Note 1034 — LOTTERY. TONTINE.

Christ. Longolii Epistolarum libri iv. Basiliæ, 1570, 8vo, iii. 33, p. 239. The letter is addressed to Octavius Grimoaldo, who lived, I think, at Venice, and had written, it seems, to Longolius, that he was unwilling to venture his money in the lottery. That Longolius had in his hands money belonging to Grimoaldo is proved by the letters iii. 3, iii. 7, 20. “That new kind of gambling is truly ours, and is called by us Loteria, as it were, a table-vessel (vasculia); doubtless from an arrangement of silver vessels appended to the gaming-table, which are distributed amongst those whose names are in the lottery, in such a manner that one vessel is assigned to each. But as you signify your disapproval of that kind of gaming, and do not think fit to expose my money to so much hazard, I acknowledge your prudence and kindness to me.” This derivation of the word Loteria is undoubtedly false, as Menage has already remarked, in his dictionary, art. Lot. He there says, “Je n’ay point lu ailleurs que lot signifiast de la vaiselle. Et je croy Longueuil s’est mal expliqué, et qu’il a voulu dire qu’on appelloit Loterie la vaiselle d’argent d’un buffet, parceque de son tems on mettoit ordinairement à la loterie la vaiselle d’argent d’un buffet.”