3000 10000
1500 5000
_with the third number_ will gain
3000 guineas if 20000
1500 10000
1200 5000
* * * * *
In the lottery act of 1782 there was a clause designed to prevent the
insurance of tickets by any method. The lottery-office keepers persisted
in their devices, and the magistrates enforced the law.
About the beginning of January 1785 several lottery-office keepers were
convicted, before the lord mayor and aldermen, in penalties of fifty
pounds each for insuring numbers contrary to law; and in Trinity term
the following cause was tried at Westminster, before lord Loughborough.
A lottery-office keeper near Charing-cross was plaintiff, and the
sheriff of Middlesex defendant. The action was to recover one thousand
five hundred and sixty-six pounds, levied by the sheriff, about a year
past, on the plaintiff’s goods, by virtue of three writs of _fieri
facias_, issued from the court of King’s-bench. It seems that the above
plaintiff was convicted in three penalties of five hundred pounds each,
for insuring lottery tickets; but previous to the trial’s coming on, for
some indulgence, he had, by himself or agents, consented not to bring
any writ of error, and an order of _nisi prius_ was drawn up, and served
upon his attorney; notwithstanding which, three writs of error were sued
out. The court of King’s-bench being then moved, made an order that the
executions should be levied according to the original rule of court: the
sheriff made the levy, and the money being paid and impounded in his
hands, the above action was brought to get the same returned. The
novelty of the action caused much laughter among the counsel, and, after
a few minutes’ hearing, his lordship ordered the plaintiff to be
nonsuited.[479]
LOTTERY WOOD CUTS.
It is to be remarked, that at this period engravings on their printed
addresses do not seem to have been resorted to by the lottery-schemers
as they have been since, for the purpose of stimulating attention to
their plans. No subject of the kind therefore can be given, to
illustrate their proceedings at the time now under review; but on
arriving, as we shall presently, at days nearer our own, they crowd upon
us, and _several_ will be given in the next sheet as specimens of their
ingenuity and taste.
CHARLES PRICE, _alias_ PATCH, &c.
This man was a lottery-office keeper. His notoriety and his fate render
him one of the most remarkable characters of the age wherein he lived;
it is therefore proposed to give a brief outline of his life.
His father, Charles Price, was “by trade a tailor.” He came from South
Wales, about the year 1702, and worked at several places in London, till
in 1710 he got into Monmouth-street, as journeyman to a salesman there.
By strict application he was, in a few years, enabled to set up as a
master, and kept a saleshop the corner of Earl-street and West-street,
Seven Dials. Some time previous to this he had married a woman who bore
a very good character. He was very clever in his business, but
illiterate; yet exceedingly artful, and the flower of Monmouth-street
for oratory in the sale of his goods: at the same time, he was sincere
in his friendships, despised downright knavery, and had a regard to
reputation. His eldest son, Thomas, was bred to his father’s business.
One Creed, a salesman in Rosemary-lane, used to send him with a cart
loaded with goods round the country; and Creed dying, Thomas decamped
with the produce of one journey, about 200_l._ For this, and for similar
acts of knavery in his brother Charles, he left them only a shilling
each, and bequeathed the rest of his property to his daughter. Thomas
died young.
Charles, the hero of our history, when about six years of age, was sent
to school, where he acquired the rudiments of the French language, and
was so neglected in his own, that he was complete in neither. At about
twelve years’ old he was taken home to assist his father, where he soon
gave proofs of address similar to the following.
A sailor who had staggered to Monmouth-street to buy some clothes, was
caught by Charles at the corner, and introduced by him into a room,
where, in a summer’s noon, it was hardly possible to distinguish blue
from black, or green from blue. The honest tar was shown a coat and
waistcoat, the real value of which was about two guineas. Though they
were considerably too little, Charles squeezed him up, and persuaded him
they fitted exactly. The price being demanded, Charles declared upon his
honour the lowest farthing he could take was five guineas. The sailor
put his hand in his pocket, and laid down the money. Charles stepped
down to his father’s journeyman, under pretence of getting something to
put the clothes in, and told him the customer he met with, and that he
might as well have had six guineas as five. “Do you,” said he, “follow
me up stairs, inquire what I have done, pretend to be very angry, swear
they cost you six guineas, give me two or three kicks or cuffs, and I
dare swear we shall get more money out of him, and then, as my father is
not at home, you shall go halves in all we get above the five guineas.”
The scheme was readily acquiesced in by the journeyman. Charles slipped
up stairs; the journeyman followed, inquiry, blame, and sham blows
ensued; the journeyman declared the clothes cost him six guineas out of
his pocket, and was going to beat Charles again, when the sailor cried,
“Avast, master, don’t beat the boy, if he has made a mistake in a
guinea, why here it is;” and laying it down, departed well pleased with
his bargain, and that he had saved the lad a drubbing by the
insignificant trifle of an additional guinea. Charles gave his father
two guineas, the journeyman half a one, and kept three guineas and a
half to himself.
The father soon experienced the effects of his son’s knavery, and put
him apprentice to a hatter and hosier in St. James’s-street, with a
considerable premium, hoping that his conduct would be quite different
from what it had been at home; but his master had almost as much reason
to complain of him as his father. Among his other frauds was the
following: he robbed his father of an elegant suit of clothes, in which
he dressed himself and went to his master, of whom he purchased about
ten pounds’ worth of silk stockings, leaving his address, Benjamin
Bolingbroke, esq., Hanover-square, and ordering them to be sent in an
hour’s time, when he would pay the person who brought them. Incredible
as it may appear, his master did not know him; to complete the cheat, he
came back in half an hour, in his usual dress, and was ordered to take
the goods home, which he actually pretended to do, and thus robbed his
master. Having been detected in his villainies, he ran away; and his
father, in detestation of his principles, disinherited him, soon
afterwards died, and was buried at Lambeth. It may be remarked, that he
was the first corpse carried over Westminster-bridge, which was on the
first day it was free for carriages, when multitudes flocked to see the
opening of the new structure.
Before his father’s death, Charles Price became a gentleman’s servant,
and in that capacity lived some years, till he got into the service of
sir Francis Blake Delaval, went with him the tour of Europe, returned to
England, and through sir Francis, who was the companion of the
celebrated Samuel Foote, became comedian. He acted a principal part in
the scheme by which sir Francis obtained his lady, with a very large
fortune. She went to consult a conjuror, and Foote performed the
character to the satisfaction of his friend. Price afterwards contrived
to conjure Foote out of 500_l._ in a sham scheme in a brewery, wherein
that gentleman and Price were concerned. Price was made a bankrupt, and
afterwards set up in a distillery, defrauded the revenue, was sent to
the King’s-bench, released by an insolvent act, again turned brewer, and
defrauded a gentleman out of 6000_l._ through one of his disguises. He
then became a lottery-office keeper and stockbroker, gambled in the
alley, was ruined, again set up lottery-office keeper, courted a Mrs.
Pounteney, and ran away with her niece, who was the daughter of justice
Wood, in the Borough. He practised innumerable frauds, became an adept
in swindling, and had the effrontery to avow his depredations, and laugh
at those he injured.
Price was intimate with a Mr. R----s, a grocer retired from business,
with whom he had for a long time passed as a stockbroker. Price, who
then lived at Knightsbridge, frequently used to request the favour of
Mr. R. to take a bank-note or two into the city, and get them changed
into small ones. In this he had a two-fold plot. He informed his friend
that he was intimately acquainted with a very old gentleman, exceedingly
rich, who had been an eminent broker in the alley, but had long retired;
that his monies in the funds were immense; that the only relation he had
in the world was one sister, to whom he intended to bequeath the best
part of his property; and that his sister was near fifty years of age,
had never been married, and determined never to marry; and that it was
impossible the old gentleman could live long, as he was very old, very
infirm, and almost incapable of going out of doors. This old gentleman,
Price said, had often asked him to become his executor; and besought him
to recommend another person, in whose fidelity, character, and
integrity, he could repose an entire confidence, and that he would make
it well worth their while, if they would undertake so friendly and
solemn an office.--“Now,” said Price to Mr. R., “here is an opportunity
for us to make a considerable sum in a short time, and, in all
probability, a very capital fortune in a few years; for the sister being
determined not to marry, and having no relations in the world, there is
no doubt but she will leave us the whole of the estate; and, after his
decease, she will become totally dependent upon us.--I shall see the old
gentleman, Mr. Bond, to-day, and if you will join in the trust, the will
shall be immediately made.”
[Illustration: ~Charles Price, the Arch-Imposter,~
IN HIS USUAL DRESS--AND IN DISGUISE.]
To this proposal Mr. R. consented. In the evening Price returned to
Knightsbridge. He told Mr. R. that he had visited Mr. Bond, who
expressed great happiness and easiness of mind on such a recommendation,
and desired to see Mr. R. the next day. Price appointed to meet him at
twelve o’clock at Mr. Bond’s. At the appointed hour, Mr. R. knocked at
the door. He was shown up stairs by the aforementioned sister-lady, and
introduced to Mr. Bond, seated in a great chair, his legs in another,
and covered with a night-cap. The poor, infirm, weak, debilitated, old
gentleman regretted the absence of his ever-dear friend Mr. Price, the
most worthy man in the world, and rang a peal on his friendship, honour,
honesty, integrity, &c., &c., accompanied with emaciated coughs--was
obliged to go to the city coffee-house--a punctual man--never failed an
appointment--it was the soul of business--and then he told Mr. R. that
his dear friend desired to meet Mr. R. there exactly at one o’clock--he
approved highly of Mr. Price’s recommendation, and was now happy in his
mind--it wanted but a quarter to one, he believed, and he hoped Mr. R.
would not fail, as his dear friend was very exact indeed. The usual
compliments passed; the sister conducted Mr. R. to the door, who posted
away to the city coffee-house, and left old Mr. Bond, the rich brother,
who was in reality no other than Mr. Price, and the brother’s maiden
sister, who was a Mrs. Pounteney, to laugh at Mr. R.’s credulity. Mr. R.
had not been five minutes in the coffee-house before he was joined by
his friend Price, to whom Mr. R. recapitulated what passed, and as soon
as Price had despatched some pretended business, he proposed calling on
Mr. Bond. This was readily acquiesced in by Mr. R. and away they drove
to Leather-lane. When they came there, they were informed by the lady,
that her brother was just gone out in a coach, on an airing, to
Highgate. In short, Price carried on the scheme completely for several
days, during which time Mr. R. had twice or thrice seen the old
gentleman. The will was made, and, on the strength of the joint
executorship and expectancy, Mr. R. was swindled out of very near a
thousand pounds in cash, and bonds to the amount of two hundred pounds.
Another anecdote, though it does not exhibit him in his Proteus-like
character, exemplifies his cunning and selfishness. He had formed a
connection with Mr. W----, a brewer, a man of character. Price, who was
then in the brewery, proposed a project, which was assented to, for
purchasing hops to the amount of two thousand pounds, and he actually
went into the country, contracted for hops to that amount with
hop-growers in Kent, and then applied to Mr. W. for the two thousand
pounds, alledging that there would be a sudden rise of hops, and they
could not be delivered too soon; and that Mr. W. should have his share
of the profit. From some undisclosed motive, Mr. W. refused to advance
the money. An unexpected rise, however, did soon after take place, Price
went into Kent to demand delivery, the growers were shy in delivering,
especially as they found they had made a bad bargain, and he gained two
hundred pounds for releasing them.
Price was servile to extreme meanness, where his servility could be
recompensed by a shilling. He was master of consummate effrontery, when
principle called upon him for that shilling, if it was unsupported by
law. He never paid but with an eye to further plunder; and then he
abounded in that species of flattery distinguished under the word
_palaver_. He possessed an extensive knowledge of men and manners, and
to superficial observers appeared a very sensible person. He knew
something of most of the living languages; had travelled all over France
and Holland, and been at most of the German courts. He was at Copenhagen
during the crisis in the fate of the unhappy Matilda queen of Denmark,
sister to George III.; and he wrote a pamphlet in her behalf, tending to
prove that the true motive for the degrading attack on her character,
was to effect a revolution in favour of the queen dowager’s son. It
proved him to have an eye directed to the cabals of the court, and an
understanding capable of developing its intrigues.
Price’s character about the ’Change in London was well-known--he was a
keen, intriguing speculator, well versed in the mystery of the bulls and
bears: his head enabled him to make the most accurate calculations, but
his heart would not permit him to enjoy the fruit of even his honest
labours; for he never would comply with the demands of a fortunate
customer, unless terrified into it,--and to terrify him required no
small portion of ingenuity and resolution. His dishonesty was the spring
of all his misfortunes; it made him shift from place to place to avoid
the abuse of the vulgar, and the clamorous calls of the few fortunate
adventurers in the lottery. His last office was the corner of
King-street, Covent-garden, from whence he was driven, by a run of
ill-luck, into a private decampment.
