The Sun.
London, England, 1841-11-19 00:00:00

soon thought it advisable to recover from her fright, houses." Why the clergy, who were so mainly interested
aud, after apolugising, to Mr. Law, confessed her strata- in.the lean clause, should have taken so much interest
gem. - Law smiled, and entered the lady in his books as in the first, is only to be explained on the supposition
the purchaser of a quantity., •of India stock. Another that the scheme was projected by a knot of the fox-hunt-
story is told. of a Madame de Boucha, who, knowing ing parsons, once so common in England. The shares
that Mr. Law was at dinner at a certain house, pro- of this company were rapidly subscribed for. But the
ceeded thither in her carriage, and gave the alarm of fire. most absurd and preposterous of all, and which showed,
The company started from table, and Law among the rest; more completely than any other, the utter madness of
but, seeing one lady making all haste into the house the people, was one started by an unknown adventurer,
towards him, while everybody else was scampering away, entitled "A company for cariying on an undertaking of
he suspected the trick, and ran off in another direction. great advantage, but nobody to know what it is." Were
But this state of things could not last. It was not the fact stated by scores of credible witnesses, it
would be impossible to believe that any person could have
high water, and the tide was about to ebb. The
extraordinary increase of paper-money, when been duped ar such a project. The man of genius who
essayed this bold and successful inroad upon public cre-
the rage for speculation had in some degree dulity, merely stated in his prospectus that the required
abated, began to produce Its usual bad effects; capital was half a million, in five thousand shares of-1001
whispers got about injurious -to the credit of each, deposit 2/.- per share. Each subscriber, paying his
Law's Bank; the stock jobbers took the alarm, deposit, would be entitled to 1001. per annum per share.
conceiving justly that shares could not go •on How this immense profit was to be obtained he did not
rising for ever; and many of them quietly con-
.rndescend -16 inform them at t,114t, time, out pPotnLe-d
vetted their notes into specie, and sent it. off to tint in a wicaith full particulars should be duly an-
'
foreiezn countries. llitudreds fellowed their ex-
ample ; and hundreds, toe, concealed what coin i.iounced, and a.cali made fur the remaining 95/. of the
subscription. Next morning, at nine o'clock, this great
m n 1 an OW in Col'llll4l, Crowds of people
they possessed; so that in a short time the ope-, hae4s(naiolfsed-eo(er, and when be shut up, at three o'clock, he
rations of commerce -could no longer be safely /o„na that no less than one thousand shares bad been
carried on. In this emergency, " Law hazarded subscribed for and the deposits paid. He was thus, in five
the bold experiment of forbidding the use of hours; the winner of 2,000/ Be was philosopher enough
specie altogether." It was his death-blow. The to be contented with his venture, and set off the same
the Mississippi shares fell almost inane-. evening for the Continent. He was never heard of again,
d valueie ori
3t
;'
general distrust took the place of
general confidence- ; the Bank stopped pay- • The " Tulip-mania" is another singular chap-
ment ; and France, at length aroused from her ter in the voluminous annals of human folly.
infatuation, poured the vials of her wrath on the This epidemic raged throughout Holland about
the seventeenth century, and made sad havoc
devoted head of Law. Quack, impostor, were
among the lightest of the charges brought against with the fortunes of the sedate, square-sterned
bro. d-breeched Dutchmen. All the rich incr.
_,
him. Every ministerial blunder—every obnoxious chants-ofa Amsterdam became suddeely smitten
edict—was laid at his door.- He never appeared
Theiass
e tulip-martr pe
071 e theOt. -t fa,
tulips. .-0,-,..ersspeculated in the in public but at the risk of his life. If he beoTred •and fallofthese " '
rise hi
. .
