he
lottery was only 7_s_. 6_d_., the office-keepers charged 9_s_., which
was a certain gain of nearly 30 per cent.; and they aggravated the fraud
as the drawing advanced.

On the sixteenth day of drawing the just premium was not quite 20_s_.,
whereas the office-keepers charged L1 4_s_. 6_d_., which clearly
shows the great disadvantage that every person laboured under who was
imprudent enough to be concerned in the insurance of numbers.(148)

(148) Public Ledger, Dec. 3, 1778.

In every country where lotteries were in operation numbers were ruined
at the close of each drawing, and of these not a few sought an oblivion
of their folly ill self-murder--by the rope, the razor, or the river.

A more than usual number of adventurers were said to have been ruined in
the lottery of 1788, owing to the several prizes continuing long in the
wheel (which gave occasion to much gambling), and also to the desperate
state of certain branches of trade, caused by numerous and important
bankruptcies. The suicides increased in proportion. Among them one
person made herself remarkable by a thoughtful provision to prevent
disappointment. A woman, who had scraped everything together to put into
the lottery, and who found herself ruined at its close, fixed a rope to
a beam of sufficient strength; but lest there should be any accidental
failure in the beam or rope, she placed a large tub of water underneath,
that she might drop into it; and near her also were two razors on a
table ready to be used, if hanging or drowning should prove ineffectual.

A writer of the time gives the following account of the excitement that
prevailed during the drawing of the lottery:--'Indeed, whoever wishes to
know what are the "blessings" of a lottery, should often visit Guildhall
during the time of its drawing,--when he will see thousands of workmen,
servants, clerks, apprentices, passing and repassing, with looks full of
suspense and anxiety, and who are stealing at least from their master's
time, if they have not many of them also robbed him of his property, in
order to enable them to become adventurers. In the next place, at the
end of the drawing, let our observer direct his steps to the shops of
the pawnbrokers, and view, as he may, the stock, furniture, and clothes
of many hundred poor families, servants, and others, who have been
ruined by the lottery. If he wish for further satisfaction, let him
attend at the next Old Bailey Sessions, and hear the