devil!' said the Dutchman, seizing the astonished man of science by the collar; come before the syndic, and you shall see.' In spite of his remonstrances, the traveller was led through the streets, followed by a mob of persons. When brought into the presence of the magistrate, he learned, to his consternation, that the root upon which he had been experimentalising was worth four thousand florins! and, notwithstanding all he could urge in extenuation, he was lodged in prison until he found securities for the payment of this sum."

In England the irrational admiration of certain varieties of tulips has been witnessed, and even recently; but neither here nor in France did the jobbers succeed in carrying it to the madly extravagant height that it reached amongst the Dutch. Still, in our day, says Mr. Mackay, a tulip will produce more money than an oak. In the year 1800, a common price for a single bulb was fifteen guineas. In 1835 one of the species, called Miss Fanny Kemble, brought, by public auction in London, seventy-five pounds. "Thus a flower, which for beauty and perfume was surpassed by the abundant roses of the garden, a nosegay of which might be purchased for a penny, was priced at a sum which would have provided an industrious labourer and his family with food, clothes, and lodging for six years."

Relics, not only in what are called the dark ages, but even at this day, furnish anecdotes of gross and ridiculous delusions. Europe, for example, still swarms with religious objects of this kind:

"There is hardly a Roman Catholic church in Spain, Portugal, Italy, France, or Belgium, without one or more of them. Even the poorly endowed churches of the villages boast the possession of miraculous thighbones of the innumerable saints of the Romish calendar. Aix-la-Chapelle is proud of the veritable chasse or thigh-bone of Charlemagne, which cures lameness; Halle has a thigh-bone of the Virgin Mary; Spain has seven or eight, all said to be undoubted relics. Brussels at one time preserved, and perhaps does now, the teeth of St. Gudule. The faithful, who suffered from the tooth-ache, had only to pray and look at them, and be cured. Some of these holy bones have been buried in different parts of the Continent. After a certain lapse of time, water is said to ooze from them, which soon forms a spring, and cures all the diseases of the faithful. At a church in Halle there is a famous thigh-bone which cures barrenness in women. Of this bone, which is under the special superintendence of the Virgin, a pleasant story is related by the incredulous. There resided at Ghent a couple who were blessed with all the riches of this world, but whose happiness was sore troubled by the want of children. Great was the grief of the lady, who was both beautiful and loving, and many her lamentations to her husband. The latter, annoyed by her unceasing sorrow, advised her to make a pilgrimage to the celebrated chasse of the Virgin. She went, was absent a week, and returned with a face all radiant with joy and pleasure. Her lamentations ceased; and in nine months

:

afterwards she brought forth a son. But, oh! the instability of human joys! The babe, so long desired and so greatly beloved, survived but a few months. Two years passed over the heads of the disconsolate couple, and no second child appeared to cheer their fire-side. A third year passed away with the same result, and the lady once more began to weep. 'Cheer up, my love,' said her husband, and go to the holy chasse, at Halle perhaps the Virgin will again listen to your prayers.' The lady took courage at the thought, wiped away her tears, and proceeded on the morrow towards Halle. She was absent only three days, and returned home sad, weeping, and sorrow-stricken. 'What is the matter?' said her husband; is the Virgin unwilling to listen to your prayers? The Virgin is willing enough,' said the disconsolate wife, and will do what she can for me; but I shall never have any more children! The priest! the priest! he is gone from Halle, and nobody knows where to find him!'—"

Mr. Mackay mentions and illustrates the avidity which has been manifested in all ages and countries to obtain relics of persons who have been much spoken of, even although great criminals:

