"Our South Sea ships have golden shrouds- Whether the directors had deliberately planned the delusion on the public, or only profited by it when they saw the opportunity, there is no doubt that they resorted to desperate means to keep it up, nor had the bubble burst when it did, but that their cupidity like "vaulting ambition" overleaped itself. The South Sea scheme had become so contagious, that the whole nation was infected, and became a body of stock jobbers and projectors. Every day produced some project; and whether it was for "fattening hogs," "importing asses from Spain, in order to improve the breed of mules," "raising silk-worms," "insuring masters from the loss sustained by servants," "rendering quicksilver malleable," or "fishing for wrecks on the Irish coasts," (and these are but a few out of 200 projects equally ridiculous), subscriptions were soon raised, and the stock sold at a premium. Fortunately for the nation, the South Sea Directors took the alarm, and these delusive projects received their first check from the power to which they owed their birth. Jealous of their success, and desirous to monopolize all the money of the speculators, the directors obtained writs of scire facius against the conductors of bubbles, and thus put an end to them. But in thus opening the eyes of the deluded multitude, they took away the main prop of their own tottering edifice the bubble burst, - South Sea Stock fell as rapidly as ever it rose: and in a few weeks sunk from 1100, which it had reached, to 135. The distress occasioned by such fluctuations was dreadful : government was compelled to interfere, and the public voice called loudly for redress from the directors. An investigation was instituted in parliament, and the conduct of the directors being condemned, a considerable portion of their estates was confiscated, to the amount of 2,014,000l. The property confiscated belonging to the directors varied frm 68,000 to 233,000l. and to each was allowed for subsistence a sum varying from 5000 to 50,000l. according to their supposed delinquency. Numerous are the anecdotes connected with this fatal speculation. The story of the poor maniac "Tom of Ten Thousand," who lost his whole fortune and his reason too by the South Sea scheme, is well known, as is that of Eustace Budgell. Others, though less melancholy, are worth recording. A tradesman at Bath, who had invested his only remaining fortune in this stock, finding it had fallen from 1000 to 900, left Bath with an intention to sell out. On reaching town it had fallen to 250; he thought the price too low, would not sell, and lost his all. The Duke of Chandos, who had 300,000l. in this stock, was advised by the Duke of Newcastle to sell all, or at least a part; but he anticipated it would bring him half a million: he delayed, and lost every shilling. Gay, the poet, had 1000l. stock given him by the elder Scraggs, postmaster-general, which, added to the stock he had previously purchased, amounted to 20,000. He consulted his friends; and Dr. Arbuthnot advised him to sell out, but he hesitated, and lost every shilling. Others were, however, more fortunate. The guardians of Sir Gregory Page Turner, then a minor, had purchased stock for him very low, and sold it out when it had reached its maximum. to the amount of 200,000l. With this sum Sir Gregory built his fine mansion on Blackheath, and purchased 300 acres of land for a park. Two maiden sisters, whose stock had accumulated to 90,000l., sold out when the South Sea Stock was at 970. The broker whom they employed advised them to re-invest their money in navy bills, which were at the time at a discount of 25 per cent. ; they took his advice, and two years afterwards received their money at par. Thousands of persons were, however, totally ruined by this speculation, which occasioned a dreadful panic in the country, and had it not been for the prudent conduct of Walpole, might have been productive of the most fatal consequences. The present South Sea Company, which is managed by a governor, sub-governor, and 21 directors, annually elected, has no trade, although, when its capital was funded in 1733, one-fourth was reserved as a trading capital stock. The amount of the funded capital in South Sea Stock and Annuities, on the 5th of January, 1823, amounted to 12,192,580l. 13s. 11d. POST OFFICE. Of all the establishments in the metropolis there is not one that is so complete, or of such universal utility as the Post Office, by means of which a constant and rapid communication is maintained, not only between all parts of the United Empire, but with every quarter of the globe. This perfection is, however, of very modern date; for valuable as such an institution is, and important as it must ever be to the government and to the commerce of the country, it was not until within the last half century that the post office in London was placed on a good footing. This is the more remarkable, as the use of posts may be traced back to the ancient Persians. Xenophon attributes the invention of posts to Cyrus, who made use of them on his Scythian expedition, about five hundred years before Christ, and he describes the houses which were erected for the relays, or the refreshment of the couriers, as magnificently built. Each courier, on arriving at the station, delivered his despatches to the post-master, by whom they were immediately forwarded. Posts are supposed to have been known during the Roman republic, though the first conclusive evidence we have of their use is during the reign of Augustus, when Suetonius assures us posts were established along all the great roads of the empire. In modern times, Charlemagne seems to have been the first to revive the use of posts, which were discontinued at his death; nor is there any direct proof of their existence until the year 1464, when that suspicious monarch Louis XI. employed two hundred and thirty couriers, to deliver his commands at various stations, and to gain intelligence of every thing that was passing in the remote provinces. There does not, however, appear to have been anything like a regular post in France until at least a century and a half after that time. In England posts appear to have been established so early as the reign of Richard III., but they must then have been an object of comparatively little importance; and the first mention we find of a postmaster in England, is in the year 1581, when Sir Thomas Randolph, an able diplomatist, who had been employed in no less than eighteen distinct embassies, filled the office. Previous to this period, the foreign merchants settled in London had been permitted to select from among themselves, an individual to whom the management of the foreign mails was given; but in 1568 a dispute arose between the Flemings and the Spaniards, when each chose a postmaster of their own. The inconvenience of such a procedure was obvious, and was so much felt, that on the petition of the citizens Queen Elizabeth appointed a postmaster-general from one of her English subjects; but in the reign of her successor the business of the foreign post was for some time under the direction of a foreigner, a Matthew Le Quester. In 1635 a letter-office, which communicated with most of the principal roads, was opened, under the direction of Thomas Witherings, who was superseded for abuses in his office five years afterwards. The plan was very ill organized, until, during the civil war, when Prideaux, attorney-general to the common wealth, became postmaster, and established a weekly conveyance of letters to all parts of the nation; the emoluments soon became so obvious that the common council attempted an opposition post-office, but the House of Commons, as ambitious and as jealous of |