It is almost impossible for any man, let him be never so fearful
or phlegmatic, to be an unconcerned spectator in this busy scene.
The demon of play hovers in the air, like a pestilential vapour,
tainting the minds of all present with infallible infection, which
communicates from one person to another, like the circulation of
a general panic. Peregrine was seized with this epidemic distemper
to a violent degree; and, after having lost a few loose hundreds,
in his progress through the various rookeries of the place, entered
into partnership with his noble friend in a grand match, upon the
issue of which he ventured no less than three thousand pounds.
Indeed he would not have risked such a considerable sum, had not
his own confidence been reinforced by the opinion and concurrence
of his lordship, who hazarded an equal bet upon the same event. These
two associates engaged themselves in the penalty of six thousand
pounds, to run one chaise and four against another, three times
round the course; and our adventurer had the satisfaction of seeing
his antagonist distanced in the first and second heat; but, all
of a sudden, one of the horses of his machine was knocked up, by
which accident the victory was ravished almost from his very grasp,
and he was obliged to endure the damage and the scorn.
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