House of Lords very properly refused her request. Among the many stories told about the ruling passion of gambling being strong in death, that recorded by Goldsmith will bear repetition, as it happens to refer to a female gambler. The story goes that an old lady, having been given up by the doctors, played with the curate of the parish " pour passer le temps." Having won all his money, she suggested that they should play for the funeral charges to which she would be liable. Just as she began the game death claimed its own, and as " time! " was called, the game was a drawn one. A similar submission to the ruling passion was evinced by the gamestress who, in the or dinary course of her religious duties, went to confess to her priest. Her confessor, among other arguments against the lady's favorite vice, expatiated on the loss of valuabletime which gambling occasioned. "Ah," said the penitent with a sigh, " that is ex actly what vexes me — so much time is lost in the shuffling of the cards!" In the lower ranks of English life the pas sion for gambling is by no means confined to the male sex. In 1776, the barrow-women in London were in the habit of carrying dice, which they induced their boy and girl cus
tomers to throw for fruit and nuts. The evil grew to such an extent that the Lord Mayor took action in the matter, and put a stop to it for a time. But the profession of female bookmaker is by no means extinct even now. In cer tain districts in London, Liverpool, and other large towns may still be seen the "lady " professional taking bets, ranging from a penny upwards, from women and children, who never saw a horse race in their lives, and who can have but the re motest idea of the pros and cons of the event on which they bet. Their bookmaking, of course, is done in the most primitive and unostentatious manner, yet it is hardly likely that the police are altogether ignorant of the methods of these female gamblers. If aware of them, it seems some what strange that efforts have not been made to annihilate one of the worst phases of street gambling. Among the higher circles of the present day, the same gaming propensity is visible to those who choose to look for it. Ladies are not ashamed to run horses un der assumed names; nor is it an uncommon event to see some of the prettiest flowers of society settling up with a bookmaker in the most business-like manner.
