136 'OLD q' 



period under review, as now, all gaming debts were 

 considered debts of honour ; but record is not want- 

 ing of some of these being sued for and allowed by 

 the blind goddess, Justice, who, though metaphorically 

 blind for all time, nevertheless finds her balance fre- 

 quently disturbed by that which was just at one time 

 being unjust at another. Perhaps her distant — very 

 distant — relative. Charity, assists to delude her leaden 

 but sure-footed sister into believing that what is is, 

 and that laws made by man can be unmade by the 

 same authority; also, that statesmen and laAvyers 

 must live, whether they be law-makers or law-breakers. 

 For these reasons the following would be con- 

 sidered a nice point, if otherwise actionable, at the 

 present day, and shows Lord March was not to be 

 deterred from his own by any moralising on the 

 subject of the wager, which was another of the ante- 

 or post-mortem character. The Earl of March and 

 Euglen laid Mr. Pigot five hundred guineas upon 

 whether Sir William Codington or old Mr. Pigot 

 would die first. By a singular coincidence, old 

 Mr. Pigot had died, presumably unknown to both 

 parties, on the morning of the day on which the 

 wager was made. His lordship thereon claimed ful- 

 filment of the obligation. To this Mr. Pigot de- 

 murred, setting forth the well-known condition 



