death-warrant of
many a luckless gambler in lotteries, who has been guilty of subsequent
theft and forgery; or if he seek more proof, let him attend to the
numerous and horrid scenes of self-murder, which are known to accompany
the closing of the wheels of fortune each year:(149) and then let him
determine on "the wisdom and policy" of lotteries in a commercial city.'

(149) A case is mentioned of two servants who, having lost their all in
lotteries, robbed their master; and in order to prevent being seized and
hanged in public, murdered themselves in private.

The capital prizes were so large that they excited the eagerness of
hope; but the sum secured by the government was small when compared with
the infinite mischief it occasioned. On opening the budget of 1788, the
minister observed in the House of Commons, 'that the bargain he had
this year for the lottery was so very good for the public, that it would
produce a gain of L270,000, from which he would deduct L12,000 for the
expenses of drawing, &c., and then there would remain a net produce of
L258,000.' This result, therefore, was deemed extraordinary; but what
was that to the extraordinary mischief done to the community by the
authorization of excessive gambling!

Some curious facts are on record relating to the lotteries.

Until the year 1800 the drawing of the lottery (which usually consisted
of 60,000 tickets for England alone) occupied forty-two days in
succession; it was, therefore, about forty-two to one against any
particular number being drawn the first day; if it remained in the
wheel, it was forty-one to one against its being drawn on the second,
&;c.; the adventurer, therefore, who could for eight-pence insure the
return of a guinea, if a given number came up the first day, would
naturally be led, if he failed, to a small increase of the deposit
according to the decrease of the chance against him, until his number
was drawn, or the person who took the insurance money would take it no
longer.

In the inquiry respecting the mendicity of London, in 1815, Mr Wakefield
declared his opinion that the lottery was a cause of mendicity; and
related an instance--the case of an industrious man who applied to the
Committee of Spitalfields Soup Society for relief; and when, on
being asked his profession, said he was a '_Translator_'--which, when
_TRANSLATED_, signifies, it seems, the art of converting old boots and
shoes into wearable ones; 'but the lottery