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In a country where the ordinary profits of stock, in the greater

part of mercantile projects, are supposed to run between six and

ten per cent. it must have been a very fortunate speculation, of

which the returns could not only repay the enormous expense at

which the money was thus borrowed for carrying it on, but afford,

besides, a good surplus profit to the projector. Many vast and

extensive projects, however, were undertaken, and for several

years carried on, without any other fund to support them besides

what was raised at this enormous expense. The projectors, no

doubt, had in their golden dreams the most distinct vision of

this great profit. Upon their awakening, however, either at the

end of their projects, or when they were no longer able to carry

them on, they very seldom, I believe, had the good fortune to

find it.