L O T T E R Y. 



Paul's, of which the higheft prize was of the va'uc of 4000 

 crowns, in fair j-late ; this was for the afTillaiice of llie Vir- 

 ginia companv, who were liceii fed to open lottery offices in 

 any part of England, by which means they raifed 29,000/. 

 At length thefe lotteries became to be conlidered as public 

 evils, and ativ.idted the attentio:i of parliament : tliey were re- 

 prefented by the commons as a grievance, and were fiip- 

 prefled by an order of council. In 1650, however, Cliarles I. 

 granted a fpecial licence for a lottery or lotteries, accord- 

 ing to the courfe of other lotteries hitherto ufed or prac- 

 tifed, for defraying the ex pence of a projeft for conveying 

 water to Lon.^on. Soon after the revoluiion, lotteries were 

 refortcd to, among other expedients, for raifing part of the 

 extraordinary funis neecirary f jr the public fervice, by which 

 means the difpofition for tins fpecies of gambhng was greatly 

 encouraged and extended ; and private lotteries, formed ( n 

 the molt delufiveand fraudulent principles, became fo gene- 

 ral, not only in London, but in all the other prir.cipal 

 towns in England, that parliament found it neceifary, in 

 1O98, to pafs an aft for iupprefring them, by \yhich a pe- 

 nalty of 500/. was laid on the proprietors of any lueh lot- 

 teries, and 20/. upon everv adventurer in them; notwith- 

 llanding which, the difpofilion to fraud on the one hand, and 

 for adventure on the other, continued to prevail, and fmall 

 lotteries were carried on under the denomination of fales of 

 gloves, fans, cards, plate, &c. Tliis was attempted to be 

 checked by a claufe in an ad pafTed 1712, which only gave 

 rife to a new mode of carrying on this kind of gambhng. 

 Government lotteries were Hill practiled, and the adventure 

 was now made to depend upon the drawing of the former ; 

 and the buying and felling of chances and parts of chances 

 of tickets in the Hate lotteries became a general practice, 

 till it was prohibited by an act pafTed in 1718, by which all 

 the undertakings refembhng lotteries, or being dependent on 

 the llate lottery, were ftriCtly prohibited, under the penalty 

 ■of 100/., over ai>d above all penalties enjoined by former 

 afts of parliament againft private lotteries. 



During the reign of queen Anne, the lotteries were gene- 

 rally for terminable annuities, to which both blanlis and 

 prizes were entitled at different rates; thus in 1710, the 

 lottery confilled of 150000 tickets, valued at 10/. each, 

 every ticket being entitled to an annuity for 32 years, the 

 blanks at 14J. per annum, and the prizes to greater annui- 

 ties, from 5/. to 1000/. per annum. This was the tirll lot- 

 tery for which the bank of England received the fublcrip- 

 tions tor government. In the following year the whole of 

 the money advanced for the tickets was to be repaid, both 

 in blanks and prizes, in 32 years, with interelt at 6 per cetit. 

 and an additional fum of nearly half a million to be divided, 

 in order to form prizes, which additional capital was to be 

 paid with the likeintereft within the fame period as the ori- 

 ginal fum. In this manner they were condutled for feveral 

 years, and a very confiderable premium was given for the 

 money advanced, in addition to a high rate of intereft. 



According to the lottery plans which prevailed from fir 

 Robert Walpole's adminillration to that of the duke of 

 Grafton, the tickets were ilTued at 10/. each; and occa- 

 fionally the fubfcription was open to the public at large. 

 The highell prize was generally 10,00 /. and the lowell 

 20/. There were from four to fix blanks to a prize, and 

 the blanks entitled the bearers to y/. or 6/. (lock in the 

 three or four per cent, bank annuities, the value of the 

 blanks and prizes being generally funded. The lottery- 

 office keepers divided the tickets into (hares and chances, 

 the former entitling the holders to the proportion they had 

 purchafed of blanks and prizes, the chances to prizes only; 

 that is, they had no return if the ticket was drawn a blank. 