-AP
for a patient hearing, he was laughed at. it he with a rage for'T bh
suggested a remedial vvast r
istieunrse
resort
ttlioefilla.l I
suddenly seized with deafriesa, Of 411 IliA fbi'v
measure, the Court was
hiolie-t Purl: co ' t clause,
- 4 ' ' ' ' le
liver c , Heir property into emit,
met friends, not one remained to cheer him in ----4 l'''. • •
amid t i flowers 4t 11. 1i • •C-11401 the crash
his adversity. Thus bereft of all influence— lnvested came, and then theesends of rtilned speculators
stripped of fortune and of reputation.--the Re-
gent 4 at pees. I stare other, wondering how they could
's cape-goat and, the •people's abborrenCe-- have been such asses! Alas! in casts of this sort
the unhappy man quitted I; ranee, and, after rest- men always'
wonder too late; They are wise
lessly wandering over the Continent, supporting r tl
died
. a step .4e event, when wisdom can he of no fur-
himself; as before, .by gamblinw l
~ me at
. t ier use than to suggest the proprioty of their
Venicein the year MO, . , being resigned to their lot. Nearly contempo-
The above outline, brief and hurried though it rally with the -(‘ Tulip-mania" in Holland, was
is, will enable the reader to form a pretty cop. the rise of that religious fanaticism in England, -j•
rect estimate of Law's character. He seems to which Cromwell turned to such excellent ac-
have
been a man of the world, in the strictest count, Mr. Mackay says not a syllable about
sense of' the- term; of infinite self-possession ; this phrenzy, but he should have made it the
ardent and enterprising to a degree; of ens subject of a chapter; and it would have been
bounded confidence; fertile in expedients; and one 'of the most entertaining in his work, for the
as unencumbered with principle as an inveterate Materials are abundant; and what more curious
gambler is apt to be. But Mr. Mackay, adopt- than a, sketch of the early reveries and preach-
ing Smollett's hasty, partial view, thinks other- ings of Fox, the founder of Quakerism, of the
wise. He assures us that Law " was neither strange day-dreams of the Independents, and the
knave nor madman, but one more deceived than still stranger fancies of the Fifth-Monarchy men?
deceiving, more sinned against than sinning." . On the subject -of " "Witchcraft," which for
Of madness we readily acquit iiiin; but as to many centuries was firmly believed in through-
his being the deceived party in the Mississippi out Europe, our author is more than usually mi-
hoax, this is really too ridiculous. He knew nute and painstaking in his details. He is mis-
*ell the fallacy of his golden promises; and taken, however, in supposing that this supersti-
that Louisiana was by no means the El Dorado tion - was confined to the Middle Ages, for the
lie asserted it to
.be; for
.among the more eh- Romans—even in . the enlightened days of
lightened and adventurous classes, the hope of Augustus—had faith in it ,• and one of the most
finding the precious metals to any extent on the earnest and energetic of Horace's Odes is ad-
shores of the Mississippi, had been ex inct for dressed, to the witch, Canidia. The creed -of
nearly a century. The vague, ardent expecta- witchcraft, as it was generally received on time
tions that had hurried our speculators across the Continent, as well as in England, is so extraor-
Atlantic in time days of Elizabeth and James, dinary, that we subjoin a slight summary of it.
had given place to a spirit of rational enterprise; •
It was thought that the earth swarmed with
and it was in South, not North, America, that demons, who were divided into seventy-two bat-
gold. was looked for. None knew this better than tailor's, each of which was commanded by a
Law; but he trusted to the ignorance of the Prince, or Captain ; Satan, of course, being the
masses, and, as we have seen, succeeded in Commander-in-Chief. These demons could as-
duping them. Then, what-absurd cant to talk surne any shape they pleased; and when male
about his having been " more sinned against were called Incubi, when female, Succubi. Al-
than sinning'," when we know that he had spent though their supernatural powers were great,
the best part of his life at the gambling-table, yet they had the greatest possible difficulty in
and become notorious in every European capital concealing their tails, which used to stick 'out, in
for his dexterity in games of chance, which he spite -of them. Sometimes, however, the male
studied as a science, and pursued as a trade, with demons managed to hide these embarassing ap-
the plodding diligence of a shop-keeper ! But pendages, and then they would makelove to,
not only does our author insist on Law's unso- and marry, beautiful young women, by whom,
phisticated *simplicity of character, but he car- if they ever had children, such children could
ries his nationality to a still more extravagant always be detected by their innate genius for
height; in fact, he quite burlesques the feeling, kicking and squalling, and requiring five-
nurses
for he dwells with marked admiration on the to suckle them ! One of the favourite tricks of
personal graces of his hero, whom he calls i. the the Incubus, or male witch, was to transform
handsome Scotcbman," notwithstanding lie was himself into an ass—a circumstance which ought
specially described in an -advertisement inserted to make certain Tories unfeignedly grateful that
in the Gazette, as 4‘ a very tall, black, lean man, such transformations are no longer believed in ;
well shaped, above six feet high, with large pock- for were it otherwise, they would certainly be-
holes in his face, big-nosed, and speaking broad tray themselves by their ears, and be burned at
