FOOTNOTES
[1023] And in Greek σύμβολα.
[1024] Many have written at considerable length on the congiaria, yet the difference between the missilia and tesseræ has not been sufficiently explained. The first, or at least the best account, is in Turnebi Adversaria, xxix. 9, p. 637. In a passage in the Life of Nero by Suetonius, xi. 11, p. 21, the articles which were thrown among the people are called missilia; but in regard to corn, the term tesseræ is expressly named.
The passages where a description is given of the manner in which the tesseræ were thrown out, are to be found in Dio Cassius. The wooden balls, like those of the Lotto, appear to have been hollow, and to have contained the ticket or written order. Those desirous of knowing how these tesseræ were formed, and of what they were made, may consult Hugo de Prima Scribendi Origine, Traj. 1738, 8vo, cap. 15, p. 229.
[1025] Juven. Sat. vii. 174.
[1026] This abuse of lotteries was mentioned by the states of Wirtemberg, in the year 1764, among the public grievances; and in 1770 the duke promised that it should be abolished. I must here mention, to the honour of our prince and government (the author alludes to Hanover), that since lotteries were found necessary in this country, not a farthing of the profit has gone to the treasury of the prince, but the whole has been employed for pious or charitable purposes.
[1027] Recherches de la France. Paris, 1665, fol. viii. 49, p. 729.
[1028] This word is still used in Germany by the writers on Tontines; such, for example, as Michelsen.
[1029] Both the orders may be found in Traité de la Police, par De la Mare, Paris 1722, fol. i. pp. 502, 504.
[1030] The whole establishment is particularly described in Sauval, Histoire et Recherches des Antiquités de Paris, 1724, fol.
[1031] Sauval, pp. 71, 73, 76.
[1032] Dictionnaire de Commerce, par Savary. Art. Lotterie.
[1033] All the orders here quoted may be found in De la Mare. Those desirous of being fully acquainted with the nature of the first Parisian lotteries, and the method of drawing them, may consult Histoire de la Ville de Paris, par Felibien. Paris, 1725, fol. ii. p. 1462.
[1034] Christ. Longolii Epistolarum libri iv. Basiliæ, 1570, 8vo, iii. 33, p. 239. The letter is addressed to Octavius Grimoaldo, who lived, I think, at Venice, and had written, it seems, to Longolius, that he was unwilling to venture his money in the lottery. That Longolius had in his hands money belonging to Grimoaldo is proved by the letters iii. 3, iii. 7, 20. “That new kind of gambling is truly ours, and is called by us Loteria, as it were, a table-vessel (vasculia); doubtless from an arrangement of silver vessels appended to the gaming-table, which are distributed amongst those whose names are in the lottery, in such a manner that one vessel is assigned to each. But as you signify your disapproval of that kind of gaming, and do not think fit to expose my money to so much hazard, I acknowledge your prudence and kindness to me.” This derivation of the word Loteria is undoubtedly false, as Menage has already remarked, in his dictionary, art. Lot. He there says, “Je n’ay point lu ailleurs que lot signifiast de la vaiselle. Et je croy Longueuil s’est mal expliqué, et qu’il a voulu dire qu’on appelloit Loterie la vaiselle d’argent d’un buffet, parceque de son tems on mettoit ordinairement à la loterie la vaiselle d’argent d’un buffet.”
[1035] Dier. Canicul. 1691, fol. tom. ii. colloq. 2.
[1036] See Du Cange, art. Lot. Muratori, Antiquit. Ital. Medii Ævi, ii. p. 1240. Among the oldest German words in Lipsii Epistolæ ad Belgas, Cent. 3, 44, p. 49, stands Los, sors. The t is often changed into s. Thus nut in the English and Low German, noot in the Dutch, and nöt in the Swedish, are the same as the German nuss.
[1037] The convenient machine and apparatus, by which the drawing is much forwarded at present, were not then known. A description of them may be found in Savary’s Diction. de Commerce.
[1038] Gent. Mag. xlviii. an. 1778, p. 470, from which I shall also transcribe the whole title of the scheme:—“A proposal for a very rich lottery general, without blanks, contayning a great number of good prizes, as well as of redy money as of plate, and certain sorts of merchandises, having been valued and prized by the commandment of the queen’s most excellent majesties order, to the intent that such commodities as may chance to arise thereof, after the charges borne, may be converted towards the reperations of the havens and strength of the realme, and towards such other public good workes. The number of lotts shall be foure hundred thousand, and no more; and every lott shall be the sum of tenne shillings sterling, and no more. To be filled by the feast of St. Bartholomew. The show of prises are to be seen in Cheapside, at the sign of the Queene’s Armes, the house of Mr. Dericke, goldsmith, servant to the queene, 1567, 8vo. Printed by Hen. Bynneman.” See also Maitland’s History of London, 1756, fol. i. p. 257.—Northouck’s History of London. Lond. 1773, 4to, p. 257.
[1039] Hist. of Commerce.
[1040] Commelin’s Amsterdam, i. p. 440. In the year 1561 the profit on a lottery was employed for enlarging the Orphan House. See Pontani Rerum Amst. Hist. 1611, fol. lib. ii. c. 2.
[1041] [Lotto does not consist, like the lottery, of a fixed number of tickets and a certain number of specified prizes, but is, in fact, a mere game of chance, at which the stakes are indefinite, and is thus played. A given quantity of numbers are placed together, of which a few are only to be drawn: the adventurers then select any one or more, on which they bet any sum they think proper; and, should they prove successful, they draw so much more than their stake, in a settled proportion, according as their risk was increased by the quantity of numbers which they named together. Thus the usual quantity is ninety numbers, from one upwards, and five only of these are drawn: if the adventurer chooses but one number out of the 90, and that it be one of those drawn, his stake is returned fifteen fold; if two, he receives, if they be drawn, 270 times the stake; if three, 5500 times; if four, 75,000 times; and should he name the entire five, in the exact order in which they happen to be drawn, he is entitled to 1,000,000 times more than the stake he ventured. These chances are all calculated largely in favour of the banker or holder of the lotto, and there is no instance upon public record of any person having named the five numbers in regular succession; but three have been frequently fixed upon, and even four have been sometimes, though rarely, attained: by the latter chance, the lotto established in 1774 at Neufchatel was ruined.]