Chapter XVI: Lotteries and Lottery Insurances (1)

There have been few things which in their time have had more intimate connection with advertising than Lotteries. In fact almost all we can now discover about them is by means of the notices which were published before and after a drawing, as the system of picturesque descriptive writing now applied to everything had not come into fashion during the existence of this legalised species of gambling, which was for generations most ruinous and demoralising in its effects, but which was continued mainly because it added to the revenue, and perhaps because it was considered unfair to stop the speculation of the people while gaming under so many forms and in so many varieties was indulged in by the higher classes. In these days the Legislature has got over any such squeamish feelings--even if it ever possessed them--for though gambling is carried on to as great lengths as ever under certain forms, though within the past few years great scandals have leaked out from clubs and private hells, and though on the turf many noble names have been dragged through the mire, the rank and file of the community are rigidly guarded from any chance of giving way to the temptations of gambling, either by means of the racehorse or the milder forms of speculation which up till recently were allowed in public-houses, and are very properly compelled to be virtuous whether they like it or no.

The origin of lotteries is involved in obscurity, but it is generally believed that the first of them was held in Italy early in the sixteenth century, and that in due course the plan found favour over here, and was gradually taken up by the State. From 1569 down to 1826 (except for a short time following upon an Act of the reign of Anne) lotteries continued to be a source of revenue to the English Government. Some interesting particulars are given by Hone and Chambers, the latter of whom says: “It seems strange that so glaringly immoral a project should have been kept up with such sanction so long. The younger people of the present day may be at a loss to believe that, in the days of their fathers, there were large and imposing offices in London, and pretentious agencies in the provinces, for the sale of lottery tickets; while flaming advertisements on walls, in new books, and in public journals, proclaimed the preferableness of such and such ‘lucky’ offices--this one having sold two-sixteenths of the last twenty-thousand-pounds prize; that one a half of the same; another having sold an entire thirty-thousand-pound ticket the year before; and so on. It was found possible to persuade the public, or a portion of it, that where a blessing had once lighted it was the more likely to light again. The State lottery was framed on the simple principle, that the State held forth a certain sum to be repaid by a larger. The transaction was usually managed thus. The Government gave £10 in prizes for every share taken on an average. A great many blanks or of prizes under £10, left, of course, a surplus for the creation of a few magnificent prizes wherewith to attract the unwary public. Certain firms in the City, known as lottery-office keepers, contracted for the lottery, each taking a certain number of shares; the sum paid by them was always more than £10 per share; and the excess constituted the Government profit. It was customary, for many years, for the contractors to give about £16 to the Government, and then to charge the public from £20 to £22. It was made lawful for the contractors to divide the shares into halves, quarters, eighths, and sixteenths; and the contractors always charged relatively more for these aliquot parts. A man with thirty shillings to spare could buy a sixteenth; and the contractors made a large portion of their profit out of such customers. The Government sometimes paid the prizes in terminable annuities instead of cash; and the loan system and the lottery system were occasionally combined in a very odd way. Thus in 1780, every subscriber of £1000 towards a loan of £12,000,000, at four per cent., received a bonus of four lottery tickets, the value of each of which was £10, and any one of which might be the fortunate number for a twenty or thirty thousand pounds prize. Among the lottery offices, the competition for business was intense. One firm, finding an old woman in the country named Goodluck, gave her £50 a year on condition that she would join them as a nominal partner, for the sake of the attractive effect of her name. In their advertisements each was sedulous to tell how many of the grand prizes had in former years fallen to the lot of persons who had bought at his shop. Woodcuts and copies of verses were abundant, suited to attract the uneducated.”

The first lottery in this country, so far as is known, took place in 1569. Dr Rawlinson, a distinguished antiquary of the last century, produced before the Antiquarian Society in 1748 the following:--

A Proposal for a very rich Lottery, general without any Blankes,
contayning a great N^{o} of good prices, as well of redy money as of
Plate and certain sorts of Merchandizes, having been valued and prised
by the Commandment of the Queenes most excellent Majesties order, to
the extent that such Commodities as may chance to arise thereof, after
the charges borne, may be converted towards the reparations of the
Havens and Strength of the realme, and towards such other public good
workes. The N^{o} of lotts shall be foure hundred thousand, and no
more; and every lott shall be the summe of tenne shillings sterling
only, and no more. To be filled by the feast of St Bartholomew. The
shew of Prises ar to be seen in Cheapside, at the sign of the Queenes
armes, the house of Mr. Dericke, Goldsmith, Servant to the Queen.

Some other Orders about it in 1567-8.

Printed by Hen. Bynneman.

According to Stow the drawing of this lottery was commenced at the west door of St Paul’s Cathedral on the 11th of January 1569, and continued day and night until the 6th of May. It was originally intended to be drawn at Dericke’s house, but most likely, as preparations were made, it was discovered that a private establishment would be hardly the place for so continuous a piece of business. Maitland in his “London” says, “Whether this lottery was on account of the public, or the selfish views of private persons, my author[40] does not mention; but it is evident, by the time it took up in drawing, it must have been of great concern. This I have remarked as being the first of the kind I read in England.” By these remarks it would seem that neither Stow nor Maitland had seen the “Proposal” we have quoted above, which gives the reason for the lottery.

