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Lake County Press, Issue 906, 12 April 1900, Page 2

Tho first cabbaggs grown in Great Britain were raised on the groand adjoining the Abbey of Arbroath, havingbeen produced from seeds obtained from Artois, in Prance. Chopin's last study In C minor has a, passage which takes 'two minutes- and* five seconds to play. The total pressure brought to bear on this, it is estimated, Is equal to three l ull, tons. ■

Lotteries In Old England. The first lottery held In Eugland was In the year 1500, and It Is curious to road in these days that it was drawn in London at the western door of St. Taul's Cathedral, the drawing continuing day and night from the 11 Hi January till the 6th of May in that year. It was composed of 400,000 "lots," of ton shillings each, the prizes consisting of money, partly of silver plate, ami the net profits wore to be applied to the Improving of English harbours. In the library of the Antiquarian Society there Still exists a copy of the proposal. The second great lottery was in 1586, the prizes being " marvellous, rich, and beautiful armour." This, like the previous one, "was begunno to ho drawn at the groat west irate of St. Paul's, on St. Peter's Day in Hie morning, which lottorio continued in drawing day and night for the space of two or three daies." In 1612. a "lotterie" was granted by .Tamos T. in favour of the colony of Virginia, the prizes lining pieces of plate, and this one was drawn near St. Paul's Cathedral. "One Thomas Sharplys. a taylor, of London, had the chief prize, which was four thousand crowns in fair plate." In 10.°.0, a proposal for supplying London with water was sanctioned, and the promoters of the scheme were authorised to raise the necessary funds by means of a lottery. There was a grand drawing of plate in 1069, presented by King Charles IT.. for the purpose of rewarding those of his adherents who had served with fidelity during the interregnum. The drawing took place under the King's special authority, and was the cause of londloss schemes oif a similar description. Another curious lottery took place in 'IC.R3. in winch Mr. Child, the founder of 'Oluld's P.ank at Temple Par, took an (active part. Prince Rupert had just died very poor, and the plan was devised of raising a ■sum of money by a lottery for his jewellery. The public, however. fluid for some time past been much dissatisfied with -the manner in which the lottery drawings had taken place, and on account, as an old historian says, of the "cheats practised on them." would not listen to any proposal of the drawing of Prince Rupert's jewels until Charles 11. himself sua ran teed that all should be fair, and that Mr. Child would himself be answonvble for the several ventures. The "London Gazette." of the Ist October of that- year, has ■the following •ruinous advertisement with respect to this sobeme :—"Tlic.sc are to give notice that the jewels of his late. Royal Highness rrince Rupert have boon particulariv valued and appraiser! by Mr. Isaac Legouch. Mr. Christopher Reese, and Mr. Richard Roauvoiro. jewellers, the whole amounting to £2o.ftno. and will be sold by way of lottery, r-.ieh lott to be '£.">. the highest prize to hj- a errand pearl necklace, valued at £BOOO, and none less than £IOO. "A printed particular nf the said appraisement, with the division into lotts, •will be delivered gratis by Mr. .Tames Child. Tenr.ilo Par. London, into whose bands such as are willirnr to he adventurers are desired to put their money on or before the Ist day of November next. As soon as the whole 'sum is paid in. a short day will be. appointed, which it is to be hoped will be before Christmas, and notified in the "Gazette." for the drawing thereof, which will be done in his Majesty's presence, who Is pleased to deelare that he himself wiill see all the prizes put in amongst the blanks. and the whole will "ho managed with equity and fairness, nothing being intended but the sale of the said jewels at a moderate value. Tt is further noHfied. for the satisfaction of all that shall be adventurers, that the s-aid Mr. Child shall, and will, stand obliged to eaeh of them for the said adventures, and that eaeh adventurer shall receive their money back if the said lottery is not drawn, and prizes had. before the Ist dav of February next." The drawing of lotteries was attended with a groat amount of excitement. On one occasion, such was the number of persons crowded in the bank, where the drawing was taking place, that the elerks found it impossible to conduct their business, and had recourse to .a ruse to cref rid of the crowd. They announced that they would give out only the blanks on that dav. and the next day they would distribute the prizes ! The majority, not wishing to draw blanks, quickly retired, and allowed tbe business to proceed without interruption. In 1534 a lottery was permitted to he drawn in Glasgow : hut an Act was passed specially enact inn It should he the last : ar.o* -another Act was passed imposing a penaltv of fifty pounds for advertising lotteries in the newspapers. The following incidents are related In connection with lotteries : A footman in the reign of George IT. invested the savings of thirty years in two lottery tickets. The tickets proved to be blanks, and. after a few melancholy days, bo put an end to his life. Tn his box was found the following programme of the manner 1n which be would spend the five thousand pounds which he had so fondly anticipated would fall to Hiis lot as a prize :—" As soon as T receive the money T will marry Grace Towers : hut as she has been, cross and coy. T will use her as a servant. Every morning she shall get me a mug of strong beer, w.ifh a tonst. nutmeg, and sugar in it. Then I will sleep til! 1<». after which T will have n largo sack posset. Mv dinner shall be en the jahb at 1. and never without a good pudding. T will have a stock of wine and brandy laid in. About 5 in the afternoon T will have tarts and jellies, and a gallon bowl of punch : at 10. a hot supper of two dishes. Tf I am in n good humour, and Grace behaves herself, she shall sit down with me. To bed about 12." On one occasion a fraudulent dealer managed to sell the same ticket to two persons. Tt came up a five hundred pound prize : and one of the two holders of the ticket went ravine mad when he found that the real ticket was. after all. not held by him. One firm wont to a great deal of trouble in finding an old woman named "Good-Luck." and gave her fifty pounds a year on condition that she should join then as a nominal partner for the sab" of the attractive effect of her name. One particular year was marked by a singular incident. A lotterv ticket was given in the name of a child tinhorn, and 11 drew a prize of one thousand pounds on the day of its birth. In ITC7 a lady bad a lottery ticket presented to her by her husband, and on the Sunday preceding the drawing her success was prayed for. in the parish church, in this form:—"The prayers of this congregation are desired for the success of a person engaged in a new undertaking." The theory of " lucky numbers" was In great favour in the days of lotteries. more lives limn the*proverbial eat. has still a life in hand. Cameron and St. Leger lleTbert;were>struek down on the same bloody 'day, and rest together In* their si tallowy-grave in the hot Bayuda. yawl. Ftimr/QoHlflß. who like myself

