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Title: Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds
Author: Charles Mackay
Release Date: February 5, 2008 [EBook #24518]
Last Updated: April 1, 2018
Language: English
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OF
EXTRAORDINARY POPULAR DELUSIONS
AND THE
Madness of Crowds.
ILLUSTRATED WITH NUMEROUS ENGRAVINGS.
Nâen dĂ©plaise Ă ces fous nommĂ©s sages de GrĂšce,
En ce monde il nâest point de parfaite sagesse;
Tous les hommes sont fous, et malgré tous leurs soßns
Ne diffĂšrent entre eux que du plus ou du moins.
BOILEAU.
LONDON:
OFFICE OF THE NATIONAL ILLUSTRATED LIBRARY,
227 STRAND.
1852.
MEMOIRS
OF
EXTRAORDINARY POPULAR DELUSIONS.
VOLUME I.
LONDON:
OFFICE OF THE NATIONAL ILLUSTRATED LIBRARY,
227 STRAND.
1852.
OF
EXTRAORDINARY POPULAR DELUSIONS
AND THE
Madness of Crowds.
ILLUSTRATED WITH NUMEROUS ENGRAVINGS.
VOL. I.
Nâen dĂ©plaise Ă ces fous nommĂ©s sages de GrĂšce,
En ce monde il nâest point de parfaite sagesse;
Tous les hommes sont fous, et malgré tous leurs soßns
Ne diffĂšrent entre eux que du plus ou du moins.
BOILEAU.
LONDON:
OFFICE OF THE NATIONAL ILLUSTRATED LIBRARY,
227 STRAND.
1852.
LONDON:
PRINTED BY ROBSON, LEVEY, AND FRANKLYN,
Great New Street, Fetter Lane.
THE MISSISSIPPI SCHEME.
John Law; his birth and youthful careerâDuel between Law and WilsonâLawâs escape from the Kingâs BenchâThe âLand-bankââLawâs gambling propensities on the continent, and acquaintance with the Duke of OrleansâState of France after the reign of Louis XIV.âPaper money instituted in that country by LawâEnthusiasm of the French people at the Mississippi SchemeâMarshal VillarsâStratagems employed and bribes given for an interview with LawâGreat fluctuations in Mississippi stockâDreadful murdersâLaw created comptroller-general of financesâGreat sale for all kinds of ornaments in ParisâFinancial difficulties commenceâMen sent out to work the mines on the Mississippi, as a blindâPayment stopped at the bankâLaw dismissed from the ministryâPayments made in specieâLaw and the Regent satirised in songâDreadful crisis of the Mississippi SchemeâLaw, almost a ruined man, flies to VeniceâDeath of the RegentâLaw obliged to resort again to gamblingâHis death at Venice
THE SOUTH-SEA BUBBLE.
Originated by Harley Earl of OxfordâExchange Alley a scene of great excitementâMr. WalpoleâSir John BluntâGreat demand for sharesâInnumerable âBubblesââList of nefarious projects and bubblesâGreat rise in South-sea stockâSudden fallâGeneral meeting of the directorsâFearful climax of the South-sea expeditionâIts effects on societyâUproar in the House of CommonsâEscape of KnightâApprehension of Sir John BluntâRecapture of Knight at TirlemontâHis second escapeâPersons connected with the scheme examinedâTheir respective punishmentsâConcluding remarks
THE TULIPOMANIA.
Conrad GesnerâTulips brought from Vienna to EnglandâRage for the tulip among the DutchâIts great valueâCurious anecdote of a sailor and a tulipâRegular marts for tulipsâTulips employed as a means of speculationâGreat depreciation in their valueâEnd of the mania
THE ALCHYMISTS.
Introductory remarksâPretended antiquity of the artâGeberâAlfarabiâAvicennaâAlbertus MagnusâThomas AquinasâArtephiusâAlain de LisleâArnold de VilleneuveâPietro dâAponeâRaymond LulliâRoger BaconâPope John XXII.âJean de MeungâNicholas FlamelâGeorge RipleyâBasil ValentineâBernard of TrĂšvesâTrithemiusâThe MarĂ©chal de RaysâJacques CĆurâInferior adeptsâProgress of the infatuation during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuriesâAugurelloâCornelius AgrippaâParacelsusâGeorge AgricolaâDenys ZachaireâDr. Dee and Edward KellyâThe CosmopoliteâSendivogiusâThe RosicruciansâMichael MayerâRobert FluddâJacob BöhmenâJohn HeydonâJoseph Francis BorriâAlchymical writers of the seventeenth centuryâDelisleâAlbert AluysâCount de St. GermainâCagliostroâPresent state of the science
MODERN PROPHECIES.
