A large attendance comes from Manchester, where more betting is carried
on than in any town out of London. Gambling of all kinds naturally follows
in the wake of cotton speculation, which is gambling.
The crashes produced in Liverpool by the sacra fames auri are sometimes
startling, and they come out in visible relief, because, in spite of its
size, gossip flourishes as intensely as in a village. During one of the
cotton manias a young gentleman, barely of age, in possession of an income of
some two thousand a-year from land, and ready money to the extent of one
hundred and fifty thousand pounds, joined an ingenious penniless gentleman in
speculating in cotton, and found himself in less than twelve months a
bankrupt; thus sacrificing, without the least enjoyment, a fortune sufficient
for the enjoyment of every rational pleasure, or for the support of the
highest honours in the State.
Such instances are not uncommon, although on a less magnificent scale;
indeed, it is well to be cautious in inquiring after a Liverpool merchant or
broker after an absence of a few years; a very few years are sufficient to
render the poor rich and the rich poor, an eighth of a penny in the pound of
cotton will do it.
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