and loud !" Unable to get over this awkward, time stake for wizards. The Incubus was also
matter-of-fact description, Mr. Mackay insinu- fond of changing himself into a lawyer, which,
ates that it was drawn up " with a view to favour by the bye, was a very natural and becoming
Law's escape" just as if those whohad an interest metamorphosis, for there is a wonderful conge-
in the man's arrest, and themselves penned the niality of mind between the Devil and a
advertisement, would have wilfully falsified the lawyer, especially if the latter happen to be also
truth in a business-like Government Gazette I a Saint, and an unsuccessful candidate for a
metropolitan borough. Every Friday night
About the same time that France was con-
the witches and wizards held their Sabbath,
vulsed to the heart's core with the Mississippi ma-
lady, England was running wild about the South once a year on the Brocken, where they set-
Sea Bubble. This scheme origiatted with Sir
tied all their business matters with the punctu-
ality, and--it is to be hoped—with the
John Blunt—a cunning, plausible, unprincipled
right integrity of stock-jobbers. It any of them
scrivener. The pretence for his .project was to
Satan, w
attempted to levant, they were instantly caught,
discharge the national debt by reducing
all the
amid soundly flagellated by order of'wimp,,
funds into one. On this occasion the .dank and like a certain Noble Lord, had a fancy for fiogg-
the South Sea Company outbid each other •; but -
the latter offering the highest
terins,4hey
were in refractory spirits on the Sabbath. At these
accepted by Govern weekly and annual meetings, Beelzebub always
Governor ent• and a Bill was ordered presided in time prepossessing shape of a lie-goat,
to be brought into time Com,mons, formed on the
plan presented by the Cowith one face in front, and another in his rear 1
affitir was in agitation," says Smompany -
liett "While this When all the business-matters were disposed of,
, "the stock the whole assembly stood up for a dance, in
rose from one- y
hundred and thirty to nearly four which they were joined by toads and frogs, who
hundred ;" and when the Bill had received time
Royal assent, the avaricious Hopes
of' the people capered away on their hind-legs like mad, to the
were excited to a degree thatenlivening music of the Devil's bagpipes, The
bore the aspect of
time wildest insanity. In vain Walpole in the dance ended, two or three of the superior witches
Commons, and Earl Cowper in the Lords,-pointed figured in a reel, with tom-cats round their necks
out the inevitable evils of the speculation ; the by way of necklaces ; and then the whole party
country held fast to its belief that " the Corn- sat down .to a capital supper, Satan in the chair,
puny, trading to the South Seas would be time at which they made a variety of excellent
richest time world ever saw, and that every hun- speeches, till coek-crow,when they hurried away to
dred pounds invested in it would produce hun- their respective homes; but not beingTee-totallers,
dreds per annum to the stockholder." Day by the majority of them got so glorionsly drunk
day this belief strengthened, till at length it be- that they actually tumbled off their broomsticks;
came a deep-rooted conviction. Everybody and had they been discovered by any of the New
rushed to purchase shares ; Exchange-alley was Police, they would most assuredly have been
blocked up ; and Cornhill was - impassable for taken to the station-house, and next day fined
carriages. In one week stock rose from five hurt- five shillings by a Bow-street Magistrate.
dred and fifty to eight hundred and ninety, and Such were the superstitions the t for centuries
a few days afterwards was quoted at one thousand held Europe in thrall; and this, too, at a period
per cent. ! But the bubble was now full-blown; when Bacon, Shakspea re, and Milton were dif-
trickery had done its best, and was to pay a pro- fusing far and wide the broad searching light of
portionate penalty. After fluctuating for some their genius! The circumstance is one humiliat-
days, stock—notwithstanding time contrivances of ing to time pride of human intellect; but how
Blunt and his agents—began to fall as rapidly as much more so, when we bear in mind that among
it had risen, and a general panic was the innne- the firm believers in witchcraft and its attendant
diate consequence. In time first phrenzy of her absurdities, were such luminaries as Fairfax the
disappointmeritsEngland, as in the case of France, translator of Tasso, Sir Matthew Hale, and the
looked out for victims, and pounced upon time Viilosophic author of the " Religio Medici !"
Directors, whom they compelled Parliament to ut indeed Mr. Mackay's volumes throughout
punish with remorseless severity. Sir John are calculated to lower man's estimate of man's
Blunt, in particular, was reduced to the verge of pretensions; for what are they but authentic re-
beggary; nothing could surpass the popular fer- cords of such errors, crimes, hallucinations, and
meat against him ; and in this case the victim pitiable weaknesses, as exhibit human nature in
deserved his fate, for he was so consummate a time light of a moon-struck idiot ? One sad truth
rogue—and a Methodist, in additionthat John they forcibly impress on our attention—namely,
Law shows like an angel of light beside him. It that while Intelligence is the slow, laborious,
is not a little remarkable that the proud, wealthy growth of years, }oily, shoots up and arrives at
maturity in a day, as though rooted in a conge-
aristocracy of' England were as eager in time sup- maturity
soil. The nation that listened with imps..