In 1586 there was another drawing, about which we are quaintly told: “A Lotterie, for marvellous rich and beautiful armor, was begunne to be drawn at London, in S. Paules churchyard, at the great west gate, (an house of timber and boord being there erected for that purpose) on St. Peter’s Day in the morning, which Lotterie continued in Drawing day and night for the space of two or three daies.”[41] Of this lottery Lord Burleigh says in his diary at the end of Munden’s State Papers: “June 1586, the Lottery of Armour under the charge of John Calthorp determined.” About the year 1612 James I., “in special favour for the plantation of English colonies in Virginia, granted a lottery to be held at the west end of St Paul’s; whereof one Thomas Sharplys, a taylor of London, had the chief prize, which was four thousand crowns in fair plate.”[42]

A correspondent of the _Gentlemen’s Magazine_ in 1778 gives Mr Urban some particulars regarding a lottery “held in London for the present plantation of English colonies in Virginia” in 1619. The writer says: “It may be found, perhaps, upon strict enquiry that this mode of raising money was authorized in many wealthy towns, as well as in the capital; and that it was attended with beneficial effects, not only to the colony of Virginia, but likewise to the town itself where the lottery was held. In proof of this supposition I send you the following authentic extract from the Register of charitable Gifts to the Corporation of Reading:”--

Whereas at a Lottery held within the Borough of Reading in the Year of
our Ld. God 1619, Gabriel Barber Gent. Agent in the sd. Lottery for
the Councell & Company of Virginia, of his own good Will & Charity
towarde poor Tradesmen ffreemen & Inhabitants of the sd. Borough of
Reading, & for the better enabling such poor Tradesmen to support &
bear their Charges in their several Places & Callings in the sd.
Corporation from time to time for ever freely gave & delivered to the
Mayor & Burgesses of this Corporation the sum of forty Pounds of
lawfull Money of England Upon Special Trust & Confidence, that the sd.
Mayor & Burgesses & their Successors shall from time to time for ever
dispose & lend these 40l. to & amongst Six poor Tradesmen after the
rate 06l. 13s. 4d. to each Man for the Term of five Years gratis And
after those five Years ended to dispose & lend the sd. 40l. by Such
Soms to Six other poor Tradesmen for other five Years & so from five
years to five years Successively upon good Security for ever
Neverthelesse provided & upon Condition that none of those to whom the
sd. Summs of money shall be lent during that Term of five years shall
keep either Inn or Tavern or dwell forth of the sd. Borough, but there
during that time and terme, shall as other Inhabitants of the sd.
Borough reside & dwell.

Memorand. that the sd. Sum of 40l. came not into the hands & charge of
the Mayor & Burgesses until April 1626.

The writer then concludes with the following somewhat puzzling sentence: “If it be asked what is become of it now? _gone_, it is supposed, _where the chickens went before_ during the pious Protectorship of Cromwell.”

Hone in his “Everyday-Book” says that “in 1630, 6th Charles I., there was a project ‘for the conveying of certain springs of water into London and Westminster, from within a mile and a half of Hodsdon, in Hertfordshire, by the undertakers, Sir Edward Stradling and John Lyde.’ The author of this project was one Michael Parker. ‘For defraying the expenses whereof, King Charles grants them a special licence to erect and publish a lottery or lotteries; _according_,’ says this record, ‘_to the course of other lotteries_ heretofore used or practised.’ This is the first mention of lotteries either in the _Fœdera_ or Statute-book. ‘And for the sole privilege of bringing the said waters in aqueducts to London, they were to pay four thousand pounds per annum into the king’s exchequer: and, the better to enable them to make the said large annual payment, the king grants them leave to bring their aqueducts through any of his parks, chases, lands, &c., and to dig up the same gratis.’” In 1653 there was a lottery at Grocers’ Hall, which has escaped the observation of the earliest inquirers on this subject. In an old weekly paper, called _Perfect Account of the Daily Intelligence_, November 16-23, 1653, there is the following:--

^Advertisement.^

_At the Committee for Claims for Lands in Ireland,_

Ordered, that a Lottery be at Grocers-Hall, London, on Thursday 15
Decem. 1653, both for Provinces and Counties, to begin at 8 of the
Clock in the forenoon of the same day; and all persons concerned
therein are to take notice thereof.

_W. Tibbs._

After the Restoration, Charles, whose ideas of rewarding fidelity were always peculiar, granted plate lotteries “with a view to reward those adherents of the Crown who resided within the bills of mortality, and had served with fidelity during the interregnum.” By this is to be understood a gift of plate from the Crown to be disposed of by lot, certain persons--most likely those who had no claim whatever on the score of fidelity--having the privilege of selling tickets. The _Gazette_ tells us that in 1669 Charles II., the Duke of York, and many of the nobility were present “at the grand plate lottery, which, by his Majesty’s command, was then opened at the sign of the Mermaid, over against the mews.” Even if this had been a proper way to reward the faithful, the faithfullest must have felt it had been left rather late. From this plate lottery sprang many successors, the most noticeable of which was the Royal Oak, whose title explains itself. The rapid growth of the institution may be judged by the following, which, according to Anderson in his “History of Commerce,” was published shortly after the drawing to which we have referred:--

THIS is to give Notice, that any Persons who are desirous to farm any
of the Counties within the Kingdom of England, or Dominion of Wales,
in Order to the setting up of a Plate Lottery, or any other Lottery
whatsoever, may repair to the Lottery Office, at Mr. Philips’s House,
in Mermaid Court over against the Mews; where they may contract with
the Trustees commissioned by his Majesties Letters Patent for the
Management of the said Patent, on the Behalf of the truly Loyal
Indigent Officers.