From that period, Price lived in obscurity. Though a perfect sycophant
abroad, at home he was an absolute tyrant; nor could a prudent, virtuous
woman, endowed with every qualification to render the marriage state
happy, soften his brutal disposition, when the ample fortune he obtained
with her had been squandered. Having a family of eight children to
support, he turned his thoughts to fatal devices, and commenced to forge
on the bank of England. His first attack on the bank was about the year
1780, when one of his notes had been taken there, so complete in the
engraving, the signature, the water-marks, and all its parts, that it
passed through various hands unsuspected, and was not discovered till it
came to a certain department, through which no forgery whatever can pass
undiscovered. The appearance of this note occasioned a considerable
alarm among the directors; and forgery upon forgery flowed in, about the
lottery and Christmas times, without the least probability of
discovering the first negociators. Various consultations were held,
innumerable plans were laid for detection, and they were traced in every
quarter to have proceeded from one man, always disguised, and always
inaccessible.
Had Price permitted a partner in his proceedings--had he employed an
engraver--had he procured paper to be made for him, with water-marks
upon it, he must soon have been discovered--but he “was himself
_alone_.” He engraved his own plates, made his own paper with the
water-marks, and, as much as possible, he was his own negociator. He
thereby confined a secret to himself, which he deemed not safe in the
breast of another; even Mrs. Price had not the least knowledge or
suspicion of his proceedings. Having practised engraving till he had
made himself sufficient master of it, he then made his own ink to prove
his own works. He next purchased implements, and manufactured the
water-mark, and began to counterfeit hand-writings. Private attempts to
discover him proved thoroughly abortive, and the bank came to the
resolution of describing the offender by the following public
advertisement, which was continued in all the newspapers for a
considerable time to no purpose. It is a very curious document, from the
minuteness with which his disguise is particularized.
_Public-office, Bow-street, Dec. 5, 1780._
A FORGERY.
Whereas a person, answering the following description, stands charged
with forging two notes, purporting to be bank-notes, one for forty
pounds and the other for twenty pounds, whoever will apprehend him, or
give such immediate notice at this office as may be the means of
apprehending him, shall receive one hundred pounds’ reward on his
commitment.
Or, if any person concerned in the above forgery, (except the person
here-under described,) will surrender and discover his or her
accomplices, he or she will be admitted an evidence for the crown,
and, on conviction of any one offender therein, receive two hundred
pounds’ reward.
And if any engraver, paper-maker, mould-maker or printer, can give
information of the engraving any plate, making any mould or paper, or
printing any note resembling bank-notes, shall receive two hundred
pounds’ reward, on conviction of any of the offenders in the above
forgery.
He appears about fifty years of age, about five feet six inches high,
stout made, very sallow complexion, dark eyes and eye-brows, speaks in
general very deliberately, with a foreign accent; has worn a black
patch over his left eye, tied with a string round his head, sometimes
wears a white wig, his hat flapped before, and nearly so at the sides,
a brown camblet great coat, buttons of the same, with a large cape,
which he always wears so as to cover the lower part of his face;
appears to have very thick legs, which hang over his shoes, as if
swelled, his shoes are very broad at the toes, and little narrow
old-fashioned silver buckles, black stocking breeches, walks with a
short crutch stick with an ivory head, stoops, or affects to stoop
very much, and walks slow as if infirm; he has lately hired many
hackney-coaches in different parts of the town, and been frequently
set down in or near Portland-place, in which neighbourhood it is
supposed he lodges.
He is connected with a woman who answers the following
description:--She is rather tall, and genteel, thin face and person,
about thirty years of age, light hair, rather a yellow cast on her
face, and pitted with the small pox, a down-cast look, speaks very
slow, sometimes wears a coloured linen jacket and petticoat, and
sometimes a white one, a small black bonnet, and a black cloak, and
assumes the character of a lady’s maid.
N. B. It is said, that about fifteen months since he lodged at Mrs.
Parker’s, No. 40, in Great Titchfield-street, (who is since dead,) at
which time he went by the name of Wigmore.
This advertisement drove Price to extremities:--it forced him to refrain
from the circulation of his forgeries, and for some months put a total
stop to them. It was posted on the walls, and printed as hand-bills, and
delivered from house to house throughout the whole of the quarter where
he was most suspected to reside; at the very house which he daily
resorted to, and where all his implements were fixed; in the
neighbourhood of Marybone, Portland-place, Oxford-street, and
Tottenham-court-road. One of them was thrown down an area to the only
person in whom he placed any confidence, a female whom the reader will
be better acquainted with. By these means Price was informed of his
immediate danger, and took his measures accordingly. Eagerness to secure
banished the foresight and caution which are necessary in the pursuit of
artful villany. The animal whose sagacity is a proverb, can never be
secured in haste; he must be entrapped by superior patience and caution.
Though Price had no partner in any branch of the forgery of a bank-note,
yet he had a confidante in his wife’s aunt, by the mother’s side, whom
he had known previous to his marriage. Her name was Pounteney; and,
unknown to Mrs. Price, he was daily with her. He divided his
dinner-times equally between the two, and Mrs. Price had for ten years’
past, through the impositions of her husband, considered her aunt either
as dead, or residing abroad. His wife had too little art, or
understanding in the ways of the world, to be what is commonly called
cunning. In short, her character was that of perfect simplicity. Price
therefore thought her not fit to be trusted. Her aunt, on the contrary,
was wily, crafty and capable of executing any plan Price would chalk out
for her. She was a woman after his own heart; and having made choice of
this woman as an assistant, and his apparatus being ready, he began his
operations. He lived then at Paddington with his wife, whom he went to
nightly; and at lodgings, near Portland-place, he daily visited her
aunt, where the implements for his undertakings were concealed. His next
and chief object was a negociator, and he procured one in the following
manner.
Previous to the drawing of the lottery for the year 1780, Price put an
advertisement into the “Daily Advertiser” for a servant who had been
used to live with a single gentleman, and the direction was to “C. C.
Marlborough-street coffee-house, Broad-street, Carnaby-market.” An
honest young man, who at that time lived with a musical instrument-maker
in the Strand, read this advertisement, and sent a letter to the
specified address. At the end of a week, one evening, about dusk, a
coachman inquired for the person who had answered the advertisement,
saying there was a gentleman over the way, in a coach, wanted to speak
with him. The young man went to the coach, was desired to step in, and
there saw an apparently aged foreigner, gouty, wrapped up with five or
six yards of flannel about his legs, a camblet surtout buttoned up over
his chin, close to his mouth, a large _patch_ over his left eye, and
every part of his face concealed except his nose, right eye, and a small
part of that cheek. This person was Price, who caused the young man to
sit at his left side, on which eye the patch was; so that Price could
take an askance look at him with his right eye, and discover only a
small portion of his own face. Thus disguised, he seemed between sixty
and seventy years of age, and afterwards, when the man saw him standing,
he appeared nearly six feet high, owing to boots or shoes with heels
little less than four inches high. To aid the deception, he was so
buttoned up and straightened as to appear perfectly lank. Price’s real
height was about five feet six inches; he was a compact, neat made man,
rather square shouldered, and somewhat inclined to corpulency; his legs
were firm and well set. His features assisted his design to look
considerably older than he really was; his nose was aquiline, his eyes
were small and grey, his mouth stood very much inwards, his lips were
very thin, his chin was pointed and prominent, he had a pale complexion,
and loss of teeth favoured his disguise of speech. His natural form was
exceedingly upright; he was active and quick in his walk, and was what
is usually described “a dapper made man.” To the young man, whose
christian name was Samuel, Price affected great age, with a faint hectic
cough, and so much bodily infirmity as almost to disable him from
getting out of the coach. Price told him he was not wanted by himself,
but as under servant to a young nobleman of fortune, under age, and then
in Bedfordshire, to whom he was, and had been some years, guardian. He
inquired into the particulars of Samuel’s life, and thinking him honest
and ingenuous, and therefore unsuspicious, and suitable to his purpose,
he talked to him about wages. Samuel inquired whether he was to be in
livery or not: Price replied, that he could not really tell, for the
young nobleman was a very whimsical character, but that was a
circumstance which might be settled hereafter. To carry on the farce, he
desired Samuel to call his master to the coach to give him a character,
and his master came and gave him such an one as Price pretended to
approve; he then hired Samuel at eighteen shillings per week, and
gave him a direction to himself, as Mr. _Brank_, at No. 39,
Titchfield-street, Oxford-street.
Pursuant to appointment, on the second or third evening afterwards,
Samuel went to Titchfield-street, and there entered on the service of
the minor nobleman, by waiting on Mr. _Brank_. Price resumed his
discourse respecting his ward, the eccentricity and prodigality of his
manners, and his own hard task in endeavouring to prevent him from
squandering his money, especially in those deceitful allurances called
lottery tickets. He said, although he was his guardian, he was still
obliged to comply with some of those whims, in opposition to his own
advice and remonstrance. Old Mr. _Brank_ talked of the happy prospects
for Samuel by serving such a master, and Samuel talked of his wages and
clothes, and whether he was to be in livery or not. It was concluded,
that for the present he should procure a drab coat, turned up with red,
till the nobleman’s pleasure was known, or he came to town: he was
ordered to get the clothes at his own charge, and make out his bill;
which he did, but was never repaid. This circumstance corresponded with
Price’s usual conduct: he never was known to part with a shilling from
one hand, till he had more than double its value in the other. It should
be observed, that Samuel was so placed on the left side of the pretended
Mr. Brank, on which side the patch was, that during the whole of the
conversation he could never see the right side of Price’s face.
Before Samuel took leave of the old gentleman, he was ordered to come
again in the evening of the first day of the drawing of the lottery.
Price pretended, that he seldom went to the nobleman’s town house of an
evening, and therefore, to avoid giving him unnecessary trouble, he was
to attend in Titchfield-street. On that evening he pulled out a variety
of papers, letters, &c., and told Samuel he had received orders from the
thoughtless young nobleman to purchase lottery tickets, as a venture
against his coming to town, and for that purpose he meant to employ
Samuel. He produced some seeming bank-notes, and gave Samuel two, one of
twenty pounds, the other of forty pounds. He directed him to take their
numbers and dates on a piece of paper, for fear of losing them, and to
go to a lottery office in the Hay-market, and with the one of twenty
pounds to purchase “an eight guinea chance:” from thence he was to go to
the corner of Bridge-street, Westminster, to buy another out of the
forty pound note, and wait at the door of the Parliament-street
coffee-house till he came to him. With these notes Samuel bought each of
the chances, and was on his way to the Parliament-street coffee-house
when, from the opposite side of the way, he was hailed by Mr. Brank, who
complimented him on his speed, and said he had been so quick, that he,
Brank, had not had time to get to the coffee-house. He was then
interrogated, if he had made the purchases, and, replying in the
affirmative, was again commended for his diligence: Brank also inquired,
if any mistake had happened; and all this with a deal of coughing,
imbecility of speech, and feigned accent.
When Samuel received the notes, he received as many canvass bags as he
was ordered to buy shares, and to put each distinct share, and the
balance of each note, into a separate bag, for fear, as Brank said, the
chance of one office might be confused with the chance of another, and
Samuel be thereby puzzled to know where he had bought the different
chances; and by such confusion, or forgetfulness, it might not be
recollected where to apply in case of a fortunate number.
Mr. Brank having secured the chances and balances, ordered Samuel to go
to Goodluck’s at Charing-cross, from thence to King-street,
Covent-garden, and York-street, Covent-garden, and purchase some other
small shares and chances, and then meet him at the city coffee-house,
Cheapside. To these places the young man went, and having bought his
numbers and changed his notes, as he was going along York-street, his
master called to him from a coach, pretended he was fortunate in thus
seeing him, made Samuel step in, got the produce of the forgery, and
away they drove to the city.
In their way thither, Brank applauded his servant’s despatch; gave him
more notes, to the amount of four hundred pounds, with instructions to
purchase shares and chances, at offices about the Exchange; and directed
him, as before, to put the chances and money received at each office in
a separate bag. For this purpose Samuel was set down from the coach in
Cheapside, and having executed his commissions returned, agreeable to
his orders, to the city coffee-house, where he waited a few minutes and
then Mr. Brank came hobbling up to him, and took him into a coach, that
was waiting hard by. Brank resumed complaints of his health and
infirmities, and observed, that the fatigues of business had kept him
longer than he expected; but he warned Samuel to be always exceedingly
punctual. His reason for urging punctuality was the dread of a
discovery, and to prevent consultations, by which he might be detected.
On their way to Long-acre, where the coachman was ordered to drive,
Brank amused his servant with flattering promises for his attention and
fidelity; and at parting put a guinea into his hand, and gave him orders
to be in waiting, for a few days, at his old master’s in the Strand.
It afterwards appeared, that whenever Samuel went to an office a woman,
unobserved by him, always walked in at the same time, and looked about
her as if accompanying some one else in the shop; and as soon as Samuel
had done his business she also walked away. This woman was Mrs.
Pounteney, the aunt of Price’s wife, described in the advertisement and
hand-bill issued by the bank. She constantly accompanied Price in a
coach whenever he went out, watched Samuel at every office, as soon as
he had safely got out stepped across the way to Price, who was in the
coach, informed him of the success, and then Samuel was hailed, and
Price secured the property while she kept out of sight; nor did Samuel
ever see her during his servitude. During his residence at
Titchfield-street, which was but a week, Price always appeared and went
out as Brank, accompanied by Mrs. Pounteney. In case of any accidental
discovery, she was ready to receive the disguise, so that Brank might be
instantly shifted to Price, and Price to Brank, and Samuel thereby be
rendered incapable of identifying the man that had employed him.
