The betting may be about anything. But the chief Houses are those where the bets have reference to length of life or injuries, to loss by fire, to loss by sea, and losses by fraud. If a man wish to bet that he will live say seventy moons, he pays down at once a small sum, and the House accepts the bet--that is, gives him a _writing, promising_ to pay his heirs a very much larger sum if he die before the seventy moons expire. If a man have goods in a _shop_, he bets, say, one pound to 100 pounds, that they will not be burned during twelve moons--he pays down the pound and receives a writing (as before) that if the goods be burned during the time, he shall be paid the 100 pounds. So on, as to bets upon goods and upon vessels on the seas, upon buildings of all kinds, upon duration of life, and upon the life of another, upon accidents to body, upon honesty of servants--upon almost anything where the thing bet by the Houses is remote in time. This is the great point; for these never pay anything down by way of _stakes_, but always receive in money the _stake_ (bet) of the other party. One may readily see how corrupting all this is in its nature, and how falsely conceived. The rascally trader burns the goods, the possessor of a building burns that, the owner of a ship has her wrecked, to get the sums promised upon these events; and trade is promoted upon unsound practices. Even life has been taken by a wretched gambler, who has staked money upon the life of another. The _tendency_ is to these crimes. Nor can there be anything but _loss to the public at large_; for these expensive Houses and their numerous and richly-living inhabitants are supported by the winnings made, without rendering any useful service. This must be true, even when all bets made by these Houses are _paid_. But another great mischief follows: they do not pay, and are often only _Swindles_ [Kea-ties] on a great scale! There are those which pay--that is, have so far paid--but as there are bets for enormous amounts far in _the future_, no one can say that final payments are certain. The great object of all the Houses is to secure as large sums in cash as possible upon events a long way off. The more remote the event upon which the bet is laid, the larger the sum demanded from the individual who bets. _He_ pays--the House merely promises to pay, and cannot be called upon to pay for a very long time! In this way, great sums of money having been got (some bets having been promptly paid to obtain confidence), the House shuts its doors! The rogues share the plunder and _decamp_. Decamp is to run away to distant parts to escape arrest and punishment. This is, however, rarely necessary; for such are the cunning contrivances of the Lawyers, who organise these Betting Houses, that very little risk is run--_forms_ of law, slack enough at best, have been so well adhered to, that the rascals escape, though everybody knows that they have used those forms