SOUTH SEA SCHEME SOUTHWELL 201 not engage. His three best poems are "Tha- laba, the Destroyer" (1801), an Arabian tale, "The Curse of Kehama" (1810), founded upon fables of the Hindoo mythology; and "Rod- erick, the Last of the Goths " (1814), the sub- ject of which is the fall of the Gothic domin- ion in Spain. " Madoc," one of his longer poems, is founded on traditions of Welsh voy- ages to America. His principal prose works, besides his translations of " Amadis de Gaul" and the " Chronicle of the Cid " from the Span- ish, and of " Palmerin of England" from the Portuguese, are: "History of Brazil" (3 vols. 4to, 1810-'19); "Life of Nelson" (2 vols. 8vo, 1813) ; " Life of John Wesley" (2 vols., 1820) ; " History of the Peninsular War" (3 vols. 4to, 1822-'32) ; " Book of the Church " (2 vols. 8vo, 1824) ; " Sir Thomas More, or Colloquies on the Progress and Prospects of Society" (2 vols., 1829) ; " Life of John Bunyan" (1830) ; " Es- says, Moral and Political" (2 vols., 1832) ; and "The Doctor" (7 vols., 1834-7; best ed., 1 vol., London, 1856). His curious erudition is happily shown in the last, and also in his " Com- monplace Book," of which four volumes were edited after his death by his son-in-law, the Rev. J. W. Warter. Southey collected his poet- ical works (10 vols., 1837-'8), and Mr. Warter has published four volumes of his "Letters" (1856). His life was written by his son, the Rev. 0. 0. Southey, in which is interwoven his correspondence with many distinguished men of his time (6 vols., 1849-'50). II. Caro- line Anne Bowles, second wife of the preceding, born at Buckland, Hampshire, Dec. 6, 1787, died July 20, 1854. She was the only child of Capt. Charles Bowles, a retired officer. She published " Ellen Fitz- Arthur," a poem (1820) ; " The Widow's Tale, and other Poems" (1822) ; " Solitary Hours, Prose and Verse " (1826) ; and "Chapters on Churchyards" (2 vols., 1829). In 1839 she married Robert Southey, between whom and herself a long friendship had existed. They had planned to write many works to- gether ; but only two or three fragmentary volumes appeared as their joint production. SOUTH SEA SCHEME (often called the South sea bubble), a financial delusion of the early part of the 18th century. In 1711 Robert Har- ley, earl of Oxford, then lord treasurer, pro- posed to fund a floating debt of about 10,000,- 000, the interest, about 600,000, to be secured by rendering permanent the duties upon wines, tobacco, wrought silks, &c. Purchasers of this fund were to become also shareholders in the South sea company, a corporation to have the monopoly of trade with Spanish South Ameri- ca, a part of the capital stock of which was to be the new fund. After the peace of Utrecht, however, Spain refused to open her commerce to England, and the privileges of the South sea company became worthless. As many men of wealth were among its shareholders and direc- tors, the corporation continued to flourish as a monetary institution. The bad success of its trading operations was concealed, and accounts of the riches of Chili and Peru, together with false reports of intended concessions by the king of Spain, were skilfully used to increase its credit. The breaking out of the Spanish war in 1718 did not shake the popular confi- dence in its promises. The stock of the com- pany was in great request, and the directors determined to enter upon the same career that John Law was then running in France. In April, 1720, parliament by large majorities in both houses accepted their plan for paying the national debt, that of the bank of England be- ing rejected. Walpole was almost the only emi- nent man who protested against the measure. The South sea company took upon itself the whole debt of the state, 30,981,712, in con- sideration of 5 per cent, per annum secured to them for four years, after that to be re- deemable by the government, and the interest to be 4 per cent. Hereupon a frenzy of specu- lation seized the whole nation. Shares of the South sea company, which at the passing of the bill sold at 300, soon began to rise rapidly ; and an enormous traffic in them sprung up, in which all classes engaged. By May 29 two thirds of the government annuitants had ex- changed the securities of the government for those of the company. Not even the collapse of Law's scheme at the end of May checked the popular infatuation ; South sea stock kept on rising until early in August, when it reached its maximum, 1,000. Soon afterward it be- came known that Sir John Blunt, the chair- man, and some others had sold out, and the stock began to fall. Toward the close of Sep- tember, in spite of great efforts both of the government and of the bank of England to save its credit, the company stopped payment, and thousands were beggared. An investiga- tion ordered by parliament disclosed much fraud and corruption, in which many promi- nent persons were implicated. Some of the directors were imprisoned, and all of them were fined to an aggregate amount of over 2,000,000 for the benefit of the stockhold- ers. A great part of the valid assets of the company was also distributed among them, yielding a dividend of about 33 per cent. See Coxe's " Memoirs of Walpole" (2 vols., 1798), and " Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular De- lusions,!' by Charles Mackay (London, 1850). SOUTHWELL, or Sotwell, Nathaniel, an English scholar, born in the county of Norfolk about 1600, died in Rome, Dec. 2, 1676. He was educated in the English college at Rome, be- came a Jesuit, and in 1624 was sent as a mis- sionary priest to England. He returned to Rome in 1627, and from 1637 to 1668 was sec- retary general of his order. He revised, re- edited, and completed the Bibliotheca Scripto- rum Societatis Jesu, begun by Ribadeneira and continued by Alegambe (fol., Rome, 1676; new ed. by the Jesuit Oudin, Rome, 1745 ; with supplements, Rome, 1814, 1816). He was also the author of "A Journal of Meditations for Every Day in the Year" (London, 1669).
