22 EEV. F. D. HUNTINGTON S 



dealers in fancy poultry constantly appeared the names of 

 the clergy, who fanned the flame till the fever reached the 

 crisis, and speculated largely in ' Ohittagongs,' ' Brahmas,' 

 and other fancy stock. Our author has selected only one 

 species of humbug, and Mr. Burnham, by concentrating his 

 energies in the cultivation of this species, has therein beaten 

 Bamum, whose genius has spread itself over so many 

 species, and so many varieties of the same species. Mr. 

 Geo. P. Burnham, of R;isset House, Melrose, Mass., says 

 he has accumulated, in six years, the sum of thirty thou- 

 sand dollars from the ' hen fever ; ' and, having .that amount, 

 safely invested, he laughs to scorn all who despise the means 

 by which he has ascended to uppertendom, just, as the 

 miser, described in Horace, despises the hisses of the mob, 

 when he looks at his money in his strong box." , 



The Yarmouth Register says, " It would be amusing,, 

 were it not too serious a matter for mirth, to recount all the 

 bubbles and delusions by which grasping and credulous 

 humanity has, from , time to time, been taken in and ' done 

 for,' and which readily suggest themselves to the mind on 

 taking up this book. * * * The Hen Fever, of which 

 Mr. Burnham is now the historian, raged from 1849 to the 

 middle of 1854. It proved remarkably infectious, and seized 

 upon all classes, from governors to grooms, from statesmen 

 to stable-boys; and the author's personal reminiscences may 

 be looked upon as the history of the fever in all its stages. 

 The book is exceedingly interesting and amusing, and lets, 

 us ihto the secrets of speculation and the arts of sharpers^ 

 in a manner that, ought to prove a warning and example 

 in future time." 



