Most of these were small operations, and many failed to survive into the new century. But the sheer range of the opportunities they offered to Englishmen and -women who might support them combined with one other crucial development of the 1690s. The new national debt was itself a potential investment. A share in the Million Act or a ticket for the Million Adventure could be sold to third parties. One could trade in Bank of England stock too. All those who had supplied the Bank’s initial £1.2 million in capital received shares that carried with them the right to whatever profits the Bank might
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