Chapter I: Preface

In the following pages I have endeavoured to trace the history of the lottery in England, from the year 1569 to the present time; and it is somewhat surprising that such has not been previously attempted. It is possible that a paucity of material may have had something to do with it; but, in my case, I cannot complain of insufficient matter, but almost of an _embarras des richesses_; for not only could I draw on the stores of information contained in the library of the British Museum, but I also had the privilege of having the very fine collection of Mr. Andrew Tuer placed unreservedly at my disposal. Thus, I have been enabled to pick and choose my examples of lottery handbills and engravings, without having to utilize all the material that came to hand. I am especially indebted to the Leadenhall Press for the very great care they have taken in rendering the engravings as near facsimiles of the originals as possible.

I have tried, as far as in my power lay, to make this book one which will be, I hope, not only agreeable and interesting to the general reader, but one which, I also hope, will find its place in very many libraries, as a book of reference, and an authority on the subject on which I have written, as I have been very scrupulous as to verifying dates, giving correct Acts of Parliament, etc.

JOHN ASHTON.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.
PAGE
Antiquity of _the Lot_--Old lotteries--Derivation of
word--First lottery in England: its scheme 1

CHAPTER II.
Posies and mottoes--Forcing the subscriptions--Towns and
their mottoes--Lottery for armour in 1585--A Royal lottery
at Harefield in 1602 17

CHAPTER III.

The Virginia lottery of 1612--Private lottery--Licence for
lottery to supply London with water--Two other schemes
--Lottery in behalf of fishing vessels--Irish Land
Lottery--One for redeeming English slaves--One for poor
maimed soldiers--Gambling lottery, concession for--“Royal
Oak” Lottery--Evils of lotteries--“Royal Fishing Company”
Lottery--Patentees 28

CHAPTER IV.
A book lottery--One for poor military officers--Lottery for
Prince Rupert’s jewels--A penny lottery--First State
lottery--Another in 1697--Private lotteries suppressed
--Statelottery in 1710--Curious history of a private
lottery--State lotteries in the reigns of Anne and
George I.--Private lotteries again suppressed--Raine’s
Charity--Marriage by lottery 44

CHAPTER V.
Penalties on private lotteries--State lottery not subscribed
for--Lapse in State lotteries--Private lotteries
--Westminster Bridge lottery--State lotteries--Discredit
thrown on them--British Museum lottery--Leheup’s fraud 59

CHAPTER VI.
Crowd at a lottery--Another State lottery, eighty-seven
blanks to a prize--A ticket sold twice over--Extravagant
prices paid for tickets--Praying for success--A lucky
innkeeper--Lottery for Cox’s Museum--Adam’s Adelphi Lottery
--Blue-coat boys and the lottery--Future arrangements for
drawing 71

CHAPTER VII.
Counterfeiting lottery tickets--Curious lotteries--Suicide
--Method of starting a State lottery--Lottery
office-keepers to be licensed--Charles (or “Patch”) Price 86

CHAPTER VIII.
Lottery for the Leverian Museum--Prosecution of unlicensed
lottery office-keepers--Suicide--Robbery of employers--Sharp
practice over a prize--Cheating by lottery office-keepers
--Complaint of a prisoner 103

CHAPTER IX.
Winners of prizes--Attempt to put down the practice of
insuring--Steps taken to prevent it--Specimen handbill
--Bish, the lottery office-keeper--Lottery for the “Pigot”
diamond--Lottery-office agencies--Shortening the time of
drawing the lottery--Story of Baron d’Aguilar 118

CHAPTER X.
The Boydell Lottery--Bowyer’s “Historic” Lottery 133

CHAPTER XI.
Launching a lottery--“The City” Lottery for houses--Poetic
handbills thereon--Parliamentary Committee on the lottery
--Report and evidence 147

CHAPTER XII.
“The Lottery Alphabet”--“The Philosopher’s Stone”--
“Fortune’s Ladder”--Enigmatical handbill--Lottery drawn
on St. Valentine’s Day--“Public Prizes”--and other
poetical handbills 162

CHAPTER XIII.
“Twenty Thousand; or, Tom Truelove’s Journal”--“London
and the Lottery”--“The Persian Ambassador”--“An Enigma”
--“Gently over the Stones” 180

CHAPTER XIV.
“Master and Man”--“Altogether”--Dr. Thornton’s “Royal
Botanical Lottery”--“Two Gold Finches”--“Dennis
Brulgruddery”--“Shakespeare’s Seven Ages” 189

CHAPTER XV.
A lucky Spaniard--Miss Mitford’s prize--The _Spectator_
on lucky numbers--Other anecdotes on luck--“Gretna Green”
--“A Prize for Poor Jack” 204

CHAPTER XVI.
Beginning of the end of lotteries--Curious handbills 217

CHAPTER XVII.
Protests against lotteries--Epitaph on Vansittart--“Three
Royal Weddings”--More opposition to the lottery--
“Twelfth Night Character” handbills--Ditto of tradesmen 221

CHAPTER XVIII.
“A Dialogue”--“The Race of Fortune”--“The Wish”--Enigmatical
handbill 245

CHAPTER XIX.
Tomkins’s picture lottery--The lottery abolished--Handbills 252

CHAPTER XX.
The last lottery--Attempts to get up excitement--The
procession--Alteration of date--Advertising car--“A
Ballad, 1826”--Drawing of the last lottery 265

CHAPTER XXI.
Handbills--Metrical list of lottery-office keepers--Bish’s
manifesto--“Epitaph in Memory of the State Lottery”--
“Little Goes”--The _Times_ thereon--Their effect
on the public 279

CHAPTER XXII.
Description of lottery office-keepers--Insuring numbers
in the lottery--Servants bitten by the mania--_Morocco
men_--Many prosecutions--Cost to the country--Several
law cases--Story of Mr. Bartholomew 293

CHAPTER XXIII.
Suicides caused by the lottery--Story of a footman--Anecdote
told by Theodore Hook--Description of a lottery from its
commencement to its end 310

CHAPTER XXIV.
The lottery wheels--Anecdotes connected with the lottery--
The Glasgow lotteries--Advertising foreign lotteries--
“Art Union” Act--Dethier’s “Twelfth Cake Lottery”--
Tontines--Raffling--Pious lotteries--Sweet-stuff lotteries
for children--Hamburg lotteries 325

CHAPTER XXV.
“The Missing Word Competition:” its rise and fall 339

INDEX 353

A HISTORY OF ENGLISH LOTTERIES.