years have produced. We see the fields better cultivated, the barns and stackyards more fully stored, the horses, cows, and sheep, more abundant and in better condition, and all the implements of husbandry improved in their order, their construction, and their value. In the cities, towns, and villages, we find shops more numerous and better in their appearance, and the several goods more separated from each other; a division that is the infallible token of increased sales. We see the accumulation of wares of every kind adapted to the purses, the wants, and even the whims of every description of customers. This vast increase of goods, thus universally dispersed, is an indication and exhibition of flourishing circumstances. It may be traced into all the manufactories, and observed in the masses of raw materials in each, in commodities of every kind in their several stages of preparation, and in all the subdivisions of those stages, by which not only the increase of wealth is manifested, but the modes by which it is acquired are practically illustrated. If we could ascend a little higher, and examine the accounts of the bankers in the metropolis, and in the provincial towns, small as well as large, we should find that the balances of money resting with them, ready to embrace favourable changes in the price of any commodity, or to be placed at interest as beneficial securities present themselves, are increased to an enormous amount. This, indeed, may be fairly inferred from the low rate of interest in the floating public securities, from the prices of the funds, from the avidity with which every project for the employment of capital is grasped at, and from the general complaint, almost the only complaint heard, that there is now no way of making interest of money. The projects for constructing tunnels, railroads, canals, or bridges, and the eagerness with which they are embraced, are all proofs of that accumulation from savings which the intermediate ranks of society have, by patience and perseverance, been enabled to form. The natural effect of this advancement in possessions has been an advance in the enjoyments which those possessions can administer; and we need not be surprised at the general diffusion of those gratifications which were formerly called luxuries, but which, from their familiarity, we now

describe by the softened, and exclusively English term, comforts. This is manifested in our houses, in their finishing, in their decorations, and especially in the numerous conveniences with which they are stored. The merchants of London forty or fifty years since lived in the dark lanes in which their counting-houses are still to be found, ate with their clerks a hasty meal at two o'clock, and returned to the desk to write their letters, by which they were often occupied till midnight. The shopkeepers lived behind their shops, their best floor was let to lodgers, and few only of the wealthier of them could afford a retreat from the bustle and the cares of the city to the surrounding villages of Islington, Hackney, or Camberwell. The watering-places which have sprung up on the whole coast of Kent and Sussex were then unknown to those classes of traders, who now, by occasionally resorting to them, and spending there a part of what they can spare from their annual savings, contribute largely to maintain the inhabitants in comfort and respectability. If we visit the country, we experience the same pleasing emotions as are communicated on the contemplation of the increased enjoyments of the city. We do not see indeed among the farmers such great strides, but we see universal advancement. The profits on their capitals are necessarily lower, and their growth consequently less rapid; but in the last forty or fifty years they, too, have made considerable progress. Whilst they have exchanged the work of the hands for that of the head, they have exchanged also the round frock of the ploughman for garments more suitable to their improved condition. Their houses are more commodious and better furnished; carpets, china plates, and glasses are to be seen, instead of stone floors, trenchers, and drinkinghorns. Their wives and daughters, upon whom the refinement of society mainly depends, are generally better educated, and are able to attract their husbands and brothers from the fairs and the markets at an earlier hour and with less frequent breaches of the rules of sobriety than were practised in the last generation. The country inn is no longer superior in neatness or comfort to the farmer's own house. Among the manufacturers, we see some with princely yet well-merited fortunes. But there

is a numerous class inferior to them, who have amassed, and are amassing, considerable wealth, and dispensing employment to thousands of their poorer neighbours. We have had occasion before to notice the increased population of Manchester, Leeds, Birmingham, and several other places which have been the scenes of their operations. Forty years ago, we were well acquainted with those places, with the fortunes which were then enjoyed, and the habits then prevailing. On recent visits, after a long absence, we felt a degree of astonishment which we cannot describe, at the changes which have taken place. We do not speak of the numerous individuals, whose fathers or grandfathers had, almost within recollection, hardly emerged from the condition of day-labourers, and whom we now found the owners of magnificent establishments; for single instances prove little in a case like this; but we allude to the immense addition to the buildings, the improvement in their construction, and the general advance which the owners had made in all the liberal tastes and enjoyments of life.'

