By Edward Matthew Ward (1816-1879), via the Tate Gallery and Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain. Source
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The South Sea Bubble, a scene imagined by Edward Matthew Ward in 1846, adopting the style of one of William Hogarth’s cartoons. King George I was one of those who lost heavily; many others were ordinary citizens who could not so readily afford their losses. A committee of investigation was set up to look into the conduct of the Company, and some high-profile figures who were compromised by accusations of corruption fled the country; others, sadly, committed suicide. Further harm came from the copycat companies that tried to cash in on the get-rich-quick spirit of the day.
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By Edward Matthew Ward (1816-1879), via the Tate Gallery and Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.
The South Sea Bubble, a scene imagined by Edward Matthew Ward in 1846, adopting the style of one of William Hogarth’s cartoons. King George I was one of those who lost heavily; many others were ordinary citizens who could not so readily afford their losses. A committee of investigation was set up to look into the conduct of the Company, and some high-profile figures who were compromised by accusations of corruption fled the country; others, sadly, committed suicide. Further harm came from the copycat companies that tried to cash in on the get-rich-quick spirit of the day.
A SECOND was to manufacture butter out of beech trees;* a
third was for a wheel for driving machinery, which once started
would go on forever, thereby furnishing a cheap perpetual motion.*
A fourth projector, going beyond all the rest in audacity, had
the impudence to offer stock for sale in an enterprise “which
shall be revealed hereafter.” He found the public so gullible
and so greedy that he sold £2000 worth of the new stock in the
course of a single morning.* He then prudently disappeared with
the cash, and the unfortunate investors found that where he went
with their money was not among the things to “be revealed
hereafter.”
The narrow passage leading to the London stock exchange was
crowded all day long with struggling fortune hunters, both men
and women. Suddenly, when the excitement was at its height, the
bubble burst, as Law’s scheme in France had a little earlier.
Great numbers of people were hopelessly ruined, and the cry for
vengeance was as loud as the bids for stocks had once been.
This one is not quite as absurd as Montgomery supposed. Beech nuts are still sometimes pressed to make cheap vegetable oil, for lamps, haircare and culinary use; a beech nut margarine would be a brave investment, even so. Coffee might have made a better project: the nuts are quite bitter and astringent, and in the late Victorian age were quite in vogue roasted as a substitute.
Perpetual motion is now recognised as a scientific impossibility. In 1775, the Royal Academy of Sciences in Paris let it be known that no further consideration would be given to supposed perpetual motion machines.
1. What is the author
aiming to achieve in writing this?
2. Note any words, devices or turns of phrase that
strike you. How do they help the author communicate his
ideas more effectively?
3. What impression does this passage make on you?
How might you put that impression into words?
Based on The English Critic (1939)
by NL Clay, drawing on The New Criticism: A Lecture Delivered at
Columbia University, March 9, 1910, by J. E. Spingarn,
Professor of Comparative Literature in Columbia University,
USA.
About the Author
David Henry Montgomery (1837-1928) was an American historian and educator, best known for his ‘Leading Facts’ series of textbooks outlining the history of America, France and England. He researched the last of these while on a visit to the United Kingdom, and consulted a dazzling array of primary and secondary sources to “illustrate the great law of national growth, in the light thrown upon it by the foremost English historians.” Short, clear outlines of history reinforced belief in the progress of nations through personal liberty, responsibility and industrial enterprise, in contrast with bloodshed and the glorification of Power. His textbooks were popular in American schools from the 1890s to the 1920s.
For each group of words, compose a sentence that uses all three. You can use any form of the word: for example, cat → cats, go → went, or quick → quickly, though neigh → neighbour is stretching it a bit.
This exercise uses words found in the accompanying passage.
1Between.Extract.Project.
2Able.Enterprise.Sea.
3Machinery.Start.Trade.
Variations:1.include direct and indirect speech2.include one or more of these words: although, because, despite, either/or, if, unless, until, when, whether, which, who3.use negatives (not, isn’t, neither/nor, never, nobody etc.)
Use each word below in two sentences, first as the subject of a verb, and then as the object of a verb. It doesn’t have to be the same verb: some verbs can’t be paired with an object (e.g. arrive, happen), so watch out for these.
This exercise uses words found in the accompanying passage.
Variations:
1.use your noun in the plural (e.g. cat → cats), if possible.2.give one of your sentences a future aspect (e.g. will, going to).3.write sentences using negatives such as not, neither, nobody and never.
Suggest words or phrases that seem opposite in meaning to each of the words below. We have suggested some possible answers; see if you can find any others.
This exercise uses words found in the accompanying passage.
Variations:
1.instead of opposites, suggest words of similar meaning (synonyms).2.use a word and its opposite in the same sentence.3.suggest any 5 opposites formed by adding in-.
Make words (three letters or more) from the seven letters showing below, using any letter once only. Each letter carries a score. What is the highest-scoring word you can make?
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