620 A. D. 1778. 



for the fame purpofe, were prolonged for twenty years, to be comput- 

 ed from 24}^ June 1783. [18 Geo. Ill, c. 20.] 



Six millions were raifcd by a loan, for which the fubfcribers received 

 a permanent intereft of j^3, together with a terminable annuity of 

 f.2 : 10 : o for thirty years, or, in the option of the fubfcribers, for 

 life, for every ;^ioo paid in ; with a privilege to the fubfcriber of ^^"500 

 to have four tickets at ;(^io each in a lottery, by which the further fum 

 of ;(r48o,ooo was to be raifed. And, in order to guard againft the many 

 frauds and abufes pradlifed in the negotiation of lottery tickets, it was 

 now enaded, that office-keepers felling (hares of tickets, which they 

 were not poflefTed of, fhould fufFer three months imprifonment, and 

 pay a fine of £$00* ; that every office-keeper fhould pay ^'50 for a 

 licence, to be in force for one year; that no fmaller (hare of a ticket than 

 a flxteenth {hould be foldf ; that all fhares of tickets fliould be ftamped 

 by an officer appointed by the lords of the treafury : and all fchemcs 

 grafted upon the lottery were declared unlawful, and prohibited J. [18 

 Geo. Ill, c. 22.] In confequence of this act the number of dealers in 

 lottery tickets was reduced to fifty-one for all England ; whereas in 

 the preceding year there were above four hundred lottery offices in 

 and about London only. There was flill, however, much room left for 

 reform in lottery tranfactions. 



April 16'" — Tobacco, which had been exported from Britain, was 

 allowed to be re-imported in the original package, if not manufadured, 

 though it had been fold abroad, paying duty as on the firfl importation: 

 and tobacco, produced in the ifland of Dominica, was admitted to entry 

 on the fame terms as tobacco produced in North America. [18 Geo. 

 Ill, c. 24.] 



By an ad for impofing duties on dwelling houfes, the warehoufes and 

 other sbuildings ereded for carrying on manufadures or trades were ex- 

 empted from the duties, [18 Geo. Ill, c. 26.] 



* When fucli tickets proved blanks, their price before me) that offered three-hundredth (liares at 



vas clear profit to the office-keepers : and, as on one fliilling each. 



the other hand they tlicreby oblryed themfelves to J Bcfides miniature lotteries with (hilling tick- 

 pay the prizes out of their own pockets, the ad- ets, there were tickets ilTued by publifliers of lady's 

 venturers fometimes faw the cup of their good for- pocket books, almanacks, fong books, and maga- 

 tune dafhed from their lips, when they thought zines, who all had agents all over the three king- 

 'hemftlvcs fure of it. One ofHcc-keeper at York doms, and alfo by bakers, dealers in potatoes, pen- 

 became bankrupt for a large fum, in confequence ny-barbers, S:c. promifing certain fums to their cuf- 

 of having fold feveral copies of cnc number, which tomcrs, if their numbers fliould turn out confider- 

 unfortunately for him, and indeed for all concerned, ablepri7.es in the lottery. But all thefe projec- 

 came up a prize of ^([20,000. tors wifely excluded the fmall and middling prizes 



•f Before this regulation took place, fixty-fourth (almoft the whole in point of number) as beneath 



fnares were fold in ever)- office, which brought a the attention of the adventurers : and accordingly 



lottery adventure within the reach of all, who could it frequently happened, that their agents in the 



by any means command five fhillings. And there country towns accounted to them for feveral hun- 



was at leaft one office in the year 1777 (whofe ad- dred tickets, without having one prize to retain for 



vcrtifement upon the cover of a magazine is now their own neighbours, who had bought the fwindl- 



fng tickets from them. 



