The Crayon Papers by Irving, Washington, 1783-1859

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The Crayon Papers The Seminoles Letter From Granada A Contented Man * * * * *

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The Great Mississippi Bubble "a Time Of Unexampled Prosperity"

* * * * * Don Juan A Spectral Research

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* * * * * Broek Of The Dutch Paradise

* * * * * Sketches In Paris In 1825 From The Traveling Note-book Of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent.

My French Neighbor

* * * * * The Englishman At Paris

* * * * * English And French Character

* * * * * The Tuileries And Windsor Castle

The Field Of Waterloo

* * * * * * * * * * Paris At The Restoration

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American Researches In Italy Life Of Tasso: Recovery Of A Lost Portrait Of Dante

G. C. The Taking Of The Veil * * * * *

* * * * * * * * * * The Charming Letorieres

Noted Down From His Conversations

The Seminoles

Origin Of The White, The Red, And The Black Men A Seminole Tradition

The Conspiracy Of Neamathla An Authentic Sketch

Letter From Granada Granada, 1828.

* * * * * Abderahman Founder Of The Dynasty Of The Ommiades Of Spain G.c. * * * * *

The Widow's Ordeal Or A Judicial Trial By Combat

The Creole Village A Sketch From A Steamboat

A Contented Man

"After all," added I, on further reflection, "after all there is a great deal of force in what Mr. Somerville has said. Somehow or other, these men of the world do now and then hit upon remarks that would do credit to a philosopher. Some of his general observations came so home that I almost thought they were meant for myself. His advice about adopting a system of study is very judicious. I will immediately put it hi practice. My mind shall operate henceforward with the regularity of clock-work."

How far I succeeded in adopting this plan, how I fared in the further pursuit of knowledge, and how I succeeded in my suit to Julia Somerville, may afford matter for a further communication to the public, if this simple record of my early life is fortunate enough to excite any curiosity.

THE GREAT MISSISSIPPI BUBBLE

"A TIME OF UNEXAMPLED PROSPERITY"

In the course of a voyage from England, I once fell in with a convoy of merchant ships bound for the West Indies. The weather was uncommonly bland; and the ships vied with each other in spreading sail to catch a light, favoring breeze, until their hulls were almost hidden beneath a cloud of canvas. The breeze went down with the sun, and his last yellow rays shone upon a thousand sails, idly flapping against the masts.

I exulted in the beauty of the scene, and augured a prosperous voyage; but the veteran master of the ship shook his head, and pronounced this halcyon calm a "weather-breeder." And so it proved. A storm burst forth in the night; the sea roared and raged; and when the day broke, I beheld the late gallant convoy scattered in every direction; some dismasted, others scudding under bare poles, and many firing signals of distress.

I have since been occasionally reminded of this scene, by those calm, sunny seasons in the commercial world, which are known by the name of "times of unexampled prosperity." They are the sure weather-breeders of traffic. Every now and then the world is visited by one of these delusive seasons, when "the credit system," as it is called, expands to full luxuriance, everybody trusts everybody; a bad debt is a thing unheard of; the broad way to certain and sudden wealth lies plain and open; and men are tempted to dash forward boldly, from the facility of borrowing.

Promissory notes, interchanged between scheming individuals, are liberally discounted at the banks, which become so many mints to coin words into cash; and as the supply of words is inexhaustible, it may readily be supposed what a vast amount of promissory capital is soon in circulation. Every one now talks in thousands; nothing is heard but gigantic operations in trade; great purchases and sales of real property, and immense sums made at every transfer. All, to be sure, as yet exists in promise; but the believer in promises calculates the aggregate as solid capital, and falls back in amazement at the amount of public wealth, the "unexampled state of public prosperity."