St. Paul's, subsequently the City Guildhall was the place, and later
Cooper's Hall, Basinghall Street, was used for this purpose. Before the
day appointed for the drawing of a lottery, public preparations had been
made for it at Somerset House. Each lottery ticket had a counterpart and a
counterfoil, and when the issue of the tickets was complete, an
announcement was made, and a day fixed for the counterparts of the tickets
to be sealed up in a box, and any ticket-holder might attend and see that
his ticket was included with others in a box, and it was placed in a
strong box and locked up with seven keys, then sealed with seven seals.
Two other boxes, locked and sealed as the one with tickets, contained the
prize tickets and blanks. These were removed with ceremony to the place of
drawing. Four prancing horses would draw, on their own sledges, the
wheels of fortune, each of which were about six feet in diameter. By their
side galloped a detachment of Horse Guards. Arrived at their destination,
the great wheels were placed at each end of a long table, where the
managers of the lottery took their seats. With care the tickets were
emptied into the wheels, and finally they were set in motion. Near each
wheel stood a boy, usually from the Blue-Coat School. Simultaneously the
lads put into the wheels their hands, each drawing a paper out. These they
hold up, and an officer, called the proclaimer, calls out in a loud voice
the number, say sixty! another responds a prize or blank, as the case may
be, and the drawing thus proceeds until it is finished, often a long and
tedious piece of work. If even a blank is first drawn, the owner of the
ticket received a prize of a thousand pounds, and a similar sum was won by
the owner of the last ticket drawn. The boys were well rewarded for their
trouble, and on the whole the lotteries appear to have been fairly
conducted.
[Illustration: ADVERTISING THE LAST STATE LOTTERY.]
We give a picture of a pageant-like machine, used in London to advertise
the last state lottery. The artist by whom it was drawn wrote an
entertaining letter respecting it. "As I was walking up Holborn on the
9th of October, 1826," he says, "I saw a strange vehicle moving slowly on,
and when I came up to it, found a machine, perhaps from twenty to thirty
feet high, of an octagon shape, covered all over with lottery papers of
various colours. It had a broad brass band round the bottom, and moved on
a pivot; it had a very imposing effect. The driver and the horse seemed as
dull as though they were attending a solemn funeral, whilst the different
shopkeepers came to the doors and laughed; some of the people passing and
repassing read the bills that were pasted on it, as if they had never read
one before, others stationed themselves to look at it as long as it was in
sight. It entered Monmouth Street, that den of filth and rags, where so
great a number of young urchins gathered together in a few minutes as to
be astonishing. There being an empty chair behind, one of them seated
himself in it, and rode backwards; another said, 'let's have a stone
through it,' and a third cried 'let's sludge it.' This was no sooner
proposed than they threw stones, oyster shells, and dirt, and burst
several of the sheets; this attack brought the driver from his seat, and
he was obliged to walk by the side of his machine up the foul street
which his show canvassed, halting now and then to threaten the boys who
still followed and threw. I made a sketch, and left the scene."
Powerful protests were made in parliament against the immorality of the
lottery. It took a long time to bring those in office to a sense of their
duty. The immense profits they yielded were extremely useful for state
purposes. Mr. Parnell hit hard the men in power, and it was he who
suggested that the following epitaph be inscribed on the tomb of a
Chancellor of the Exchequer:--
"Here lies the
RIGHT HON. NICHOLAS VANSITTART,
once Chancellor of the Exchequer;
the parton of Bible Societies,
the builder of Churches,
a friend to the education of the poor,
an encourager of Savings' Banks,
and a supporter of Lotteries."
On Wednesday, 18th October, 1826, the last state lottery was drawn in
England, and it will not be without interest to reproduce from a London
newspaper a report of the closing proceedings. "Yesterday afternoon," it
is recorded, "at about half past six o'clock, that old servant of the
State, the Lottery, breathed its last, having for a long period of years,
ever since the days of Queen Anne, contributed largely towards the public
revenue of the country. This event took place at Cooper's Hall, Basinghall
Street; and, such was the anxiety on the part of the public to witness the
last drawing of the lottery, that great numbers of persons were attracted
to the spot, independently of those who had an interest in the
proceedings. The gallery of the Cooper's Hall was crowded to excess long
before the period fixed for the drawing (five o'clock), and the utmost
anxiety was felt by those who had shares in the lottery, for the arrival
of the appointed hour. The annihilation of lotteries, it will be
recollected was determined upon in the session of Parliament before last;
and thus, a source of revenue bringing into the treasury the sums of
L250,000 and L300,000 per annum, will be dried up.
