Again, to show the large sums then won and lost at gambling, take the following newspaper cuttings.
Morning Post, June 30, 1806: “The Marquis of H—— d is said to have been so successful at play this season, as to have cleared £60,000. The Earl of B—— e has won upwards of £50,000, clear of all deductions. A Right Reverend is stated to be amongst those who are minus on this occasion.”
Morning Post, July 8, 1806: “A certain noble Marquis, who has been so very fortunate this season in his gaming speculations, had a run of ill luck last week. At one sitting, his lordship was minus no less a sum than thirteen thousand pounds!”
Morning Post, July 15, 1806: “The noble Marquis, who has been so great a gainer, this season, at hazard, never plays with any one, from a Prince, to a Commoner, without having the stakes first laid on the table. His lordship was always considered as a sure card, but now his fame is established, from the circumstance of his having cleared £35,000, after deducting all his losses for the last six months.”
But, although the magistrates shut their eyes to the sins of the great, and punished the small, when brought before them, the Government systematically demoralized the people by means of lotteries. True, it was a great temptation, for it yielded a revenue to the State of about £350,000, besides the licenses of the brokers, £50 each. Very jealous was the Government to protect its children from the pernicious effects of private lotteries; they were anathema, and, besides, they would absorb some of the profit, which otherwise would have gone into the pockets of a paternal rule. In this decade, there were but two private lotteries, and, for both of them, a special act of Parliament was required, viz., that of the Pigot diamond in 1800, and Boydell’s pictures in 1805.
This illustration is by Pyne, and, like all his drawing, is extremely graphic. It represents the Life Guards, who then had to perform many of the duties of our police, conveying the Lottery wheels, from Somerset House (or Somerset Place, as it was then called) to Cooper’s Hall, in Basinghall Street, where the Lottery was then drawn. There were four sledges employed for the purpose, two carrying the wheels containing the tickets, with their blanks, or prizes, and the other two bore the cases for the wheels. They were drawn by three horses each.
LIFE GUARDS ESCORTING A LOTTERY WHEEL.
For many years the Lottery had been drawn at Guildhall, but it was afterwards removed to Cooper’s Hall. At both places the tickets were drawn out of the wheels by two scholars of Christ’s Hospital, or Bluecoat boys—who were thus selected for this office because their youth, and supposed integrity,[52] rendered them less liable than other boys, to be tampered with. The accompanying illustration gives a very life-like presentment of the scene.
The last public Lottery, in England, was drawn in October, 1826.