"When William Longbeard, leader of the populace of London in the reign of Richard I., was hanged at Smithfield, the utmost eagerness was shown to obtain a hair from his head, or a shred from his garments. Women came from Essex, Kent, Suffolk, Sussex, and all the surrounding counties, to collect the mould at the foot of his gallows. A hair of his beard was believed to preserve from evil spirits, and a piece of his clothes from aches and pains. In more modern days, a similar avidity was shown to obtain a relic of the luckless Masaniello, the fisherman of Naples. After he had been raised by mob-favour to a height of power more despotic than monarch ever wielded, he was shot by the same populace in the streets, as if he had been a mad dog. His headless trunk was dragged through the mire for several hours, and cast at night-fall into the city-ditch. On the morrow, the tide of popular feeling turned once more in his favour. His corpse was sought, arrayed in royal robes, and buried magnificently by torch-light in the cathedral; ten thousand armed men, and as many mourners, attending at the ceremony. The fisherman's dress which he had worn was rent into shreds by the crowd, to be preserved as relics; the door of his hut was pulled off its hinges by a mob of women, and eagerly cut up into small pieces, to be made into images, caskets, and other mementos. The scanty furniture of his poor abode became of more value than the adornments of a palace; the ground he had walked upon was considered sacred, and, being collected in small phials, was sold at its weight in gold, and worn in the bosom as an amulet. Almost as extraordinary was the phrensy manifested by the populace of Paris on the execution of the atrocious Marchioness de Brinvilliers. There were grounds for the popular wonder in the case of Masaniello, who was unstained with personal crimes. But the career of Madame de Brinvilliers was of a nature to excite no other feelings than disgust and abhorrence. She was convicted of poisoning several persons, and sentenced to be burned in the Place de Gréve, and to have her ashes scattered to the winds. On the day of her

execution, the populace, struck by her gracefulness and beauty, inveighed against the severity of her sentence. Their pity soon increased to admiration, and ere evening she was considered a saint. Her ashes were industriously collected, even the charred wood which had aided to consume her was eagerly purchased by the populace. Her ashes were thought to preserve from witchcraft."

Were death suddenly to call hence a certain French Madame, now a prisoner, it is probable that some such regard would be manifested towards relics of her.

In England a morbid love for the relics of thieves, murderers, and other criminals has often been shown. For instance, a guinea per foot has been given for the ropes with which very notorious persons have been hanged. Such was the case when Dr. Dodd, Fauntleroy, and Thurtell were executed. Need we wonder, then, that in earlier times a superstition was attached to the hand of a criminal who had suffered execution? "It was thought that by merely rubbing the dead hand on the body the patient afflicted with the king's evil would be instantly cured." The possession of the hand was deemed to be of great efficacy in the prevention of misfortunes. "In the time of Charles II. as much as ten guineas was thought a small price for one of these disgusting relics." The following are more agreeable and romantic relics; although, as Mr. Mackay justly points out, many a credulous person pays handsomely for counterfeits :

"Among the most favourite relics of modern times, in Europe, are Shakspeare's mulberry-tree, Napoleon's willow, and the table at Waterloo on which the emperor wrote his despatches. Snuff-boxes of Shakspeare's mulberry-tree are comparatively rare, though there are doubtless more of them in the market than were ever made of the wood planted by the great bard. Many a piece of alien wood passes under this name. The same may be said of Napoleon's table at Waterloo. The original has long since been destroyed, and a round dozen of counterfeits along with it. Many preserve the simple stick of wood; others have them cut into brooches and every variety of ornament; but by far the greater number prefer them as snuff-boxes. In France they are made into bonbonnières, and are much esteemed by the many thousands whose cheeks still glow and whose eyes still sparkle at the name of Napoleon. Bullets from the field of Waterloo, and buttons from the coats of the soldiers who fell in the fight, are still favourite relics in Europe. But the same ingenuity which found new tables after the old one was destroyed, has cast new bullets for the curious. Many a one who thinks himself the possessor of a bullet which aided in giving peace to the world on that memorable day, is the owner of a dump, first extracted from the ore a dozen years afterwards. Let all lovers of genuine relics look well to their money before they part with it to the ciceroni that swarm in the village of Waterloo. Few travellers stop at the lonely isle of St. Helena without cutting a twig from the willow that droops

over the grave of Napoleon. Many of them have since been planted in different parts of Europe, and have grown into trees as large as their parents. Relic-hunters, who are unable to procure a twig of the original, are content with one from these. Several of them are growing in the neighbourhood of London, more prized by their cultivators than any other tree in their gardens."

