sixteen votes, effectually to deprive the O'Connell cabinet of all means of doing mischief. Well, Middlesex will give us two; Norfolk, two others; Worcestershire, two; and Durham, Devon, Cornwall, Yorkshire, Derbyshire, Hants, Herefordshire, Notts, East Surrey, and West Kent, at least one each. There are the sixteen, almost certain to be gained. These are already well ascertained; but why are there not twenty others? Have not the Whigs nearly sixty county members; and is there any reason why they should have six? Well, the counties, then, will give us the majority, and ought to decide the whole affair, if they rightly acquitted themselves. But shall we gain nothing by the boroughs? Must we not gain another sixteen here also? Will not Ipswich give us two; Marylebone, two; London, two; Lambeth, Brighton, Greenwich, Bath, Sudbury, Tiverton, Wakefield, Lancaster, Maidstone, Rochester, Leominster, Nottingham, Bury, Malden, Cambridge, Peterborough, Stoke, and a score of other places, send us each one, if not two, additional votes? Look over all these names, and increase the list threefold, and then say whether, if the Conservatives do their duty manfully, some gain must not arise from all these contests? But what is there on the other side? Very little, indeed! We tried to form a list of cases, in which there might be some degree of probability that the Whigs or Radicals might gain; and, after poring over the lists for a long time, we could not discover so many as twelve places where the Conservative members stood in the least danger. As to Scotland and Ireland, we believe that there is the best ground for calculating, that what is lost in one will be made up by the other; and that, if O'Connell should succeed in adding four or five joints to his tail in Ireland, Scotland will at least change as many Whigs for Conservatives. We ought to gain, then, by this election. There is every reason to hope and to look for it; but there is also every reason to work,— to labour,—to struggle earnestly for it. The issue is not yet decided. Much-in fact, we might say all -depends on the exertions of the next fortnight. Relaxation or indolence on the one side, increased energy on the other, might yet turn the scale, rivet the bonds in which the queen is now held, and plunge the country into evils and dangers of which it is difficult to imagine the end. We ask, therefore, of every reader of these lines, Are you doing your duty? Will your borough, or your county, be properly fought in the coming contest? Have you done all you can? Do not content yourself with a drawn battle: listen not to a compromise of one member to each party, if you have the strength to carry both; nor let there be the least leaning to individual interests in this great controversy. Let no one say, It is far more convenient to me to walk over the course, without risk, or trouble, or expense, with a Radical colleague, than to spend a thousand pounds, and perhaps my seat to boot, in the attempt to bring in two Conservatives. All such cases turn upon the one single question, Have you strength to bring in two, or have you not? If you have, listen not to calculations about trouble or expense, but remember that now, if ever, " England expects every man to do his duty." At this momentous crisis, it is of great importance to have a few publications, of sterling character and impressive eloquence, to place before such of the constituencies as are honest and yet undecided. We have no hesitation in pointing out one of this description -The Fortress of Christianity, by the Rev. George Croly; a tract which, if it could be placed, within the next fortnight, in the hands of every elector of the United Kingdom, could hardly fail to render the result of the coming struggle a glorious one. A part of this tract consists of that splendid preface to the reverend author's work on the Apocalypse, which has been already circulated, by many private persons issuing editions, to the extent of hundreds of thousands. But Dr. Croly has himself added to the authorised edition, lately published, a continuation of the retrospect, up to the present time. We add a passage, that no one of our readers may be ignorant of its value: "These remarks were originally written on the eve of the year 1829 The bill of that calamitous year replaced the Roman Catholic in the parliament, from which he had been expelled a century before, by the united necessities of religion, freedom, and national safety. The whole experience of our Protestant history had pronounced that evil must follow. And it has followed. "From that hour all has been changed. British legislation has lost its stability. England has lost alike her pre-eminence abroad, and her confidence at home. Every great institution of the state has tottered. Her governments have risen, and passed away like shadows. The church in Ireland, bound hand and foot, has been flung into the furnace, and is disappearing from the eye. The church in England is haughtily threatened with her share of the fiery trial. Every remonstrance of the nation is insolently auswered by pointing to rebellion, ready to seize its arms in Ireland. Democracy is openly proclaimed as a principle of the state. Popery is triumphantly predicted as the universal religion. To guide and embody all, a new shape of power has started up in the legislature,--a new element at once of control and confusion; a central faction, which has both sides at its mercy; holding the country in contempt, while it fixes its heel on a cabinet trembling for