In those days the flowers exhibited were chiefly "whole-blowing
carnations," while the important things were the dinners which followed
the exhibitions, and which were served at the principal inns.
[Illustration: THE "CROWN AND THISTLE INN," ABINGDON.]
But we must not leave Abingdon without giving an account of another
benefactor to the town, though rather on different lines, of whom a
detailed account was given in _Jackson's Oxford Journal_ of November,
1767, from which it appeared that State lotteries were in vogue at that
time in England. The story chiefly related to a Mr. Alder, a cooper by
trade, who kept a "little public house" called the "Mitre." His wife had
handed him L22 to pay the brewer, but instead of doing so he only paid
him L10, and with the other twelve bought a ticket for the lottery, the
number of which was 3379. The following precise account, copied from the
_Journal_, will give the result, and show how events were described in
newspapers in those days, the punctuation being carefully attended to, a
more extensive use made of capital letters to distinguish the more
important words, and some words written separately which now are joined
together:
Last Friday about one o'clock in the morning a Messenger in a Post
Chaise and Four arrived Express at the Crown and Thistle in Abingdon,
Berks.
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