Oak. It cheers my aged Heart to see
So numerous a Progeny;
I find by you, that ’tis Heaven’s will
That knavery should flourish still;
You have docility and wit,
And Fools were never wanting yet.
Observe the crafty Auctioneer
His art to sell waste Paper dear;
When he for Salmon baits his Hooks,
That Cormorant of Offal books,
Who bites, as sure as Maggots breed,
Or Carrion Crows on Horseflesh feed;
Fair specious Titles him deceive,
To sweep what Sl—— and T——n leave.
If greedy gulls you would ensnare,
Make ’em Proposals wondrous fair;
Tell him strange Golden Show’rs shall fall,
And promise Mountains to ’em all.

New Lott. That Craft we’ve already taught,
And by that Trick have millions caught;
Books, Baubles, Toys, all sorts of Stuff,
Have gone off this way well enough.
Nay, Music, too, invades our Art,
And to some Tune wou’d play her Part.
I’ll show you now what we are doing,
For we have divers Wheels agoing.
We now have found out richer Lands,
Than Asia’s Hills, or Afric’s Sands,
And to vast Treasures must give Birth,
Deep hid in Bowels of the Earth;
In fertile Wales, and God knows where,
Rich mines of Gold and Silver are,
From whence we draw prodigious Store
Of Silver coin’d, tho’ none in Ore,
Which down our Throats rich Coxcombs pour,
In hopes to make us vomit more.

Oak. This Project surely must be good
Because not eas’ly understood;
Besides, it gives a mighty Scope
To the Fool’s Argument—vain Hope.
No Eagle’s Eye the Cheat can see,
Thro’ Hope thus back’d by Mystery.

New Lott. We have, besides, a thousand more,
For Great or Small, for Rich and Poor,
From him that can his Thousands spare,
Down to the Penny Customer.

Oak. The silly Mob in Crowds will run,
To be at easy Rates undone.
A gimcrack Show draws in the Rout,
Thousands their all by Pence lay out.

New Lott. We, by Experience, find it true,
But we have Methods wholly new,
Strange late-invented Ways to thrive,
To make Men pay for what they give,
To get the Rents into our Hands
Of their hereditary Lands,
And out of what does thence arise,
To make ’em buy Annuities.
We’ve mathematick Combination,
To cheat Folks by plain Demonstration,
Which shall be fairly manag’d too,
The Undertaker knows not how.
Besides——

Oak. Pray, hold a little, here’s enough,
To beggar Europe of this Stuff.
Go on, and prosper, and be great,
I am to you a puny Cheat.

The Royal Oak Lottery came in for a great share of public odium, it being regarded as the parent of all the others. A very curious tract of 1699 sets forth the various charges against it in the form of a trial. The pamphlet is called “The Arraignment, Trial and Condemnation of Squire Lottery, alias Royal-Oak Lottery.” The various charges, defences, and counter-charges are very funny, and we regret that we have only room here for the jury list, which shows that the “British palladium” possessed then many of its present features, judged by the characters and pretensions of the jurymen. The descriptions of these latter would fit pretty well even in these days:—

The Jurors’ Names.