238 
G A M 
GA'MECOCK, y. Cocks bred to fight.—They ma. 
nage the difpute as fiercely as two game-cods in tlie pit. 
Ldcke. 
GA'ME-EGG, /. Eggs from which fighting cocks 
are bred : 
Thus boys hatch^awe.cg^i under birds of prey. 
To make the fowl more turious for the fray. Garth, 
GA'MEHEN, f. A hen of the game kind. 
GA'MEKEEPER, /; A perfon who looks after game 
and fees it is not deliroyed. See the article Game, 
p. 231. 
G AME'LIA, a firname of Juno, as Gamelius was of 
Jupiter, on account of their prefiding over marriages. 
Alfo a feftival privately obfcrved among the Greeks at 
three difiercnt times. The firll was the celebration of 
a marriage, the fecond was in commc'mcration of a birth¬ 
day, and the third was an aimiverfary of the death of a 
perfon. 
GAME'LION, in the ancient chronology, was the 
eighth month of the Athenian year, containing twenty- 
nine days, and anfwering to the latter part of our Janu¬ 
ary and beginning of February. It was fo called, as be¬ 
ing, by the laws of the Athenians, the molt proper fea- 
fon for marriage. 
GAMELO'RA, a fmall illand in the Mediterranean, 
near tjie north-eafi: coaft of Tunis ; three miles eafi: of 
Cape Zibeeb. 
GA'MESOME, adj. Froliefome; gay; fportive ; 
playful ; fportftil.—This gamefome humour of children 
fliould rather be encouraged, to keep up their fpirits and 
improve their ftrength and health, than curbed or re- 
drained. Locke. 
'The gamefome wind among her treffes play. 
And curleth up thofe growing riches Ihort. Fairfax. 
GA'MESOMENESS, yi Sportivenefs; merriment. 
GA'MESOMELY, adv. INlerrily. 
GA'MESTER, f. One who is vicioutly addidled to 
play.—Could we look into the mind of a common 
fter, we Ihould fee it full of nothing but trumps and mat- 
tadores : her (lumbers are -haunted with kings, queens, 
and knaves. Addifon. 
All the fuperfluous whims relate. 
That fill a female gameJleFs pate ; . 
What agony of foul (lie feels 
To fee a knave's inverted heels. Swift. 
One who is engaged at play ; 
When lenity and cruelty play for kingdoms, 
The gtwtXtx gamefer is the fooneft winner. Shakefpeare. 
A merry froliefome perfon.—You’re a merry gamefer, 
my lord Sands. Shakefpeare. —A proftitute ; not in ufet 
She’s impudent, my lord. 
And was a common gamefer to the camp. Shakefpeare. 
GAM'ET, or Old Mandoe, a fmall ifland in the 
north lea, belonging to Denmark : three miles from the 
continent, and eight weft-fouth-weft of Ripen. 
GA'MING, /. The art or pira(Slice of playing and fol¬ 
lowing up any game, particularly thofe of hazard ; as 
cards, dice, eo-tables, &c. I'his pra(Slice has at all 
times been confidered as a thing of pernicious conle- 
quence to the commonwealth, and is therefore feverely 
prohibited by law ; the (latutes enaiSted for which, and 
the cales wherein they are applied, have been already 
dated under the preceding article Game, p. 204. It is 
lamentable to obferve, however, that not even the force 
of laws has been able to reflrain or prevent that fort of 
diflijmtion, which indeed ought to be avoided as the de- 
liroyer of every good principle, that which leads .a man 
to venture his fortune upon the decifion of a game of 
chance. This is the word fort of thoughtleffnefs, if that 
be not too loft a name for a vice which lays alleep every 
tender, every benevolent, fentiment. Covetoufnefs, in 
the extreme, is the rulingpallion of thefe (harping gatiie- 
GAM 
ders, who jcall themfelves men of the world. They lie in 
wait for tlie young, the weak in judgment, and for him 
whofe head is difordered with wine. They make plun¬ 
der of the confidence of a relation, a friend, or a guar» 
dian. The hofpitality of your houfe is made an exciife 
for robbing your children. Can this be fupported on any 
principle of religion or morals ? Covetoufnefs difles 
every affedlion, and dedroys every tie of blood, or obli¬ 
gation of gratitude. It is a maxim that allows of few 
e.xceptions. That a fortune which is made fuddenly, is- 
not made fairly : That honed gain is only to be acquir¬ 
ed by laudable indudry and perfeverance. 
