minute-hand, whilst he exclaimed continually, “This hour will never be
over!” Then he listened to discover whether his watch had stopped; then
cursed the lazy fellow for falling asleep, protesting that, for his
part, he never would again consent to such waste of time. The very
instant the hour was ended, he ordered “_that dog_” to be awakened, and
to work we went. At this sitting 35,000_l._ were lost and won. I was
very fortunate, for I lost a mere trifle--ten thousand pounds; but I
could not expect to be always so lucky.--Now we come to the old story
of being ruined by play. My English John o’-the-Scales warned me that he
could _advance_ no more money; my Irish agent, upon whom my drafts had
indeed been unmerciful, could not _oblige_ me any longer, and he threw
up his agency, after having made his fortune at my expense. I railed,
but railing would not pay my debts of honour. I inveighed against my
grandfather for having tied me up so tight; I could neither mortgage nor
sell: my Irish estate would have been sold instantly, had it not been
settled upon a Mr. Delamere. The pleasure of abusing him, whom I had
never seen, and of whom I knew nothing but that he was to be my heir,
relieved me wonderfully. He died, and left only a daughter, a mere
child. My chance of possessing the estate in fee-simple increased: I
sold this increased value to the Jews, and gamed on. Miss Delamere, some
time afterwards, had the smallpox. Upon the event of her illness I laid
bets to an amazing amount.
She recovered. No more money could be raised, and my debts were to be
paid. In this dilemma I recollected that I once had a guardian, and that
I had never settled accounts with him. Crawley, who continued to be my
factotum and flatterer in ordinary and extraordinary, informed me, upon
looking over these accounts, that there was a mine of money due to
me, if I could but obtain it by law or equity. To law I went: and the
anxiety of a lawsuit might have, in some degree, supplied the place of
gambling, but that all my business was managed for me by Crawley, and I
charged him never to mention the subject to me till a verdict should be
obtained.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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