The South Sea Scheme: speculators ruined by the collapse of the South Sea Company. Engraving by W. Hogarth after himself, 1721.

[London] (Maiden Lane near Covent Garden) : S. Sympson, 1721.

1 print : engraving ; image 22.3 x 31.9 cm

See here ye causes why in London / So many men are made, & undone, / That arts, and honest trading drop, / To swarm about ye Devil's shop (A) / Who cuts out (B) Fortune’s golden haunches, / Trapping their souls with lotts & chances / Shareing each[?] from blue garters down / To all blue aprons in the town. / Here all religions flock together, / Like tame & wild fowl of a feather. / Leaving their strife religious bustle, / Kneel down to play at pitch & hussle, (C) / Thus when the sheepherds are at play, / Their flocks must surely go astray; / The woeful cause that in these times, / (E) Honour, & (D) honesty, are crimes, / That publickly are punish’d by / (G) Self interest and (F) vilany; / So much for mony's magick power / Guess at the rest you find out more. W. Hogarth invent. et sculpt. Extensive lettering below the image

Wellcome Collection 579424i