This determination on the part of the legislature is hailed, by the
greatest portion of the public, with joy, as it will put an end to a
system which many believe to have fostered and encouraged the late
speculations, the effects of which have been and are still severely felt.
A deficiency in the public revenue, to the extent of L250,000 annually,
will occur, however, in the consequence of this annihilation of lotteries,
and it must remain for those who have strenuously supported the putting a
stop to lotteries, to provide for the deficiency.
Although that which ended yesterday was the last, if we are informed
correctly, the lottery-office keepers have been left with a great number
of tickets remaining on their hands--a pretty strong proof that the
public, in general, have now no relish for these schemes."
The drawing of the lottery commenced shortly after five o'clock, and ended
at twenty minutes past six, so it did not take long to complete the last
state lottery in England.
Those most interested in lotteries did not let them die without trying to
prove their value to the public and the state. Bish, who conducted an
extensive business in tickets, issued an address as follows:--
"At the present moment, when so many of the comforts of the poorer classes
are more or less liable to taxation, it may surely be a question whether
the abolition of lotteries, by which the State was a gainer of nearly
half a million per annum, be, or be not, a wise measure!
'Tis true that, as they were formerly conducted, the system was fraught
with some evil. Insurances were allowed upon the fate of numbers through
protracted drawings; and, as the insurances could be effected for very
small sums, those who could ill afford loss, imbibed a spirit of gambling,
which the legislature, very wisely, most effectually prevented, by
adopting, in the year 1809, the present improved mode of deciding the
whole lottery in one day.
As the present conducted, the lottery is a voluntary tax, contributed to
only by those who can afford it, and collected without trouble or expense;
one by which many branches of the revenue are considerably aided, and by
means of which hundreds of persons find employment. The wisdom of those,
who at this time resign the income produced by it, adds to the number of
the unemployed, may, as I have observed in a former address, surely be
questioned.
Mr. Pitt, whose ability on matters of financial arrangements few will
question, and whose morality was proverbial, would not, I am bold to say,
have yielded to the outcry against a tax, the continuing of which would
have enabled him to let the labourer drink his humble beverage at a
reduced price, or the industrious artisan to pursue his occupation by a
cheaper light. But we live in other times--in the age of improvement! To
stake patrimonal estates at hazard or _ecarte_, in the purlieus of St.
James's, is merely amusement, but to purchase a ticket in the lottery, by
which a man may gain an estate at a trifling risk, is--immoral! Nay,
within a few hours of the time I write, were not many of our nobility and
senators, some of whom, I dare say, voted against lotteries, assembled,
betting thousands upon a horse race?
In saying so much, it may be thought that I am somewhat presumptuous, or
that I take a partial view of the case. It is, however, my honest opinion,
abstracted from personal considerations, that the measure of abolishing
lotteries is an unwise one, and, as such, I give it to that public, of
which I have been, for many years, the highly favoured servant, and for
whose patronage, though lotteries cease, my gratitude will ever continue."
We will close our studies on this subject with a copy of an epitaph
written in remembrance of these old-time institutions. It is as
follows:--
In Memory of
THE STATE LOTTERY,
the last of a long line
whose origin in England commenced
in the year 1569,
which, after a series of tedious complaints,
_Expired_
on the
18th day of October, 1826.
During a period of 257 years, the family
flourished under the powerful protection
of the
British Parliament;
the Minister of the day continuing to
give them his support for the improvement
of the revenue.
As they increased, it was found that their
continuance corrupted the morals
and encouraged a spirit
of Speculation and Gambling among the lower
classes of the people;
thousands of whom fell victims to their
insinuating and tempting allurements.
Many philanthropic individuals
in the Senate,
at various times for a series of years,
pointed out their baneful influence
without effect,
His Majesty's Ministers
still affording them their countenance
and protection.
The British Parliament
being, at length, convinced of their
mischievous tendency,
His Majesty, GEORGE IV.,
on the 9th July, 1823,
pronounced sentence of condemnation
on the whole of the race;
from which time they were almost
NEGLECTED BY THE BRITISH PUBLIC.
Very great efforts were made by the
Partizans and friends of the family to
excite
the public feeling in favour of the last
of the race, in vain:
It continued to linger out the few
remaining
moments of its existence without attention
or sympathy, and finally terminated
its career, unregretted by any
virtuous mind.
Bear-Baiting.