existence; possessing all the influence of office without its responsibility; and engrossing unlimited patronage for the purposes of unlimited domination. Yet these may be 'but the beginning of sorrows.' "But, if we give way to Popery, we are not without the most solemn warnings of Scripture. We have the apostolic declaration: Let no man deceive you by any means; for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that MAN OF SIN be revealed, the son of perdition, who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he, as God, sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God. And then shall that wicked one be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming; even him whose coming is after the working of Satan, with all power, and signs, and lying wonders, with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.' (2 Thessalonians, ii.) This gives the portraiture of the great deluder of the European world in his external and imposing aspect. Another portraiture displays his internal evil : "Now, the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times, some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils. Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron; forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving, of them which believe and know the truth.' Ending with the solemn injunction to all teachers of Christianity, If thou put the brethren in remembrance of these things, thou sl be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished up in the words of faith, and of good doctrine.' (1 Timothy, iv. 1.) "Finally, we have the denunciation of the prophet, declaring the Divine judg ments: And I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory. And he cried mightily, with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils; the hold of every foul spirit. And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities. (Revelation, xviii.) "But whatever may be the lot of those to whom error has been an inheritance, wo be to the man and the people to whom it is an adoption. If England, free above all other nations, sustained amidst the trials which have covered Europe before her eyes with burning and slaughter, and enlightened by the fullest knowledge of Divine truth, shall refuse fidelity to the compact by which those matchless privileges have been given, her condemnation will not linger. She has already made one step full of danger. She has committed the capital error of mistaking that for a purely political question, which was a purely religious one. Her foot already hangs over the edge of the precipice. It must be retracted, or the empire is but a name. In the clouds and darkness which seem to be deepening upon all human policy, in the gathering tumults of Europe, and the feverish discontents at home, it may even be difficult to discern where the power yet lies to erect the fallen majesty of the constitution once more. But there are mighty means in sincerity. And, if no miracle was ever wrought for the faithless; the country that will help itself-the generous, the high-hearted, and the pure, will never be left destitute of the help of heaven." We are also glad to be able to announce, that an enlarged and corrected edition of Dr. Croly's address at the late City of London Conservative Festival is also in the press, and will be ready for delivery in a few hours. 3 THE ANATOMY OF GAMING. BY NIMROD. DISSECTION I. THERE are events big with such portentous consequences, and attended with such important results to society, that all who wish well to mankind, and take an interest in the character of their country, cannot employ themselves better than in bending the whole energies of their mind towards discovering the source whence they originate, and the effects which might be expected to ensue from them. Innovations, in these days, are thought lightly of, till the danger resulting from them appears; but it is next to an impossibility that a convulsion in any state of things, how insignificant soever in itself, can be unaccompanied by circumstances which may leave a mighty influence behind them. When once the Rubicon is passed, and that which men have been accustomed to venerate has been despoiled of its sanctity, and robbed of that quality by means of which it inspired, if not reverence, respect, there is scarcely any one who would think himself capable of assigning the limit at which this spoliation would stop. The fact is, the mind becomes emboldened by every success; and if it be once capable of overcoming, with impunity, a particular dread to which it may have been subject, it will find the less difficulty in surmounting any kind of fear by which it has hitherto been kept in check. On the other hand, there are persons who run into the contrary extreme. They form to themselves an ideal model of human perfection, by attempting to lead the mind astray from the "sad reality of things," as they would invest a particular object with beauty, and encompass it with a thousand charms. But to plan and to execute are two very different things; and to realise these visionary views in society will be found to be a vain hope. Still, although an absolute freedom from evil here is impossible, it is the duty of every man to propose for himself, as an object of imitation, a state as near to perfection as he can; for, were he to limit himself to any thing short of it, there is no certainty but he might content himself with that which is beneath what he is really capable of attaining. That there is a reigning quality in every