It is stated that “the Crown exceeded its prerogative by issuing these patents, and the law was not put in motion to question them.” This was not the only point upon which the royal rights were extended, but the tide of loyalty had set in strongly, and Charles was not likely to miss any of the current’s strength. Book lotteries were before this time much in fashion, and with the kinds which came in afterwards, were drawn at the theatres. At Vere Street theatre, which stood in Bear Yard, to which there was an entrance through a passage at the south-west corner of Lincoln’s Inn Fields, another from Vere Street, and a third from Clare Market, Killigrew’s company performed during the seasons of 1661 and 1662, and part of 1663, when they removed to the newly-built theatre in Drury Lane; the Vere Street theatre was then probably unoccupied until Mr Ogilby, the author of the “Itinerarum Angliæ, or Book of Roads,” adopted it, as standing in a populous neighbourhood, for the temporary purpose of drawing a lottery of books, which took place in 1668. Books were often the species of property held out as a lure to adventurers, by way of lottery, for the benefit of the suffering Loyalists. In the _Gazette_ of May 18, 1668, is the following advertisement:--

MR. Ogilby’s Lottery of Books opens on Monday the 25th instant, at the
old Theatre between Lincoln’s Inn Fields and Vere street, where all
Persons concerned may repair on Monday May 18, and see the Volumes,
and put in their Money.

But the business being much better than was anticipated, the drawing had to be postponed, and so in the number of the _Gazette_ for May 25 there is this:--

MR. Ogilby’s Lottery of Books (Adventurers coming in so fast that they
cannot in so short Time be methodically registered) opens not till
Tuesday the 2d of June; then not failing to draw; at the old Theatre
between Lincoln’s Inn Fields and Vere street.

Ogilby had had a venture before this, about which there seems to have been some little difficulty, as in his “Proposal” for this same lottery he refers to aspersions which have been made. A correspondent of the _Gentleman’s Magazine_ of nearly a hundred years ago gives as a curiosity even then a copy of this “Proposal,” which, though rather long, is very interesting, and so we subjoin it:--

A SECOND PROPOSAL, by the Author, for the better and more speedy
Vendition of several Volumes, (his own Works,) by the way of a
standing _Lottery_, licensed by his Royal Highness the Duke of York,
and Assistants at the Corporation of the royal Fishing.

WHEREAS _John Ogilby_, esq., erected a standing Lottery of Books, and
completely furnished the same with very large, fair, and special
Volumes, all of his own Designment and Composure, at vast Expense,
Labour and Study of twenty Years; the like Impressions never before
exhibited in the English Tongue. Which according to the appointed
Time, on the 10th of May, 1665, opened; and to the general
Satisfaction of the Adventurers, with no less Hopes of a clear
Despatch and fair Advantage to the Author, was several Days in
Drawing: when its Proceedings were stopt by the then growing Sickness
and lay discontinued under the Arrest of that common Calamity, till
the next Year’s more violent and sudden Visitation, the late dreadful
and surprising Conflagration, swallowed the Remainder, being two Parts
of three, to the Value of three thousand Pounds and upward, in that
unimaginable Deluge. Therefore, to repair in some Manner his so much
commiserated Losses, by the Advice of so many his Patrons, Friends,
and especially by the Incitations of his former Adventurers, he
resolves, and hath already prepared, not only to reprint all his own
former Editions, but others that are new, of equal Value, and like
Estimation by their Embellishments, and never yet Published; with some
remains of the first Impressions, Relics preserved in several Hands
from the Fire; to set up a second standing Lottery, where such the
Discrimination of Fortune shall be, that few or None shall return with
a dissatisfying Chance. The whole Draught being of greater Advantage
by much (to the Adventurers) than the former. And accordingly, after
Publication, the Author opened his Office, where they might put in
their first Encouragements (_viz._) twenty Shillings, and twenty more
at the reception of their Fortune, and also see those several
magnificent Volumes, which their varied Fortune (none being bad)
should present them.

[43]But the Author now finding more difficulty than he expected, since
many of his Promisers (who also received great Store of Tickets to
dispose of, towards promotion of his Business) though seeming well
resolved and very willing, yet straining Courtesy not to go foremost
in paying their monies, linger out, driving it off till near the time
appointed for Drawing; which Dilatoriness: (since Despatch is the soul
and life to his Proposal, his only Advantage a speedy Vendition:) and
also observing how that a Money Dearth, a Silver Famine, slackens and
cools the Courage of Adventurers: through which hazy humours
magnifying medium Shillings loome like Crowns, and each forty
Shillings a ten Pound Heap. Therefore, according to the present Humour
now reigning, he intends to adequate his Design; and this seeming too
large-roomed, standing Lottery, modelled into many less and more
likely to be taken Tenements, which shall not open only a larger
Prospect of pleasing Hopes, but more real Advantage to the Adventurer.
Which are now to be disposed of thus: the whole Mass of Books or
Volumes, being the same without Addition or Diminution, amounting
according to their known Value (being the Prices they have been
usually disposed at) to thirteen thousand seven hundred Pounds; so
that the Adventurers will have the above said Volumes (if all are
drawn) for less than two-thirds of what they would yield in Process
of Time, Book by Book. He now resolves to attempter, or mingle each
Prize with four allaying Blanks; so bringing down, by this Means, the
Market from double Pounds to single Crowns.

THE PROPOSITIONS.--First, whosoever will be pleased to put in five
Shillings shall draw a Lot, his Fortune to receive the greatest or
meanest Prize, or throw away his intended spending Money on a Blank.
Secondly, whoever will adventure deeper, putting in twenty-five
Shillings, shall receive, if such his bad Fortune be that he draws all
Blanks, a Prize presented to him by the Author of more value than his
Money (if offered to be sold) though proffered ware, &c. Thirdly, who
thinks fit to put in for eight Lots forty Shillings shall receive
nine, and the advantage of their free Choice (of all Blanks) of either
of the Works complete, _viz._ Homer’s Iliads and Odysses, or Æsop the
first and second Volumes, the China Book, or Virgil. Of which,

The First and greatest Prize contains

1 Lot, Number 1.

An imperial Bible with Chorographical and an hundred historical
Sculps, valued at 25_l._
Virgil translated, with Sculps and Annotations, val. 5_l._
Homer’s Iliads, adorned with Sculps, val. 5_l._
Homer’s Odysses, adorned with Sculps, val. 4_l._
Æsop’s Fables paraphrased and Sculped, in Folio, val. 3_l._
A second Collection of Æsopick Fables, adorned with Sculps,
never

[_Rest imperfect._]

His Majestie’s Entertainment passing through the city of
London, and Coronation. These are one of each, of all the Books
contained in the Lottery, the whole value 51_l._

The Second Prize contains

1 Lot, Num. 2.

One imperial Bible with all the Sculps, val. 25_l._
Homer complete, in English, val. 9_l._
Virgil, val. 5_l._
Æsop complete, val. 6_l._
The Description of China, val. 4_l._
In all 49 Pound.

