The New Hampshire Gazette

Luck Money. - In Mrs Wilson's Memoirs of the Duchess of St. Albans, we find the following:—

"The money sent by Mr Coutts for the box, chanced to be the largest sum in gold she had ever yet received from any one individual. In the envelope which enclosed it he had commended her industry, good reputation, and perseverance, and concluded by saying, he trusted she would find that his trifling present would prove to be 'luck money.'

In her enthusiastic manner she instantly declared that nothing should ever tempt her to part with these her 'first five golden guineas,' which, sent with such kind wishes, were sure to bring her good fortune. They happened to be guineas just fresh from the mint; and she put the bright coins apart in a separate purse, often showing them to those who knew the circumstances; and she frequently endured temporary privations rather than change any portion of her 'luck money,' the only thing she was ever known to refuse to her mother's rapacity. On the day of her marriage with Mr Coutts she produced the well-worn purse, with its glittering contents, and twelve years afterwards its faded glories were again showed to a bridal party when she became a duchess."