"I will," said Mr. Bulpett, "lay you £100 to £25 that I do it." The bet was taken and the next day, according to the terms of the wager, Mr. Bulpett entered the water at the Ship dressed in a frock coat, top hat, with a cane in his hand. A boat with his friends in it followed his progress. He reached the opposite shore with the greatest ease, though he was carried a mile and a quarter down by the tide, and when he got there offered to lay the same bet that he would then and there swim back to the other shore, but there were no takers. Had the wager been repeated, there is little doubt but that another £25 would have found its way into the pockets of this redoubtable athlete. A feat of a somewhat similar kind to Mr. Bulpett's was performed in 1891 by Mr. J.B. Radcliffe, who within the space of fifteen minutes rowed, swam, ran, cycled, and rode a horse the distance of a quarter of a mile, successfully covering the mile and a half in the appointed time. VIII Gambling in Paris--Henry IV. and Sully--Cardinal Mazarin's love of play--Louis XIV. attempts to suppress gaming--John Law--Anecdotes--Institution of public tables in 1775--Biribi--Gambling during the Revolution--Fouché--The tables of the Palais Royal--The Galeries de Bois--Account of gaming-rooms--Passe-dix and Craps--Frascati's and the Salon des Étrangers--Anecdotes--Public gaming ended in Paris--Last evenings of play--Decadence of the Palais Royal--Its restaurants--Gaming in Paris at the present day. There has always been much gambling in Paris, and up to the middle of the last century that city was the stronghold of public gaming, the Goddess of Chance wielding absolute sway in the Palais Royal, where licensed gaming-tables existed. The toleration of public gaming in Paris dated as far back as the reign of Henri IV. In 1617 there were forty-seven "Brelans" frequented by any one who cared to play, each of which paid a daily tribute of one pistole to the Lieutenant Civil, who held an office in a great measure corresponding with that of the modern Prefect of Police. Henri IV. himself was much addicted to gaming, and the celebrated Sully attempted to reform him. The King in question having once lost an immense sum of money at play, Sully let his royal master send to him for it several times without taking any notice; at last, however, he brought it and spread the coins before him upon a table. The King fixed his eyes upon the vast sum--said to have been enough to have bought Amiens from the Spaniards--and at last cried out to Sully, "I am corrected, I will never again lose my money at gaming while I live."