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Occasioned by his buying and selling the third South Sea Subscriptions, taken in by the Directors at One Thousand per cent[1].
DISDAIN not, Snow, my humble verse to hear,
Stick thy black pen awhile behind thy ear.
Whether thy counter shine with sums untold,
And thy wide-grasping hand grows black with gold;
Whether thy mien erect, and sable locks,
In crowds of brokers over awe the stocks;
Suspend the worldly business of the day,
And, to enrich thy mind, attend my lay.
O thou, whose penetrative wisdom found
The South Sea rocks and shelves, where thousands drown'd!
- ↑ In the year 1720, the South Sea company, under pretence of paying the publick debt, obtained an act of parliament for enlarging their capital, by taking into it all the debts of the nation, incurred before the year 1716, amounting to 31,664,551l. Part of this sum was subscribed into their capital at three subscriptions: the first at 300l. per cent, the second at 400l., and a third at 1000l. Such was the infatuation of the time, that these subscriptions were bought and sold at exorbitant premiums; so that 100l. South Sea stock, subscribed at 1000l. was sold for 1200l. in Exchange alley.
When
