Posies and mottoes--Forcing the subscriptions--Towns
and their mottoes--Lottery for armour in 1585--
A Royal lottery at Harefield in 1602.
We see by this bill that in order that the subscribers should be
anonymous, their shares were not to be taken in their names; but, as in
some competitions nowadays--notably in architecture--the competitors
are only known by their mottoes, so every subscriber to this lottery
was to use a devise or posie. Of the posies of this particular lottery
one at least remains, and it may be found in Geffrey Whitney’s “Choice
of Emblemes” (Leyden, 1586), p. 61.
“_Written to the like effecte, vppon_
Video, & taceo
_Her Maiesties poesie, at the great Lotterie in London
begon_ M.D.LXVIII. _and ended_ M.D.LXIX.
I see, and houlde my peace: a Princelie Poësie righte,
For euerie faulte, shoulde not provoke, a Prince, or man of mighte.
For if that IOVE shoulde shoote, so oft as men offende,
The Poëttes saie, his thunderboltes shoulde soon bee at an ende.
Then happie wee that haue, a Princesse so inclin’de,
That when as iustice drawes hir sworde, hath mercie in her minde,
And to declare the same, how prone shee is to save:
Her Maiestie did make her choice, this Poësie for to have.
_Sed piger ad pænas princeps, ad præmia velox:
Cuique doles, quoties cogitur esse ferox._”
In a little black-letter book in the Loxley collection, intituled
“Prises drawn in the Lottery, from the XVI to the XXVI day of
February,” which is considered to relate to this lottery, are very many
of these posies, with the names of the persons, etc., whose ventures
they represented, the number of the lots, and the prizes they gained,
which were, naturally, in most cases under the ten shillings subscribed.
“If Fortune be forward my Angell[4] is gone,
But if Fortune be frendly with encrease it cometh home.
“Alice Crewe, London (268,223), 1_s._ 3_d._”
“Cast the grapple over the bote
If God wil, for the great lot.
“By me Nicholas Martin, free of the Companie of
Merchauntes of Exon. (18,236), 5_s._”
“I woulde be contente with a hundred pounde,
In my purse it would give a sounde.
“Per Thomas Chamberlayne, Horsted Teynes, Sussex (1129),
1_s._ 2_d._”
“Wee put in one lott, poor maydens we be ten:
We pray God send us a good lotte, that all we may say, Amen.
“Per Dorothie Hawes of Cheapside (44,963), 1_s._ 2_d._”
“God send a good lot for my children and me,
Which have had twenty by one wife truly.
“Per William Dorghtie de Westholme (195,315), 2_s._ 3_d._”
“I am a pore maiden and faine would marry,
And the lacke of goods is the cause that I tarry.
”Per Sibbel Cleyon (51,832), 2_s._ 1_d._”
“Although I can not wel see,
Yet I will venture in the Lottery.
”Per Sir Thom. Woodhouse of Warham (109,508), 2_s._ 1_d._”
“What chaunce to me befal
I am content withal.
”Sir George Speake of Whitlackington in Somersetshire,
Knight (193,066), 5_s._ 10_d._”
[4] The gold coin so called.
The highest prize drawn during these ten days seems to have been £16
13_s._ 3_d._, and the “devise” or motto was, “Not covetous.”
The public generally evidently did not take kindly to this venture, for
on September 13, 1567, the Lord Mayor found it necessary to supplement
the foregoing Proclamation of the Queen, of August 23, by one of his
own, guaranteeing the honesty of the scheme. “Nowe to avoyde certaine
doubtes since the publication of the sayde Lotterie, secretely moved
concernyng the answering thereof, wherein though the wiser sort may
finde cause to satisfie themselves therin, yet to the satisfaction of
the simpler sorte, the Lorde Maior of the sayd Citie, and his brethren
the Aldermen of the sayd Citie, by assent of the Common Councell of the
same, doe signifie and declare to all people by this proclamation that,
according to the articles of hir Majesties order conteined in the sayd
charte so published, every person shal be duly answered accordyng to
the tenour of hir highnesse sayd proclamation.”
