guilty: 1. Of receiving subscriptions before the day and hour advertised; 2. Of permitting the subscribers to use different names to cover an excess of twenty tickets; and 3. Of disposing of the tickets which had been bespoke and not claimed, or were double charged, instead of returning them to the managers. In Trinity term, Leheup was brought up for judgment, and fined 1000l., which he paid in court. As he had amassed forty times that sum by his frauds, the lenity of the sentence was the subject of severe remark.* LOTTERY INSANITY. November 5, 1757, Mr. Keys, late clerk to Cotton and Co., who had absented himself ever since the 7th of October, the day the 10,000l. was drawn in the lottery; (supposed to be his property,) was found in the streets raving mad, having been robbed of his pocket-book and ticket.† He who, intent on shadowy schemes, By them is deeply bubbled, Unmoved by Fortune's fickle wheel, LARGE DIVISION OF TICKETS. In some of the old lotteries tickets were divided into a much greater number of shares than of late years. There is an example of this in the following Advertisement, November, 1766. DAME FORTUNE presents her respects to the public, and assures them that she has fixed her residence for the present at CORBETT's, State Lottery-office, opposite St. Dunstan's-church, Fleet-street; and, favours, she has ordered not only the ticto enable many families to partake of her kets to be sold at the lowest prices, but also that they be divided into shares at The subjoined verses appeared in the following low rates, viz :— 1761 A few Thoughts on Lotteries. A Lottery, like a magic spell, Whose beating bosoms vainly swell With hope to gain TEN THOUSAND POUND And for an empty, airy sound Contrive their own undoing! Those on whom wealta her stores had shed, Oft sink beneath their losses. 'Tis strange, so many fools we find, From life's blest bliss excluded. For life's best blessing, calm content, Thro' all life's various stages, care Smollett. Gentleman's Magazine. + Gentleman's Magazine. * In the Universal Magazine for December. £ s. d. A sixty-fourth.. 0 40 Sixteenth A half 0 76 By which may be gained from upwards of one hundred and fifty to upwards of five thousand guineas, at her said office No. 30. A NUMBER TWICE SOLD. The lottery of 1766 was unfortunate to a lottery-office keeper. The ticket No. 20,99 was purchased in the alley for Pagen Hale, esq. of Hertfordshire; and the same number was also divided into shares at a lottery-office near Charing-cross, and some of the shares actually sold. The number purchased in the alley was the real number, but that divided by the officekeeper was done by mistake, for which he paid a proportionable sum. During the lottery of 1767, the stockbrokers fell among thieves. Mr. Hugnes, a stock-broker, had his pocket picked in Jonathan's coffee-house of fifty lottery tickets, the value of which (at the price then sold) was 800%. The same evening three other brokers had their pockets picked of their purses, one containing sixty-two guineas, another seven, and the third five. One of the pick-pockets was afterwards apprehended, on whom thirtyfive of the tickets were found, and recovered; the other fifteen he said were carried to Holland by his accomplices. The preceding anecdotes are in the newspapers of the time, together with the following, which strongly marks the perversion of a weak mind. "A gentlewoman in Holborn, whose husband had presented her with a ticket, put up prayers in the church, the day before drawing, in the following manner: The prayers of the congregation are desired for the success of a person engaged in a new undertaking.' A FRAUDULEnt Insurer. In January, 1768, an insurer of tickets was summoned before a magistrate, for refusing to pay thirty guineas to an adventurer, upon the coming up of a certain number a blank, for which he had paid a premium of three guineas. The insurer was ordered immediately to pay thirty guineas, which he was obliged to comply with to prevent worse consequences.* other words, the magistrate was too weak to exert the power he was armed with, by law, against both the insurer and the insured. LOVE TICKETS. In many following ones, he carried this very ticket back to the office, and changed it for another. A LITTLE Go. October 14, 1770, a case was determined at the general quarter session of the peace for the county of Wilts, held been convicted before Thomas Johnson, at Marlborough. A quack doctor had for disposing of plate, &c. by means of a esq. of Bradford, in the penalty of 2007. device or lottery; and by a second information convicted of the same offence before Joseph Mortimer, esq. of Trowappealed to the justices at the general bridge. quarter session of the peace, when, after a trial of near ten hours, the bench unanimously confirmed the conviction on both informations, by which the appellant was and costs.