On the Sunday morning after Price’s last adventure, a coachman inquired
for Samuel at his old master’s, by whom the coachman was informed, that
though Sam worked he did not lodge there, and that he should not see him
till the next morning. The coachman held a parcel in his hand, which he
said was for Samuel, and which the master desired him to leave, and he
should have it the next day; the coachman replied, he was ordered not to
leave it, but to take it back in case he could not see the man, and
accordingly went across the way with it; there the master saw the
elderly gentleman, with whom he had conversed on Samuel’s character a
few days before, to whom the coachman delivered the parcel. Samuel’s
master saw this old gentleman get into a coach; but in a minute the
coachman returned and left the parcel, which contained notes to the
amount of three hundred pounds, with a letter directing Samuel to buy,
on the next morning, a sixteenth, an eight guinea chance, and a whole
ticket, to repeat his purchases as before, till the whole were changed,
and to meet his master, Mr. Brank, at Mill’s coffee-house,
Gerrard-street, Soho, at twelve o’clock the next day. Samuel duly
executed these orders, but, on inquiry at the coffee-house, he found
no such person as Mr. Brank had been there; in a few minutes,
however, as he was standing at the coffee-house door, a coachman
summoned him to Mr. Brank, who was waiting in a coach at the corner of
Macclesfield-street. He desired Samuel to come in, and made him sit on
the left hand, as before described, and having received the tickets,
shares, and balances, ordered him to bid the coachman drive towards
Hampstead. On the way, he gave Samuel three sixteenths as a reward for
his diligence, and talked much of his ward, who, he said, would be in
town in a day or two, when he would speak highly of Samuel’s industry.
He discoursed on these subjects till they reached Mother Black-cap’s at
Kentish-town, and then Samuel received orders to bid the coachman turn
round; and, on their way back, Samuel had notes for five hundred pounds
given to him, with directions to lay them out in the same manner about
the ’Change, and meet his master at the same place in the evening, where
he said he should dine; but, for reasons easily imagined, Samuel was
ordered not to make his purchases at the offices he had been to before.
Samuel, having performed this task also, went to the coffee-house, where
a porter accosted him, and conducted him to his master in a coach as
usual. He was now blamed for his delay, and an appearance of anger
assumed, with a declaration, that he would not do if not punctual, for
that the nobleman was very particular in time, even to a minute. Samuel
apologized, and Brank received the cash and shares, and ordered him to
go to the New Inn Westminster-bridge and hire a post-chaise to carry
them to Greenwich to meet the nobleman’s steward, who was also his
banker, to whom he was going for money to purchase more tickets;
observing, at the same time, on the imprudence and prodigality of his
ward.
At Greenwich, Samuel was desired to go to the Ship and order a dinner,
while Brank was engaged, as he pretended, in negociating his business;
he instructed him not to wait longer than three o’clock, but go to
dinner at that time, if he, Brank, did not return. It was not till half
past four that Brank came hobbling, coughing, and seemingly quite out of
breath with fatigue. They then drank tea together, and afterwards
returned in the chaise to Lombard-street, where it was discharged. There
Sam received more notes to the amount of 350_l._, which he got rid of in
the usual way; and at the city coffee-house was again fortunate enough
to meet his master before he got to the door. Brank ordered him to
attend the next evening at his lodgings, which he accordingly did, and
afterwards at three or four other times, in the course of which
attendance he negociated 500_l._ more of the forged notes.
We now arrive at the close of Samuel’s services. In negociating the last
sum he had received, he went to Brooksbank’s and Ruddle’s, where he was
interrogated as to whom he lived with; Samuel said he was servant to a
very rich nobleman’s guardian, that he was at board-wages, and gave his
address to his old master, the musical instrument-maker. Having
delivered Brank the cash, &c. in the usual way, he was told, that
perhaps he might not be wanted again for a week, and that he might wait
till sent for. Before the expiration of that time, however, Samuel was
apprehended, and taken to Bow-street, where he was examined by the
magistrates and gentlemen from the bank; and telling his artless tale,
which was not believed, he was committed to Tothillfields-bridewell, on
suspicion of forgery.
The surprise of the poor lad on his apprehension, his horror on being
confined in a prison, and his dread of being executed as a forger of
counterfeit bank-notes, were only equalled by the astonishment of the
directors of the bank and the magistrates, at the sagacity of the
manufacturer, who had hitherto evaded every possibility of detection.
Nor did they appear at all persuaded of Sam’s innocence, though his
story was, in part, confirmed by his former master, the musical
instrument-maker. The forged note he had passed at Brooksbank’s and
Ruddle’s, where he had been interrogated, was the means of his
apprehension. In a day or two it was paid into the bank, traced back to
Brooksbank’s and Ruddle’s office, and, immediate application being made
to Bow-street, the lad was taken into custody.
Samuel’s examinations were frequent and long, and in the end the
following scheme was laid to secure the fabricator. Samuel having been
ordered by Brank to stay till he was sent for, an inferior officer of
Bow-street was stationed at the musical instrument-maker’s in the
Strand, where Samuel worked, in case Brank should call in the mean time.
After the lapse of a few days, Price sent Samuel a message to meet him
the next day at Mill’s coffee-house, exactly at eleven o’clock. This
was communicated to Mr. Bond, a clerk at Bow-street office, who ordered
Samuel to comply, but not to go till five minutes past the time. The
above inferior officer attended at a distance, disguised as a porter,
with a knot on his shoulder, and Bond, dressed as a “lady,” followed at
a small distance. When Samuel arrived at the coffee-house he found that
a real porter had that instant been there and inquired for him, and
could have been hardly got out of the door. This information Samuel
directly communicated to the “lady,” (Bond of Bow-street,) and Samuel
was sent back to wait; but Brank, in a hackney-coach hard by, had
discovered the momentary conversation between Samuel and the disguised
officers, and took immediate flight. An instant rush was made at
Titchfield-street, but in vain; Blank had not been there since Samuel
and he had left it together, and the police were entirely at fault. The
advertisements were again issued, and hand-bills were showered around to
no purpose. Poor Samuel, however, having tolerably established his
innocence, was, after suffering eleven months’ imprisonment, discharged
with a present of twenty pounds.
In the ensuing lottery, Price played the same artful game with notes of
higher value; those of 20_l._ and 40_l._ were grown too suspicious,
another lad had been taken into custody, another _rush_ made, and
_Price_ was missed again by a moment.
Price’s next scheme was an advertisement for a person in the linen
drapery business; and with notes of from 50_l._ to 100_l._ two young
men, his agents, purchased linen drapery at different shops. They were
detected by having passed an 100_l._ note to Mr. Wollerton, a
linen-draper in Oxford-street, who recovered the whole of his property
through Bond the officer, by whom it was seized at No. 3, on the
Terrace, in Tottenham-court-road.
To follow Price through all his proceedings would be impossible: in
November 1782, Mr. Spilsbury of Soho-square, the proprietor of some
medicinal “drops,” received a card bearing the name of Wilmott, which
had been left by a person who had called at his house in his absence.
The next evening the following note was delivered at Mr. Spilsbury’s.
“Mr. Wilmott’s complits to Mr. Spilsbur. wishes to converse with him
10 minutes. having an Order for His drops, at half past five o’clock
this evening.
“No. 17, _Gresse-street, Rathbone-place_.”
At the time mentioned in the note Mr. Spilsbury went to Gresse-street,
where he was shown into a parlour by a foot-boy, and waited until Mr.
Wilmott made his appearance. He appeared to be a very infirm old man, in
a great coat and a slouched hat, with a piece of red flannel round the
lower part of his face, a large bush-wig on, and his legs wrapped over
with flannel; he wore green spectacles, and a green silk shade hanging
from his hat, but no patch on his eye: this was Price. He and Mr.
Spilsbury had frequently met at Percy-street coffee-house,
Rathbone-place, and often conversed together; but on this occasion Mr.
Spilsbury had no idea or recollection of his old acquaintance. As soon
as Price entered the parlour, he observed on his own dress; and said he
had exceedingly suffered from the drawing of a tooth by an unskilful
dentist, and wore the flannel on his face in order to avoid catching
cold. He then familiarly conversed with Mr. Spilsbury, extolled the
merits of his “drops,” recounted great cures which he knew they had
performed, styled himself a dealer in diamonds, and dismissed Mr.
Spilsbury with the promise of an order in a few days. It was evidently
postponed to strengthen Mr. Spilsbury’s opinion of him, but at last it
arrived in the following note:--
“Mr. Wilmott’s compliments to Mr. Spilsbur, desires he will put up
twelve bottles of drops at 3_s._ 6_d._ against Friday three o’clock.
the boy will call and pay for them. also, Mr. Spilsbur will send a
copy or form of an Advertisement--and attestation, leaving a blank for
the names. the case was--the man was violently broke out in legs, body
and face, and he actually had no other physic than two of the bottles.
and it is really astonishing how much He is recovered.--when Mr.
Wilmott comes to town to-morrow week He will send the voucher
authenticated by 6 people of consequence.
“_Gresse-street_, No. 17.”
The boy did not call on the Friday mentioned; but on the Friday week he
brought a letter, in which Mr. Wilmott desired Mr. Spilsbury to send two
guineas’ worth of the drops, and change for a 10_l._ bank-note, and to
be particular in sending guineas of good weight. The bank-note appeared
to be a new one, change was got in the neighbourhood, and the drops
sent; and the next note Mr. Spilsbury received was from Sir Sampson
Wright, desiring his attendance at Bow-street, where, to his
astonishment, he was informed of the forgery. He related the preceding
particulars to the magistrate, and produced the two letters. The
officers paid an immediate visit to Gresse-street, but old Mr. Wilmott
had previously departed.
Not long after this, Mr. Spilsbury met his acquaintance, Mr. Price, at
the Percy-street coffee-house; and there, drinking his chocolate, and
talking over the occurrences of the day, Mr. Spilsbury told the
foregoing story to his coffee-house acquaintance, while Price every now
and then called out “Lack a day! Good God! who could conceive such
knavery could exist! What, and did the bank refuse payment, sir?” “O
yes,” said Mr. Spilsbury, with some degree of acrimony; “though it is on
the faith of the bank of England that I and a great many others have
taken them, and they are so inimitably executed, that the nicest judges
cannot detect them.” “Good God!” said Price, “he must have been an
ingenious villain!--What a complete old scoundrel!”
It is related, that when the celebrated artist William Wynn Ryland was
to be executed for forging an East-india bond, Price intreated the use
of a dining-room window in Oxford-street, at the house of a gentleman
whom he had defrauded in the same manner he had done Mr. Spilsbury; and
Price was present when Ryland passed to Tyburn, and on that occasion
pointed to Ryland, saying “There goes one of the most ingenious men in
the world, but as wicked as he is ingenious--he is the identical man who
has done all the mischief in the character of _Patch_: he deserves his
fate, and he would confess the fact, if he was not in hopes of a
respite; which he would have obtained, perhaps, had not the directors
been certain that it was charity to the public to let him suffer.”
Mention has already been made of the fraud practised by Price on Mr. R.
of Knightsbridge. One in a family was not enough for him, and Mr. R’s
brother, who lived in Oxford-street, experienced the effect of Price’s
ingenuity in crime. Price had been often there, and bought a variety of
things, and was perfectly well known in his real person, and by his
proper name. One day, however, a hackney-coach carried him thither
disguised as an old man, and in that character he made some purchases.
In a day or two he repeated his visit, and on a third day, when he knew
Mr. R. was from home, he went again with his face so coloured that he
seemed in a deep jaundice. The shopman, to whom he was full of
complaints, told him that he had a receipt for that disorder, which had
cured his father of it, and offered him the prescription. Price accepted
it, and promised that if it succeeded he would liberally reward him. In
a few days, he again appeared before the shopman perfectly freed from
the complaint, and acknowledging his great obligations to him, said he
had but a short time to live in the world, and having very few relations
to leave any thing to, he begged his acceptance of a 50_l._ bank-note,
at the same time, he said, he wanted cash for another. Mr. R. not being
in the way, the grateful shopman stepped out, and got change for it. The
next day Price having watched Mr. R’s going out, prevailed on the lad to
take five other 50_l._ notes to his master’s banker, and there get them
changed for smaller ones. Price’s notes soon got to the bank, and of
course were stopped. They were traced to Mr. R’s. His lad was
interrogated, and as Mr. R. positively refused to pay the 250_l._ to his
bankers, they brought an action against him, which was tried in the
court of common pleas, before Lord Loughborough, and the bankers
obtained a verdict. The most extraordinary circumstances pending the
suit were, that Mr. R. communicated the story to Price, who offered him
all the assistance in his power, and became a principal agent in the
defence. He was, of all others, the most active in procuring witnesses
for Mr. R., and actually attended the trial, without the least
suspicion, on the part of any individual concerned, that he was the
perpetrator of the mischief.
