Note 52 — Chapter IV
Reading edition
One prospectus of this date sets forth that, in the district proposed for a mine there was a vein of tin ore at its bottom, as pure and as solid as a tin flagon. Another, Where lumps of pure gold, weighing from ten to fifty pounds, were lying totally neglected, the quantity of gold in the mine being considerably more than was necessary for the supply of the whole world. Mr. Canning, in reference to the companies projected, said soon afterwards, They fixed the public gaze, and excited the public avidity so as to cover us, in the eyes of foreign nations, if not with disgrace, at least with ridicule. They sprang up after the dawn of the morning, and had passed away before the dews of the evening descended. They came over the land like a cloud; they rose like bubbles of vapour towards the heavens, and destroyed by the puncture of a pin, they sank to the earth and were seen no more.