378 MY LIFE 



species, which, after I had made what use of them was 

 needed for my work, produced an amount which in the same 

 securities would have produced about i20o a vcar more. 



But I never reached that comfortable position. Owing- to 

 my never before having had more than enough to supply 

 my immediate wants, I was wholly ignorant of the numerous 

 snares and pitfalls that beset the ignorant investor, and I 

 unfortunately came under the influence of two or three men 

 who, quite unintentionally, led me into trouble. Soon after I 

 came home I made the acquaintance of Mr. R., who held a 

 good appointment under Government, and had, besides, the 

 expectation of a moderate fortune on the death of an uncle. 

 I soon became intimate with him, and we were for some years 

 joint investigators of spiritualistic phenomena. He was, like 

 myself at that time, an agnostic, well educated, and of a 

 more positive character than myself. He had for some years 

 saved part of his income, and invested it in various foreign 

 securities at low prices, selling out when they rose in value, 

 and in this way he assured me he had in a few years doubled 

 the amount he had saved. He studied price-lists and foreign 

 news, and assured me that it was quite easy, with a little care 

 and judgment, to increase your capital in this way. He quite 

 laughed at the idea of allowing several thousand pounds to 

 lie idle, as he termed it, in Indian securities, and so imbued 

 me with an idea of his great knowledge of the money-market, 

 that I was persuaded to sell out some of my bonds and 

 debentures and buy others that he recommended, which 

 brought in a higher interest, and which he believed would 

 soon rise considerably in value. This change went on slowly 

 with various success for several years, till at last I had in- 

 vestments in various English, American, and foreign railways, 

 whose fluctuations in value I was quite unable to comprehend, 

 and I began to find, when too late, that almost all my changes 

 of investment brought me loss instead of profit, and later on, 

 when the great depression of trade of 1875-85 occurred, the 

 loss was so great as to be almost ruin. 



In 1866 one of my oldest friends became secretary to a 

 small body of speculators, who had offices in Pall Mall, and 