Such was the buoyant tone of the time. Such was the record, much of which was to merge into silent dismay, the gazette, and the obituary.

Early in the spring of 1824, gold and silver were exported to South America; yet nobody appeared to observe that there was too much money abroad. In June and July, there was a decided fall in the exchanges with the continent; yet no one seemed to take the alarm. The Bank of England went on increasing its issues through the whole of 1824, and for three months of the next year; and it was not till the end of that time, in the spring of 1825, that even sagacious men of business began audibly to prophesy the evil to come. At that time, some few declared their belief that a terrible revulsion might be looked for soon. But it was then too late. Between June, 1824, and October, 1825, from ten to twelve millions of coin and bullion were exported; and during the greater part of that time, the Bank of England was still putting out its notes; and the provincial banks issued as many as they could, till the country was deluged with paper-money. Many a man set up for a banker who would, at another time, have as soon thought of setting up for a king. Lord Liverpool

complained, after the crisis, of the system which allows any petty tradesman, any cobbler, or cheesemonger, to usurp the royal prerogative, and to issue money without check or control. There was a perfect mania of competi tion in making paper issues. Many of the country bankers, who afterwards failed, discounted the paper that was brought to them by the wildest and wickedest speculators, and paid a large commission to persons who undertook to promote the circulation of their notes. This inordinate supply of money followed upon a deficiency of currency in 1821 and 1822; in which latter year an act was passed permitting the circulation of small notes beyond the date originally fixed. This extension of time tempted the bankers to increase their issues, instead of providing for the withdrawal of some of their paper. In 1825, there was from thirty to forty per cent. more paper out than in 1822. Just at that time, the Bank of England, followed by other banks, lowered the rate of interest. Thus there was money in abundance, which its owners did not know what to do with. The rate of interest was low. Prices had been so low for two years that they were sure to rise, suddenly and vastly, while so much money was abroad; and the opportunity for speculating was one which few men of enterprise, engaged in trade, were able to resist.

It would have been well if the rage for speculation had been confined to men engaged in trade. The madness spread everywhere. Retired professional men, living on their acquired fortunes, ladies deriving all their income from the funds, families who had lent their money on mortgages, looked at the low interest on money on the one hand, and the enormous profits made by speculation on the other, and grew dissatisfied. Hundreds who had before been content with their moderate incomes, and had blessed God that their lot had lain between poverty and riches, now watched with jealousy the opportunities of their neighbours; were offended if shares in some joint-stock company were not offered to them, or sighed if obliged to admit that they were not rich enough to pledge themselves to a series of calls. Some who went on in their ordinary course, untouched by the madness of the time, were re

proached for injustice to their families, in declining to help themselves from the stores of wealth which were poured out all around. These were justified in the end; but they suffered, more or less, with the rest; for this is a case in which the suffering can never be confined to those who err. The scheming attorneys, the needy speculators, the excitable professional men and ladies, and the ignorant small capitalists whom they led astray, were the sinners; but many an honourable and sagacious merchant, who saw whither things were tending, and did his utmost to preserve himself and his neighbours, was half ruined, or wholly ruined, by the consequences of other people's folly. He, like others, suffered by the stoppage of the banks, the sudden contraction of the currency, and the prodigious depreciation of every kind of stock.

While the rate of interest was lowest, the possessors of capital were easily tempted to invest their money in some scheme which should yield them an abundant return. While the rate of interest was lowest, men were tempted to borrow larger sums than they would otherwise have ventured on, wherewith to carry on their speculations. And, again, this was the time, when bankers were willing to discount bills at very long dates, for speculators to buy up goods, hold them back for the high prices expected to ensue, and thus enhance the prices yet further by creating an artificial scarcity At the very time when even reasonable people were discontented with the low interest they obtained for their money, while threatened with high prices to come, they saw their neighbours making fortunes almost in a day, by skilful buying and selling among the projects afloat. A young lady, whose brother had encouraged her to take a share of £100 in some joint-stock project, might pay her first instalment of £5 with some trembling, and wonder when the next call would come. But if her brother brought her £140 in a few days, with the news that he had sold out for her while the premium was thus high, would she sit down content with having for once gained £35 by her £5? Would she not be as eager to invest again as the managers could be that she should? Thus it was with many thousands of ladies, and gentlemen as inexperienced as they. Some selfish wretches