"My aim in it has been to convey a juster and less prejudiced notion than prevails at present respecting the Danish and Norwegian conquests." -Jens Jacob Asmussen Worsaae, An Account of the Danes and the Norwegians (1852) An Account of the Danes and the Norwegians in England, Scotland and Ireland (1852) by Jens Warsaae, was based on his research into the Scandinavian invasions of the European mainland. During the 10th century, the European mainland was invaded by Norse settlers from Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, who intermarried with native tribes and came to be known as "Normans." While their influence on the history of France was significant, it was even stronger in England, which the Normans conquered in the 11th century. Warsaae's book, commissioned by the Royal Society of Northern Antiquaries, was his attempt to revise the impressions that the 19th century British had of the effects of the Norman conquests on England. This replica of the original text is accompanied by numerous woodcuts.
Difference between Gaming and Gambling-Universality and Antiquity of Gambling-Isis and Osiris-Games and Dice of the Egyptians-China and India-The Jews-Among the Greeks and Romans-Among Mahometans-Early Dicing-Dicing in England in the 13th and 14th Centuries-In the 17th Century-Celebrated Gamblers-Bourchier-Swiss Anecdote-Dicing in the 18th Century. Gaming is derived from the Saxon word Gamen, meaning joy, pleasure, sports, or gaming-and is so interpreted by Bailey, in his Dictionary of 1736; whilst Johnson gives Gamble-to play extravagantly for money, and this distinction is to be borne in mind in the perusal of this book; although the older term was in use until the invention of the later-as we see in Cotton's Compleat Gamester (1674), in which he gives the following excellent definition of the word: -"Gaming is an enchanting witchery, gotten between Idleness and Avarice: an itching disease, that makes some scratch the head, whilst others, as if they were bitten by a Tarantula, are laughing themselves to death; or, lastly, it is a paralytical distemper, which, seizing the arm, the man cannot chuse but shake his elbow.
