“And what, pray, may be the unlawful games which are so strictly forbidden inside the tavern—the poor man’s home?” asked the youth.
“Dice, ace of hearts, faro, basset, hazard, passage, or any game played with dice, or with any instrument, engine, or device in the nature of dice, having figures or numbers thereon, and roulette, or rolly-polly; and bull-baiting, bear-baiting, badger-baiting, dog-fighting, cock-fighting, and all such games, are unlawful,” replied the Englishman.
“Surely, you have not got through the black list yet,” ironically remarked our rake.
“Those mentioned, and the game of puff and dart, if played for money or money’s worth,[167] and lotteries and sweepstakes, except in cases of art unions, where works of art are given as prizes, are all the games I remember, that are prohibited by the Statutes of Henry VIII, George II, and her present Majesty.”
“May I ask what games you are permitted to indulge in? I do not see that any are left, except the ‘grinning through a halter,’ spoken of in The Spectator, in which highly intellectual and moral contest the rule is
“‘The dreadfullest grinner
To be the winner.’
“Backgammon and all games played upon backgammon boards,[168] quoits, tennis, and all games of mere skill, are perfectly lawful, unless played for money or money’s worth.”[169]
“And what of billiards?”
“Oh, that is not unlawful unless played for money.”[170]
“No wonder,” said Mr. Rake, “that people emigrate from that benighted land. And yet Henry VII, and James I, and his estimable son, Prince Henry, were remarkably fond of having a game of cards; although Scotch Jamie was so lazy a coon that he required a servant to hold his hand for him. I believe that those good sovereigns who passed these virtuous laws took care to except from their operation their loyal palaces.”[171]