in the sea; projects for pearl-fishing, for mining, for turning copper into brass, for the manufacture of hollow sword-blades, glass bottles, japanned goods, printed hangings, Venetian metal, &c. "Some of which," says a writer of the day, who has given full details on the subject, "were very useful and successful whilst they continued in a few hands, till they fell into stock-jobbing, now much introduced, when they dwindled to nothing. Others of them were mere whims, of little or no service to the world. . . . Moreover, projects, as usual, begat projects—lottery upon lottery, engine upon engine, &c., multiplied wonderfully. If it happened that any one person got considerably by an happy and useful invention, the consequence generally was, that others followed the track, in spite of the patent, and published printed proposals, filling the daily newspapers therewith; thus going on to jostle out one another, and to abuse the credulity of the people."[1] Here we have, on a smaller scale, all the phenomena of the year 1720. Again, under the year 1698, we find the chronologist of our commerce noting—"London at this time abounded with many new projects and schemes, promising mountains of gold;" and quoting contemporary authorities as complaining heavily "that the Royal Exchange of London was crowded with projects, wagers, airy companies of new manufactures and inventions, stock-jobbers, &c." This was the reason, it seems, why soon after the business of stock-jobbing was removed from the Royal Exchange, first to 'Change Alley, and afterwards to Capel Court, where the building called the Stock Exchange now stands. The author of an Essay on Projects, printed about this time, speaks of having seen "shares of joint-stocks and other under-
- ↑ Extracted, with much more, by Anderson, Chron. of Com. ii. (314, from "Angliæ Tutamen; or, the Safety of England: being an Account of the Banks, Lotteries, Diving, Draining, and Lifting, and sundry other Engines, Metallic, Salt, Linen, and many other pernicious projects now on foot, tending to the Destruction of Trade and Commerce, and the Impoverishing of this Realm. By a Person of Honour." 4to. Lond. 1695.
