JOAN OF ARC.

Of the Maid of Orleans I have somewhere read that a bundle of faggots was substituted for her, when she was supposed to have been burnt by the Duke of Bedford. None of our historians notice this anecdote; though some have mentioned that after her death an impostor arose, and was even married to a French gentleman, by whom she had several children. Whether she deserved to have been distinguished by the appellation of The Maid of Orleans we have great reason to suspect; and some in her days, from her fondness for man's apparel, even doubted her sex. We know little of one so celebrated as to have formed the heroine of epics. The following epitaph on her I find in Winstanley's "Historical Rarities;" and which, possessing some humour, merits to be rescued from total oblivion.

"Here lies Joan of Arc; the which

Some count saint, and some count witch ;
Some count man, and something more;

Some count maid, and some a whore.
Her life's in question, wrong or right;
Her death's in doubt, by laws or might.
Oh, innocence! take heed of it,
How thou too near to guilt doth sit.
(Meantime, France a wonder saw-
A woman rule, 'gainst salique law!)

But, reader, be content to stay

Thy censure till the judgment day;

Then shalt thou know, and not before,

Whether saint, witch, man, maid, or whore."

GAMING.

GAMING appears to be an universal passion. Some have attempted to deny its universality; they have imagined that it is chiefly prevalent in cold climates, where such a passion becomes most capable of agitating and gratifying the torpid minds of their inhabitants.

The fatal propensity of gaming is to be discovered, as well amongst the inhabitants of the frigid and torrid zones, as amongst those of the milder climates. The savage and the civilized, the illiterate and the learned, are alike captivated by the hope of accumulating wealth without the labours of industry.

Barbeyrac has written an elaborate treatise on gaming, and we have two quarto volumes by C. Moore on suicide, gaming, and duelling, which may be put on the shelf by the side of Barbeyrac. All these works are excellent sermons, but a sermon to a gambler, a duellist, or a suicide! A dicebox, a sword and pistol, are the only things that seem to have any power over these unhappy men, for ever lost in a labyrinth of their own con

struction.

I am much pleased with the following thought. "The ancients (says the author of Amusemens serieux et comiques) assembled to see their gladiators kill one another; they classed this among their games! What barbarity! But are we less barbarous, we who call a game an assembly who meet at the faro table where the actors themselves confess they only meet to destroy one another?" In both these cases the philosopher may perhaps discover their origin in one cause, that of the listless perishing with ennui requiring an immediate impulse of the passions; and very inconsiderate as to the fatal means which procure the desired agitation.

The most ancient treatise by a modern on this subject, according to Barbeyrac, was that of a French physician, one Eckeloo, who published it in 1569, entitled De Alea, sive de curanda ludendi in pecuniam cupiditate, that is," of games of chance, or a cure for gaming." The treatise itself is only worth noticing from the circumstance of the author being himself one of the most inveterate gamblers; he wrote this work to convince himself of this folly. But in spite of all his solemn vows, the prayers of his friends, and his own book perpetually quoted before his face, he was a great gamester to his last hour! The same circumstance happened to Sir John Denham. They had not the good sense of old Montaigne, who gives us the reason why

he gave over gaming. "I used to like formerly games of chance with cards and dice; but of that folly I have long been cured; merely because I found that whatever good countenance I put on when I lost, I did not feel my vexation the less." Goldsmith fell a victim to this madness. To play any game well requires serious study, time, and experience. If a man of letters plays deeply, he will be duped even by shallow fellows, or by professed gamblers.

Dice, and that little pugnacious animal the cock, are the chief instruments employed by the numerous nations of the East, to agitate their minds and ruin their fortunes; to which the Chinese, who are desperate gamesters, add the use of cards. When all other property is played away, the Asiatic gambler scruples not to stake his wife or his child, on the cast of a die, or courage and strength of a martial bird. If still unsuccessful, the last venture he stakes is himself.

In the island of Ceylon, cock-fighting is carried to a great height. The Sumatrians are addicted to the use of dice. A strong spirit of play characterizes a Malayan. After having resigned every thing to the good fortune of the winner, he is reduced to a horrid state of desperation; he then loosens a certain lock of hair, which indicates war and destruction to all the raving gamester meets. He intoxicates himself with

opium; and working himself into a fit of phrensy, he bites and kills every one who comes in his way. But as soon as this lock is seen flowing it is lawful to fire at the person, and to destroy him as fast as possible. I think it is this which our sailors call "To run a muck." Thus Dryden writes

"Frontless, and satire-proof, he scours the streets,

And runs an Indian muck at all he meets,"

Thus also Pope

"Satire's my weapon, but I'm too discreet

To run a muck, and tilt at all I meet."

Johnson could not discover the derivation of the word muck. To "run a muck" is an old phrase for attacking madly and indiscriminately; and has since been ascertained to be a Malay word.

To discharge their gambling debts, the Siamese sell their possessions, their families, and at length themselves. The Chinese play night and day, till they have lost all they are worth; and then they usually go and hang themselves. Such is the propensity of the Japanese for high play, that they were compelled to make a law, that, "Whoever ventures his money at play shall be put to death." In the newly-discovered islands of the Pacific Ocean, they venture even their