* subjected to the penalties of 2001. on each, To both these convictions he PROCEEDINGS RESPECTING A BLUE-COAT Boy. In 1775, some of the boys of Christ's Hospital, appointed to draw numbers and chances from the wheel, were tampered with, for the purpose of inducing them to commit a fraud. These attempts were successful in one instance, and led to certain regulations, which will presently be stated. On the 1st of June, a man was carried before the lord mayor for attempting to bribe the two blue-coat boys who drew the Museum Lottery at Guildhall to conceal a ticket, and to bring it to him, promising that he would next day return it to them. His intention was to insure it in all the offices, with a view to defraud the office-keepers. The boys were honest, gave notice of the intended fraud, and pointed out the delinquent, who, however, was discharged, as there existed no law to punish the offence. On the 5th of December, one of the blue-coat boys who drew the numbers in the State Lottery at Guildhall was examined before sir Charles Asgill, relative to a number that had been drawn out the Friday before, on which an insurance had been made in almost every office in London. The boy confessed, that he was prevailed upon to conceal the ticket No. 21,481, by a man who gave him money for so doing; that the man copied the number; and that the next day he followed the man's instructions, and put his hand into the wheel as usual, with the ticket in it, and then pretended to draw it out. The instigator of the offence had actually received 4001. of the insurance-office keepers; had all of them paid him, the whole sum would have amounted to 3000%. but some of them suspected a fraud had been committed, and caused the inquiry, which obtained the boy's confession. On the following day, the person who insured the ticket was examined. He was clerk to a hop-factor in Goodman's-fields, • Universal Magazine. but not being the person who seduced the boy to secrete the ticket, and no evidence appearing to prove his connection with the person who did, the prisoner was discharged, though it was ascertained that he had insured the number already mentioned ninety-one times in one day. In consequence of the circumstances discovered by this examination, the lords of the treasury inquired deliberated on the means of preventing further, and similar practices; the result of their conferences was the following "Orders," which are extracted from the original minutes of the proceedings, and are now for the first time published. COPY, No. I. ORDER of December 12, 1775. A DISCOVERY having been made, that WILLIAM TRAMPLET, one of the boys employed in drawing the lottery, had, at the instigation of one CHARLES LOWNDES, (since absconded,) at different times, in former rolls taken out of the number wheel THREE numbered tickets, which were at THREE several times returned by him into the said wheel, and drawn without his parting with them, so as to give them the appearance of being fairly drawn, to answer the purpose of defrauding by insurance : IT IS THEREFORE ORDERED, for preventing the like wicked practices in future, that every boy before he is suffered to put his hand into either wheel, be brought by the proclaimer to the managers on duty, for them to see that the bosoms and sleeves of his coat be closely buttoned, his pockets sewed up, and his hands examined; and that during the time of his being on duty, he shall keep his left hand in his girdle behind him, ond his right hand open, with his fingers extended; and the proclaimer is not to suffer him at any time to leave the wheel without being first examined by the manager nearest him. The observance of the foregoing order is recommended by the managers on this roll to those on the succeeding rolls, till the matter shall be more fully discussed at a general meeting. COPY, No. II. ORDER at GENERAL MEETING. A PLAN OF RULES AND REGULATIONS to be observed, in order to prevent the boys committing frauds, &c., in • Gentleman's Magazine. THAT it be requested of the TREASURER OF CHRIST'S HOSPITAL not to make known who are the twelve boys nominated for drawing the lottery till the morning the drawing begins; which said boys are all to attend every day, and the two who are to go on duty at the wheels are to be taken promiscuously from amongst the whole number by either of the secretaries, without observing any regular course or order ; so that no boy shall know when it will be his turn to go to either wheel. THIS METHOD, though attended with considerable additional expense, by the extra attendance of two managers and six boys, will, it is presumed, effectually prevent any attempt being made to corrupt or bribe any of the boys to commit the fraud practised in the last lottery. It is imagined, that to future inquirers concerning lotteries, with a view to its history, the publication of the preceding documents may be acceptable. So long a time has elapsed since the fraud they relate to was perpetrated, that any motive which existed for keeping them private has ceased. The blue-coat boy who secretly abstracted the tickets from the wheel, and afterwards appeared to draw them fairly and openly, will be regarded as having been pitiably exposed to seductions, which might have been prevented if these regulations had been adopted on the complaint of the lad who was tampered with in June. Perhaps it was prudent, though not "quite correct," to conceal that three tickets had been improperly taken from the wheel: until now, it has not been publicly made known that there was more than one; and though, if the point had been tried, that