Henry Fielding

“ But much the greater Part of such Adventurers have met with a more probable and more deserved Fate; and having exhausted their little Fund in their Attempts, have been reduced to a Dilemma, in which it required more Judgment and Resolution than are the Property of many Men, and more true Sense of Honour than belongs to any debauched Mind, to extricate themselves by honest Means. ”

“ I am not so ill-bred as to disturb the Company at a polite Assembly; nor so ignorant of our Constitution, as to imagine, that there is a sufficient Energy in the executive Part to controul the Oeconomy of the Great, who are beyond the Reach of any, unless capital Laws. Fashion, under whose Guidance they are, and which created the Evil, can alone cure it. ”

“ In the mean time we may, I think, reasonably desire of these great Personages, that they would keep their favourite Vice to themselves, and not suffer others, whose Birth or Fortune gives them no Title to be above the Terrour of the Laws, or the Censure of their Betters, to share with them in this Privilege. Surely we may give Great Men the same Advice, which Archer, in the Play, gives to the Officers of the Army ”

“ Thus stands the Law, by which it may appear, that the Magistrate is armed with sufficient Authority to destroy all Gaming among the inferiour People; and that, without his Neglect or Connivance, no such Nuisance can possibly exist.
And yet, perhaps, the Fault may not so totally lie at his Door; for the Recognizance is a mere Bugbear, unless the Party who breaks it, should be sued thereon; which, as it is attended with great Expence, is never done ”

“ It would be of great Service to the Public, to extend this Statute to idle Persons and Sharpers in general; for many support themselves by Frauds, and cheating Practices, even worse than Gaming; and have the Impudence to appear in the Dress of Gentlemen, and at public Places, without having any Pretensions of Birth or Fortune, or without any honest or visible Means of Livelihood whatever. ”

“ Some few of these Fellows, by luckily falling in with an egregious Bubble, some thoughtless young Heir, or more commonly Heiress, have succeeded in a manner, which, if it may give some Encouragement to others to imitate them, should, at the same time, as strongly admonish all Gentlemen and Ladies to be cautious with whom they mix in public Places, and to avoid the Sharper as they would a Pest. ”

“ How can they seriously answer either to their Honour or Conscience giving the pernicious Example of a Vice, from which, as the Legislature justly says in the Preamble to the 16th of Charles II. 'Many Mischiefs and Inconveniences do arise, and are daily found in the encouraging of sundry idle and disorderly Persons in their dishonest, lewd, and dissolute Course of Life ”

“ As to Gaming in the lower Classes of Life, so plainly tending to the Ruin of Tradesmen, the Destruction of Youth, and to the Multiplication of every Kind of Fraud and Violence, the Legislature hath provided very wholesome Laws [2] .
By the 33d of Henry VIII. 'Every Artificer, Craftsman of any Handicraft or Occupation, Husbandman, Labourer, Servant at Husbandry, Journeyman or Servant of Artificer, Mariners, Fishermen, Watermen, or any serving Men, are prohibited from playing at Tables, Dice, Cards &c. ”

“ These Penalties to be recovered, &c. as above.
'And all Leases of Gaming-houses, Alleys, &c. are made void at the Election of the Lessee.'
Farther by the said Statute, 'Power is given to all Justices of Peace, Mayors, or other Head-Officers, in every City, &c. to enter suspected Houses and Places, and to commit the Keepers of the said Houses, and the Persons there haunting, resorting, and playing, to Prison; and to keep them in Prison, till the Keepers have found Sureties to enter into a Recognizance to the King's Use, no longer to keep such House, &c. ”