Few sports in England have been more popular than bear-baiting. Other
forms of amusement waned before its attractions. The Sovereign, in the
days of old, had as a member of his Court a Bearward, as well as a
Chancellor. In and about London the sport was largely patronised, but it
was by no means confined to the Metropolis; in all parts of the country
bear-baitings were held. Fitzstephen, a monk of Canterbury, who lived in
the reign of Henry II., in his description of London, relates that in the
forenoon of every holy day during the winter season, the youthful
Londoners were amused with the baiting of bears and other animals. He says
the bears were full grown.
Edward III., in his proclamation, includes bear-baiting amongst
"dishonest, trivial, and useless games." The proclamation does not appear
to have had any lasting effect on the public as regards bear-baiting. The
diversion increased in popularity.
Southwark was a popular place for baiting animals, and Sunday the usual
day for the amusement. Stow has several notes bearing on this theme. In
respect to charges to witness the sport, he tells us "those who go to the
Paris Garden, the Belle Sauvage, the Theatre, to behold bear-baiting,
interludes, or fence-play, must not account (_i.e._, reckon on) any
pleasant spectacle unless they first pay one penny at the gate, another at
the entrie of the scaffold, and a third for quiet standing." We learn from
Stow that at Southwark were two bear-gardens, the old and the new; places
wherein were kept bears, bulls, and other beasts to be baited; as also
mastiffs in their several kennels were there nourished to bait them. These
bears and other beasts were baited in plots of ground scaffolded round for
the beholders to stand safe. Stow condemns the foulness of these rude
sights, and says the money idly thrown away upon them might have been
given to the poor.
In the reign of Henry VIII., Erasmus visited England, and he relates that
many herds of bears were maintained at the Court for the purpose of being
baited. We are further told by him that the rich nobles had their
bearwards, and the Royal establishment its Master of the King's Bears.
[Illustration: BEAR GARDEN, OR HOPE THEATRE. 1647.]
Men were not wanting to raise their voices against this brutal sport even
at the time kings favoured it. Towards the close of the reign of Henry
VIII., Crowley wrote some lines, which we have modernised, as follows:--
"What folly is this to keep with danger
A great mastiff dog, and foul, ugly bear,
And to this intent to see these two fight
With terrible tearing, a full ugly sight.
And methinks these men are most fools of all
Whose store of money is but very small,
And yet every Sunday they will surely spend
A penny or two, the bear-ward's living to mend.
At Paris Garden, each Sunday, a man shall not fail
To find two or three hundred for the bear-ward's vale;
One halfpenny a piece they use for to give
When some have not more in their purses, I believe.
Well, at the last day their conscience will declare
That the poor ought to have all that they may spare,
If you therefore go to witness a bear fight
Be sure that God His curse will upon you alight."
We may recognise the zeal of the writer, but we cannot commend the merits
of his poetry.
When Princess Elizabeth was confined at Hatfield House, she was visited by
her sister, Queen Mary. On the morning after her arrival, after mass was
over, a grand entertainment of bear-baiting took place, much to their
enjoyment.
Elizabeth, as a princess, took a delight in this sport, and when she
occupied the throne she gave it her support. When the theatre, in the
palmy days of Shakespeare and Burbage, was attracting a larger share of
public patronage than the bear garden, she waxed indignant, and in 1591 an
order was issued from the Privy Council, forbidding "plays to be performed
on Thursdays because bear-baiting and such pastimes had usually been
practised." The Lord Mayor followed the order with an injunction in which
it was stated "that in divers places the players are not to recite
their plays to the great hurt and destruction of the game of bear-baiting
and suchlike pastimes, which are maintained for Her Majesty's pleasure."
[Illustration: THE GLOBE THEATRE. TEMP. ELIZABETH.]
During the famous visit in 1575, of Queen Elizabeth to the Earl of
Leicester, at Kenilworth Castle, baiting thirteen bears by ban dogs (a
small kind of mastiff), was one of the entertainments provided for the
royal guest.
History furnishes several instances of the Queen having animals baited for
the diversion of Ambassadors. On May 25, 1559, the French Ambassadors
dined with the Queen, and after dinner bulls and bears were baited by
English dogs. She and her guests stood looking at the pastime until six
o'clock. Next day the visitors went by water to the Paris Garden, where
similar sports were held. In 1586, the Danish Ambassadors were received at
Greenwich by Her Majesty, and bull and bear baiting were part of the
amusements provided. Towards the close of her reign, the Queen entertained
another set of Ambassadors with a bear-bait at the Cockpit near St.
James's. Baiting animals appears to have been the chief form of amusement
provided by the Queen for foreign visitors.
