If, in conformity to the _spirit_ of this wise statute, sharpers of every denomination, who support themselves by a variety of cheating and swindling practices, without having any visible means of living, were in like manner to be called upon to find security for their good behaviour, in all cases where they cannot shew they have the means of subsisting themselves honestly, the number of these Pests of Society, under a general Police and an active and zealous Magistracy, would soon be diminished, if not totally annihilated. By the 12th of George the Second, (cap. 28. § 2, 3,) "_the Games of Faro, Hazard, &c. are declared to be Lotteries, subjecting the persons who keep them to a penalty of two hundred pounds, and those who play to fifty pounds_."--_One_ witness only is necessary to prove the offence before any Justice of the Peace; _and the Justice forfeits ten pounds if he neglects to do his duty under the Act_:--and under this Act, which is connected with the statute 8th of George I. cap. 2, it seems that "_the keeper of a Faro Table may be prosecuted even for a penalty of five hundred pounds_." Notwithstanding these salutary laws, to the reproach of the Police of the Metropolis, houses have been opened, even under the sanction of high-sounding names, where an indiscriminate mixture of all ranks was to be found, from the _finished sharper_ to the _raw inexperienced youth_. And where all those evils existed in full force, which it was the object of the Legislature to remove. Though it is hoped that this iniquitous System of plunder, has of late been somewhat restrained by the wholesome administration of the Laws, under the excellent Chief Justice who presides in the High Criminal Department of the Country, in consequence of the detection of Criminals, through the meritorious vigilance and attention of the Magistrates; to which the Author of this work, by bringing the evil so prominently under the view of the Public, may flatter himself in having been in some small degree instrumental: Still it is much to be feared, that the time is not yet arrived which would induce him to withhold the following narrative.