one might have been sufficient to have vitiated the legality of the drawing of the lottery of 1775 altogether, it was not enough, in a popular view, to raise a hue-and-cry among the unfortunate holders against the disturbance of their chances. The concealment of three might have congregated the unsuccessful adventurers of the three kingdoms into an uproar, 66 one and indivisible," which, with the law on their side, would have exceedingly puzzled the then lords of the treasury to subdue, without ordering the lottery to have been drawn over again, and raising a fresh clamour among the holders of tickets that had been declared prizes. LOTTERY SUICIDE. a young man, clerk to a merchant in the On the 10th of January, 1777, 66 city, was found in the river below bridge drowned: he had been dabbling in the lottery with his master's money, and chose this way of settling his accounts."* A BLANK MADE A PRIZE. In January, 1777, Joseph Arones and at Guildhall before the lord mayor, charged Samuel Noah, two jews, were examined with counterfeiting the lottery ticket No. 25,590, a prize of 20007., with intent to defraud Mr. Keyser, an office-keeper, knowing the same to have been false and counterfeit. Mr. Keyser had examined the ticket carefully, and had taken it into the Stock-exchange to sell, when Mr. sired to look at the ticket, having, as he Shewell came into the same box, and derecollected, purchased one of the same number a day or two before. This fortunate discovery laid open the fraud, and their trial for their ingenuity. It was so the two jews were committed to take artfully altered from 23,590, that not the least erasure could be discerned. Arones was but just come to England, and Noah was thought to be a man of property. Noah were tried at the Old Bailey for the In February following, Arones and forgery and fraud. Their defence was, that the prisoner Arones found it, and per sons were brought to swear it; on which they were acquitted. The figure altered liquid, that not the least trace of it could was so totally obliterated by a certain be perceived. At the same sessions, Daniel Denny altering a lottery ticket, with intent to dewas tried for forging, counterfeiting, and fraud; and, being found guilty, was condemned.t : INSURING. In July, 1778, came on to be tried at Guildhali, before lord Mansfield, a cause, wherein a merchant was plaintiff and a lottery-office keeper defendant. The action was brought for suffering a young man, the plaintiff's apprentice, to insure with the defendant during the drawing of the last lottery, contrary to the statute; whereby the youth lost a considerable sum, the property of the merchant. The jury without going out of court gave a verdict for the plaintiff, thereby subjecting the defendant to pay 5001. penalty, and to three months' imprisonment.* During the same year, parliament having discussed the evil of insuring, and the mischievous subdivision of the shares of tickets, passed an act "for the regulation of Lottery offices," in which the principal clauses were as follows "To oblige every lottery-office keeper to take out a licence, at the expense of 501., and give security not to infringe any part of the act. "That no person shall dispose of any part of a ticket in any smaller share or proportion than a sixteenth, on 50%. penalty. J. Cook respectfully solicits the public will favour the following incomparably advantageous plan with attention, by which upwards of thirty-two thousand chances for obtaining a prize (out of the forty-eight thousand tickets) are given in one policy. POLICIES OF FIVE GUINEAS with three numbers, with the first number will gain 20000 if a prize of £20000 10000.. 5000 . £10000 ..£ 5000 6000 guineas if 20000 "That any person selling goods, wares, or other merchandise, or who shall offer with the second number will gain any sum or sums of money, upon any chance or event whatsoever, relating to the drawing of any ticket, shall be liable to a penalty of 201. "To enable the commissioners of his majesty's treasury to establish an office ;→→→→ all shares to be stamped at that office;the original tickets from which such shares are to be taken, to be kept at that office till a certain time after drawing;-books of entry to be regularly kept;-persons carrying shares to be stamped to pay a small sum specified in the act ;-penalties for persons selling shares not stamped; and a clause for punishing persons who shall forge the stamp of any ticket." In 1779, the drawing of the lottery and the conduct of lottery-office keepers was further regulated by act of parliament.† EVASIONS OF THE INSURERS. The provisions of parliament against the ruinous practice of insurance were évaded by the dexterity of the lotteryoffice keepers. In 1781, the following • Gentleman's Magazine. 3000 . 10000 with the third number will gain 10000 clause designed to prevent the insurance In the lottery act of 1782 there was a of tickets by any method. The lotteryand the magistrates enforced the law. office keepers persisted in their devices, several lottery-office keepers were conAbout the beginning of January 1785 victed, 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 Charingcross 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, |