We shall now let our readers have an outline of Mr. Mackay's Memoir of the Mississippi Scheme which the far-famed and notorious John Law projected, and by which he drove the whole of France from its propriety. It is useful that the emptiness and ruinous consequences of all such bubbles should be frequently shown, seeing how prone human nature is to be led astray by gilded mockeries, and how infectious delusions prove. Our age is not yet so fully enlightened and well grounded in the principles of political economy and financial science as to be secure against the dreams of sanguine speculators, or the arts of nefarious projectors. But let us see how Law commenced, advanced, and ended; mark how fundamental errors and a readiness to be deceived were the lever to enormous transactions, which were as disastrous as they were enormous. At the very first the Mississippi schemer hoodwinked (no doubt Law was all along partly a self-deceiver) the French rulers and people; for he preached the doctrine that paper was essential to the prosperity of a gold currency, and afterwards that the former might stand in the stead of the latter.

In 1716, by royal edict, this projector was authorized to establish, along with his brother, a bank, the notes of which should be received in payment of the taxes; the capital being fixed at six millions of livres, in twelve thousand shares of five hundred livres each, purchasable one-fourth in specie, and the remainder in billets d'état. Our author goes on to remark that,

"Law made all his notes payable at sight, and in the coin current at the time they were issued. This last was a master-stroke of policy, and immediately rendered his notes more valuable than the precious metals. The latter were constantly liable to depreciation by the unwise tampering of the government. A thousand livres of silver might be worth their nominal value one day and be reduced one-sixth the next, but a note of Law's bank retained its original value.-The consequence was, that his notes advanced rapidly in public estimation, and were received at one per cent. more than specie. It was not long before the trade of the country felt the benefit. Languishing commerce began to lift up her head; the taxes were paid with greater regularity and less murmuring, and a degree of confidence was established that could not fail, if it continued, to become still more advantageous. In the course of a year Law's notes rose to fifteen per cent. premium, while the billets d'état, or notes issued by the government, as security for the debts contracted by the extravagant Louis XIV, were at a discount of no less than seventy-eight and a half per cent. The

comparison was too great in favour of Law not to attract the attention of the whole kingdom, and his credit extended itself day by day. Branches of his bank were almost simultaneously established at Lyons, Rochelle, Tours, Amiens, and Orleans. The Regent appears to have been utterly astonished at his success, and gradually to have conceived the idea, that paper, which could so aid a metallic currency, could entirely supersede it. Upon this fundamental error he afterwards acted. In the mean time, Law commenced the famous project which has handed his name down to posterity. He proposed to the Regent, who could refuse him nothing, to establish a company, that should have the exclusive privilege of trading to the great river Mississippi, and the province of Louisiana on its western bank. The country was supposed to abound in the precious metals, and the company, supported by the profits of their exclusive commerce, were to be the sole farmers of the taxes, and sole coiners of money. Letters patent were issued, incorporating the company, in August 1717. The capital was divided into two hundred thousand shares of five hundred livres each, the whole of which might be paid in billets d'état, at their nominal value, although worth no more than 160 livres in the market."

If the Regent and government fell into these snares, it was not to be supposed that the great body of the people would escape the delusion. The scheme was now looked upon as too mighty and grand for any establishment that was not proudly national; and notes were by this authority issued for not less than one thousand millions of livres. To be sure there were individuals who perceived part of the impending danger; and the Parliament began to feel alarmed and to remonstrate. But it was soon overawed by the arrest of the president and two of the counsellors, who were sent to distant prisons; and thus the first cloud upon Law's prospects blew over. He therefore lost no time or opportunity for improving and advancing his scheme, devoting his attention to the Mississippi project, the shares of which were rapidly rising, edicts also continuing to favour it and its author. At the commencement of the year 1719 one was published, granting the Company" the exclusive privilege of trading to the East Indies, China, and the South Seas, and to all the possessions of the French East India Company established by Colbert." In consequence of such monopolies the business and the ambition of the Company increased, one_result of which was that fifty thousand new shares were created; Law now holding out the most magnificent prospects, promising a yearly dividend "of two hundred livres upon each share of five hundred, which, as the shares were paid for in billets d'état, at their nominal value, but worth only 100 livres, was at the rate of about 120 per cent. profit.

Considering the hold which the delusion had taken of the national credulity, it is no wonder that the bright vision, now enlarged and rendered more imposing, should excite the highest enthusiasm, and