of the South Sea scheme as the must des- oral
to time sagacious warnings of' a 'Walpole,
perate jobber on 'Change. In the hot pursuit of
gain they stooped to every meanness; and a de- welcomed with general enthusiasm the franticoffers of a Sir John Blunt ! We here take leave
seendant of one of the Peers of the Norman Con-
of our author, with the remark that his work
queror might be seen in Cornhill humbly soli- of
citing the patronage of some upstart Director, will excite great differences of opinion among
his readers. A Democritus will find in it food
who, like a mushroom, had sprung but sestet_
for inextinguishable laughter ; in a lleraclitus it
Erred most severely by this famous Bubble was
day from the dunghill! Among those who suf-
will call forth only a sigh or a tear. " When we
says Gibbon, speaking of the inven-
the elder Craggsovhose son, time Secretary to the contrast,"tion of gunpowder, " time rapid progress of this
Treasury, is -now only remembered by his friend,
mischievous discovery with the gradual advances
shiplwith Pope and Addison. Our author tells
of reason, science, and time arts of peace, the phi-
us little or nothing about the senior Craggs ; we losopher, according to his temper, will laugh or
will supply his omissions, therefore, by stating
that lie was originally a barber, who by his ta- weep at the folly of mankind."
lents and- perseverance raised himself- to emi-
nence. He became, in Euccession, Postmaster-
General, and home agent to the Duke of Marlbo-
rough; amassed a vast fortune;- and was looked
upon as one of the most efficient, if not time most
honest, men of business of his day. His son, as
well as himselt, was mixed up with the South
Sea hoax ; and they died within a few weeks of
each other, while the Parliamentary investiga-
tion into their conduct was going fbrward.
Gay, the poet, was another of the sufferers.
Poor Gay I he fancied, in his simplicity, that he
was about to be put into possession of the wealth
of Crcesus; and went about dreaming of parks,
and palaces, and paintings, and such luxuries,
as no poet ever yet acquired but in imagination
but one fine morning,. his delusion was rudely
diSpelled ; the Bubble burst ; and he found him-
self possessed of nothing beyond the shirt on
his back, and time friendship of the Duke of
Queensbury. Mr. Mackay's account of this cele-
brated hoax is—considered as a whole—the best
portion of his work.
It is neatly and
conciselsr
penned; the details are dexterously put to-
gether, and enlivened by apposite sketches of
character; and there is a vivacity in the descrip-
tions that keeps attention on the alert through-
out. Alluding to the various projects that were
set on foot during the continuance of time South
Sea mania, he relates these curious particulars :
Maitland, in his " History of London," gravely informs
us, that one of time projects which received great en-
couragement, was fur the establishment 9f a com
pany "to make deal baarda out of savi-dust." This
is, no doubt, intended as a joke ; but there is abun-
dance of evidence to show that dozens of schemes
hardly a whit more reasonable, lived their little day,
ruining hundreds ere they ftdl 414 e of them was
for a wheel for perpetual motion—capital, one mil-
lion ; another was for " encouraging the breed of horses
in England, and improving of glebe and . church lands,
and repairing and rebuilding parsonage and vicarage

11-IrshaTirLoMndoUnS,ElBS4.l.
Sinlpkin
R
and W 1
ndll.
A brief biographical sketch, prefixed to this
volume of poems, gives us some curious and in-
teresting particulars respecting the author of
them, Mr. John Critchley Prince, which impress
us with a very favourable opinion of his character.
He is, it seems, a native of Wigan, where he was
born in the year 1808; his father was a reed-
maker- for weavers, and, having a large family,
and but slender means of subsistence, he was un-
able to give his son the advantages of a good
education. His mother, however, an intelligent
woman, did her best to instruct him; and con-
trived with some difficulty to procure him ad-
mittance into the Sabbath school of a Baptist
chapel in the neighbourhood, where he gained
an imperfect knowledge of reading and writing.
At nine years of age he was put to learn his
father's trade, and worked at it from fourteen to
sixteen hours a day. It was at this period that a
love of books came on him like a passion. "When

•
the family had retired to rest," says his biogra-
pher, " full often would young Prince at mid-
night leave his bed, creep down stairs, and by the
dim light of the slackened fire revel in Robinson
Crusoe,' and the romances of Mrs. Ratcliffe and
Monk Lewis." In his thirteenth year he first
met with the works of Byron, which produced,
as might be expected, 4 powerfhl effect on his
imagination, and inspired him with an ardent
desire to become a poet. While yet not quite
nineteen years of age, he " entered into the ma-
tritnonial state with a pretty and interesting
young woman of his awn rank of life," which. so
crippled, his means, for a family came uickly
upon him, that he was induced to leave England,
and seek for work, which he had learned was to
be obtained in abundance and on excellent terms,
in Picardy ; unfortunately, however, when he
reached France, he had found that the Revolu-