Still the public looked askance at it, and the subscriptions came in
but slowly; so the Queen issued another proclamation on January 3,
1568, postponing the drawing, or “reading,” as it was called, giving
her reasons therefor thus: “Forasmuch as in sundry parts of the
realme, the principal persons that were appointed to be the treasurers
for the money that should be gathered in the severall shyres of
the realme, had not received their instructions and charge in such
due time as was requisite, by reason that upon the first nomination
of them, there were, after sundry alterations of some by reason of
sicknesse, of others by reason that they were dead aboute the time of
their nomination; and of some others, that afterward were so otherwise
occupied in publike offices, as the said service could not be by them
executed, so as of the sayd space of three moneths, there passed over a
good part, to the detriment of the adventurers.”
Yet it did not go off, and, to further stimulate the prosecution of
the scheme, the Earl of Leicester and Sir William Cecil, as Lords of
the Council, on July 12, 1568, sent a circular “To all and every the
Quene’s Ma’t’s Justices of the Peace, Treasurers, and Collectors of
the Lottery, and to all Mayors, Sheriffs, Bayliefes, Constables, and
to all others her highnes officers, ministers and subjects, spirituall
and temporale, as well as w^tin corporations, lib’ties, and franchises,
as w^tout, in the Counties of Kent, Sussex, Surry, Southehampton and
the Isle of Wight,” apprising them of the appointment of a Surveyor
of the Lottery, and enjoining them to do all in their power to get
subscribers.
This surveyor certainly did put the screw on most unmercifully,
visiting and writing to the country gentlemen, giving them “to
understonde what waie is devised for a further collection, and for
animating or moving the people, desiring you to put the same in
practise as sone as possible you may.”
This certainly did stimulate the subscriptions, and we find by entries
in their archives and by their posies that the towns all over England
contributed municipally.
_Winchester._--“July 30, 1568. _Itm._ That £3 be taken out of the
Coffers of the cytie and be put into the lottrey, and so moche more
money as shall make up evyn Lotts wᵗʰ those that are contrybutory of
the cytie, so that it passᵈ not 10_s._”
_Wells._--“Oct. 15, 1568. At this Convoc’on the M’r and his brethrene
w’the the condiscent of all the burgesses, hath fully agreed that ev’y
occupacōn w’thin the Towne aforesayde shall make their lotts for the
Lottery accordynge, as well to the Queene’s Ma’ty’s p’clamacōn as to
her p’vy L’res assigned in that behalf.”
Yarmouth seems to have sent two subscriptions.
“_To the fifteen pounds of the town’s money._
Yermouth haven, God send thee spede,
The Lord he knoweth thy great nede.”
“_To the fifteen pounds collected amongst the four and twenties
and the eight and forties._
Yf Yermouth great in Fortune’s favour be,
The greteste lott may chanse to fall to me.”
“Louth linct in love,
Lucky be thy lot.”
“In good hope, poor East Greenwiche, God send us to remain,
And of some good lotte to have the gaine.”
“Armouth for a haven is a fit place,
And a haven it may be, if it please the Queenes grace.”
“'Be meeke in spirite,’ per the parish of Southfleete Kent.”
“Give the best prise, I pray thee, good fortune,
Unto the Queene’s Majesties towne of Launston.”
“_For the hamlet of Radcliffe._
Mariner, hoist up thy saile,
If God sende us a good lot, it may us prevaile.”
“Topsham is buylded upon a red rydge,
I pray God sende a good lot to maintayne the kay and bridge.”
“Draw Brighthemston a good lot
Or else return them a turbot.”
“From Hastings we come,
God send us good speed;
Never a poor fisher town in England,
Of ye great lot hath more need.”
All the City Companies subscribed, and, at last, the lottery was drawn,
as Holinshed tells us (1569) that “A great lotterie being holden at
London in Poules Church yard, at the west dore, was begun to be drawne
the eleuenth of Januarie, and continued daie and night till the sixt of
Maie, wherein the said drawing was fullie ended.” Let us hope that the
ports and havens benefited therefrom.
The next lottery of which we have any knowledge is mentioned by Stowe
in his “Annales,” under date of 1585. “A lotterie for marvellous rich
and beautifull armor was begunne to be drawne at London in _S. Paules_
Churchyard, at the great West gate (an house of timber and boord being
there erected for that purpose) on _S. Peters_ day in the morning,
which lotterie continued in drawing day and night, for the space of two
or three dayes.”
