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MEMOIRS OF EXTRAORDINARY POPULAR DELUSIONS
BY CHARLES MACKAY
AUTHOR OF
"THE THAMES AND ITS TRIBUTARIES," "THE HOPE OF THE WORLD," ETC.
"Il est bon de connaitre les delires de l'esprit humain. Chaque people a ses folies plus ou moins grossieres." MILLOT
VOL I.
LONDON: RICHARD BENTLEY, NEW BURLINGTON STREET. PUBLISHER IN ORDINARY TO HER MAJESTY. 1841.
CONTENTS OF THE FIRST VOLUME
THE MISSISSIPPI SCHEME
THE SOUTH SEA BUBBLE
THE TULIPOMANIA
RELICS
MODERN PROPHECIES
POPULAR ADMIRATION FOR GREAT THIEVES
INFLUENCE OF POLITICS AND RELIGION ON THE HAIR AND BEARD
DUELS AND 0RDEALS
THE LOVE OF THE MARVELOUS AND THE DISBELIEF OF THE TRUE
POPULAR FOLLIES IN GREAT CITIES
THE O. P. MANIA
THE THUGS, OR PHANSIGARS
NATIONAL DELUSIONS.
N'en deplaise a ces fous nommes sages de Grece; En ce monde il n'est point de parfaite sagesse; Tous les hommes sont fous, et malgre tous leurs soins, Ne different entre eux que du plus ou du moins.
BOILEAU.
In reading the history of nations, we find that, like individuals, they have their whims and their peculiarities; their seasons of excitement and recklessness, when they care not what they do. We find that whole communities suddenly fix their minds upon one object, and go mad in its pursuit; that millions of people become simultaneously impressed with one delusion, and run after it, till their attention is caught by some new folly more captivating than the first. We see one nation suddenly seized, from its highest to its lowest members, with a fierce desire of military glory; another as suddenly becoming c
Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions, Vol 1
by Charles MacKay