"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, state, and date from Paulson., Verses below image: See here [the] causes why in London, so many men are made, & undone .... Guess at the rest you find out more., and State with price erased and before a new publication line (state 7).
Publisher:
Printed for John Bowles at the Black Horse in Cornhill
Subject (Geographic):
Great Britain
Subject (Topic):
South Sea Bubble, Great Britain, 1720, Financial crises, History, Allegories, Clergy, Crowds, Devil, Ethnic stereotypes, Merry-go-rounds, Occupations, and Prostitutes