The tickets, according to the advantage or difadvantage of 

 the (cheme, in refptCt of the number of blanks to a prize, 

 and the nun.ber of high prizes, generally fold at from 11.'. 

 to 12/. before the drawinj^. When the tickets fold for 1 1/. 

 and the bl.inks were entitled to 6/. in the xXitqi: per cent, 

 bH:ik annuities, as tlie blank might be fold for 5/. 8/. ready 

 money when the three per cciils. were at 90, the adven- 

 turer only gambled at a rifk of 5/. \2s. ; and at the higheft 

 calculation, when tickets were worth 13/., he never flaked 

 more than 7/. 12s. for a ticket before the drawing. 



In 1759, the fchcmc of the lottery included two prizes of 

 20, coo/, each, which had not been the cafe in any preceding 

 lottery lincc the time of queen Anne. The fcheme for the 

 year 1767 contained one prize of 2C,ooo/., and this was. 

 many years after the ufual amount of the higheft prize. 

 About this time a material alteration was made in the plan 

 of the lotteries ; the allowance to blanks was difcontiniied, 

 tile whole (urn being divided into prizes, the number of which 

 was of courfe conhdcrably increatcd, particularly as the pro- 

 portion of fmall prizes was much greater than it has iince 

 been, and in feveral of the following years was lefs than two 

 blanks to a prize. All the lotteries during the time lord 

 North was chancellor of the exchequer were formed on this 

 principle, with fome variation in the fchentes, wliich favoured 

 the holders of tickets and the lottery-office keepers, and 

 greatly increaled the fpirit of gaming, fich as paying the 

 prizes in money inftead of ftock, and making the firft drawn 

 ticket for feveral fucceffive days a prize of icoc/. or more, 

 which enhanced the price of the tickets, and encouraged 

 pertons who had blanks drawn to buv again. Some ju- 

 dicious regulations were, however, adopted f-r the fecurity 

 of perfons purchafing (hares ot ticket.--, by limiting the 

 (hares into which tickets may be divided into halves, quar- 

 ters, eighths, and fixteenths ; and obliging all lottery.officc 

 keepers to depolit the tickets they divided into (hares in the 

 bank, and to have the faid (hares examined and flamped. 

 The practice of infuring tickets ar.d (hares was likewife 

 reftrained, by enacting, that " no pcrfon (liall fell the chance 

 or. chances of any ticket or any (hare, for any time lefs than 

 the whole time of drawing from the day of fale ; nor (hall 

 receive any fum of money whatfoever in conhderation for 

 the repayment of any fum, in cafe any ticket (liall prove 

 fortunate, or in any cafe of any chance or evest relating to 

 the drawing, either as to time, or its being fortunate, nor 

 fliall publifli propolals for the fame, under the penalty of 

 500/., one-half to be paid to the perfon fuing for the fame, 

 and the other moiety to his majefly." 



During Mr. Pitt's adminillration the lotteries were con- 

 tracted for entirely dillinC^ from the loans of the refpeftive 

 years ; and as it became neceifary to endeavour to augment 

 every fource of the revenue as much as pofhble, various al- 

 terations were made in the lottery fchemes, chiefly with a 

 view of railing the price of tickets, and of keeping up the 

 price during the time of drawing. The number and amount 

 of the highell prizes were increafed, fome Ichemes contain- 

 ing four prizes of 2:,occ/. each, others of two 30,000/. 

 prizes, while, for the purpofe of difpoling of a greater num- 

 ber of tickets ill the courfe of the year, the lottery was 

 divided into two or three fmaller onee, drawn at dilferent 

 times : the amount ot the principal prize was dill farther 

 augmented; the lottery drawn in October 1807 containing 

 a prize of 40,000/., and tlial drawn in June 1808 fix prizes 

 of 20,000/. each. 



But notwithilanding the temptations which thefe fchemes 

 held out to the inccnhderatc, the contradlors found, 

 either from the greater' frequency of lotteries, or the in- 

 creafed number of ticket?, that it became impoffible to get 



the 



