"Satire on the financial scandal of the South Sea Bubble; a composite scene in the City of London identified by the Guildhall, St Paul's Cathedral and the Monument (its inscription changed to record the destruction of the city by the South Sea); a crowd is gathered around a merry-go-round (on which ride a prostitute, a clergyman, a shoe-black, an old crone and a Scottish nobleman); to left, the Devil hacks the limbs of Fortune, while religious leaders (both Anglican and Jewish) play at pitch and hustle; to right, emblematic figures of Honour and Honesty are beaten by Self-Interest and Villainy, and Trade sleeps."--British Museum online catalogue
Description:
Title and state from Paulson., Publication information inferred from 3rd state., Verses below image: See here [the] causes why in London, so many men are made, & undone .... Guess at the rest you find out more., "Price 1 shilling."--Lower right., Sheet trimmed within plate mark with some loss to text at bottom margin., Ms. note in Steevens's hand above: South-Sea. In pencil below: See Nichol's book, 3d edit. p. 122., and On page 8 in volume 1.
Publisher:
Mrs. Chilcot and R. Caldwell?
Subject (Geographic):
Financial crises and Great Britain
Subject (Topic):
South Sea Bubble, Great Britain, 1720, History, Allegories, Clergy, Crowds, Devil, Ethnic stereotypes, Merry-go-rounds, Occupations, and Prostitutes