The Third Prize contains

1 Lot, Num. 3.

One royal Bible with all the Sculps 10_l._
Homer’s Works in English, val. 9_l._
Virgil translated, with Sculps and Annotations, val. 5_l._
The first and second Vol. of Æsop, val. 6_l._
The Description of China, val. 4_l._
Entertainment, val. 2_l._
In all 36 Pound.

1 Lot, Num. 4.

One imperial Bible with all the Sculps, val. 25_l._
Æsop’s Fables the first and second Vol. val. 6_l._
In all 31 Pound.

1 Lot, Num. 5.

One imperial Bible with all the Sculps, val. 25_l._
Virgil translated, with Sculps, val. 5_l._
In all 30 Pound.

1 Lot, Num. 6.

One imperial Bible with all the Sculps, val. 25_l._
And a Description of China, val. 4_l._
In all 29 Pound.

1 Lot, Num. 7.

One imperial Bible with all the Sculps and a new Æsop, val. 28_l._

1 Lot, Num. 8.

One imperial Bible with all the Sculps, val. 25_l._

1 Lot, Num. 9.

A royal Bible with all the Sculps, val. 10_l._
A Description of China, val. 4_l._
And a Homer complete, val. 9_l._
In all 23 Pound.

1 Lot, Num. 10.

A royal Bible with all the Sculps, val. 10_l._
A Virgil complete, val. 5_l._
Æsop’s Fables the first and second Vols. val. 6_l._
In all 21 Pound.

1 Lot, Num. 11.

One royal Bible with all the Sculps, val. 10_l._
And a Homer’s Works complete, val. 9_l._
In all 19 Pound.

1 Lot, Num. 12.

One royal Bible with all the Sculps, val. 10_l._
And both the Æsops, val. 6_l._
In all 16 Pound.

1 Lot, Num. 13.

One royal Bible with all the Sculps, val. 10_l._
A Virgil complete in English, val. 5_l._
In all 15 Pound.

1 Lot, Num. 14.

One royal Bible with all the Sculps, val. 10_l._
A Description of China, val. 4_l._
In all 14 Pound.

[_No. 15 imperfect._]

1 Lot, Num. 16.

One royal Bible with all the Sculps. 10_l._
The second Volume of Æsop, val. 3_l._
In all 13 Pound.

1 Lot, Num. 17.

One royal Bible with all the Sculps, val. 10_l._
And an Entertainment, val. 2_l._
In all 12 Pound.

1 Lot, Num. 18.

One royal Bible with all the Sculps, val. 10_l._

1 Lot, Num. 19.

One royal Bible with Chorographical Sculps, val. 5_l._
One Virgil complete, val. 5_l._
In all 10 Pound.

1 Lot, Num. 20.

One royal Bible with Chorographical Sculps, val. 5_l._
And a Homer’s Iliads, val. 5_l._
In all 10 Pound.

1 Lot, Num. 21.

One royal Bible with Chorographical Sculps, val. 5_l._
And a Homer’s Odysses, val. 4_l._
In all 9 Pound.

1 Lot, Num. 22.

One royal Bible with Chorographical Sculps, val. 5_l._
And a Description of China, val. 4_l._
In all 9 Pound.

1 Lot, Num. 23.

One royal Bible with Chorographical Sculps. 5_l._
And Æsop complete, val. 6_l._
In all 11 Pound.

1 Lot, Num. 24.

A royal Bible with Chorographical Sculps, val. 5_l._
And Æsop the first Volume, val. 3_l._
In all 8 Pound.

1 Lot, Num. 25.

A royal Bible with Chorographical Sculps, val. 5_l._
And Æsop the second Volume, val. 3_l._
In all 8 Pound.

1 Lot, Num. 26.

A royal Bible, ruled, with Chorographical Sculps, val. 6_l._

1 Lot, Num. 27.

A royal Bible, with Chorographical Sculps, ruled, val. 6_l._

1 Lot, Num. 28.

One royal Bible with Chorographical Sculps, val. 5_l._

10 Lot, Num. 29.

Each a Homer complete, val. 9_l._

10 Lot, Num. 30.

Each a double Æsop complete, val. 6_l._

520 Lot, Num. 31.

Each a Homer’s Iliads, val. 5_l._

520 Lot, Num. 32.

Each a Homer’s Odysses, val. 4_l._

570 Lot, Num. 33.

Each a Virgil complete, val. 5_l._

570 Lot, Num. 34.

Each a China Book, val. 4_l._

570 Lot, Num. 35.

Each the first Volume of Æsop, val. 3_l._

570 Lot, Num. 36.

Each the second Volume of Æsop, val. 3_l._

The whole Number of the Lots three thousand, three hundred, and
sixty-eight. The Number of the Blanks as above ordered; so that the
Total received is but four thousand, one hundred, and ten Pounds.

The Office where their Monies are to be paid in, and they receive
their Tickets, and where the several Volumes or Prizes may be daily
seen, (by which visual Speculation understanding their real Worth
better than by the Ear or printed Paper,) is kept at the Black Boy,
over against St. Dunstan’s Church, Fleet Street. The Adventurers may
also repair for their better Convenience, to pay in their Monies, to
Mr. Peter Cleyton, over against the Dutch Church, in Austin Friars,
and to Mr. Baker, near Broad Street, entering the South door of the
Exchange, and to Mr. Roycroft, in Bartholomew Close.

