The capital which had been actually paid up did not exceed three hundred and seventy thousand pounds; but the Company could, without difficulty, borrow money at six per cent., and the borrowed money, thrown into the trade, produced, it was rumoured, thirty per cent.

The profits were such that, in 1676, every proprietor received as a bonus a quantity of stock equal to that which he held.

On the capital, thus doubled, were paid, during five years, dividends amounting on an average to twenty per cent.

annually.
There had been a time when a hundred pounds of the stock could be purchased for sixty.

Even in 1664 the price in the market was only seventy.