ever invented. The Faro bankers seem to have employed some
'gentlemen' to give a very favourable report of the game to the
town, and so every one took it upon trust without further
inquiry. Faro was the daughter of Basset--both alike notorious
frauds, there being no one, except professed gamblers, who could
be said to understand the secrets of these games.

Faro was played with an entire pack of cards, and admitted of an
indeterminate number of players, termed 'punters,' and a
'banker.' Each player laid his stake on one of the 52 cards.
The banker held a similar pack, from which he drew cards, one for
himself, placed on the right, and the other, called the carte
anglaise, or English card, for the players, placed on the left.
The banker won all the money staked on the card on the right, and
had to pay double the sums staked on those on the left. Certain
advantages were reserved to the banker:--if he drew a doublet,
that is, two equal cards, he won half of the stakes upon the card
which equalled the doublet; if he drew for the players the last
card of the pack, he was exempt from doubling the stakes
deposited on that card.

Suppose a person to put down 20s. upon a card when only eight are
in hand; the last card was a cipher, so there were four places to
lose, and only three to win, the odds against being as 4 to 3.
If 10 cards only were in, then it was 5 to 4 against the player;
in the former case it was the seventh part of the money, whatever
it was, L1 or L100; in the latter case, a ninth. The odds from
the beginning of the deal insensibly stole upon the player at
every pull, till from the first supposed 4 per cent. it became
about 15 per cent.