The certain Day of Drawing, the Author promiseth (though but half
full) to be the twenty-third of May next. Therefore all Persons that
are willing to Adventure, are desired to bring or send in their Monies
with their Names, or what other Inscription or Motto they will, by
which to know their own, by the ninth of May next, it being Whitson
Eve, that the Author may have Time to put up the Lots and Inscriptions
into their respective Boxes.

Notwithstanding the positive promise given as to the date of the drawing, there seems, judging by the advertisements first quoted, to have been two alterations in the time. Mr Ogilby assorted his wares in the most tempting manner, and it is interesting to know what were considered the most marketable books, with their relative values, over two hundred years ago. Even then, and long before either became familiar to the bulk of English readers, the Iliad was worth a pound more than the Odyssey. Æsop was rated, entire, at more than the best of the Homeric books, but divided, he was inferior to either, and Virgil complete was worth exactly the same amount as the Iliad. A contributor to the _Gentleman’s Magazine_, about a hundred years back, states that he had seen a then very old but undated “Address to the Learned, or an advantageous lottery for books in quires; wherein each adventurer of a guinea is sure of a prize of two pounds value; and it is but four to one that he has a prize of three, six, eight, twelve, or fifty pounds.” The proposals for this lottery were, one thousand four hundred lots, at a guinea each, to be drawn with the lots out of two glasses, superintended by John Lilly and Edward Darrel, Esqs., Mr Deputy Collins, and Mr William Proctor, stationer; two lots of £50, ten of £12, twenty of £8, sixty-eight of £6, two hundred of £5, and one thousand two hundred of £3. Letters-patent on behalf of the promoters of Lotteries were from time to time renewed, and from the _Gazette_ of October 11, 1675, it appears by those dated June 19 and December 17, 1674, there were granted for thirteen years to come, “all lotteries whatsoever invented or to be invented, to several truly loyal and indigent officers, in consideration of their many faithful services and sufferings, with prohibition to all others to use or set up the said lotteries.” These officers were also granted powers to give licences and name agents.

In the _Examiner_, about the time when Lotteries were suppressed, there is much information concerning them, and the writer among other things finds, from a copy of the _London Gazette_ of May 17, 1688, that “Ogilby, the better to carry on his ‘Britannia,’ had a lottery of books at Garraway’s Coffeehouse in ’Change Alley.” Lotteries of various kinds seem to have been very general before this date; indeed so much so that Government issued a notice in the _London Gazette_, September 27, 1683, to prevent the drawing of any lotteries (and especially a newly-invented lottery under the name of the riffling, or raffling, lottery) “except those under his Majesty’s letters-patent, for thirteen years, granted to persons for their sufferings, and have their seal of office with this inscription, ‘_Meliora Designavi_.’” In 1683, Prince Rupert dying rather poor, a plan was devised to obtain money by disposing of all his jewels; but as the public were not satisfied with the mode of drawing the lotteries, on account of the many cheats practised on them, they would not listen to any proposals until the King himself guaranteed to see that all was fair, and also that Mr Francis Child, the goldsmith at Temple Bar, would be answerable for their several adventures, as appears by the _London Gazette_, October 1, 1683:--

THESE are to give notice, that the Jewels of his late Royal Highness
Prince Rupert have been particularly valued and appraised by Mr. Isaac
Legouch, Mr Christopher Rosse, and Mr. Richard Beauvoir, Jewellers,
the whole amounting to Twenty Thousand Pounds, and will be sold by way
of Lottery, each Lot to be Five Pounds. The biggest Prize will be a
great Pearl Necklace, valued at 8,000_l._, and none less than 100_l._
A printed Particular of the said Appraisement, with their Divisions
into Lots, will be delivered gratis by Mr. Francis Child, at Temple
Bar, London, into whose Hands, such as are willing to be Adventurers
are desired to pay their Money, on or before the 1st Day of November
next. As soon as the whole Sum is paid in, a short Day will be
appointed which, (it is hoped, will be before Christmas) and notified
in the _Gazette_, for the Drawing thereof, which will be done in his
Majesty’s Presence, who is pleased to declare, that _he himself will
see all the Prizes put in among the Blanks_, and that the whole will
be managed with Equity and Fairness, Nothing being intended but the
sale of the said Jewels at a moderate Value. And it is further
notified, for the Satisfaction of all as shall be Adventurers, that
the said Mr. _Child_ shall and will stand obliged to Each of them for
their several Adventures. And that each Adventurer shall receive their
Money back if the said Lottery be not drawn and finished before the
first Day of February next.

This Mr Child is said to have been the first regular banker. He began business soon after the Restoration, and received the honour of knighthood. He lived in Fleet Street, where the shop still continues in a state of the highest respectability.[44] A subsequent notice says that

The King will probably, to-morrow, in the Banquetting House, see all
the Blanks told over, that they may not exceed their Number; and that
the Papers on which the Prizes are to be written shall be rolled up in
his Presence; and that a Child, appointed, either by his Majesty or
the Adventurers, shall draw the Prizes.