In 1602 Queen Elizabeth visited Sir Thomas Egerton, the Lord Keeper
of the Great Seal, at his mansion at Harefield, Middlesex. She had a
particular liking for presents, and on the preceding New Year’s Day
he had given her an amulet of gold garnished with sparks of rubies,
pearls, and half-pearls, and his wife, dame Elizabeth, presented her
Majesty with “a round kirtell of velvet satten, cut and embroidered
all over like _Esses_ of Venice gold, and a border embroidered like
pyramids; and a doublet of silver chamlett, embroidered with pearls
like leaves, flourished with silver.” He was well aware of her
proclivities, for when she paid him this visit, he presented her with a
_divertissement_ called “a Lottery.” Enter--
“A Marriner with a boxe under his arme, contayning all the severall
things following, supposed to come from the Carricke,[5] came into the
Presence, singing this Song:--
“_Cynthia_, Queene of Seas and Lands,
That Fortune euery where commands,
Send forth Fortune to the Sea,
To try her Fortune euery way:
There did I Fortune meet, which makes me now to sing,
There is no fishing to the Sea, nor service to the King.[6]
“All the Nymphes of Thetis’ traine,
Did _Cinthia’s_ Fortune entertaine:
Many a Iewell, many a Iem,
Was to her Fortune brought by them.
Her Fortune sped so well, as makes me now to sing,
There is no fishing to the Sea, nor service to the King.
“Fortune, that it might be seene
That she did serue a Royall Queene;
A franke and royall hand did beare,
And cast her favors euery where.
Some toyes fel to my share; which makes me now to sing,
There is no fishing to the Sea, nor service to the King.”
[5] A small merchant vessel.
[6] When Queen Elizabeth visited Cowdray, in August, 1591, whilst
walking in the garden, a pseudo-angler met her, and made a long speech,
in the course of which he said, “Madame, it is an olde saying, 'There
is no fishing to the sea, nor service to the King;’ but it holdes when
the sea is calme, and the King vertuous.”
“And the Song ended, he uttered this short speech: God save you,
faire Ladies all; and for my part, if ever I be brought to answere my
sinnes God forgive me my sharking, and lay usury to my charge. I am
a Marriner, and am now come from the sea, where I had the Fortune to
light upon these few trifles. I must confesse I came but lightly by
them; but I no sooner had them, but I made a vow, that as they came
to my hands by Fortune, so I would not part with them but by Fortune.
To that end I ever since carried these Lots about me, that, if I met
with fit company, I might devide my booty among them. And now (I thanke
my good Fortunes) I am lighted into the best company of the world, a
company of the fairest Ladyes that ever I saw. Come, Ladyes, try your
Fortunes; and if any light vpon an vnfortunate Blanke, let her thinke
that Fortune doth but mock her in these trifles, and meanes to pleasure
her in greater matters.”
There were thirty-three lots, of which five were blanks, and the
“Marriner” had an appropriate couplet to say to all. The prizes were
as follow:--1, Fortune’s Wheel (?); 2, a Purse; 3, a Maske;[7] 4, a
Looking Glasse; 5, a Hand-kerchiefe; 6, a Plaine Ring; 7, a Ring with
this posie: “As faithfull as I finde;” 8, a Paire of Gloves; 9, a Dozen
of Points;[8] 10, a Lace; 11, a Paire of Knives; 12, a Girdle; 13, a
Payre of Writing Tables; 14, a Payre of Garters; 15, a Coyfe[9] and
Crosse Cloath;[10] 16, a Falling Band; 17, a Stomacher; 18, a Paire
of Sizzers; 19, a Chaine; 20, a Praier Book; 21, a Snuftkin;[11] 22,
a Fanne; 23, a Paire of Bracelets; 24, a Bodkin; 25, a Necklace; 26,
a Cushinet;[12] 27, a Dyall; 28, a Nutmeg with a blanke parchment in
it.[13]
[7] Used instead of a veil when in the open air.
[8] Staylaces.
[9] A lady’s head-dress.
[10] To wrap round the head or bosom.
[11] A small muff.
[12] A pin-cushion.
[13] Davison’s “Poems.” London, 1621.