|
Memoirs
of Extraordinary Popular Delusions
by
Charles MacKay
Trading Stories of some of the crazy things that have happened
in the world of trading, and how it effected the currencies
and markets.
page28
Among the caricatures that were abundantly published, and
that
showed as plainly as graver matters, that the nation had
awakened to a
sense of its folly, was one, a fac-simile of which is preserved
in the
"Memoires de la Regence." It was thus described
by its author: "The
'Goddess of Shares,' in her triumphal car, driven
by the Goddess of
Folly. Those who are drawing the car are impersonations
of the
Mississippi, with his wooden leg, the South Sea, the Bank
of England,
the Company of the West of Senegal, and of various assurances.
Lest
the car should not roll fast enough, the agents of these
companies,
known by their long fox-tails and their cunning looks, turn
round the
spokes of the wheels, upon which are marked the names of
the several
stocks, and their value, sometimes high and sometimes
low, according
to the turns of the wheel. Upon the ground are the merchandise,
day-books and ledgers of legitimate commerce, crushed
under the
chariot of Folly. Behind is an immense crowd of persons,
of all ages,
sexes, and conditions, clamoring after Fortune, and fighting
with each
other to get a portion of the shares which she distributes
so
bountifully among them. In the clouds sits a demon, blowing
bubbles of
soap, which are also the objects of the admiration and cupidity
of the
crowd, who jump upon one another's backs to reach them ere
they burst.
Right in the pathway of the car, and blocking up the passage,
stands a
large building, with three doors, through one of which it
must pass,
if it proceeds further, and all the crowd along with it.
Over the
first door are the words, "Hopital des Foux,"
over the second,
"Hopital des Malades," and over the third, "Hopital
des Gueux."
Another caricature represented Law sitting in a large cauldron,
boiling over the flames of popular madness, surrounded by
an impetuous
multitude, who were pouring all their gold and silver into
it, and
receiving gladly in exchange the bits of paper which he
distributed
among them by handsfull.
|