The most popular of all the schemes of the time was that drawn at the Dorset Garden Theatre, near Salisbury Square, Fleet Street, with the capital prize of a thousand pounds for a penny. The drawing began on October 19, 1698; and in the _Protestant Mercury_ of the following day its fairness was said to give universal content to all that were concerned. In the next number is found an inconsistent story as to the possessor of the prize. It runs thus: “Sometime since, a boy near Branford going to school one morning, met an old woman, who asked his charity; the boy replied, he had nothing to give her but a piece of bread and butter, which she accepted. Sometime after, she met the boy again, and told him she had good luck after his bread and butter, and therefore would give him a penny which, after some years keeping, would produce many pounds: he accordingly kept it a great while, and at last, with some friends’ advice, put it into the Penny Lottery, and we are informed that on Tuesday last, the said lot came up with £1000 prize.” This is a very fair specimen of the stories which were always afloat concerning the chief prizes in the principal lotteries, and which had always some superstitious current underlying them, much to the benefit of the vendors of tickets. The scheme of the Penny Lottery was assailed in a tract entitled “The Wheel of Fortune, or Nothing for a Penny; being Remarks on the Drawing of the Penny Lottery at the Theatre Royal, in Dorset Garden.” (1698, 4to.) Afterwards this theatre was used for exhibitions of sword-and-cudgel players, prize-fighters, &c.; but the building was totally deserted in 1703. In the last years of the century, schemes were started called “The Lucky Adventure; or, Fortunate Chance, being 2000_l._ for a groat, or 3000_l._ for a shilling;” and “Fortunatus, or another Adventure of 1000_l._ for a Penny;” but purchasers were more wary, and the promoters’ plans in both cases fell to the ground. The royal patentees also advertised against the “Marble Board, alias Woollich Board lotteries; the Figure Board, alias the Whimsey Board and the Wyre Board lotteries.” The patentees were, in addition, always quarrelling among themselves; and the following lines from the _Post-Boy_, January 3, 1698, were very popular at the time, as giving an estimate of the disputes between the legalised rogues:--

A DIALOGUE _betwixt the_ NEW LOTTERIES _and the_ ROYAL OAK.

_New Lott._ To you the Mother of our Schools,
Where knaves by license manage Fools,
Finding fit Juncture and Occasion,
To pick the Pockets of the Nation;
We come to know how we must treat ’em,
And to their hearts’ content may cheat ’em.

_Oak._ It cheers my aged Heart to see
So numerous a Progeny;
I find by you, that ’tis Heaven’s will
That knavery should flourish still;
You have docility and wit,
And Fools were never wanting yet.
Observe the crafty Auctioneer
His art to sell waste Paper dear;
When he for Salmon baits his Hooks,
That Cormorant of Offal books,
Who bites, as sure as Maggots breed,
Or Carrion Crows on Horseflesh feed;
Fair specious Titles him deceive,
To sweep what Sl---- and T----n leave.
If greedy gulls you would ensnare,
Make ’em Proposals wondrous fair;
Tell him strange Golden Show’rs shall fall,
And promise Mountains to ’em all.

_New Lott._ That Craft we’ve already taught,
And by that Trick have millions caught;
Books, Baubles, Toys, all sorts of Stuff,
Have gone off this way well enough.
Nay, Music, too, invades our Art,
And to some Tune wou’d play her Part.
I’ll show you now what we are doing,
For we have divers Wheels agoing.
We now have found out richer Lands,
Than Asia’s Hills, or Afric’s Sands,
And to vast Treasures must give Birth,
Deep hid in Bowels of the Earth;
In fertile Wales, and God knows where,
Rich mines of Gold and Silver are,
From whence we draw prodigious Store
Of Silver coin’d, tho’ none in Ore,
Which down our Throats rich Coxcombs pour,
In hopes to make us vomit more.

_Oak._ This Project surely must be good
Because not eas’ly understood;
Besides, it gives a mighty Scope
To the Fool’s Argument--vain Hope.
No Eagle’s Eye the Cheat can see,
Thro’ Hope thus back’d by Mystery.

_New Lott._ We have, besides, a thousand more,
For Great or Small, for Rich and Poor,
From him that can his Thousands spare,
Down to the Penny Customer.

_Oak._ The silly Mob in Crowds will run,
To be at easy Rates undone.
A gimcrack Show draws in the Rout,
Thousands their all by Pence lay out.

_New Lott._ We, by Experience, find it true,
But we have Methods wholly new,
Strange late-invented Ways to thrive,
To make Men pay for what they give,
To get the Rents into our Hands
Of their hereditary Lands,
And out of what does thence arise,
To make ’em buy Annuities.
We’ve mathematick Combination,
To cheat Folks by plain Demonstration,
Which shall be fairly manag’d too,
The Undertaker knows not how.
Besides----

_Oak._ Pray, hold a little, here’s enough,
To beggar Europe of this Stuff.
Go on, and prosper, and be great,
I am to you a puny Cheat.

The Royal Oak Lottery came in for a great share of public odium, it being regarded as the parent of all the others. A very curious tract of 1699 sets forth the various charges against it in the form of a trial. The pamphlet is called “The Arraignment, Trial and Condemnation of _Squire Lottery_, alias _Royal-Oak Lottery_.” The various charges, defences, and counter-charges are very funny, and we regret that we have only room here for the jury list, which shows that the “British palladium” possessed then many of its present features, judged by the characters and pretensions of the jurymen. The descriptions of these latter would fit pretty well even in these days:--

_The Jurors’ Names._

Mr. _Positive_, a Draper in _Covent Garden_.
Mr. _Squander_, an Oilman in _Fleet Street_.
Mr. _Pert_, a Tobacconist, _ditto_.
Mr. _Captious_, a Milliner in _Paternoster Row_.
Mr. _Feeble_, a Coffeeman near the _Change_.
Mr. _Altrick_, a Merchant in _Gracechurch Street_.
Mr. _Haughty_, a Vintner by _Grays-Inn, Holborn_.
Mr. _Jealous_, a Cutler at _Charing Cross_.
Mr. _Peevish_, a Bookseller in _St. Paul’s Churchyard_.
Mr. _Spilbook_, near _Fleet Bridge_.
Mr. _Noysie_, a Silkman upon _Ludgate Hill_.
Mr. _Finical_, a Barber in _Cheapside_.

