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death of the Lottery. Cartloads of bills were showered down areas and thrust under doors, and no effort was spared to make the end crown the work of centuries.

Chief among the office-keepers of the period was a Mr T. Bish-one of whose earlier prospectuses we present in exact facsimile-who showered millions of bills and miles of doggerel verse upon London just before the final draw took place. He had been a considerable adept in the art of puffing by means of the mock news-paragraphs to which reference has just been made, one of his best being that which follows :

A laughable circumstance occurred at the Opera House a few evenings since. The Honourable Mrs H C in the confusion that takes place in the lobby on quitting the theatre, dropped her reticule, and was some minutes before she regained it; when on looking at its contents she exclaimed: "I have lost my duplicates!" This created surprise, not that the company had any doubt when the lady pledged her word, but they thought she had pledged her jewels. However, on enquiry, it was found that the lost duplicates were Two Tickets of one number (which she had purchased that evening) in the Lottery to be drawn the next Tuesday; luckily she soon after found them, and anticipates getting £20,000, as she had procured them at Bish's well-known office, Charing Cross.

It would be impossible here to give the many specimens which have been preserved of Bish's handiwork just before the close of the lotteries, but from an embarras de richesses we select the following:

BISH.

The Last Man.

In reminding his best friends, the public, that the State Lottery will be drawn this day, 3d May, Bish acquaints them that it is the very last but one that will ever take place in this kingdom; and he is

THE LAST CONTRACTOR

whose name will appear singly before the public, as the very last will be a coalition of all the usual contractors. Bish being "the last man' who appears singly, has been particularly anxious to make an excellent scheme, and flatters himself the one he has the honour to submit must meet universal approbation.

At the back of the bill were some verses after the style of the "Cajolery Duet." This is one of them :

TO-DAY, OR Not at all.

Run, Neighbours, Run I

Run, neighbours, run! To-day it is the Lott'ry draws,
You still may be in time if your purse be low ;
Rhino, we all know, will stop of poverty the flaws.

Possessed of that, you'll find no one to serve you slow.

The ministers in Parliament of lotteries have toll'd the knell,

And have declared from Cooper's Hall dame Fortune soon they will

expel;

The Blue-coat boys no more will shout that they have drawn a capital! Nor run as though their necks they'd break to Lucky Bish the news to tell.

Run, neighbours, run, &c.

Although the last lottery was expected to take place on the 18th of July, it was not until the 18th of October that the closing scene in an eventful history took place. For this Bish, among many other handbills, produced the following:

THE AMBULATOR'S GUIDE

TO THE LAND OF PLENTY.

BY PURCHASING A TICKET
in the present Lottery

You may reap a golden harvest in Cornhill, and pick up the bullion in Silver-street, have an interest in Bank-buildings, possess a Mansionhouse in Golden-square, and an estate like a Little Britain; never be in Hungerford-market, but all your life continue a Mayfair.

BY PURCHASING A HALF,

You need never be confined within London Wall, but become the proprietor of many a Long Acre; represent a Borough or an Aldermanbury, and have a share in Threadneedle-street.

BY PURCHASING A QUARTER,

Your affairs need never be in Crooked-lane, nor your legs in Fetter-lane; you may avoid Paper-buildings, steer clear of the King's Bench, and defy the Marshalsea; if your heart is in Love-lane you may soon get into Sweeting's Alley, obtain your lover's consent for Matrimony-place, and always live in a High-street.

BY PURCHASING AN EIGHTH,

You may secure plenty of provision for Swallow-street; finger the Cole in Coleman-street; and may never be troubled with Chancery-lane. You may cast anchor in Cable-street; set up business in a Fore-street ; and need never be confined within a Narrow-wall.

BY PURCHASING A SIXTEENTH,

You may live frugal in Cheapside; get merry in Liquorpond-street; soak your hide in Leather-lane; be a wet sole in Shoe-lane; turn maltster in Beer-lane, or hammer away in Smithfield.

In short, life must indeed be a Long-lane if it's without a turning. Therefore, if you are wise, without Mincing the matter, go Pall-mall to Cornhill or Charing-cross, and enroll your name in the Temple of Fortune,

BISH'S.

Advertisements in the newspapers were not, however, plentiful. The office-keepers seemed to prefer the pomp and circumstance of processions and bands and funeral speeches, to the cold respectability which was just then part of the newspaper system. Bish had many eccentric illustrations in his handbills, and some of his verses went beyond even the bounds of eccentricity. As the eventful day approached, the efforts in the handbill line redoubled, and people were provided with waste paper for an indefinite period; but there was little to notice in the columns of any of the chief journals. On October 7, 1826, a public notice appeared on the front page of the Times, in company with the advertisements of Swift and Eyton, two office-keepers; but whether it was placed there by order of the "powers that be," or was in the interests of the dealers, we must leave our readers to judge for themselves. The latter seems most probable :

:

PUBLIC NOTICE.-The Licenses granted by 4th Geo. IV. cap.

60, to the Lottery-office-keepers, to sell and divide into shares State Lottery Tickets, will cease and determine on Wednesday the 18th of this month, when all the Six Prizes of £30,000, and every other prize, amounting to £389,000, must be decided, and all Lotteries end in this kingdom. Government, having already given extra time for the sale of tickets, will not grant an hour beyond the 18th instant.

Hazard was the rather appropriate name of another promoter whose advertisements are published just at this time; but they are, as are the others, small and unpretentious when in the newspapers, and are only noticeable as records of the finishing days of the great State Lottery. In the Times of October 13 there is this notice, which was repeated on the 16th and 17th, on the last-named date having the word "to-morrow" inserted instead of “next Wednesday:"

DRAWING of the LOTTERY.

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Whereas it is maliciously

asserted by an Anonymous Correspondent in the Morning Chronicle of this day, that application would be made to the Lords of the Treasury for a further Postponement of the Lottery, the Public are most unequivocally and positively assured by the Contractors that no such application has been made, nor even contemplated; but on the contrary, it is absolutely and inevitably determined by Government, that this last of all lotteries shall and must be decided NEXT WED. NESDAY, 18th instant.

On the day before the drawing, the advertisements in the Times showed that great apathy existed, and that the tickets had not gone off well, as the office-keepers had evidently many yet left on hand. Even the advertisements have a

dispirited appearance :

FINIS

INISH of LOTTERIES.-SWIFT and Co. respectfully inform the Public that the last and only day of drawing the STATE LOTTERY is Wednesday the 18th of this month, when 6 prizes of 30,000l. and all the other capitals in the scheme will be determined. Every ticket will receive 51. independent of any sum to which it may be entitled. In the last Lottery containing 30,000l. prizes Swift and Co. sold two out of four of them at their offices II, Poultry; I, Strand; and 31 Aldgate High-street.

It is almost evident that the Lottery was 66 played out" on its own merits, and that the interference of Parliament only hastened the end so far as concerns the important events. Another firm of contractors put forth a final appeal thus:

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