age has been demonstrated by the exploring genius of history. If we turn to ages long since gone by, we shall discover that heroism and cowardice, economy and dissipation, have been by turns the distinguishing characters of the once celebrated states of Italy and Greece; and in all other countries, both ancient and modern, the character of mankind has ever been compounded of a strange mixture of virtues and vices, appearing under various forms, and at various times. The benevolent sentiments of affection and friendship, the angry passions of jealousy and envy, and the still more detestable ones of avarice, hatred, malice, and revenge, alike possess the breast of the Hottentot and the European. Still, upon the general character of any particular nation, its government unquestionably possesses a very considerable influence; since it would be the mf striking of all political anomalies, for the rulers of a state to be wise and virtuous, and the people ignorant and profligate. Perhaps, the most strikingly leading features of any individual country may be best pointed out by a sensible foreigner, who may have resided long enough in it to have made himself well acquainted with facts, and supposing him to be a shrewd observer of things, as well as sufficiently candid in his judgment of them. At all events, an excellent sketch of our own national character is to be found in the first volume of Dr. Wendeborn's View of England towards the Close of the Eighteenth Century. After the usual jokes about the feeding of John Bullhis ponderous sirloin, his ten-pound plum-pudding, and his thick blood his cold manner of addressing a stranger, and his national vanity regarding, or rather his high (and just) admiration of, his own dear country above all others in the world, he proceeds to recount his virtues. Amongst these he reckons, his exertions in the cause of humanity, his want of hypocrisy, his general sincerity and blunt honesty in the private transactions of life, his toleration of faults common to human nature, yet his high respect for character; his independence of thought, his freedom of tongue and pen, his bravery, and contempt of death. He then darkens the picture a little. He doubts the existence of one virtue which Englishmen are given to boast of, he doubts whether active industry be a real characteristic of their nation. "Those who must, and who have a mind to work," says he, "do it with spirit and assiduity; but the majority, I believe, are inclined to live in ease and indolence." He accuses the lower orders of a love of holiday making and idleness, drunkenness and dissipation; and the middle and upper orders of an inclination to get rich as soon as possible, and with the least possible trouble or pains. This he ascribes to the spirit of gaming, which he thinks is more predominant, and exerts itself more powerfully, among the English, than among any other nation. "Hence," he adds, "that madness which takes possession of the London populace during the time when the annual statelotteries are drawn; and What will you lay?' is the question asked by high and low when the smallest dispute arises." And yet, what country, ancient or modern, is, or has been, quite free from the vice of gaming, and all the evils arising from it? Whatever may constitute the alluring charm, it has prevailed, and does prevail, to a certain extent, in all ages, in all countries, amongst all classes, and in every stage of society in the civilised, as well as the uncivilised world. Nations elevated to the most subtile civilisation have not been too high, those sunk in the grossest ignorance have not been too low, to escape its malignant influence. As to the source of the evil, it matters little now. The torrent has been increased by a thousand streams it inundates the land- is become the subject of universal conversation and complaint; and what was once but a secret and imprudent pastime, in our country, at least, is become a public dishonour and a scandal. But it was always a scandal. If we are to credit Horace, they could cog a die in the Augustan age, if they could not "" secure it as they do in this, where they cog it as well. On the authority of Suetonius, the renowned emperor of that age made severe laws against 66 gaming, which he always disregarded himself. Caius Caligula converted his palace into a gambling-house, in which he plundered the young nobility of his days; and the Emperor Claudius wrote a treatise upon gaming, to which he himself devoted nearly his whole time. But his memory paid dearly for this. Seneca, in his sarcastical relation of that emperor's apotheosis, brings him, after many strange adventures, to hell, where he is judged to play constantly with a dice-box without a bottom to it, by which his hopes were to be constantly kept alive, and never satisfied; a just resemblance, I must admit, to the character of the devoted gamester, who would not be satisfied with the wealth of Croesus, if he possessed it. Neither was the popular passion for the dice-box without its open censurers and condemners in those classical, though rather licentious, days. Juvenal, in his fourteenth satire, exhibits even children playing with dice, in imitation of their fathers; and instances the case of the young nobleman, Bullatus "Si damnosa senem juvat alea, ludit et hæres Bullatus, parvoque eadem movet arma frigillo." Persius, in his third satire, represents them cheating in their play; and there were many other ways than by dice, in which money was then risked on chances, now called "events." For example, Plutarch mentions the Romans fighting quails, as we fight cocks; and describes Antony, before the battle of Actium, in one of those forebodings of the mind on some approaching calamity, lamenting, as though his genius cowered before that of his adversary, that the very quails of Augustus were superior to his-which circumstance is alluded to by Shakespeare, in his Antony and Cleopatra. Horace, also, (Ode 24, 1. 