It is noticeable that during the whole of the trial no individual interferes with either the Court or the witnesses, there being no mention in the report of “a Juror;” and as might have been anticipated, the trial ends with the wholesale condemnation of Squire Lottery, and an order for his immediate execution. Private and fallacious lotteries had by this time become so common, not only in London, but in most other great cities and towns of England, whereby the lower people and the servants and children of good families were defrauded, that an Act of Parliament was therefore passed, 10 and 11 William III. c. 17, for suppressing such lotteries, “even although they might be set up under colour of patents or grants under the Great Seal. Which said grants, or patents,” says the preamble, “are against the common good, welfare, and peace of the kingdom, and are void and against law.” A penalty, therefore, of five hundred pounds was laid on the proprietors of any such lotteries, and of twenty pounds on every adventurer in them. Notwithstanding this, the like disposition to fraud and gaming prevailed again till fresh laws were enacted for their suppression. The public, or, as they were called, the Parliamentary, lotteries, went on, however, as merrily as before, though they were every now and again threatened--indeed for nearly a hundred and thirty years lotteries were always on the point of being abolished. The promoters of lotteries, even in the early days, thoroughly knew the value of advertising by means of puffs, and many of their paragraphs are found given as ordinary news, for the more effectual trapping of the gulls. Such a one is this from the _Post-Boy_ of December 27, 1710:--

We are informed that the Parliamentary Lottery will be fixed in this
Manner:--150,000 Tickets will be delivered out at 10_l._ each Ticket,
making in all the Sum of 1,500,000_l._ Sterling; the Principal thereof
is to be sunk, the Parliament allowing nine per cent. Interest for the
whole during the Term of thirty-two Years, which Interest is to be
divided as follows: 3750 Tickets will be Prizes from 1000_l._ to 5_l._
per annum, during the said thirty-two Years; all the other Tickets
will be Blanks, so that there will be thirty-nine of these to one
Prize, but then each Blank Ticket will be entitled to fourteen
Shillings a year for the Term of thirty-two Years, which is better
than an Annuity for life at ten per cent. over and above chance of
getting a prize.

Such was the eagerness of the public to secure shares in this great and liberal undertaking on the part of a beneficent Legislature, that Mercers’ Hall was literally crowded, and the clerks were found incompetent to receive the influx of names. Six hundred thousand pounds was subscribed by January 21; and on the 28th of February the required amount of a million and a half had been taken out in shares. This rage for speculation had much to do with the success of the South-Sea Bubble, which was attended by myriad smaller bubbles that in the grand collapse of the most magnificent swindle of modern times have been quite forgotten. But many large fortunes were made by small means. In the height of the speculative fever, hardly a day, certainly not a week, passed without fresh projects, recommended by pompous paragraphs in the newspapers, directing where to subscribe to them. On some six per cent. was paid down, on others one shilling per thousand at the time of subscribing. Some of the obscure keepers of these books of subscription, contenting themselves with what they had netted in the morning, by the registration of one or two millions, disappeared in the afternoon, the rooms they had hired being shut up, and they and their subscription-books being never heard of more. On others of these projects, two shillings, and two-and-sixpence, were paid down; for some few even half a sovereign per cent. was deposited, but this was only in the case of those who could find some person of standing to recommend them in Exchange Alley. Some were divided into shares instead of hundreds and thousands, upon each of which so much was paid down. Any impudent impostor, while the delusion was at its greatest height, needed only to hire a room near the alley for a few hours, and open a subscription-book for a pretended scheme relating to commerce, manufacture, plantation, or some supposed invention, having first advertised it in the newspapers of the preceding day, and he might in a few hours find subscribers for one or two millions of imaginary stock. Yet many of the subscribers were far from believing the project feasible; it was enough for their purpose that there would soon be a premium on the receipts for the subscriptions, when they could easily get rid of them in the crowded alley to others more credulous than themselves. Indeed some of these bubbles were so barefaced and palpably gross as not to have the shadow of anything like feasibility: such, for instance, were an insurance against divorces; a scheme to learn men to cast nativities; another for making butter from beech-trees; a project for a flying machine; a company for fattening hogs; and a proposal for a more inoffensive method of emptying or cleansing necessary-houses.

Addison, of course, availed himself of the opportunity afforded by the great lottery mania, and in the _Spectator_ for Tuesday, October 9, 1711, he comments on the peculiarities of investors. “When a man has a mind to venture his money in a lottery,” says he, “every figure of it appears equally alluring, and as likely to succeed as any of its fellows. They all of them have the same pretensions to good luck, stand upon the same foot of competition, and no manner of reason can be given why a man should prefer one to the other before the lottery is drawn. In this case, therefore, caprice very often acts in the place of reason, and forms to itself some groundless imaginary motive, where real and substantial ones are wanting. I know a well-meaning man that is very well pleased to risk his good fortune upon the number 1711, because it is the year of our Lord. I am acquainted with a tacker that would give a good deal for the number 134. On the contrary, I have been told of a certain zealous dissenter, who being a great enemy to Popery, and believing that bad men are the most fortunate in this world, will lay two to one on the number 666 against any other number, because, says he, it is the number of the Beast. Several would prefer the number 12,000 before any other, as it is the number of the pounds in the great prize. In short, some are pleased to find their own age in their number; some that have got a number which makes a pretty appearance in the ciphers; and others because it is the same number that succeeded in the last lottery. Each of these, upon no other grounds, thinks he stands fairest for the great lot, and that he is possessed of what may not be improbably called--‘the golden number.’”