It is an extraordinary and almost incredible fact, that during a period
of six years, five of which had elapsed after the remarkable
advertisement issued at the instance of the bank in December 1780, Price
committed depredations of this nature on the public with impunity. The
deceptions by which he circulated his forged notes through so long a
period, were as varied as the nature of each new circumstance required.
At last he turned another species of forgery, equally artful, and, for a
time, equally successful. He went to the coffee-houses near the Royal
Exchange in a new disguise, and there was accustomed to get a boy to
take a sum of 10_l._ to the bank, with directions to receive from the
teller the customary ticket to the cashier who pays; but the lad had his
especial orders not to go to the cashier for the money, as the teller is
accustomed to direct, but as soon as the boy was out of the teller’s
sight he was to turn another way, and bring the ticket to Price at the
coffee-house. There Price used to alter the teller’s tickets from 10_l._
to 100_l._ by adding an 0, or by placing a 1 before any other sum where
the addition was easy, so as to make 50 into 150, &c., and then send the
tickets by other hands to the cashiers, who paid the increased sums
unsuspectedly.
This scheme was his last. One of the notes he had received at the bank,
on a forged ticket, he had passed at Mr. Aldous’s, a pawn-broker in
Berwick-street, where he was known by the name of Powel, and went two or
three times a week to pledge things of value. An officer was placed at
Mr. Aldous’s till his next call, which was the next day but one, when he
was secured and carried to Bow-street. His behaviour there was
exceedingly insolent. Mr. Bond, who, when Price kept a lottery-office in
King-street, Covent-garden, was clerk at Bow-street, had visited him on
account of some money due to Sir John Fielding’s maid servant, gained by
insuring with Price, which he had refused to pay her; but when informed
by Mr. Bond who her master was, he waited on Sir John, and satisfied her
claim. He now taxed Mr. Bond, who had been made a magistrate, with
prejudice against him on account of the insurance affair, and complained
that he should not have justice done him. He also urged against Mr.
Abraham Newland, esq., principal cashier of the bank, that he could
expect nothing from him but every possible injury, on account of some
former antipathy that gentleman had conceived towards him; and he
imputed desire of revenge to every individual whose duty it was to
render him amenable to justice.
When under examination, the chief magistrate, Sir Sampson Wright,
suddenly called out “Sam;” the young man immediately answered, and at
the same moment appeared before his old master, who started as at a
ghost; but, recollecting himself, made a polite bow to his former
servant, with a view either to awaken his sympathy, or to hint at what
he might expect if he disclaimed him. Samuel, however, could only swear
to his voice, for he had not the least idea of his person or features.
Price was committed to Tothillfields-bridewell, where he turned his
thoughts to the destruction of the implements. Well knowing that nothing
could be extracted from Mrs. Price, or any of his family, to affect him,
he had declared, when under examination, that he lived with them at a
cheesemonger’s in the neighbourhood of Tottenham-court-road; and he was
equally secure that nothing could be found there to afford the least
suspicion of his being the forger described under the character of
_Patch_. His next step was to obtain an interview with Mrs. Price and
his eldest son, a youth about fifteen years of age. To his wife’s great
surprise, he communicated to her the secret of his lodgings, and the
circumstances respecting her aunt. He wrote a letter to Mrs. Pounteney,
informing her of his situation, and desiring her instantly to destroy
every atom of the apparatus, clothes, &c.; he tore up the inner sole of
his son’s shoe, and putting the letter under, it passed safe.
When Mrs. Pounteney received the letter, she burnt every article of
clothes in which Price had disguised himself, and sent for a carpenter,
to whom he had never been visible, to take down the wood frame, presses,
and other instruments with which Price had made his paper, and printed
off his notes. While the maid was gone for the carpenter, her mistress
put the copper-plates into the fire, and, rendering them pliable,
reduced them to small pieces. These, with a large bundle of small wires,
used in the manufacture of the paper and water-marks, she desired
Price’s son to take to the adjacent fields, and there distribute them
beneath the dust heaps; and the pieces lay there till, by a stratagem,
they were discovered and brought to Bow-street. The carpenter took down
the apparatus, and being paid and despatched, every thing was brought
down and reduced to ashes.
Throughout Price’s examinations, his assurance was the most remarkable
feature in his conduct; but the audacity by which he sought to baffle
his accusers was so reckless, as to disclose a circumstance which
largely added to the grounds for believing him to be the criminal who
had so long eluded justice. From the extreme art he had adopted to
effectually disguise his person, while committing his enormous frauds,
there was no connected proof of his identity. Long before his
apprehension, he had hazarded experiments to discover whether his
disguises were effectual. He would go to the coffee-houses about the
’Change, where he was thoroughly well known as Mr. Price, and in his
real character inquire for Mr. Norton, write a letter, and leave it at
the bar. In ten minutes he would return as Mr. Norton, receive the
letter, and drink his coffee. While in Tothillfields-bridewell, a boy
who had more than once taken cash for him to the tellers at the bank,
together with the boy’s mother, who had also seen him, were conveyed to
the prison to view him. The boy could not at all identify him: the
mother was more positive, but still the proof was deemed scarcely
sufficient to convict him. He had pledged things of value several times,
under the name of Powel, with Mr. Aldous. Mrs. Pounteney had done the
same in the character of Mrs. Powel. They had talked of each other, and
each of them had at different times pledged the same article; yet Price
on his examination denied the least knowledge of her; impudently
threatened to bring actions for false imprisonment; and ridiculing the
officers for not finding a ten pound note in his fob, under his watch,
when he was searched, he heedlessly produced it--this identical note was
one of the notes delivered by the cashier upon a teller’s ticket which
Price had forged!
Price had been brought up three times for the purpose of being viewed,
and his sagacity perceived the impossibility of his escaping the hand of
justice. He told the keeper he had been “_betrayed_,” but this was not
the fact. Meditating to avoid a public execution, he informed his son
that the people of the prison came into his room sooner than he wished;
and that he had something secret to write, which they might get at by
suddenly coming upon him, which he wished to prevent. On this pretence
he gave his son money to purchase two gimblets and a sixpenny cord,
pointing out to him how he would fasten the gimblets in the post, and
tie the cord across the door, which opened inwards. The poor youth
obtained the implements, and Price having fastened the gimblets under
two hat screws, was discovered hanging in his room, without coat or
shoes, on the 25th of January, 1786.
Under his waistcoat were found three papers. One was a petition to the
king, praying protection for his wife and eight children; all of whom,
he said, had never offended; and stating, that he had written a pamphlet
with a view to prevent a war between the crowns of England and Denmark,
and to rescue the character of queen Matilda from the aspersions of the
queen dowager’s party. The second was a letter of thanks to Mr. Fenwick,
the keeper of the prison, for his indulgence and favours. The third was
a letter to his wife, wherein he begged her forgiveness for the injuries
he had done her, and intreated her attention to their offspring. In
these papers, written with his dying hand, the guilty man solemnly
denied every thing laid to his charge!
Immediately upon Price’s self-destruction, his unhappy wife, who had
been innocent of his iniquities, was urged to discover the woman with
whom he had been connected. She was assured, that though the verdict of
a coroner’s inquest must be formally complied with, yet, if she rendered
this act of justice to the country, his remains might afterwards receive
christian burial. Her son was present and added his intreaties that she
would tell, or suffer him to tell, who and where the woman was; the
feelings of the widow and the mother prevailed, and she communicated the
residence of her depraved aunt, who, on being taken into custody,
disclosed several of the circumstances attending the destruction and
concealment of the presses and implements. What remained of them were
destroyed by the police, and she was delivered out of custody to the
punishment of her own thoughts. It was afterwards ascertained, on a
second search, that she had not discovered all the machinery. The frame
with which Price had made his paper was produced to her, and she was
asked what it was: “It is an instrument,” she said, “I use for
mangling.” An answer which may be taken as evidence, that
notwithstanding the example of Price might have taught her the folly of
wickedness, and though she herself had escaped by the sufferance of
extreme mercy, her mind was still disposed to evil.
Price was buried in the cross-roads, but, in about a week, his body was
privately removed by night.
These particulars of Price are more numerous, and the account of him is
more diffuse, than might be expected in connection with the lottery; but
as he was too remarkable to have been omitted among its incidents, so
his criminal career was too flagitious and notorious to be lightly
passed over when he was mentioned at all.
Price’s lottery-office, in King-street, Covent-garden, was the house now
(in 1826) occupied by Mr. Setchell, the bookseller. On part of the wall
where Mr. Setchell’s shutters are placed, there are remains of Price’s
lottery-bills still visible.
LOTTERY SUICIDE AND HEARTBREAKING.
The “Gentleman’s Magazine” of 1787 inserts what is called “a copy of a
paper left by the unhappy young gentleman who lately shot himself with
two pistols in Queen-street, Westminster,” wherein he execrates “the
head that planned, and the heart that executed, the baneful, destructive
plan of a _Lottery_.”
The same year, in a debate in the house of commons on a bill then
passing to prevent insurance, Mr. Francis said his own family furnished
a striking instance of the dreadful effects of a passion for this
ruinous practice. He had given, at different times, to a female servant
sums of money to the amount of two hundred pounds, to discharge
tradesmen’s bills; and, to his great surprise, he found afterwards that,
regardless of his character, or her own, she had risked the entire sum
in insuring in the lottery, and had lost it. He would have been glad had
the loss of money been the only one, for he would have taken it upon
himself; but the poor woman lost her life within a week after this
discovery had been made, dying broken-hearted and distracted.
SHARING A PRIZE.
In the Lottery of 1788 a guinea share of a ticket drawn a 20,000_l._
prize had been duly registered by Shergold and Co. who sold it, and
acquainted the holder by letter that it entitled him to 1500_l._ This
lucky man, who lived in the country, attended his club the same evening,
and imparted the good news he had received. His joy, however, was
considerably damped by a person present, who assured him that he never
would be paid--that his prize was not worth a groat, and that he
himself knew one who at the beginning of the lottery had a half guinea
share a prize of 20,000_l._ and was entitled to 700_l._, but was glad to
compromise it for 50_l._ After reciting a variety of circumstances to
the same effect, and cunningly working up alarm to the highest pitch, he
at length told the owner of the prize, that he knew some of the
proprietors in Shergold’s house, and he believed he might be able to get
some money where another could get none; he would therefore venture to
give 100_l._ for the prize. This proposal being rejected, he advanced to
200_l_. from thence to 300_l._ and at last to 600_l._, which was
accepted. He accordingly paid the money to the unfortunate _fortunate_
adventurer, got possession of the prize, and immediately set off for
London, and received the 1500_l._ without difficulty. Several eminent
lawyers, on considering the misrepresentations used in this transaction,
were of opinion, that it was what is termed a catching bargain, and
advised the owner, who was cozened out of 900_l._, to apply to equity
for relief.[480] He seems to have been afraid of the remedy; for, though
he took counsel’s opinion, it does not appear that he followed it into
chancery.
* * * * *
At the Haymarket theatre, in 1791, a comedy, called the “School for
Arrogance,” was produced with a prologue spoken in the character of a
news-hawker, with the Lottery as one of the topics of intelligence.
_After sounding, and calling “Great News!” without; he enters with a
postman’s horn, newspapers, cap and livery._
Great news! here’s money lent on bond, rare news!
By honest, tender-hearted, christian jews!
Here are promotions, dividends, rewards,
A list of bankrupts, and of new made lords.
Here the debates at length are, for the week;
And here the deaf and dumb are taught to speak.
Here Hazard, Goodluck, Shergold, and a band
Of gen’rous gentlemen, whose hearts expand
With honour, rectitude, and public spirit,
Equal in high desert, with equal merit,
Divide their tickets into shares and quarters;
And here’s a servant-maid found hanging in her garters!
Here! here’s the fifty thousand, sold at ev’ry shop!
And here’s the “Newgate Calendar”--and drop.
Rare news! strange news! extraordinary news!
Who would not give three halfpence to peruse?
* * * * *
Shergolds seem to have persisted in a course of attempts to evade the
law, by a peculiar mode of dividing and insuring tickets; but in
Michaelmas term, 1791, the question was argued in the court of
King’s-bench on a special verdict, whether the sellers of their receipts
were liable to be apprehended and committed as vagrants under the
Lottery act, and the court determined, that they were vagrants within
the true intent of the act.
INSURING.
