained to Charles that there was 17,000 pounds owing to the house, which is a most impudent lie; and even if it were true he would have no reason to complain of the balance, as he has 15,000 belonging to the proprietors of the Bank in his hands, for which he pays no interest, though he receives at least 5 per cent, for all money owing to him.

There are two Clubs lately formed, both consisting of young men, and chiefly of different parties in politics. Goostree's(189) is a small society of young men in Opposition, and they are very nice in their admissions; as they discourage gaming as much as possible, their Club will not do any harm to Brookes's, and probably not subsist a great while; it seems to be formed on the model of the celebrated Tuesday Night Club. The other is at Welche's,(190) in St. James's Street, consisting of young men who belong to Government; and poor John St. John, whose age and zeal for Government particularly qualify him to be a member, has hitherto met with objections on the ballot, which I hope will be withdrawn on another trial of his interest, and that the Town will have the advantage of his management at the next Masquerade, which that Club is to give after Xmas.

Boothby has just told me that James finds himself in such bad circumstances that he is obliged to sell all his horses, and give up hunting entirely; but as James is in Town, and has not said one word to me about it, I am in hopes that it is not exactly so: the Prince is rather a dark painter, and fond of placing the principal figure in the shade. The Prince himself, I am afraid, is rather distressed, as he never games, and it is observed invidiously enough by people who do not love him, that he must be poor, as he has grown so much more agreeable than he used to be.

Crawford was giving himself great airs the other day on having taken Longchamp, the man who keeps the rooms at Newmarket, into his service as cook, but on enquiry it appeared that he had taken one of his brothers: the Fish was unspeakably mortified to find that his cook was not a man of so great celebrity as he had imagined, and gave his first dinner yesterday with a determination to condemn the cook's performance, whether good or bad. I am very ill qualified to tell you the scandalous history of fine ladies, not having been at one assembly this winter. . . .