bad been a soldier before he became a war correspondent, died a lone death of thirst in the heart of the. desert, while pushing on to where his duty lay. Time would fail me to tell of those who have perished of fever and other maladies', who have been wounded, shipwrecked, and encountered strange hairbreadth escapes ; of others again who have come home so broken with hardship and vicissitude that what remains of life tr» them is nought save weariness and pain. And it Is such men whom a commander who has beei7 himself adventurous has classed witli the camp followers and has stigmatised as "drones who eat the rations of fighting men and do not work at all."—Archibald Forbes. With a view to lucKy numbers, oae man would select his own age, or the age of his wife, or of some eminent person ; another would eelect the date of the year ; another a row of odd or uneven numbers. One lady, in 1700, bought No. 17,000, because she thought it was the nearest in sound to l'(90, which was already sold to some other applicant. It is related that on the sth of January. 1774. at the conclusion of drawpg the Staie lottery at Guildhall, No. as the last drawn ticket, was declared to be entitled to the £IOOO, and was so printed In the paper of benefits by order of the commissioners. It was, besides, a prize of £IOO. But after the wheels were carried back to Whitehall, and tlieie opened, the ticket No. 72.24S was found st eking In a crevice of the wheel, and being the next drawn ticket after all ihe prizes were drawn was advertised by the commissioners' order as entitle! to the £IOOO, as the last drawn ticket—" which affair made a great deal of roise," as the papers of" the day quaintly said. The abolition of lotteries deprived the Govornnnent of a revenue amounting to nearly £300,000 a year ; but It was wisely felt thait the Inducement to gambling held out by them was a great moral .evil which should be abolished, as dive ting attention from the more legitimate paths of earning mqney ; it wrought immense mischief also, for it was uotcrious that shopmen robbed their masters, servant girls their mistresses, friends borrowed from each other under false pretences, and husbands stinted their households of necessaries—all to raise the means of procuring a part or the whole of a lottery ticket