THE SPORTING WORLD. 189 



course. This strikes the novice with considerable 

 surprise; but it is to be accounted for in the first 

 place from habit, and in the next, though he 

 may be a considerable winner still he must 

 have considerable losings, it is only the pro- 

 portion the winning bets bear when compared 

 with the losings that constitute the difference 

 between a good book and a bad one. It some- 

 times happens, when odds change very much 

 near to the coming off of an event, that where 

 at one time a man had so made his bets as 

 to stand to win to a certainty either (say) 

 twenty or five hundred, he is very glad to have 

 the opportunity of so arranging his book as 

 to win and lose hundreds, without the chance 

 of putting a pound in his pocket ; this produces 

 the cool way in which he pays and receives 

 money. I think I am not stating what is not 

 the fact, when I say I am convinced I could 

 point out the regular betting man among others, 

 though I was totally unacquainted with his 



