ABSTRACT
At the beginning of the eighteenth century Bath, although an ancient city, was neither beautiful nor rich. One thing about Bath that attracted and pleased so many men and women of property and wealth was the easy optimism of its doctors and apothecaries who claimed to be able to protect the health of the rich against their own worst excesses and the dangers endemic to living. Consequently doctors of physick and apothecaries flocked to Bath to ease pain and restore reason. In Bath the most popular game of skill was whist but it was games of chance like Ace of Hearts, Pharaoh, Basset, Hazard, and Faro, all of which were stacked in favour of the Bank that attracted most passion and money and made Bath an international centre for gambling.