In February, 1793, the commissioners of the Lottery, in order to abate
insuring, determined that no persons should be suffered to take down
numbers, except the clerks of licensed offices known to the
commissioners: no slips were to be sent out; but the numbers were to be
taken down by one clerk in one book; Steel’s list of lottery numbers was
to be abolished, and a recompence made for it; and the magistrates
resolved to apprehend all suspicious persons who should be seen taking
early numbers.[481]
Yet, in 1796, we find “a class of sharpers, who take Lottery
Insurances,” and that this gambling, among the higher and middling
ranks, was carried on to an extent exceeding all credibility, producing
consequences to many private families, of great worth and
respectability, of the most distressing nature.--Mr. Colquhoun
represents them as “a class, in general, of very depraved or distressed
characters, who keep unlicensed insurance offices, during the drawing of
the English and Irish Lotteries;” many of whom, during the intervals of
such lotteries, had recently invented and set up private lotteries, or
wheels, called _little goes_, containing blanks and prizes, which were
drawn for the purpose of establishing a ground for insurance, and
producing incalculable mischiefs, inasmuch as the rage and mania were
so rooted, from habit and a spirit of gaming, that no domestic pressure,
and no consideration, connected either with the frauds that were
practised, or the number of chances against them, would operate as a
check upon the minds of the infatuated. The criminal agents felt no want
of customers. The houses and offices were not only extremely numerous
all over the metropolis, but in general high rented, exhibiting the
appearance of considerable expense, and barricadoed in such a manner
with iron doors and other contrivances as, in many instances, to defy
the arm of the law. A considerable portion of their emoluments was
traced to have been derived from menial servants in general; but
particularly the male and female domestics in the houses of men of
fashion and fortune, who were said, almost without a single exception,
to be in the constant habit of insuring in the English and Irish
Lotteries.
Such persons, with a spirit of gambling rendered more ardent than
prevails in common life, from the example of their superiors, and from
their idle and dissipated habits, entered keenly into the Lottery
business; and when ill luck attended them were often led, step by step,
to that point where they lost sight of moral principle, and were
impelled, by desire of regaining what they had lost, to sell or pawn the
property of their masters, whenever it could be pilfered so as to elude
detection; and this species of peculation sometimes terminated in more
atrocious crimes.
The insurance offices in the metropolis exceeded four hundred in number.
To many of them persons were attached, called _Morocco Men_, who went
from house to house among their customers, or attended in the back
parlours of public-houses, where they were met by them to make
insurances.
It was calculated, that at these offices (exclusive of what was done at
the licensed offices) insurances were made to the extent of eight
hundred thousand pounds, in premiums during the Irish Lottery, and above
one million during the English; upon which it was calculated that they
made from fifteen to twenty-five per cent. profit. This confederacy,
during the English Lottery of the year 1796, supported about 2000 agents
and clerks, and nearly 7500 Morocco men, including a considerable number
of _ruffians and bludgeon men_, paid by a general association of the
principal proprietors of the establishments, who regularly met in
committee, in a well-known public-house in Oxford-market, twice or
thrice a week, during the drawing of the lottery, for the purpose of
concerting measures to defeat the exertions of the magistrates, by
forcibly resisting or bribing the officers of justice.
* * * * *
The Lottery was declared to be inseparable from illegal insurances, by
the parliamentary reports of 1807; and they further state, that “the
Lottery is so radically vicious, that under no system of regulations
which can be devised will it be possible for parliament to adopt it as
an efficient source of revenue, and at the same time divest it of all
the evils and calamities of which it has hitherto been so baneful a
source.” Among these evils and calamities, the committees of parliament
enumerate that “idleness, dissipation, and poverty, were increased,--the
most sacred and confidential trusts were betrayed--domestic comfort was
destroyed--madness was often created--suicide itself was produced--and
crimes subjecting the perpetrators of them to death were committed.”
LITTLE GOES.
These were _little_ Lotteries on the same plan as the great State
Lotteries, and drawn in the same manner. There were generally five or
six “little goes” in the year, and they were actually set up and
conducted by two or three of the licensed lottery-office keepers. The
State Lottery was the parent of these “little goes.” Persons who had not
patience to wait till another State Lottery gambled during the vacations
in a “little go.” A “little go” was never heard of during the State
Lotteries.[482]
THE GREAT GO.
Sir Nathaniel Conant, who in 1816 was chief magistrate of the police
establishment at Bow-street, stated in that year to a committee of the
house of commons, that the Lottery was one of the predisposing causes by
which the people of the metropolis were vitiated; that it led to theft,
to supply losses and disappointments, occasioned by speculating on its
chances; and that illegal insurances continued to be effected:--“there
are,” he says, “people in the back ground who having got 40, or
50,000_l._ by that, employ people of the lowest order, and give them a
commission for what they bring; there is _a wheel within a wheel_.”
Another magistrate, giving evidence before the same committee, said, “it
is a scandal to the government thus to excite people to practice the
vice of gaming, for the purpose of drawing a revenue from their ruin: it
is an anomalous proceeding by law to declare gambling infamous, to hunt
out petty gamblers in their recesses, and cast them into prison, and by
law also to set up the giant gambling of the State Lottery, and
encourage persons to resort to it by the most captivating devices which
ingenuity, uncontrolled by moral rectitude, can invent.”[483]
CONCLUSION.
Incredible efforts were made in the summer of 1826 to keep the “last
lottery” on its legs. The price of tickets was arbitrarily raised, to
induce a belief that they were in great demand at the very moment when
their sale was notoriously at a stand; and the lagging attention of the
public of the metropolis was endeavoured to be quickened, by all sorts
of stratagems, to the 18th of July, as the very last chance that would
occur in England of gaining “SIX 30,000_l._ besides other Capitals,”
which it was positively affirmed were “all to be drawn” on that fatal
day. Besides the dispersion of innumerable bills, and the aspersions on
government relative to the approaching extinction of the Lottery, the
parties interested in its preservation caused London and its environs to
be paraded by the following
_Procession._
1. Three men in liveries, scarlet and gold.
2. Six men bearing boards at their backs and on their breasts, with
inscriptions in blue and gold, “All Lotteries end Tuesday next, six
30,000_l._”
3. Band of trumpets, clarionets, horns, &c.
4. A large purple silk banner carried by six men, inscribed in large
gold letters “All Lotteries end for ever on Tuesday next, six
30,000_l._”
5. A painted carriage, representing the Lottery wheel, drawn by two
dappled grey horses, tandem fashion; the fore horse rode by a postillion
in scarlet and gold, with a black velvet cap, and a boy seated in a
dickey behind the machine, turning the handle and setting the wheel in
motion.
6. Six men with other Lottery labels.
7. A square Lottery carriage, surmounted by a gilt imperial crown; the
carriage covered by labels, with “All Lotteries end on Tuesday next;”
drawn by two horses, tandem, and a postillion.
8. Six men with labels.
9. Twelve men in blue and gold, with boards or poles with “Lotteries end
for ever on Tuesday next.”
10. A large purple silk flag, with “all Lotteries end on Tuesday next.”
This procession with its music drew the heads of the servant maids from
the windows in every suburb of the metropolis, and was followed by
troops of boys, till they tired on its frequency. It sometimes stopped,
and a man with a bell cried “O yes!” and “God save the king!” and,
between the two, proclaimed, in set words, the “death of the Lottery on
Tuesday next!” The event was likewise announced as certain in all the
newspapers, and by cart-loads of bills showered down areas, and thrust
under knockers; when, behold, “the Lords of the Treasury were pleased to
order” the final drawing to be postponed to Thursday the 18th of
October; but all the good people so informed were wisely uninformed,
that this “order” was obtained by the lottery-office folks, to give them
a long day to get rid of their unsold tickets.
After this, the streets were cavalcaded by men, whose bodies were
concealed between long boards on each side of their horses (as
represented in the engraving on page 1407) to announce the _next_ “last
of the Lottery on the 18th of October” aforesaid; and men on foot walked
with labels on their breasts and backs, with the same never-dying
intelligence, according to the further figure in the engraving of the
lottery wheel (on page 1439,) which cut, it may be here observed,
represents one of the government wheels, and the sledge it was drawn
upon from Somerset-house to Coopers’-hall, at the commencement of the
drawing of every Lottery; on which occasion there were four horses to
each wheel, and about a dozen horse-guards to protect the instruments of
_Miss_-Fortune.
* * * * *
But the most pageant-like machine was an octagon frame work, covered by
printed Lottery placards (as exhibited in the engraving on page 1405)
with a single horse, and a driver, and a guard-like seat at the back.
When drawn along the streets, as it was at a most funereal pace, it
overtopped the sills of the first-floor windows. Its slow motion, and
the route it chiefly took, evidenced the _low_ hopes of the proprietors.
St. Giles’s and the purlieus of that neighbourhood seem to have been
selected as the favoured spots from whence favours were mostly to be
expected. An opportunity offered to sketch it, while it was pelted with
mud and stones, and torn and disfigured by the unappreciating offspring
of the sons of fortune whose regards it courted. The artist’s letter
describes the scene: “As I was walking up Holborn on Monday the 9th
instant, 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 this 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. It was not an every-day occurrence, and I accompany it with these
remarks.”
This was the fag-end of the last struggle of the speculators on public
credulity for popularity to their “last, dying Lottery.”
* * * * *
At last, on Wednesday the 18th of October, 1826, the State Lottery
expired, and its decease was announced in the newspapers of the next day
by the following article:--
STATE LOTTERY.
Yesterday afternoon, 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
Coopers’-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 Coopers’-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 on in the session of
parliament before last; and thus a source of revenue bringing into the
treasury the sums of 250,000_l._ and 300,000_l._ per annum will be dried
up. This determination on the part of the legislature is hailed by far
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 250,000_l._
annually, will, however, be the consequence of the 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 concourse of persons in Basinghall-street was very great; indeed the
street was almost impassable, and everybody seemed desirous of
ascertaining the fortunate numbers. In the gallery the greatest interest
was excited, as the various prizes were drawn from the wheel; and as
soon as a number-ticket was drawn from the number-wheel every one looked
with anxiety to his share, in order to ascertain if Fortune smiled on
him. Only one instance occurred where a prize was drawn and a number
held by any individual present. The fortunate person was a little man,
who, no sooner had learned that his number was a grand prize, then he
buttoned up his coat and coolly walked off without uttering a word. As
the drawing proceeded, disappointment began to succeed the hopes
indulged by those who were present. On their entrance to the hall every
face wore a cheerful appearance; but on the termination of the drawing
a strong contrast was exhibited, and the features of each were strongly
marked with dissatisfaction.
The drawing commenced shortly after five o’clock, and ended at twenty
minutes past six.
The doors of the various Lottery-offices were also surrounded by persons
awaiting the issue of the drawing.
LOTTERY PUFFS.
It is not possible to go into the _Literature of the Lottery_ without
occupying more room than can be spared, but young readers and posterity
may be amused and surprised by some figures, from among many hundreds of
wood-cuts on the bills of schemes, and invitations to buy.
“T. BISH, 4 Cornhill, and 9 Charing-cross, London, and by all his agents
in the country,” put forth the following.
[Illustration]
~Kitchen Maid.~
Mistress Molly, the Cook,
At the Scheme only look,
In wealth we may both of us roll,
If we _brush_ for a Prize
In the world we may rise,
And our _skuttles_ have plenty of _cole._
~Cook Maid.~
If what you say is true,
I am all in a _stew_,
Lest we miss what we so much desire;
Should we lose this good plan,
For _a sup in the pan_,
All the _fat_ will be soon _in the fire_!
Except the verses which were placed in the bill beneath the preceding
cut, it contained nothing but an announcement of the day when the
Lottery was to draw, and the number of capital prizes, subjoined by this
information, “Tickets and shares are selling by T. BISH;” who seems to
have imagined he could propitiate the “kitchen maid” and “cook maid” in
his behalf, as a lottery-office keeper, by exhibiting a tea-kettle and
fire implements to personify the one, and certain culinary utensils to
personify the other.
“Delightful _cut_ to rear the tender mind”
from the _basement_ to the _capital_ story.
[Illustration]
RUN, Neighbours, run, the LOTTERY’S expiring,
When FORTUNE’S merry wheel, it will never turn more;
She now supplies all _Numbers_, you’re desiring,
ALL PRIZES, NO BLANKS, and TWENTY THOUSANDS FOUR.
Haste, Neighbours, haste, the Chance will never come again,
When, without pain, for little _Cash_--you’ll all be rich;
Prizes a plenty of--and such a certain source of gain,
That young and old, and all the world, it must bewitch.
Then run, neighbours, run, &c.
This versified address and the engraving are from another bill. The
verses may be presumed as sung by the footman, to excite his
fellows of the party-coloured cloth to speculate in the
never-enough-to-be-sufficiently-magnified-number of chances in favour of
their gaining “Four of £20,000, and--Thirty other Capitals! No
Blanks!--ALL IN ONE DAY!” Yet if the words, adapted from a popular duet,
were regarded as an easy vehicle to effect that benevolent purpose,
they could only be so to those who, with the contractors, forgot, or
perhaps, with them, did not know, that the original tells of
“a day of jubilee _cajolery_.”
Surely this must have been a “word of fear” to all except the
contractors themselves, who alone would be the gainers by what the body
of adventurers hazarded in the “grand scheme” of “_cajolery_.”
* * * * *
One of the bills of a former Lottery begins as follows:--
BISH
_The Last Man._
In reminding his best friends, the public, that the State Lottery will
be drawn this day, 3d May, Bish acquaints them that it is the _very last
but one_ that will ever take place in this kingdom, and he is THE LAST
CONTRACTOR whose name will appear _singly_ before the public, as the
very last will be a coalition of all the usual contractors. Bish, being
“_the last man_” who appears _singly_, has been particularly anxious to
make an excellent scheme, and flatters himself the one he has the honour
to submit must meet universal approbation.
