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The town of Taunton, Mass., was favored by a lottery grant in 1761 to aid in clearing the Great River.

Taunton, March 16. 1761.

PUBLICK NOTICE is hereby given to all Persons who are so disposed to encourage the Clearing of Taunton Great-River, (so beneficial to the Trade of this Province) by adventuring in the LOTTERY granted for that Purpose, That the Managers of said Lottery have determined to begin to draw the First Class on Tuesday the 27th Day of April next; the Town of Taunton having voted to take off all the Tickets that shall remain unsold at that Day;—­And all Persons who have taken Tickets to dispose of, are desired to return them, or the Money for them, by the First Day of said April.

—­> Tickets are yet to be had of Messir’s Gould and Company, and of Green & Russell, Printers in Queen Street, Boston.—­As also of the Managers at their respective Dwellings in Taunton.

Next we will take from the “Boston Post Boy” of November, 1762, the scheme to raise money to rebuild Faneuil Hall, after the fire of 1761.  It will be noticed how small an amount was reserved for the purpose for which the Lottery was granted,—­only $1,200.  It seems as if a very small sum subscribed by every freeholder would have produced more money.  If the population of Boston at that time was, say, twenty thousand, or three thousand families, fifty cents for every head of a family would have raised a larger sum than could possibly have been raised by the expensive and questionable process resorted to.  At first sight it may seem strange to us that this was not thought of at the time; but when we reflect that even in our enlightened times people are quite as thoughtless about the processes of raising money for charitable or public purposes,—­witness the numerous fairs and raffles which are constantly taking place,—­we are not so much amazed at these old financial operations, nor do we think we can boast much of our superior morality when we look around and see how some things are managed nowadays.

BOSTON, November 1, 1762.

SCHEME

OF A LOTTERY,

FOR Raising a Sum of Money for Re-building FANEUIL Hall; agreeable to an Act of the General Court, wherein Messieurs Thomas Cushing, Samuel Hewes, John Scollay, Benjamin Austin, Samuel Sewall, Samuel Phillips Savage, and Ezekiel Lewis, or any Three of them, are appointed Managers, who are Sworn to the faithful Discharge of their Trust.

FANEUIL-HALL Lottery, No.  One, Consists of 6000 Tickets, at
Two Dollars each, 1486 of which are Benefit Tickets of the
following Value, viz.