Chapter 7 - The Impact of the Bubble

Summary

The subject of Chapter 7 is the impact on the book of the South Sea Bubble, as the Tour draws on its author’s long involvement in debates surrounding the Company. A full account is given of Defoe’s attitudes to the South Sea Company, from the time that it was founded by his patron Lord Oxford in 1711. In the following years he observed the changing fortunes of the Company, as it became more closely involved with the monarchy and the government, In 1719 he wrote a trenchant pamphlet, The Anatomy of Exchange-Alley, warning against the cheats of stock jobbers, as well as the nefarious operations of men like Sir John Blunt who were at the head of its activities. He continued to rail in the press against these things after the Bubble burst in 1720. In line with these views, key passages in the Tour express sympathy with the directors and lament the fate of other wealthy merchants whose fortunes were destroyed in the collapse, a pervasive theme of the book.