Edmund Alleyn, founder of Dulwich College, was for a long time part owner
of the bear gardens at Southwark. Mr. Edward Walford thinks that he was
obliged to become a proprietor to make good his position as a player, and
to carry out his theatrical designs. He had to purchase the patent office
of "Beare ward," or "Master of the King's Beares." Alleyn is reputed to
have had a well stocked garden. On one occasion, when Queen Elizabeth
wanted a grand display of bear-baiting, Sir John Dorrington, the chief
master of Her Majesty's "Games of Bulls and Bears," applied and obtained
animals from Alleyn.
The following advertisement written in a large hand was found amongst the
Alleyn papers, and is supposed to be the original placard exhibited at the
entrance of the bear-garden. It is believed to date back to the days of
James I.:--
"Tomorrowe being Thursdaie shalbe seen at the Bear-gardin on the
banckside a greate mach plaid by the gamsters of Essex, who hath
chalenged all comers whatsoever to plaie v dogs at the single beare
for v pounds, and also to wearie a bull dead at the stake; and for
your better content shall have plasent sport with the horse and ape
and whiping of the blind beare. Vivat Rex!"
The public had to be protected from the dogs employed in this sport.
From the "Archives of Winchester," published 1856, a work compiled from
the city records, we find it stated.--"By an Ordinance of the 4th of
August, in the twenty-eighth year of the reign of Elizabeth, bull-dogs
were prohibited roving throughout the city unmuzzled. Itm.--That noe
person within this citie shall suffer or permit any of theire Mastife
Doggs to goe unmusselled, uppon paine of everie defalte herein of 3s. 4d.
to be levied by distresse, to the use of the Poore people of the citie."
[Illustration: PLAN OF BANKSIDE EARLY IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY.]
James I. was a lover of hunting and other sports, and gave his patronage
to bear-baiting. We learn from Nichols' "Progresses and Processions," that
the King commanded that a bear which had killed a child which had
negligently been left in the bear-house of the Tower, be baited to death
upon a stage. The order was carried out in presence of a large gathering
of spectators.
In a letter written on July 12th, 1623, by Mr. Chamberlain to Sir Dudley
Carleton, the following passage occurs:--"The Spanish Ambassador is much
delighted in bear-baiting. He was last week at Paris Garden, where they
showed him all the pleasure they could both with bull, bear, and horse,
besides jackanapes, and then turned a white bear into the Thames, where
the dogs baited him swimming, which was the best sport of all."
Mr. William Kelly, in his work entitled "Notices Illustrative of the Drama
and other Popular Amusements, Chiefly in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth
Centuries," has some very curious information relating to bear-baiting.
The Leicester town accounts contain entries of many payments given to the
bear-wards of Edward VI., Queen Elizabeth, and members of the nobility.
Leicester had its bear-garden, but we learn from Mr. Kelly that the local
authorities were not content to see the sport there, "as it was introduced
at the Mayor's feast, at the Town Hall, which was attended by many of the
nobility and gentry of the neighbourhood." We may suppose that, taking the
place usually occupied by the "interlude," the bear was baited in the Hall
in the interval between the feast and the "banquet" or dessert, and the
company, like the Spanish Ambassador, no doubt witnessed the exhibition
"with great delight." Much might be said relating to Leicester, but we
must be content with drawing upon Mr. Kelly for one more item. "In the
summer of 1589 (probably at the invitation of the Mayor), the High
Sheriff, Mr. Skeffington, and 'divers other gentlemen with him,' were
present at 'a great beare-beating' in the town, and were entertained, at
the public expense, with wine and sugar, and a present of 'ten shillings
in gold' was also made."
A couplet concerning Congleton Church Bible being sold to purchase a bear
to bait at the annual feast, has made the town known in all parts of the
country. The popular rhyme says:--
"Congleton rare, Congleton rare,
Sold the Bible to pay for a bear."
The scandal has been related in prose and poetry by many pens. Natives of
the ancient borough are known as "Congleton Bears"--by no means a pleasant
epithet. The inhabitants make the best of the story, and tell how just
before the wakes their only bear died, and it was feared that they would
be unable to obtain another to enjoy their popular sport. The bear-ward
was most diligent in collecting money to buy another animal, but after all
his exertions he failed to obtain the required amount. He at last made
application to the local authorities, and as they had a small sum in the
"towne's boxe" put aside for the purchase of a Bible for the chapel, it
was lent, and it is presumed that the sum of 16s. was duly returned, and
the scriptures were obtained.