Terror of the approaching day of judgmentâA comet the signal of that dayâThe prophecy of WhistonâThe people of Leeds greatly alarmed at that eventâThe plague in MilanâFortune-tellers and AstrologersâProphecy concerning the overflow of the ThamesâMother ShiptonâMerlinâHeywoodâPeter of PontefractâRobert NixonâAlmanac-makers
FORTUNE-TELLING.
Presumption and weakness of manâUnion of Fortune-tellers and AlchymistsâJudicial astrology encouraged in England from the time of Elizabeth to William and MaryâLilly the astrologer consulted by the House of Commons as to the cause of the Fire of LondonâEncouragement of the art in France and GermanyâNostradamusâBasil of FlorenceâAntiochus TibertusâKeplerâNecromancyâRoger Bacon, Albertus Magnus, Arnold VilleneuveâGeomancyâAuguryâDivination: list of various species of divinationâOneiro-criticism (interpretation of dreams)âOmens
THE MAGNETISERS.
The influence of imagination in curing diseasesâMineral magnetisersâParacelsusâKircher the JesuitâSebastian WirdigâWilliam MaxwellâThe Convulsionaries of St. MedardâFather HellâMesmer, the founder of Animal MagnetismâDâEslon, his discipleâM. de PuysegurâDr. Mainauducâs success in LondonâHolloway, Loutherbourg, Mary Pratt, &c.âPerkinsâs âMetallic TractorsââDecline of the science
INFLUENCE OF POLITICS AND RELIGION ON THE HAIR AND BEARD.
Early modes of wearing the hair and beardâExcommunication and outlawry decreed against curlsâLouis VII.âs submission thereto the cause of the long wars between England and FranceâCharles V. of Spain and his courtiersâPeter the GreatâHis tax upon beardsâRevival of beards and moustaches after the French Revolution of 1830âThe King of Bavaria (1838) orders all civilians wearing moustaches to be arrested and shavedâExamples from Bayeux tapestry
In reading the history of nations, we find that, like individuals, they have their whims and their peculiarities; their seasons of excitement and recklessness, when they care not what they do. We find that whole communities suddenly fix their minds upon one object, and go mad in its pursuit; that millions of people become simultaneously impressed with one delusion, and run after it, till their attention is caught by some new folly more captivating than the first. We see one nation suddenly seized, from its highest to its lowest members, with a fierce desire of military glory; another as suddenly becoming crazed upon a religious scruple; and neither of them recovering its senses until it has shed rivers of blood and sowed a harvest of groans and tears, to be reaped by its posterity. At an early age in the annals of Europe its population lost their wits about the sepulchre of Jesus, and crowded in frenzied multitudes to the Holy Land; another age went mad for fear of the devil, and offered up hundreds of thousands of victims to the delusion of witchcraft. At another time, the many became crazed on the subject of the philosopherâs stone, and committed follies till then unheard of in the pursuit. It was once thought a venial offence, in very many countries of Europe, to destroy an enemy by slow poison. Persons who would have revolted at the idea of stabbing a man to the heart, drugged his pottage without scruple. Ladies of gentle birth and manners caught the contagion of murder, until poisoning, under their auspices, became quite fashionable. Some delusions, though notorious to all the world, have subsisted for ages, flourishing as widely among civilised and polished nations as among the early barbarians with whom they originated,âthat of duelling, for instance, and the belief in omens and divination of the future, which seem to defy the progress of knowledge to eradicate them entirely from the popular mind. Money, again, has often been a cause of the delusion of multitudes. Sober nations have all at once become desperate gamblers, and risked almost their existence upon the turn of a piece of paper. To trace the history of the most prominent of these delusions is the object of the present pages. Men, it has been well said,
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