Is there the perfon living who vrill venture to main¬ 
tain a contrary doedrine, or become an advocate for the 
baneful delufions of a gaming table? If there be, let 
him contemplate the following extradl from Dr. Bidet’s 
Difeourfes: “Though you lliould be the fuccefsftil 
adventurer, you mud have been much hardened, if you 
feel no dings of confcience for the didrefs you have 
brought upon innocent families. Children are turned 
out of their father’s houfe, becaufe they had the mif- 
fortune to encounter with you. He who lived in plenty 
has no bread: Poverty has come from your hand 
^ our breath brings mifery, as the mildew of the clouds 
bring famine into a fruitful land. If we ftippofe, on the 
other hand, that a man is the lofer, how can he behold 
the face of the relations he has ruined ? It had been 
happy for his children that they had beenfatherlefs ; for 
his wife that die had been a widow. He who ought to 
have laved tljem, has dedroyed them. Hold tiiy hand, 
barbarous man. An amiable wife, and engaging chil¬ 
dren, do warmly befeech thee not to throw away their 
inheritance, and to leave them for a patrimony, cold, and 
hunger, and nakednefs. Thy fon, or thy daughter, 
may, without friends or comforters, be expofe4 to a 
thoufand misfortunes, by this folly of their father. 
Thy adverfary, who, at this time, may appear with 
foftened brow, will bethefirdto execute this I'entence ; 
He is a hardened creature. How could he be otherwife, 
when he flouridies by the misfortunes of men ? Hold 
thy hands, barbarous man, that thou mayed not force 
thy children upon the paw of the bear, or the tooth of 
the lion, who thirds for their blood. 
“ Some vices portend great evil to the country where 
they are praedifed : This vice in particular. The 
hazard is. That he-who lays a fnare for his friend, will- 
not be fcrupulpus about the intered of his country. 
Though the number, the rank, or Ihining parts, of thole 
who take this road, may give a currency to the mod fel- 
fi(h of vices, yet no rank or .ability can authorife any man 
to be the plunderer of his friends, to make prey of the 
liarmlefs, the unlTufpicious, the ignorant, and the unin¬ 
formed . ’ ’ 
The chance or hazard in gaming, is a matter of mathe¬ 
matical invedigation, becaufe it admits of more and lels- 
Gameders eithes fet out upon an equality of chance, or 
are fuppofed to do fo. This equality may be altered in. 
the courfe of the game, by the greater good-fortune or 
addrefs of one of the gameders, whereby he comes to 
have a better chance, fo that his fliare in the dakes is 
proportionably bejter than at fird. This more .and lefs 
runs througli all the ratios betvveen equality and infinite 
did'erence, or from an infinitely little diderence till it 
come to an infinitely great one, whereby the game is de¬ 
termined. The whole game, therefore, with regard to 
the ifi’ue of it, is a chance of the proportion the two 
(hares bear to each other. 
The probability of an event is greater or lefs, accord¬ 
ing to the number of chances by wliich it may happen, 
compared with the number of all the chances by whiih 
it may either happen or fail. OnthisprincipleM.de 
Moivre, \\\ a. xroi.x\{t de Menfura Sortie, has computed the 
variety of chances in feveral. cafes that occur in gaming, 
the laws of which may be underdood by what follows : 
If A and B play with afingle die, onthis condition, that, 
if 
