e has
already felt; and yet, tis amazing to observe how little Effect it has had
upon the Publick. Whereas by this Resolution it should have been expected,
that such prejudicial Subscriptions were worth nothing, the Price of these
_Bubbles_ immediately rose, and their Reputation and Number of Subscribers
encreased in a greater Proportion, than before they were under any Censure
from the State: It is hard to account for this Paradox: either the
Authority of Parliament has become a Jest, or we are under the strongest
Infatuation that these Kingdoms ever felt.

I am unwilling to publish the Reasons, which an intelligent Person gave me,
for such Consequences: Because it would not do Honour to certain Persons,
by whose Interest it is expected, that _Charters_ are to be obtain'd. As to
the Great _Bubble_, which as open'd a Subscription, where every Man is to
pay _five_ Times the Value of what he purchases, a Gentleman, who is very
conversant in Trade, informs me, that the Foreigners, who have Original
Stocks to a very great Value, have already sent Commissions to have it all
sold, when it comes to this extravagant Price. By this Means, they will
have Opportunities of draining the Nation of its current Coin. I suppose,
it will be answer'd, that the _Exportation_ of _Coin_ is provided against
by _Statutes_; it is granted; and so is the Exportation of _Wooll_: Yet we
are all sensible, the Law is transgress'd every Day in this Point: And it
must be allowed, that Money may be as easily _smuggled_ as any Commodity
whatsoever. The Consequence of this will be, that a Circulation of _Paper_
must be set on Foot to supply the Want of _ready Money_: And then, as I
have read in a very witty Author, _a_ Crown-Piece _will be shewn about as
an_ Elephant, _and_ Guineas _will be stiled of_ Blessed Memory.

Without being deeply learned in Trade, this appears to me a natural
Consequence: Yet, notwithstanding all that can be said, I find the giddy
Multitude resolute to forsake the profitable Paths of Industry, to grasp
only at _Bubbles_ and _Shadows_. This calls to my Mind the Fable of
_Jupiter_ and the _Old Woman_. The indulgent God gave the Woman a _Hen_,
which laid a _Golden Egg_ every Day: She, not content with this slow Way of
growing rich, and being curs'd with a foolish Avarice, thought a Mine of
Golden Eggs must be lodged in the Hen's Belly: But, killing the Bird, she
found only common Entrails, and lost at once the _expected Treasure_, an