3), laments the preference given by the Roman youth of his day to the law-forbidden dice-forbidden by the Cornelian, Publician, and Titian laws, except during the annual saturnalia-over the manlier exercises of horsemanship and the chase. Lucian relates that, at Athens, quail-fighting was exhibited at shows. But although the ancient Greeks have the credit of it-probably from the story of their chieftain, Palamedes, having been the first to introduce it in the Trojan camp -I know no instances on record of their having gambled with dice for large sums; and as for their transactions in the hippodrome, we know them to have been conducted with the strictest propriety, and with honour, not money, as the reward. For the introduction of gaming into England, and the penalties attached to it, I must look some way back. It prevailed at an early period. During the reign of Richard Coeur de Lion, and also that of John, the chances of the dice constituted the chief amusements of the great; and the length to which they were carried may be inferred from the fact, that not even the pomp and chivalry of the martial field could allure them from the fascinating pursuit. I find Matthew Paris, indeed, reproaching the barons associated to resist the tyranny of the last-named monarch with spending their time in luxury, and gambling with dice, when their presence was required in the field; nor could the flames and dissensions of civil war excite in them an ardour equal to that produced by the spirit-stirring, though perilous dice-box. Neither did the evil stop here. Honour itself was sacrificed at the shrine of the unworthy and demoralising passion; and this, too, by some amongst that gallant band of cavaliers to whom England is indebted for many of her choicest privileges and liberties. And if still stronger proof were wanting of the prevalence of gaming among the Anglo-Normans of those days, it would be found in the fact of the second of those laws which the "intimately allied " kings of England and France drew up in 1190, for the government of the force fitted out against the Saracens, which related to this vice. Thereby it was enacted, that knights and clerks should be restrained to the loss of twenty shillings in one day; but soldiers or sailors, detected in playing for money at all, should be fined, at will, or ducked. In subsequent reigns, gaming, although universally condemned, was universally pursued; and how the practice of it operated upon the morals of the English people, during the reigns of Elizabeth and her immediate successors, may be inferred from one phrase in Shakespeare, where dicer's oaths are accounted proverbially false. Again. Gaming in England was carried to a daring excess in the reign of the dissolute Charles II., who may ་ be said to have suffered adversity without having gained wisdom. That he even gambled with his boon companions may be gathered from a witticism of Rochester. "I will bet my soul to an orange," said the king, " on the game." If your majesty will bet odds, I will take them," rejoined the peer. At the death of Charles, the mania for deep play declined; but, in the classic reign of Aune, it not only recovered its wonted vigour among the higher classes of society, but spread so extensively over others, as to attract the notice of the legislature, in a very particular degree, as the following enactment (9 Anne, c. 14) will shew: "Whereas divers lewd and dissolute persons live at great expenses, having no visible estate, profession, or calling, to maintain themselves, but support these expenses by gaming only, it is hereby enacted, that any two justices may cause to be brought before them all persons within their limits, whom they shall have just cause to suspect have no visible estate, profession, or calling, to maintain themselves by, but do for the most part support themselves by gaming; and if such persons shall not make the contrary appear to such justices, they are to be bound to their good behaviour for a twelvemonth; and, in default of sufficient security, to be committed to prison until they can find the same; and if security be given, it will be forfeited on their betting or playing for, at any one time, more than the value of twenty shillings." By statute 18 Geo. II. c. 34, this statute of Anne is further enforced, and some deficiencies supplied. The forfeitures under that act may now be recovered in a court of equity; and, moreover, if any man be convicted, upon information, or indictment, of winning or losing at any sitting 10l., or 201. within twenty-four hours, he shall forfeit five times the sum. Statute 23 Geo. II. c. 24, also inflicts pecuniary penalties, as well upon the master of any public-house wherein servants are permitted to game, as upon the servants who are found in the act of gaming. Nor were the statutes against their masters less severe. During the reigns of George I. and George II., the games of faro and hazard were by law declared to he lotteries, subjecting those persons, in whose houses they were played, to the penalty of 2007., and all who played at them to that of 50l. Thus careful, then, |