The reference to the number 134 is made on account of a bill which was brought into the House of Commons against occasional Conformity; and so that it should pass through the Lords, it was proposed to tack it to a money bill. This proposal caused some warm debates, and at last, on being put to the vote, it was found that 134 were for tacking. A large majority was, however, against it, and the motion fell through. The Beast’s number is, of course, a reference to Revelation xiii. 18; and the final allusion in the paragraph we will not insult the reader by attempting to explain. Addison then goes on: “These principles of election are the pastimes and extravagances of human reason, which is of so busy a nature, that it will be exerting itself in the meanest trifles, and working even where it wants materials. The wisest of men are sometimes acted by such unaccountable motives, as the life of the fool and the superstitious is guided by nothing else. I am surprised that none of the fortune-tellers, or, as the French call them, the _Diseurs de bonne Aventure_, who publish their bills in every quarter of the town, have turned our lotteries to their advantage. Did any of them set up for a caster of fortunate figures, what might he not get by his pretended discoveries and predictions? I remember, among the advertisements in the _Post-Boy_ of September the 27th, I was surprised to see the following one:--

_This is to give Notice that ten Shillings over and above the Market
Price, will be given for the Ticket in the 1,500,000l. Lottery, No.
132_, by Nath. Cliff, _at the_ Bible and Three Crowns _in Cheapside_.

“This advertisement has given great matter of speculation to coffee-house theorists. Mr. Cliff’s principles and conversation have been canvassed upon this occasion, and various conjectures made why he should thus set his heart upon No. 132. I have examined all the powers in those numbers, broken them into fractions, extracted the square and cube root, divided and multiplied them all ways, but could not arrive at the secret until about three days ago, when I received the following letter from an unknown hand, by which I find that Mr. Nath. Cliff is only the agent, and not the principal, in this advertisement. ‘Mr. Spectator,--I am the person that lately advertised I would give ten shillings more than the current price for the ticket No. 132, in the lottery now drawing, which is a secret I have communicated to some friends, who rally me incessantly upon that account. You must know I have but one ticket, for which reason, and a certain dream I have lately had more than once, I resolved it should be the number I most approved. I am so positive that I have pitched upon the great lot, that I could almost lay all I am worth upon it. My visions are so frequent and strong upon this occasion, that I have not only possessed the lot, but disposed of the money which in all probability it will sell for. This morning in particular I set up an equipage which I look upon to be the gayest in the town; the liveries are very rich, but not gaudy. I should be very glad to see a speculation or two upon lottery subjects, in which you would oblige all people concerned, and in particular, your most humble servant George Gosling. P.S. Dear Spec, if I get the 12,000_l._ I’ll make thee a handsome present.’ After having wished my correspondent good luck, and thanked him for his intended kindness, I shall for this time dismiss the subject of the lottery, and only observe, that the greatest part of mankind are in some degree guilty of my friend Gosling’s extravagance. We are apt to rely upon future prospects, and become really expensive while we are only rich in possibility. We live up to our expectations, not to our possessions, and make a figure proportionable to what we may be, not what we are. We outrun our present income, as not doubting to disburse ourselves out of the profits of some future place, project, or reversion that we have in view. It is through this temper of mind, which is so common among us, that we see tradesmen break, who have met with no misfortunes in their business; and men of estate reduced to poverty, who have never suffered from losses or repairs, tenants, taxes, or lawsuits. In short, it is this foolish sanguine temper, this depending upon contingent futurities, that occasions romantic generosity, chimerical grandeur, senseless ostentation, and generally ends in beggary and ruin. The man who will live above his present circumstances, is in great danger of living in a little time much beneath them; or, as the Italian proverb runs, ‘the man who lives by hope will die by hunger.’ It should be an indispensable rule in life to contract our desires to our present condition, and, whatever may be our expectations, to live within the compass of what we actually possess. It will be time enough to enjoy an estate when it comes into our hands; but if we anticipate our good fortune, we shall lose the pleasure of it when it arrives, and may possibly never possess what we have so foolishly counted upon.” We have quoted nearly at length, and offer no excuse; for those who are familiar with the lesson can do no harm by reading it anew, while those who are not may be tempted to dip deeper, and find in the pages of the _Spectator_ many new delights. We can offer no remarks of our own on the superstitions of “adventurers” fit to be placed by those we have extracted, and so will pass on to fresh incidents.

Lotteries abounded to such an extent about this time that we really have too much tempting material to choose from. There were the Greenwich Hospital Adventure, sanctioned by Act of Parliament; the Land Lottery, the promoter of which declared it was “found very difficult and troublesome for the adventurers for to search and find out what prizes they have come up in their number-tickets, from the badness of the print, the many errors in them, and the great quantity of prizes;” as well as the Twelvepenny, or Nonsuch, the Fortunatus, and the Deer Lotteries, all flourishing; to say nothing of the smaller swindles, which, despite Parliament, were connived at by the minor authorities. The Hamburgh Lottery caused in 1723 some trouble in the House of Commons. It was ostensibly a scheme for promoting trade between Great Britain and the Elbe territories, but was as gross an imposition as even a lottery system could produce, and was ultimately suppressed by special Act, John Viscount Barrington being expelled the House for complicity in the snare. He was not the only man of rank who dabbled with dirty water, many members of the Commons being more or less openly convicted of fraud in connection with lotteries. George Robinson, Esq., member for Marlowe, disappeared mysteriously in 1731, and it was found that with him went all the hopes of the Charitable Corporation Society, who discovered upon investigation that the half million capital they thought themselves possessed of had been embezzled. Two other M.P.’s, Sir Archibald Grant and Sir Robert Sutton, were found to be concerned, in common with many other persons of position, in the defalcation, and were expelled from their seats, while their property was attached. A lottery was instituted for the benefit of the sufferers, and in 1734 they received nine shillings and ninepence in the pound. This is an advertisement published in the _Daily Courant_, July 1, 1734, with regard to the distribution of prizes in this same lottery:--

Lottery-Office, 28 June 1734.