But they sometimes played as high as did the opposite sex—the climax, perhaps, coming in the following, from the _Morning Post_, April 5, 1805: “The sum lately lost at play by a Lady of high rank is variously stated. Some say it does not amount to more than £200,000, while others assert that it is little short of £700,000. Her Lord is very unhappy on the occasion, and is still undecided with respect to the best mode to be adopted in the unfortunate predicament.” The men lost and gained large sums of a night; and, for that age, gaming had reached its climax. Little birds whisper[51] that it is not much better now; but, at all events, it is not so open. From the highest to the lowest—from the Heir Apparent, and the two great leaders of party, Fox and Pitt, down to the man who could only afford to punt his shilling, or half-crown, at a “silver hell”—all were bitten, more or less, by this mania of gaming. The magistrates lashed the petty rogues when they were caught, but winked discreetly at the West-end Clubs, and ordered no raids upon them. There they might win or lose their thousands, secure that the law would not stretch out its arm to molest them. There the nobility, legislators, country gentlemen, and officers of the army, met together on a common footing, to worship the Demon of Play. There were three principal Clubs—White’s, Brookes’, and Boodles’. White’s was originally a “Chocolate House” in William the Third’s time, but became a private club early in the eighteenth century, and was used by the Tories. It was a club always noted for high play and betting, and very curious some of their bets were, the old wager book being still preserved. Brookes’ was the Whig Club, and was then conducted by that “liberal Brookes, whose speculative skill Is hasty credit and a distant bill; Who, nurs’d in Clubs, disdains a vulgar trade, Exults to trust, and blushes to be paid.” Among the members of this club were the Prince of Wales, and, of course, his _fidus Achates_, Sheridan, besides the great Charles James Fox, who here played deeply, and whose name is oft recorded in the wager book, which, however, is of older date, and was kept when the club was held at Almack’s. “Lord Northington bets Mr. C. Fox, June 4, 1774, that he (Mr. C. F.) is not called to the bar before this day four years.” “March 11, 1775. Lord Bolinbroke gives a guinea to Mr. Charles Fox and is to receive a thousand from him whenever the debt of this country amounts to 171 millions. Mr. Fox is not to pay the £1,000 till he is one of His Majesty’s Cabinet.” “April 7, 1792. Mr. Sheridan bets Lord Lauderdale and Lord Thanet, twenty-five guineas each, that Parliament will not consent to any more lotteries after the present one voted to be drawn in February next.” [Illustration: GREAT SUBSCRIPTION ROOM AT BROOKES’S.]