Egerton Leigh, in his "Cheshire Ballads," has an amusing poem bearing on
this subject, and he concludes it as follows:--
"The townsmen, 'tis true, would explain it away,
In those days when Bibles were so dear they say,
That they th' old Bible swopped at the wakes for a bear,
Having first bought a new book.
Thus shrink they the sneer,
And taunts 'gainst their town thus endeavour to clear."
The town accounts show how popular must have been the sport at Congleton.
The following are a few items:--
1589. Imprimis to Mr. Trafforde, his man, the bearewarde 0 4 4
That was given Sir John Hollecrofts bearewarde 0 2 0
1591. Payd yt was given Shelmerdyne ye bearewarde at wakes 0 2 0
1597. Payd that was given to Mr. Haughton, of Haughton,
towards his man that had beares here 0 5 0
1610. Kelsall bearward 0 5 0
To the players and bearewarde at the wakes 0 15 0
1611. Bullward and bearward at wakes 0 15 0
1612. William Hardern to fetch Shelmadene again with his
bears at Whitsuntide 0 1 3
He refused to come, and Bramt, the bearward, came
and was paid 0 6 8
Fetching the bears at the wakes 0 3 6
Fetching two more bears 1s., bearward 15s. 0 16 0
1613. Item payd to Willm. Statborne for fetching the
bearewarde (from Knutsford) at the wakes 0 1 0
1621. Given Raufe Shelmerdyne for sport made by him with
his beares at Congleton Wakes 0 10 0
Item paide to Brocke, the bearewarde, at Whitsuntide 0 5 8
Such are a few examples of the many entries which appear in the Congleton
town accounts relating to bear-baiting.
Congleton is not the only place reproached for selling the church Bible
for enabling the inhabitants to enjoy the pastime of bear-baiting. Two
miles distant from Rugby is the village of Clifton, and, says a couplet,
"Clifton-upon-Dunsmore, in Warwickshire,
Sold the church Bible to buy a bear."
Another version of the old rhyme is as follows:--
"The People of Clifton-super-Dunsmore
Sold ye Church Byble to buy a bayre."
There is a tradition that in the days of old the Bible was removed from
the Parish Church of Ecclesfield and pawned by the churchwardens to
provide the means of a bear-baiting. Some accounts state this occurred at
Bradfield, and not at Ecclesfield. The "bull-and-bear stake" at the latter
Yorkshire village was near the churchyard.
Under the Commonwealth this pastime was not permitted, but when the
Stuarts were once more on the throne bear-baiting and other sports became
popular.
Hockley-in-the-Hole, near Clerkenwell, in the days of Addison, was a
favourite place for the amusement. There is a reference to the subject in
the _Spectator_ of August 11th, 1731, wherein it is suggested that those
who go to the theatres for a laugh should "seek their diversion at the
bear garden, where reason and good manners have no right to disturb them."
Gay, in his "Trivia," devotes some lines to this subject. He says:--
"Experienced men inured to city ways
Need not the calendar to count their days,
When through the town, with slow and solemn air,
Led by the nostril walks the muzzled bear;
Behind him moves, majestically dull,
The pride of Hockley Hole, the surly bull,
Learn hence the periods of the week to name--
Mondays and Thursdays are the days of game."
Towards the close of the last century the pastime, once the pleasure of
king's and queens and the highest nobles in the land, was mainly upheld by
the working classes. A bill, in 1802, was introduced into the House of
Commons to abolish baiting animals. The measure received the support of
Courtenay, Sheridan, and Wilberforce, men of power in Parliament, but Mr.
Windham, who led the opposition, won the day. He pronounced it "as the
first result of a conspiracy of the Jacobins and Methodists to render the
people grave and serious, preparatory to obtaining their assistance in the
furtherance of other anti-national schemes." The bill was lost by thirteen
votes. In 1835, baiting animals was finally stopped by Act of Parliament.
Morris-Dancers.
Says Dr. Johnson: "the Morris-Dance, in which bells are jingled, or staves
or swords clashed, was learned by the Moors, and was probably a kind of
Pyrrhic, or military dance. "Morisco," says Blount (Span.), a Moor; also a
dance, so called, wherein there were usually five men, and a boy dressed
in a girl's habit, whom they called the Maid Marrion, or perhaps Morian,
from the Italian Morione, a head-piece, because her head was wont to be
gaily trimmed up. Common people called it a Morris-Dance." Such are the
statements made at the commencement of a chapter on this subject in
"Brand's Popular Antiquities."