* * * * *
At the back of this bill are the following verses, derived from the
“_cajolery_” duet:--
TO-DAY! OR NOT AT ALL
RUN, NEIGHBOURS, RUN!
Run, neighbours, run! To-day it is the Lott’ry draws,
You still may be in time if your purse be low;
Rhino we all know will stop, of poverty, the flaws,
Possess’d of that you’ll find no one to serve you slow:
The ministers in parliament of Lotteries have toll’d the knell,
And have declar’d from Coopers’-hall dame Fortune soon they will
expel.
The blue-coat boys no more will shout that they have drawn a
capital!
Nor run, as tho’ their necks they’d break, to _Lucky Bish_ the news
to tell.
Run, neighbours, run! &c.
Run, neighbours, run! this is you know the third of May,
’Tis the day dame Fortune doth her levee hold;
In the scheme, as you may see, are rang’d along in proud array,
Of one and twenty thousands six, in notes or gold!
A _sov’reign_ cure e’en one of these would be for a consumption,
sir,
If such disease your pocket has, so if you’ve any gumption, sir,
You’ll lose no time, but haste away, and buy a share or ticket, sir,
For who can tell but this may be the very hour to nick it, sir?
Run, neighbours, run! &c.
Run, neighbours, run! the times they say are not the best,
And cash ’tis own’d is falling short with high and low;
Bankers retire now, while Notaries have little rest,
And what may happen next no one pretends to know.
Dame Fortune (on whom thousands drew) is going now to shut up shop,
So if you’d cash a draft on her, make haste for soon her bank will
stop;
This very day her wheel goes round, when thousands with her gifts
she’ll cheer,
For those who can her smiles obtain may gaily laugh throughout the
year.
Run, neighbours, run! &c.
* * * * *
“BISH,” as the _contractor_ is pleased to call himself, who, after he
was “the last man,” dilated into a member of parliament, employed the
greatest number of Lottery-laureates of any office keeper of his time;
and he and the schemes wherein he engaged were lauded, in prose as well
as verse, by his “ready writers.” One of their productions says:--
JOHN BULL’s
_Wonder_
At monsieur Nong-tong-paw’s ubiquity could not be greater than the
astonishment of a French gentleman, who popped into BISH’s office the
other day to inquire after the capitals.--“You vill be so good to tell
me de nombre of de capital you tiré--you draw yesterday?”--“Why, sir,
there were....”--“Restez un peu, stay a littel moment.--You will tell me
de capital more big dan two hundred pounds.”--“Why, sir, there were four
drawn above 200_l._: there was No. 7849 30,000_l._”--“Ah! ma foi! dat is
good dat is de grande chose. Vel, and by whom was it sel?”--“Bish sold
it, sir.” “Bish, ha, ha! von lucky dog! vel, allons!”--“There was No.
602, 1000_l._, sir.”--“Ah, indeed! vel, who was sel dat?”--“Bish,
sir.”--“Eh, ma foi! Bish encore? Vel.”--“There was No. 2032,
300_l._”--“And who was sel?”--“Bish, sir.”--“Eh, mon dieu! ’tis very
grand fortune. Now den de last, and who vas sel dat?”--“Why, sir, the
last was No. 6275, 300_l._, also sold by Bish.”--“Eh, de diable! ’tis
von chose impossible, Bish sell all de four?”--“Yes, sir, and in a
former lottery he sold all the three thirty thousands.”--“Den he is von
golden philosopher. I vill buy, I vill--let me see. Yes, I vill buy your
shop.”--His ambition was at last, however, contented with three tickets;
so that he has three chances of gaining the two thirty thousands yet in
the wheel; and we have no doubt Bish will have the good luck of selling
them.
* * * * *
“BISH” is the subject of versified praise, in another bill.
HOW TO BE HAPPY.
Let misers hug their worship’d hoards,
And lock their chests with care;
Whilst we enjoy what life affords,
With spirits light as air.
For our days shall haily gaily be,
Prizes in store before us,
We’ll spend our ev’nings merrily.
And BISH we’ll toast in chorus.
Let lovers droop for sparkling eyes,
And heave the tender sigh:
Whilst we embrace the glittering prize,
And meagre care defy.
For our days shall haily gaily be,
Plenty in store before us;
Our cash we’ll jingle merrily,
And BISH we’ll toast in chorus.
Let glory call the sons of war
To dare the crimson’d field;
Sweet Fortune’s charms are brighter far,
Her golden arms we’ll wield.
Then our days will haily gaily be,
Riches in store before us;
We’ll dance through life most merrily,
And BISH we’ll toast in chorus.
* * * * *
“BISH” on another occasion steps in with:--
PERMIT ME TO ASK
Have you seen the scheme of the present Lottery?
Do you know that it contains MORE PRIZES than BLANKS?
Have you heard how very _cheap_ the tickets are?
Are you aware, that Lotteries are about to be discontinued, the
chancellor of the exchequer having said that the Lottery bill,
introduced last session of parliament, should be _the last_?
I need not direct you to BISH’S, as being the luckiest offices in the
kingdom, &c.
* * * * *
“BISH” adventured in the “City Lottery,” a scheme devised for getting
rid of the houses in Picket-street, Temple-bar, and Skinner-street,
Snow-hill; and on that occasion he favoured the world with the
following:--
FREEHOLDS AND FORTUNES.
BY PETER PUN.
Tune.--“_Drops of Brandy._”
Dame Fortune is full of her tricks,
And blind, as her portraits reveal, sir;
Then the best way the goddess to fix,
Is by putting a spoke in her wheel, sir:
Her favours the Lott’ry unfolds,
Then the summons to BISH don’t scorn sir;
For, as _her_ cornucopia _he_ holds,
He’s the lad for exalting your horn, sir.
Rum ti iddity, &c.
With poverty who would be known,
And live upon orts in a garret, sir,
Who could get a good _house_ of his own,
And fatten on roast beef and claret, sir!
In the _city_ scheme this you’ll obtain,
At BISH’S, where all folks _pell-mell_ come,
By a ticket a _free_-hold you’ll gain,
And it cannot be more _free_ than _welcome_.
Rum ti iddity, &c.
This house, when you once realize it,
Upholders will look sharp as lynxes,
For an order to _Egyptianize_ it,
With catacomb fal lals and sphynxes;
Chairs and tables, a _mummy_-like crew,
With crocodile grooms of the stole, sir,
Sarcophagus _coal_-skuttles too,
And at BISH’S you’ll fill them with _cole_, sir.
Rum ti iddity, &c.
For when you’re thus furnish’d in state,
And a pretty establishment got, sir,
Ten to one but it pops in your pate,
You’ll want sticks to be boiling the pot, sir;
Then to BISH’S away for supplies,
For _mopusses_ they are so plenty,
You may choose a ten thousand pound prize,
And if you don’t like it a twenty.
Rum ti iddity, &c.
Then BISH for my money, I say,
The like of him never was known, sir;
As Brulgruddery says in the play,
“That man’s the philosopher’s stone, sir.”
Then what shall we do for this man,
Who makes all your fortunes so handy?
Buy his tickets as fast as you can,
And drink him in _drops of brandy_.
Rum ti iddity, &c.
* * * * *
“BISH” seems to have deemed “the Philosopher’s stone,” which never
existed but in silly imaginations, to be a proper device for drawing
customers. It is repeated in
PADDY’S PURSUIT,
A NEW SONG.
From the county of Cork in dear Ireland I came,
To England’s _swate_ Island a fortune to gain;
Where I heard that the _strates_ were all paved with gold,
And the hedges grew Guineas! so Paddy was told!
I jump’d on dry land to my neck up in water,
Which to some spalpeens gave subject for laughter;
But, says I, with a grin, as I dragg’d myself out,
“I’m not come to England to be food for a trout.”
Fal de ral, de ral lal, O whack!
Then to London I came, that _monstracious_ city,
Where the lads dress so gay, and the ladies look _pratty_;
But, Och! blood-and-ouns! only mark my surprise,
When only great stones in the _strates_ met my eyes!
No Guineas at all on the bushes there grew;
Not a word that they told me, I found, sirs, was true:
“Och! why wa’n’t I drown’d, and made food for the fish!”
Thus I growled, ’till I lighted on one _Master Bish_.
Fal de ral, &c.
_Master Bish_ had found out the Philosopher’s stone,
And a Thousand yellow Guineas he gave me for One!
Thus Fortune to Pat was _monstraciously_ kind,
Tho’ no gold on the bushes or _strates_ I could find!
Then honeys attend, and pursue my advice;
Och! to 9, Charing-cross, be off in a trice;
Buy a Lottery Chance, for the Drawing Day’s near,
And perhaps, like friend Paddy, a Fortune you’ll clear.
Fal de ral, &c.
* * * * *
“BISH” we find again attempting to attract, with the following:--
THE
PHILOSOPHER’S STONE.
------------------------------ That stone,
Philosophers in vain so long have sought,
Says Milton, would not prove more valuable to its possessor than an
absolute knowledge of _certain_ numbers which lie hidden in the Wheel of
Fortune till Fate declares to the enraptured ears of the adventurer, who
has founded his hopes of success on them, their union with _certain_
large sums of money, viz. Twenty, Ten, or Five Thousand Pounds; for
there are many such sums yet in the wheel, yet to be determined, yet to
be gained by hazarding a mere trifle.
He, who life’s sea successfully would sail,
Must often throw a sprat to catch a whale.
Apply this proverb then; think, ere too late,
What fortune, honour, and what wealth await
The very trifling sum[484] of one pound eight.
* * * * *
“BISH,” of course, imagined, or wished, the public to be amazingly
surprised at his popularity, and therefore indulged them with this song:
WHAT’S THE MATTER?
_By Quintin Query, Esq._
Tune.--“O Dear, what can the Matter be?”
“_O dear, what can the matter be?_”
To tell, who can be at a loss?
The people are running by dozens to BISH’S,
To make out their dreams, and fulfil all their wishes,
And try to come in for the loaves and the fishes,
At 4, Cornhill, and 9, Charing-cross.
“_O dear, what can the matter be?_”
I’ll tell you, good friend, if you wish;
The people are trying dame Fortune to cozen,
And the old women’s tongues are eternally buzzing,
About _lucky numbers_, 19 to the dozen,
And all they can talk of is BISH.
“_O dear, what can the matter be?_”
I dare say you’re dying to know;
The horns blow about, be it rainy or sunny,
The walls they are cover’d with bills all so funny,
To shew you the way how to finger the money,
And you all know that “_makes the mare go_.”
“_O dear, what can the matter be?_”
The bellman he rings such a peal?
To tell those whose fortunes are rusted with rickets,
To call at _good luck’s_ (that is, _Bish’s_) two wickets,
And a transfer obtain for 500 Whole Tickets;
How conceited they’d make a man feel!
“_O dear, what can the matter be?_”
For joy you’ll be dancing a jig;
For _good_ luck most folks are delighted to choose a day,
And a lucky day surely must be a good news day,
Then the day of all days is the very _next Tuesday_;
Then, Misfortune’s _black Monday_ a fig!
* * * * *
“BISH,” on another occasion, treated the “gentle public,” like so many
children, with another optical delusion.
FORTUNE’S GALANTY SHOW.
Tune.--“GALANTY SHOW.”
O pretty show, O raree show, O finey galanty show, O pretty galanty
show!
_Chaunt._
Come, all my merry customers, of high, middling, and low degree,
Look in at one of these little glasses, and you shall see what you
shall see;
My fine galanty show you great wonders shall view in,
You shall see the high road to Fortune, and that’s better than the
road to Ruin.
O pretty show, O raree show, O finey galanty show,
O pretty galanty show!
There you see the New Lott’ry Scheme, such as never was plann’d
before!
_Fewer_ Tickets, and _fewer Blanks_, and yet the _Prizes_ are
_more_;
And besides the usual 5’s, 10’s, and 20 Thousands (_Peep thro’ one
of these wickets_,)
You shall see such a Prize as was never yet known, neither more nor
less than 1000 whole Tickets!
O pretty show, &c.
And there you shall see, (_Look a little to the right_) Mr. BISH’s
Shop on _Cornhill_:
(_Now a little to the left_) And there’s his other Shop at _Charing-
cross_, where buy Shares if you will;
You’ll get a part of the 1000 whole Tickets, I’ll be bound,
And that’s very much like getting a part of more than a _Hundred
Thousand Pounds_!
O pretty show, &c.
Then look straight forward, and there you see _Coopers’ Hall_,
(_Isn’t it a fine building?_) there the Tickets they draw;
And there you see the pretty little Blue-coat Boys, and nicer little
fellows you never saw;
There you’ll see ’em pulling the Numbers and Prizes out of the very
Grand Wheels
And when one has a Ticket in the Lottery, and sees such a sight, how
_narvous_ one feels!
O pretty show, &c.
And there--(_Rub the glass a little cleaner_) there’s a sight I’d
not have you miss fora pound,
The little Boy draws out a _Number_ (_Let me see what Number you
have got_) aye, that’s it, I’ll be bound;
There don’t the Clerk (_On the left hand_) look exactly as if he was
calling it, don’t you _see_ how he _cries_?
