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The Gaming Table by Andrew Steinmetz, Volume II

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The Gaming Clubs

It was from the beginning a gaming club, 'pure and simple.' The
play was mostly at Hazard and Faro. No member was to hold a Faro
bank. Whist was comparatively harmless. Professional gamblers,
who lived by dice and cards, provided they were free from the
imputation of cheating, procured admission to White's. It was a
great supper-house, and there was play before and after supper,
carried on to a late hour and to heavy amounts.

At White's they betted on every possible thing, as shown by the
betting-book of the establishment--on births, deaths, and
marriages; the length of a life; the duration of a ministry; a
placeman's prospect of a coronet; the last scandal at Ranelagh or
Madame Cornely's; or the shock of an earthquake! 'A man dropped
down at the door of White's; he was carried into the house. Was
he dead or not? The odds were immediately given and taken for
and against. It was proposed to bleed him. Those who had taken
the odds that the man was dead protested that the use of a lancet
would affect the fairness of the bet.' I have met with a similar
anecdote elsewhere. A waiter in a tavern in Westminster, being
engaged in attendance on some young men of distinction, suddenly
fell down in a fit. Bets were immediately proposed by some of
the most thoughtless on his recovery, and accepted by others.
The more humane part of the company were for sending immediately
for medical assistance, but this was overruled; since, by the
tenor of the bets, he was to be 'left to himself,' and he died
accordingly!

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