"Discincta tunica fugiendum est;
Ne nummi pereant.
Deprendi miserum est."—Horat.
[312] Pascasius Justus mentions in his Alca, first published in 1560, that a certain merchant, having obtained from Charles V a monopoly for ten years of the sale of cards in Spain, became extremely rich in consequence of the great demand for them.
[313] Encyclopédie Méthodique, mot, Cartier. An account of the subsequent legislation in France, with respect to cards, is to be found in the 'Manuel du Cartonnier, et du Fabricant de Cartonnages,' pp. 224-37. Paris, 1830.
CHAPTER V.
THE MORALITY OF CARD-PLAYING.
All writers who have investigated the principles of morality agree in the condemnation of Gaming,—that is, playing at any game of hazard for the sake of gain. With respect to the lawfulness, however, of playing at such games at leisure hours, for the sake of recreation, and without any sordid desire of gain, there is, amongst such authorities, a difference of opinion: some holding that, in the moral code, such games are, at all times, and under all circumstances, unlawful; while others affirm that, under the conditions mentioned, they are innocent. The former opinion has been espoused by many theologians, who, not content with condemning games of hazard as immoral, have also, with more zeal than knowledge, denounced them as sinful, and forbidden by the word of God. The arguments, however, of such teachers have been ably refuted by the learned Thomas Gataker, in his work 'On the Nature and Use of Lots,' the first edition of which appeared in 1619. He has clearly shown that the texts alleged by the opposite party do not bear the construction which had been put upon them; and that, consequently, the so-called word of God was nothing more than the dogma of fallible men.
The controversy respecting the sinfulness of games of hazard, on scriptural grounds, seems to have commenced in England about the latter end of the sixteenth century, with a small tract written by a Puritanical clergyman of the name of Balmford, who appears, at the time of its first publication, to have exercised his ministerial functions at Newcastle-on-Tyne. [314] The title of Balmford's tract is 'A Short and Plain Dialogue concerning the Unlawfulness of playing at Cards or Tables, or any other Game consisting in chance.' The only copy that I have seen occurs in a collection of tracts by the same author, with the general title, 'Carpenters Chippes: or Simple Tokens of unfeined good will, to the Christian friends of James Balmford, the unworthy Servant of Jesus Christ, a poor Carpenters sonne.' 16mo. Printed at London, for Richard Boyle, 1607. The following dedication of the tract on gaming is dated 1st of January, 1593: "To the right worshipfull Master Lionel Maddison, Maior, the Aldermen his brethern, and the godly Burgesses of Newcastle-upon-Tine, James Balmford wisheth the kingdom of God and his righteousnesse, that other things may be ministered unto them.—That which heretofore I have propounded to you (right worshipfull and beloved) in teaching, I doe now publish to all men by printing, to wit mine opinion of the unlawfulness of games consisting in chance."