English: Saltram House, Devon, National Trust catalogue entry, item 3041422[1]:

"Drawing, with manuscript commentary, of the cards of a game of piquet, on which Thomas Dowrish, of Dowrish House, Crediton, gambled and lost the Manor of Kennersleigh, Devon in the 17th century. The drawing reproduces an inlaid marble table, depicting the game, built into the wall of Dowrish House, as a warning to future heirs of Dowrish to avoid gaming. Drawing and commentary probably made for Edward Rolle Clayfield (sic) the contemporary owner of Dowrish, named in the commentary".

The actual owner in 1855 was Edward Ireland Clayfield (died 1862). An eye-witness account, dated 1848, of seeing the table, is recorded as follows:^[1]

In the year 1848 I was staying with a friend at Kennerleigh, who knowing I was fond of old places and old things, took me to Dowrish House, belonging to Captain Clayfield, built in the time of King John, the centre only remaining. It is approached through a gate-house. Mrs. Clayfield showed us some portraits of the Dowrish family, and a marble table inlaid with cards and counters, showing the two hands of Piquet held by Mr. Dowrish and an ancestor of the present Sir Stafford Northcote who were playing together, when Mr. Dowrish, thinking he had won the game, betted the Manor of Kennerleigh, and lost it. The Northcotes hold it (i.e. Manor of Kennerleigh) at the present time. The marble table was made to commemorate this event.

The card table was included in the auction of the "furnishings, oil paintings and effects" held at Dowrich on 16 September 1921 and was purchased by Walter Northcote, 2nd Earl of Iddesleigh (1845–1927),^[2] of Pynes near Crediton, the descendant of the winner of the cardgame.

Sabine Baring-Gould gives a full description of the hands played in the game in his 1898 book An Old English Home and its Dependencies, London, 1898, pp.280-2, Scapegraces, as follows: There was in North Devon no more ncient family than Dowrish of Dowrish, whose authentic pedigree goes back to King John's reign, when Dowrish Keep was erected. The descent was direct from father to son for twenty generations, that is to say for five hundred years, always seated on the same acres and occupying the same house, that had indeed been added to, remodelled, but which was in itself a record of the lives and thoughts, ambitions, and discouragements of a family that had married into the best in the land, the de Helions, the Carews, the Fulfords, and the Northcotes.

Then, in graceless days, came the graceless fool who undid the work of twenty generations in one night. The manor of Kennerleigh belonged and had belonged to the Dowrishes for centuries. One night the then squire and Sir Arthur Northcote were playing piquet. Mr. Dowrish, being eldest hand, held the four aces, four kings, and four queens, and promptly offered to bet his manor of Kennerleigh against £500, by no means its value even in those days, that he won the game. Sir Arthur took the bet, having a claim of carte blanche on his undiscarded hand. After Sir Arthur had discarded, he took up two knaves, and held two points of five each, each headed by the knave. Mr. Dowrish being about to declare, was stopped by Sir Arthur's claim for ten for carte blanche, which ruined his chances. The point fell to Sir Arthur, and two quints, who scored thus :

Carte blanche . . .10

Point 5

Two quints at 15 each . 30 Repique. . . .60

105 and game.

At the present day there would be holes to pick in this method of counting, as Mr. Dowrish on his side could have claimed his " fourteens " for aces, kings, and queens before allowing the sequences to count, but not so formerly, when the rule was absolute as to the order of counting, point, sequence, threes or fours of suits. So the manor was lost, and Kennerleigh belongs to Lord Iddesleigh at the present day.

In commemoration of the game, the table at which it was played was inlaid with representations of the two hands, and is now in Dowrish House, a mansion that has lost all its interest, having been remodelled in suburban villa style, but nobly situated and commanding a glorious view.