THE
SOUTH SEA
BALLAD,
Set by a LADY.
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(1)
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CHange Alleys so thin that a Man may now walk,
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And if hell but listen, may hear himself talk:
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For, since the Suppression of Bubbles in June,
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Those clamorous Catches are quite out of Tune.
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No more of the Hubbles nor Bubbles we see,
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But all the whole Nation attends the South Sea.
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(2)
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The Salts and the Fisherys likewise are gone;
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All the Stock of the Bubbles is swallowd in one,
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Which (barring the Ruin of all other Trade)
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Is the cleverest Project that ever was made:
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For now the Contrivers are tipt with a Fee,
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If they Souse the Subscribers into the South Sea.
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(3)
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What Numbers have got that insatiable Itch,
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And endless Ambition of still growing rich?
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The Man that was formerly worth but a Plumb
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Till he makes it a Million, keeps gnawing his Thumb;
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For that is the least, as the Wisemen agree
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Can content an Adventurer in the South Sea.
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(4)
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All the Town is so eager their Fortune to try,
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That no body can the Temptation deny:
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So craftily laid is the Scheme of the Gin,
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That some of the Parsons themselves are drawn in,
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Which of these would choose an Archbishop to be,
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To refuse a Directorship in the South Sea.
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(5)
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What Numbers of upstart Figures we meet
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Set up by Stockjobbing in every Street?
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Theyre so fond of their Arms when they come to approach
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They can hardly for Staring, get into their Coach;
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But when we examine their true Pedigree,
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We trace their Original from the South Sea.
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(6)
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This Gold sanded Ocean is not like the rest
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But is quite of a different Nature possest,
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It is such as no other Sea yet ever had,
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Instead of preventing, twill make People mad,
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Distracting their Reason to such a Degree,
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That head-long they throw themselves in the South Sea.
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(7)
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Tis a comical Sight to behold the Deceit
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Of all Ranks of Men met each other to cheat,
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To see my L---d Duke make a Rout and ado
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In a Coffee-house Crowd with a politick Jew,
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The most Orthodox now a Days reckoned is He
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Whose Stock is all Capital in the South Sea.
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(8)
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This Mystery some would pretend to explain,
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While those that get Money but laugh at their Pain
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The wisest of all with their Racket and Rout,
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Find it just like a Tub with the Bottom knockt out;
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The Cream of the Jest is with those that make free,
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With the general Scramble amidst the South Sea.
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(9)
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Like Pharaohs lean Kine that devoured the fat,
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It has knockd down the puny Contrivances flat,
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But if I mistake not, Ive read that his Host,
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And himself in the Red Sea were utterly lost:
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He thought to get Riches, and why should not we,
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Remember the Red, when we cross the South Sea?
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