"He bears the character of an honourable man,"
said our Mentor, "among the play world, and has the credit of being
scrupulously particular in all matters of play and pay. For the
fashion of his manners, they might be much improved, certainly; but for
generosity and a kind action, there are very few among the _Greeks_ who
excel the old fishmonger. He was formerly associated with T--l-r and
others in the French Hazard Bank, at Watier's Club House, corner of
Bolton-row; but T--l-r, having purchased the house without the knowledge
of his partners, wanted so many exclusive advantages for himself, that
the director withdrew, just in time to save himself from the obloquy of
an affair which occurred shortly afterwards, in which certain persons
were charged with using false dice. The complainant, a young sprig of
fashion, seized the _unhallowed bones_, and bore them off in triumph to
a stick shop in the neighbourhood; where, for some time afterwards, they
were exhibited to the gaze of many a fashionable dupe. The circumstance
produced more than one good effect--it prevented a return of any
disposition to play on the part of the detector, and closed the house
for ever since." After the dinner, which was served up in a princely
style, we were invited by the Honourable to ~334~~view the upper
apartment, called the Grand Saloon, a true picture of which accompanies
this, from the pencil of my friend, Bob Transit, and into which he has
contrived to introduce the affair of the cogged dice _(see plate)_, a
licence always allowable to poets and painters in the union of time and
place.
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