_Since my coming hither I have very illy managed my successes; for I have won too many times without the interposition of one single loss of my own, which hath raised in my Gamesters a suspition of me not to be taken off; by which means I have lost all future hopes of bubbling them any more; But since, Sir, you stand fair in their good opinion, if you please to let me share with you, I shall inform you not only with my Art, but also furnish you with Tools which shall effect our design and increase our store. But before I shall encourage you to learn that which I now propound for your profit, give me leave to acquaint you with the inconveniencies, dangers, and perplexities which attend Gaming, lest hereafter you condemn me for your rash learning that which you would have trampled under your feet, had you known the many dangerous concomitants which continually wait thereon._ _To speak generally, Gaming is an enchanting Witchery begot betwixt a couple of Devils, Idleness and Avarice: it so infatuates man, that it renders him incapable of prosecuting his more serious affairs, and makes him to quarrel with his condition though ever so good: if he wins, the success so elevates him, that his mad joys carry him to the height of all excesses; if he loses, his misfortune plunges him to the bottom of Despair. Oh how I have seen a man cast up his eyes, as if he intended to call Heaven to account for its injustice, in not giving him that Cast he so much desires. Nay, I heard one of no small note in an ordinary publickly invoke the Devil, (upon his throwing at all, that is, all the men lies on the Table) that he would turn up Five, which was his Chance, and he should have his Soul for the next throw, an expression enough to make the hair of the vilest reprobate to stand on end._ _It was said of one, that_ nec bonam, nec malam fortunam ferre potest, _that both in good and bad fortune he was ever restles._ Marcellus _could neither be quiet as Conquerour, nor overcome. Thus such is the damn’d itch of Play, Gamesters are never satisfyed winning or loosing, if they win, they hope to increase their store, if they loose their Money they hope to recover it again._ _The question was wittily propounded by one, whether Men in a Ship at Sea were to be accounted_ inter mortuos, vel vivos, _among the living, or the dead, because there were but few Inches between them and drowning. The_ Quære _is not improper to be made of great Gamesters, though their Estates be never so considerable, whether they are to be esteemed_ Divites vel Pauperis, _poor or rich, since there are but a few Casts at Dice betwixt a person of Fortune, (in that circumstance) and a Begger._ * * * * *