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.
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.