is about to draw, and,' says
he, 'I have no sale for boots or shoes during the time that the lottery
draws'--the money of his customers being spent in the purchase of
tickets, or the payment of 'insurances.' The 'translator' may have been
mistaken as to the cause of his trade falling off; but there can be no
doubt that the system of the lottery-drawing was a very infatuating mode
of gambling, as the passion was kept alive from day to day; and though,
perhaps, it did not create mendicity, yet it mainly contributed, with
the gin-shops, night-cellars, obscure gambling houses, and places of
amusement, to fill the _PAWNBROKERS_' shops, and diminish the profits of
the worthy 'translator of old shoes.'(150)

(150) This term is still in use. I recently asked one of the craft if he
called himself a translator. 'Yes, sir, not of languages, but old boots
and shoes,' was the reply.

This reasoning, however, is very uncertain.

The sixteenth of a lottery ticket, which is the smallest share that can
be purchased, has not for many years been sold under thirty shillings,
a sum much too large for a person who buys old shoes 'translated,' and
even for the 'translator' himself, to advance; we may therefore safely
conclude that the purchase of tickets is not the mode of gambling by
which Crispin's customers are brought to distress.

A great number of foreign lotteries still exist in vigorous operation.
Some are supported by the state, and others are only authorized; most
of them are flourishing. In Germany, especially, lotteries are abundant;
immense properties are disposed of by this method. The 'bank' gains, of
course, enormously; and, also of course, a great deal of trickery and
swindling, or something like it, is perpetrated.

Foreign lottery tickets are now and then illegally offered in England. A
few years ago there appeared an advertisement in the papers, offering a
considerable income for the payment of one or two pounds. Upon inquiry
it was found to be the agency of a foreign lottery! These tempting
offers of advertising speculators are a cruel addition to the miseries
of misfortune.

The Hamburg lottery seems to afford the most favourable representation
of the system--as such--because in it all the money raised by the
sale of tickets is redistributed in the drawing of the lots, with
the exception of 10 per cent. deducted in expenses and otherwise; but
nothing can compensate for the pernicious effects of the spirit of
g