And the other little Boy draws, and the other Clerk looks as if he
bawl’d out a £20,000 Prize.
O pretty show, &c.
There you see (’tis no Dream of Castles in the Air, called _Utopia_)
There you see Fortune pouring the _Guineas_ out of--what the deuce
is it? a great long hard name--Oh! her _Cornucopia_!
That’s a fine _Golden Horn_, that holds all the Prizes, I declare,
And to get its Contents would be a pretty _Horn Fair_!
O pretty show, &c.
* * * * *
“BISH” was pleased to devise the scheme of a Lottery to be drawn on St.
Swithin’s day, wherein wine was added to the prizes, and therefore, and
because its novelty was deemed alluring, we find one of his bills
beginning with an apostrophising and prophetic couplet:--
Hail, famed ST. SWITHIN! who, with pow’r benign,
Instead of rain pour showers of gold and wine!
Another in the same Lottery, beneath a wood-cut of a bunch of grapes,
breaks out:--
On the 15th of JULY what a _golden_ supply
Of _wine_ given _gratis_ by BISH,
If you can get but a _share_, you’ll have plenty to spare,
And can treat all your friends as you wish.
“BISH,” on the same occasion, throws the “leer of invitation,” with
TRY IN TIME.
Och! Judy, my jewel, come here when I call;
We may now get _wine gratis_, for _nothing at all_;
And _gold_ like _paratees_ pil’d up in a heap,
Which is offer’d us too, honey, almost as cheap.
But there’s no time to lose if we’re meaning to try,
For ’tis _all in one day_, on the _15th July_.
And since the grand scheme is beyond all compare,
He’s a spalpeen who won’t buy a fortunate share.
“BISH,” in another bill, oddly enough, put an old, one-legged smoker,
with a _patch_ over one eye, a carbuncled nose, and his only foot
flannelled up for the gout, the effects of drinking, in an arm chair,
with the following lines below:--
“LAID UP IN PORT.”
Od’s blood! what a time for a seaman to skulk,
Like a lazy land-lubber ashore;
If I’m laid up at all, I’ll be laid up in port,
And surrounded by prizes galore.
Tommy Bish shall fill my glass,
And the puppies, as they pass,
Sha’n’t run down the old commodore,
The rich old commodore, the cosey old commodore,
The boozing old commodore he;
While I’m friends with mighty BISH,
He will crown my ev’ry wish,
Tho’ I’ll never more be fit for sea.
Then also, “Bish” favoured his “friends” with the opportunity of
singing,
BACCHUS AND PLUTUS, OR THE UNION.
Tune.--“Derry Down.”
A ROW was kick’d up in the regions above,
For PLUTUS and BACCHUS for precedence strove;
And in words such as these did their anger express,
Till JOVE swore he’d kick them both out of the mess.
Derry down.
First BACCHUS advanc’d, tho’ he scarcely could stand,
Determin’d, he swore, to have the _whip hand_;
And thus he began.--“Why, you sordid old elf,
All your thoughts are employ’d in the scraping of pelf.
“Can gold, I would ask, e’er enliven the soul
Like the juice of the grape, or a full flowing bowl?
Can the glittering bauble such pleasure impart,
Or make the blood circle so warm round the heart?
“That gold is an evil, there’s many will say,
As my vot’ries oft find when the reck’ning’s to pay;
Had gold ne’er existed, the true jolly fellow
For ever might tipple, and always get mellow.
“I swear by old Styx!--that this truth it will _stand_:”
But the wine in his noddle usurp’d the command,--
A _knock-’em-down argument_ BACCHUS soon found,
For quickly he measur’d his length on the ground.
“As BACCHUS is _down_,” then says PLUTUS, “I’ll _rise_;”
And this speech he address’d to the knobs of the skies:--
“That gold is a blessing, I’m sure I can prove:
The soother of cares, and cementer of love!
“You know the old proverb, of _poverty_, sure,
’Tis something about--‘_when she enters the door,
That love, through the window, soon toddles away_;’
But if there were gold, I’m sure that he’d stay.
“I’ll own that my bounties are sometimes misus’d:
But pray why should I, sirs, for that be abus’d?”
Here JOVE stopp’d him short, and with positive air,
Insisted that they should their quarrel forbear.
“Your claims I admit, sir, and BACCHUS’ too;
But a plan to unite you, I now have in view;
You know TOMMY BISH?”--“To be sure!” exclaim all,
“’Tis on him, that dame Fortune her bounty lets fall!”
“Well,--a Lottery he’s plann’d, with an union rare,
Where _money_ and _wine_ each come in for a share;
There are _three thirty thousands_ to gratify _you_;
And the _twelve pipes of wine_, sirs, for BACCHUS will do.”
Says BACCHUS to PLUTUS--“Then give us your hand,
I’ll tipple his wine, till no more I can stand;
And as JOVE has inform’d us there’s _money_ enough,
Why you, Mister PLUTUS, can finger the _stuff_.
“Besides, I have heard, or my memory’s fail’d,
How greatly last Lott’ry his luck has prevail’d;
The _three twenty thousands_, he sold (the rum fish!)
Then let us be off, and buy tickets of BISH!”
Derry down.
“BISH,” who in the former bill had subjoined, in plain prose, that
“lotteries must end for ever,” likewise issued the following--
DUTIES ON WINES.
The minister in reducing the duty, so that wines may be sold at one
shilling per bottle cheaper, has done much to increase the _spirits_ of
the people; at the same time he has adopted another measure that will in
a few months DESTROY THE FREE TRADE of every person in the kingdom to
obtain for a small sum a great fortune in a few weeks, by having
determined to abolish Lotteries, which must soon end for ever;
therefore, the present is one of the last opportunities to buy, &c.
* * * * *
“BISH,” according to the old plan, “ever ready to serve his friends,”
issued
THE AMBULATOR’S GUIDE TO THE LAND OF PLENTY.
BY PURCHASING A TICKET, _In the present Lottery_,
You may _reap_ a golden _harvest_ in _Cornhill_, and pick up the
_bullion_ in _Silver-street_; have an interest in _Bank-buildings_;
possess a _Mansion-house_ in _Golden-square_, and an estate like a
_Little Britain_; pour red wine down _Gutter-lane_; never be in
_Hunger_ford-market; but all your life continue a _May-fair_.
BY PURCHASING A HALF,
You need never be confined within _London-wall_, but become the
proprietor of many a _Long-acre_; represent a _Borough_, or an
_Aldermanbury_; and have a snug share in _Threadneedle-street_.
BY PURCHASING A QUARTER,
Your affairs need never be in _Crooked-lane_, nor your legs in
_Fetter-lane_; you may avoid _Paper-buildings_; steer clear of the
_King’s-bench_, and defy the _Marshalsea_; if your heart is in
_Love-lane_, you may soon get into _Sweetings-alley_, obtain your
lover’s consent for _Matrimony-place_, and always live in a
_High-street_.
BY PURCHASING AN EIGHTH,
You may ensure plenty of _provision_ for _Swallow-street_; finger the
_Cole_ in _Coleman-street_; and may never be troubled with
_Chancery-lane_; you may cast _anchor_ in _Cable-street_; set up
business in a _Fore-street_, or a _Noble-street_; and need never be
confined within a _Narrow-wall_.
BY PURCHASING A SIXTEENTH,
You may live _frugal_ in _Cheapside_; get _merry_ in
_Liquorpond-street_; soak your _hide_ in _Leather-lane_; be a wet
_sole_ in _Shoe-lane_; turn _maltster_ in _Beer-lane_, or _hammer_
away in _Smithfield_.
In short, life must indeed be a _Long-lane_, if it’s without a
_turning_. Therefore if you are wise, without _Mincing_ the matter, be
_Fleet_ and go _Pall-mall_ to _Cornhill_ or _Charing-cross_, and
enroll your name in the _Temple_ of Fortune, BISH’s.
LOTTERY FOR WOMEN IN INDIA.
_Advertisement._
“BE IT KNOWN, that SIX FAIR PRETTY YOUNG LADIES, with two sweet and
engaging young children, lately IMPORTED FROM EUROPE, having roses of
health blooming on their cheeks, and joy sparkling in their eyes,
possessing amiable manners, and highly accomplished, whom the most
indifferent cannot behold without expressions of rapture, are to be
RAFFLED FOR next door to the British gallery. SCHEME: _twelve tickets_,
at twelve rupees each; the highest of the three throws, doubtless, takes
the most fascinating, &c.”[485]
* * * * *
The four engravings on this page, with the lines beneath them, are
from other Lottery bills.
[Illustration]
“Throw _Physic_ to the Dogs,” for me
The best _composing draught’s_ a Fee;
For _sinking Chest_, _low pulse_, or cold,
There’s no _Specific_ equals Gold.
[Illustration]
“My Dancing Days are over!”
[Illustration]
Though the lotteries soon will be over, I’m told,
That now is the time to get pailsful of gold;
And if there is any real truth in a dream,
I myself shall come in for a share of the cream.
We hail, ere the Sun, the first breath of the morn,
And ’tis said “early birds get the best of the corn,”
Of the _Four Twenty Thousands_ perhaps fortune may
Have in store one for me, as they’re drawn in _One Day_!
[Illustration]
For the gay fruits of nature what wish can you feel,
When compar’d with the _fruits_ of the lottery wheel;
My basket of fruit I’d exchange with great glee,
If one _golden pippin_ they’d only give me.
“BISH, contractor for another Lottery,” during the proceedings in
parliament respecting the queen, availed himself of a celebrated answer
by one of the witnesses at the bar of the house of lords, and issued the
following:--
NON MI RICORDO!
OR,
_A few Questions on a new Subject_.
_QUESTION._
Good Signor, if your memory serves,
A question I would ask or two;
Then pray may I the favour beg,
That you will answer, if I do?
_ANSWER._
_Non mi ricordo_, I can’t say,
Whether my mem’ry serves or no;
But let me hear them first, I pray;
What I remember you shall know.
_QUESTION._
Since Lotteries in this realm began,
And many good ones there have been,
Do you suppose the oldest man,
So good a Scheme at this has seen?
_ANSWER._
_Non mi ricordo_, surely no;
Comparisons are idle tales,
For such a Lottery Scheme as this,
I must confess my memory fails.
_QUESTION._
Now what peculiar features, pray,
Distinguish this from all the rest?
And why do all the people say,
“Unquestionably this is best?”
_ANSWER._
_Non mi ricordo_, ’tis in vain
For me its merits now to say;
To tell them all ’twould take, ’tis plain,
From now until the Drawing Day.
_QUESTION._
Its merits I will gladly own,
But folks will questions ask, and pray
If your opinion is requir’d,
Just tell me, sir, what you would say?
_ANSWER._
_Non mi ricordo_: read the Scheme,
One word will answer all your wish
’Tis BISH’s plan, ’tis BISH’s theme,
It must be good, ’tis plann’d by BISH.
* * * * *
“BISH,” in the annexed, _puffs_ at Queen Anne’s prize of “5000 pounds,”
as “so small.” This may be imagined to have been asserted under poetical
licence; for, in fact, 5000_l._ in those days was almost equal to the
largest prize in modern Lotteries.
THE
_Bonne Bouche_ of Lotteries.
Tune.--“MODERATION AND ALTERATION.”
In the reign of Queen Anne, when first Lott’ries were invented,
With very few Prizes Advent’rers were contented;
The largest of which, (so small were Fortune’s bounds,)
“_Paid in faire Plate_,” was but 5000 Pounds.
Moderation! Moderation!
O, what a wonderful Moderation!
Soon 5000_l._ was deem’d but a small Bait,
And 10,000 then was the Great Prize of State:
_Twenty_ follow’d soon after, then _Thirty_--bold push!
And at last 40,000 was made the _Bonne Bouche_!
Alteration! Alteration! &c.
Now the Lott’ry Contractors a New Plan pursue,
All former outdoings resolv’d to outdo;
And have struck out a Plan to increase Public Gain,
By which, _One Hundred Thousand_ Pounds you may obtain.
Temptation! Temptation! &c.
If two Numbers are drawn in a specifi’d way,
1000 _Whole Tickets_ the Holders repay;
And a 1000 Whole Tickets a Chance may reveal,
Of all the Great Prizes contain’d in the Wheel.
Admiration! Admiration! &c.
O, what a subject for Admiration!
Now if you could get them, and ’twouldn’t be strange,
For the rest of your life, how your fortune would change!
A Coach, a Town-House, and a Country-House, too!
Leading Man in the County!--O, wou’dn’t that do?
Fascination! Fascination! &c.
Then of Loans, and such fat things, such slices you’d gain!
Then a Member of Parliament’s Seat you’d obtain!
Next _Knighthood_--then _Baronet_--and in a short space,
A Peerage--“_My Lord!_” and at last, “_Please your Grace!_”
Exaltation! Exaltation! &c.
Such things are quite flattering, and surely such are,
But a Pleasure far greater remains to declare;
Consider, what _Power_ Wealth and Honour procure,
To relieve the Oppress’d, and to succour the Poor.
