would purchase a hundred a year for life, "which," says Fenton, "will
make you sure of a clean shirt and a shoulder of mutton every day."
This counsel was rejected; the profit and principal were lost, and Gay
sunk under the calamity so low that his life became in
danger.--Johnson's Lives of the Poets.]

The ministry were seriously alarmed at the aspect of affairs. The
directors could not appear in the streets without being insulted;
dangerous riots were every moment apprehended. Despatches were sent
off to the King at Hanover, praying his immediate return. Mr. Walpole,
who was staying at his country-seat, was sent for, that he might
employ his known influence with the directors of the Bank of England
to induce them to accept the proposal made by the South Sea Company
for circulating a number of their bonds.

The Bank was very unwilling to mix itself up with the affairs of
the Company; it dreaded being involved in calamities which it could
not relieve, and received all overtures with visible reluctance. But
the universal voice of the nation called upon it to come to the
rescue. Every person of note in commercial politics was called in to
advise in the emergency. A rough draft of a contract drawn up by Mr.
Walpole was ultimately adopted as the basis of further negotiations,
and the public alarm abated a little.

On the following day, the 20th of September, a general court of
the South Sea Company was held at Merchant Tailors' Hall, in which
resolutions were carried, empowering the directors to agree with the
Bank of England, or any other persons, to circulate the Company's
bonds, or make any other agreement with the Bank which they should
think proper. One of the speakers, a Mr. Pulteney, said it was most