v i INTRODUCTION. 



but if it is not a little fanciful it must represent the 

 prices prevalent in London at a time when the town 

 was cut off temporarily from the outside world. The 

 sixth document is one which was found in an old pocket- 

 book at Brandsby Hall. It was unsigned, and I was 

 quite unable to identify the handwriting, but its 

 genuineness is undoubted. The unfortunate writer had 

 been speculating in Change Alley, and, like so many 

 others,, had been severely bitten. Like a careful man, 

 however, he put away the original share certificates, if 

 such they may be called, with the list of his invest- 

 ments, in case they should at any future time turn out 

 to be worth something after all. I have printed some 

 of these, as I believe them to be absolutely unique, and of 

 the greatest interest. The famous account of the South 

 Sea and the other bubbles in Macpherson's Annals of 

 Commerce 1 is of course familiar to every one, and 

 most of the companies in which the nameless speculator 

 ventured are given in the list printed in that book. 

 But, unless they were known by other names, some of 

 the bubbles have not hitherto been recorded, while 

 in other cases the price paid is higher than the figure 

 recorded by Macpherson. It will be seen that most 

 of the companies have a plausible appearance, and as 

 a rule are for promoting some form of industry or other. 

 Two are for making salt 2 , three for developing fisheries 

 (for the ' James's permit ' is the same as the ' National 

 Fishery'), two for land improvements, and one for 

 developing a river as a navigable waterway. Others 

 are most suspicious, and one would have thought would 



1 Vol. iii. pp. 76114. 



2 Unless the company called King George's Salt is the same as the 

 gocd ship called Royal George. 