Exultation! Exultation! &c.
Then with Patriot Ardour your Country to serve,
For Riches are Curses, from[486] these if you swerve;
And all this may be gain’d, if your Fortune you try,
And of BISH, Fortune’s Favorite, a Ticket you buy.
Expectation! Expectation! &c.
* * * * *
“BISH,” whose bills may be taken as a specimen of such kind of Lottery
advertisements by whomever issued, will be observed to have constantly
addressed them to the lowest minds and the meanest capacities. One more
may further exemplify the remark:--
THE AGE OF WONDERS.
Tune.--“_Bang up._”
This is a _Wonder working_ age, by all it is agreed on,
And _Wonders_ rise up ev’ry day, for public gaze to feed on;
To sketch a few ’tis my intent, while now I’m in the mind, sir,
And crown them all with _one_ you’ll own, will leave them far
behind, sir.
Then push along; for _something new_, the public taste will dash
on:
For _Wonders_ now are all the _rage_, and _novelty’s_ the
fashion.
The _juggling Indians_ show such feats, a lady’s taste ’twould shock
it,
They _swallow swords_, and _swallow_ too the _money from our
pocket_,
A gentle fair, by fear unmov’d, with courage she so fraught is,
On _red-hot iron_ skips a _dance_, and _bathes in aqua-fortis_.
Then push along; for _something new_, the public taste will dash
on,
For _Wonders_ now are all the _rage_, and _novelty’s_ the
fashion.
The greatest _Wonder_ yet to tell, which all the world surprizes,
Is BISH’s _famous Lottery_, and BISH’s _wondrous_ prizes,
Three _fifty thousands_ grace the scheme, which yet remain undrawn,
sir,
A _wonder_ which was never known since any man was born, sir.
Then push along, to BISH’s go! of fortune he’s the man, sir,
A vote of thanks, _nem. con._ we’ll pass for such a noble plan,
sir.[487]
* * * * *
“BISH” when, what he called, “The Last Lottery of All!” had arrived,
very cavalierly turned round on the government; and, on the eve of
becoming a candidate for a seat in the house of commons, paid his
compliments to his future colleagues in the following address:--
TO THE PUBLIC.
At the present moment, when so many articles, necessary to 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 for
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 it is at 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, and add to the number of the unemployed, may, as I have
observed in a former address, surely be questioned.
Mr. Pitt, whose ability, in matters of financial arrangement, few will
question, and whose morality was proverbial, would not, I am bold to
say, have yielded to an 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 patrimonial estates at hazard or écarte in the
purlieus of St. James’s is _merely amusement_, but to purchase a ticket
in the Lottery, by means of 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 thousand 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 whom I have been for many years the highly favoured servant,
and for whose patronage, though Lotteries cease, my gratitude will ever
continue.
As one of the last contractors, I have assisted in arranging a scheme,
&c.! &c.!! &c.!!!
* * * * *
After this, perhaps, the reader may exclaim “I am satisfied!” and
therefore, as we have the assurance of Mr. Bish that there will “never
be another Lottery” to be lamented, the time has arrived for subjoining
the following
~Epitaph.~
In Memory of
THE STATE LOTTERY,
the last of a long line
whose origin in England commenced
in the year 1569,[488]
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,[489]
pronounced sentence of condemnation
on the whole race;
from which time they were almost
NEGLECTED BY THE BRITISH PUBLIC.
Very great efforts were made by the
Partisans 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.
W. P.
~Interesting Addenda.~
A few remarkable facts, which were omitted in the proper order of
narration, are now inserted.
ANCIENT LOTTERY.
About 1612 king James I., “in special favour for the plantation of
English colonies in Virginia, granted a Lottery to be held at the west
end of St. Paul’s; whereof one Thomas Sharplys, a taylor of London, had
the chief prize, which was four thousand crowns in fair plate.”[490]
A DOUBLE MISTAKE.
Old Baron d’Aguilar, the Islington miser, was requested by a relation to
purchase a particular ticket, No. 14,068, in the Lottery to be drawn in
the year 1802, (but which was sold some few days before). The baron died
on the 16th of March following, and the number was the first-drawn
ticket on the 24th, and, as such, entitled to twenty thousand pounds.
The baron’s representatives, under these circumstances, therefore
published an advertisement, offering a reward of 1000_l._ to any person
who might have found the said ticket, and would deliver it up. Payment
was stopped. A wholesale linen-draper, in Cornhill, who had ordered his
broker to buy him ten tickets, which he deposited in his chest, on
copying the numbers, for the purpose of examining them, made a mistake
of one figure, and called it 14,168 instead of 14,068, which was the
20,000_l._ prize. The lottery being finished, he sent ten tickets to be
examined and marked. To his utter astonishment, he then found the error
of the number copied on his paper. On his demanding payment at the
lottery office, a caveat was entered by old d’Aguilar’s executors; but
an explanation taking place, the 20,000_l._ was immediately paid him.
CHRISTOPHER BARTHOLOMEW.
This person, who inherited a good fortune from his parents, was
prosperous in his business, and had every prospect of success and
eminence in life, fell a victim to an unconquerable itch for gambling in
the Lottery. At one time, the White-conduit-house, with its tea-gardens
and other premises, as also the Angel-inn, now the best tavern in
Islington, were his freeholds: and he rented land to the amount of
2000_l._ a year, in the neighbourhood of that place, and Holloway. He
was remarkable for having the greatest quantity of haystacks of any
grower in the neighbourhood of London. He kept his carriage and servants
in livery, and was believed to have been worth 50,000_l._ He was not
only the proprietor, but the landlord of White-conduit-house, to which,
by his taste in laying out its grounds, and the manner of conducting his
business, he attracted great custom. On one occasion, having been
unusually successful in the Lottery, he gave a public breakfast at his
tea-gardens, “to commemorate the smiles of Fortune,” as he so expressed
himself upon the tickets of admission at this _fête champêtre_.
At times he was very fortunate in the Lottery, and this tended to
increase the mania which hurried him to his ruin. He was known to have
spent upwards of 2000 guineas in a day for insurance, to raise which,
stack after stack of his immense crops of hay were cut down and hurried
to market, as the readiest way to obtain the supplies for these
extraordinary outgoings; and at last he was obliged to part with his
freehold, from accumulated difficulties and embarrassments, and he
passed the remaining thirteen years of his life in great poverty,
subsisting by the charity of those who knew him in “better days,” and by
the paltry emolument he derived from serving as a juryman in the
sheriff’s court for the county. His propensity to the Lottery, even
under these degrading difficulties, never forsook him. Meeting one day,
in the year 1807, with an old acquaintance, he told him he had a strong
presentiment, that if he could purchase a particular number in the
ensuing Lottery it would prove successful. His friend, after
remonstrating with him on the impropriety of persevering in a practice
that had been already attended with such evil consequences, was at last
persuaded to advance the money to purchase a sixteenth, and go halves
with him in the adventure. It was drawn a prize of 20,000_l._, and from
the proceeds from this extraordinary turn of fortune, he was prevailed
upon to purchase an annuity of 60_l._ _per annum_. Totally addicted,
however, to the pernicious habit of insurance, he disposed of his
annuity, and lost every shilling of the money; yet such was the meanness
of his mind and circumstances, that he frequently applied to persons who
had been served by him in his prosperity, for an old coat, or some other
article of cast apparel; and not many days before he died, he begged a
few shillings to purchase necessaries.
Bartholomew in intellect and manners was superior to the generality of
men, and at one time possessed the esteem of all who knew him. His fate
may be a warning to all ranks, particularly to those who are in trade,
not to engage in hazardous pursuits. He died in a two pair of stairs
room, in Angel-court, Windmill-street, in the Haymarket, in March, 1809,
aged 68.[491]
* * * * *
A correspondent refers to Rees’s Cyclopædia as containing a good account
of Lotteries, with table of chances relative to their schemes; and he
adds, that Dr. Kelly, the well-known calculator, assured him he had
ascertained that the chances of obtaining certain prizes were even more
against the adventurer than would appear by those tables.
* * * * *
When the tickets were publicly drawn in Guildhall, and the drawing was
protracted for several weeks, it was a curious sight for an indifferent
spectator to go and behold the visages of the anxious crowd; to mark the
hopes and the fears that seemed to agitate them, as their numbers or
numbers near to theirs were announced. It is a fact, that poor medical
practitioners used constantly to attend in the hall, to be ready to let
blood, in cases where the sudden proclaiming of the fate of tickets in
the hearing of the holders of them, was found to have an overpowering
effect upon their spirits. The late Mr. Dalmahoy, of Ludgate-hill, was
accustomed to affirm, that he owed his first establishment in a business
which afterwards proved so prosperous, to the gratitude of a person, to
whose assistance, when a young man, he had stept in, upon one of those
critical emergencies.[492]
ORIGIN OF LOTTERIES.
The historian of “Inventions” says, that if, as some had done, he were
to “reckon among the first traces of Lotteries every division of
property made by lot, it might be said that Joshua partitioned the
promised land into Lottery prizes before it was conquered.” In his
opinion, the peculiarity of Lotteries consists in their numbers being
distributed gratuitously, or, as in public Lotteries, for a certain
price; it being left to chance to determine what numbers were to obtain
the prizes, the value of which had been previously settled. He speaks of
the “conditions and changes invented by ingenuity to entice people to
purchase shares, and to conceal and increase the gain of the
undertakers;” and, of the “delusion they occasion to credulous and
ignorant people, by exciting hopes that have little probability in their
favour.” He deems that the hint of modern Lottery was derived from the
Romans. The rich persons at Rome, and particularly the emperors,
endeavoured to attach the people by distributing among them presents
consisting of eatables and other expensive articles, which were named
_congiaria_. Tokens, or tickets, called _tesseræ_ (in Greek συμζολα,)
were generally given out, and the possessors, on presenting them at the
store or magazine of the donor, received those things which they
announced. In many cases, these tickets were distributed to every person
who applied for them, and then these donations resembled our
distribution of bread, but not our Lotteries, in which chance must
determine the number of those who were to participate in the number of
things distributed. In the course of time, the Roman populace was called
together, and the articles distributed thrown to them from a stage. Such
things were called _missilia_, and belonged to those who had the good
fortune to catch them; but as oil, wine, corn, and such like articles,
could not be distributed in this manner, and as other articles were
injured by the too great eagerness of the people, tokens or tickets were
thrown in their stead. These were square pieces of wood or metal, and
sometimes balls of wood, inscribed with the names of the articles. Those
who had obtained these _tesseræ_ were allowed to transfer or sell
them.[493]
* * * * *
Under “Lottery,” an antiquary refers to the _pittacia_ of Petronius. The
Romans issued gratis, to their visitors in the Saturnalia, tickets which
were all prizes, and marked with inscriptions called _apophoreta_. The
Lotteries of Augustus were mere bagatelles for sport; Nero’s were very
costly; those of Heliogabalus ridiculous; as, a ticket for six slaves,
another for six flies, &c. these were handed round in vases.[494]
* * * * *
Imitations, on a reduced scale, of the Roman _congiaria_ have amused the
continental princes and princesses of modern times. They distribute
small presents to their courtiers, by causing trinkets or toys to be
marked with numbers; the numbers being written on separate tickets,
which are rolled up and put into a small basket or basin.[495]
* * * * *
In Italy, during the middle ages, the merchants or shop-keepers, in
order to sell their wares more speedily and advantageously, converted
their shops into offices of luck, where each person, for a small sum,
was allowed to draw a number from the jar of fortune, which entitled the
holder to the article written upon it; but as these shop-keepers gained
excessive profits, and cheated the credulous people, by setting on their
wares an extravagant price, which was concealed by the blanks, these
practices were prohibited, or permitted only under strict inspection,
and on paying a certain sum to the poor, or the sovereign.
From hence was derived the modern Lottery of the continent, when
articles of merchandise were no longer employed as prizes, but certain
sums of money instead, the amount of which was determined by the amount
of money received, after the expenses and gain of the conductors were
deducted. In these Lotteries, the tickets were publicly drawn by the
charity boys, blindfolded. As they could not be conducted without
defrauding the adventurers, it was at first believed, through
old-fashioned conscientiousness, that it was unlawful to take advantage
of the folly and credulity of the people, except for pious or charitable
purposes. The gains were sometimes applied to the portioning of poor
young women, the redemption of captives, or the formation of funds for
the indigent, and other benificent objects. It was vainly imagined, that
these public games of hazard would banish others still more dangerous;
nor was it foreseen, that the exposure of tickets for sale, and their
division into shares, would maintain and diffuse a spirit of gambling.
This, however, was the result, and the profit from Lotteries became so
great, that princes and ministers were induced to employ them as
operations of finance: the people were forbidden to purchase tickets in
foreign Lotteries, and, in order that the tickets of the state might be
disposed of sooner, and with more certainty, many rulers were so
shameless as to pay part of the salaries of their servants in tickets,
and to compel guild companies and societies to expend in Lotteries what
money they had saved. In 1764, this abuse was mentioned by the states of
Wirtemburg among the public grievances, and in 1770 the duke promised
that it should be abolished.
* * * * *