But a still more striking and very interesting illustration of the estimation in which sterling inte

selves go out of office; but as a general rule the being suspected that his back was irretrievably same committee, subject to some individuals with- broken. drawing, is re-elected. All members of the Stock Exchange as between themselves stand in the position of principals; there is no formal dis-grity is held among a large proportion of the memtinction between dealers and brokers, and nothing to prevent a member acting as a dealer in one month and a broker the next. In numbers, these two classes, dealers and brokers, are said to be about equal, the preponderance, however, being in favour of the brokers. The interest of the two classes, which may in some cases be at variance, are said to be pretty equally represented on the committee. The dealer remains in the House ready to deal with any one who comes to him; the broker comes into the House only when he has business to transact. This difference is said to be sufficient to make a change from one class of business to the other a matter of notoriety, and such changes, though not forbidden by the rules of the House, as a matter of fact occur but seldom. It follows as a natural corollary from the Stock Exchange making no formal distinction between dealers and brokers, and treating all members as principals between themselves, that they pay no regard to the necessity of a broker's licence being granted by the Corporation of the City of London. There does not appear to be any evidence that the members of the Stock Exchange practise as brokers without a licence from the City, but there are undoubtedly persons practising as stockbrokers under a licence from the City without being members of the Stock Exchange; and yet the two authorities do not stand in any relation to one another.

If a member makes any bargains before or after the regular business hours-ten to four-the bargain is not recognised by the committee. No bonds can be returned as imperfect after three days' detention. If a member comes to private terms with his creditors, he is put upon the black board of the Exchange as a defaulter, and expelled. A further failure can be condoned for, after six months' exile, provided the member pays at least one-third of any loss that may have occurred on his speculations. For dishonourable conduct the committee can also chalk up a member's name.

It is said that a member of the Stock Exchange who fails, and gives up his last farthing to his creditors, is never thought as well of as the man who takes care to keep a reserve, in order to step back again into business. For instance, a stockbroker once lost on one account £10,000, and paid the whole without a murmur. Being, however, what is called on the Stock Exchange "a little man," he never again recovered his credit, it

bers was afforded (says Mr. Grant) in the case of the late Mr. L. A. de la Chaumette, a gentleman of foreign extraction. He had previously been in the Manchester trade, but had been unfortunate. Being a man much respected, and extensively known, his friends advised him to go on the Stock Exchange. He adopted their advice, and became a member. He at once established an excellent business as a broker. Not only did he make large sums, in the shape of commissions on the transactions in which he was employed by others, but one of the largest mercantile houses in London, having the highest possible opinion of his judgment and integrity, entrusted him with the sole disposal of an immense sum of money belonging to the French refugees, which was in their hands at the time. He contrived to employ this money so advantageously, both to his constituents and himself, that he acquired a handsome fortune. Before he had been a member three years, he invited his creditors to dine with him on a particular day at the London Tavern, but concealed from them the particular object he had in view in so doing. On entering the room, they severally found their own names on the different plates, which were reversed, and on turning them up, each found a cheque for the amount due to him with interest. The entire sum which Mr. L. A. de la Chaumette paid away on this occasion, and in this manner, was upwards of £30,000. Next day he went into the House as usual, and such was the feeling entertained of his conduct, that many members refused to do a bargain with him to the extent of a single thousand. They looked on his payment of the claims of his former creditors as a foolish affair, and fancied that he might have exhausted his resources, never dreaming that, even if he had, a man of such honourable feeling and upright principle was worthy of credit to any amount. He eventually died worth upwards of £500,000.

The locality of the Stock Exchange (says the author of "The Great Babylon," probably the Rev. Dr. Croly) is well chosen, being at a point where intelligence from the Bank of England, the Royal Exchange, and the different coffee-houses where private letters from abroad are received, may be obtained in a few minutes, and thus "news from all nations" may be very speedily manufactured with an air of authenticity. One wide portal gapes toward the Bank, in Bartholomew Lane; and there

is a sally-port into Threadneedle Street, for those who do not wish to be seen entering or emerging the other way. From the dull and dingy aspect of these approaches, which, it seems, cannot be whitened, one could form no guess at the mighty deeds of the place; and when the hourly quotations of the price of stocks are the same, the place is silent, and only a few individuals, with faces which grin but cannot smile, are seen crawling in and out, or standing yawning in the court with their hands in their breeches' pockets. If, however, the quotations fluctuate, and the Royal Exchange, where most of the leading men of the money-market lounge, be full of bustling and rumours, and especially if characters, with eyes like basilisks, and faces lined and surfaced like an asparagus-bed ere the plants come up, be ever and anon darting in at the north door of the Royal Exchange, bounding toward the chief priests of Mammon, like pith balls to the conductor of an electric machine, and, when they have "got their charge," bounding away again, then you may be sure that the Stock Exchange is worth seeing, if it could be seen with comfort, or even with safety.

selves joined and worked-it for their own benefit. Through this medium several of the dealers rapidly made large sums of money.

In 1837-38-39, and 1840, a great deal of money was made by the "pigeon men," as the speculators supposed to have possession of such intelligence were familiarly termed; and their appearance in the market was always indicative of a rise or fall, according to the tendency of their operations. Having the first chance of buying or selling, they, of course, had the market for a while in their own hands; but as time progressed, and it was found that the papers, by their "second editions,” would communicate the news, the general brokers refused to do business till the papers reached the City. The pigeons bringing the news occasionally got shot on their passage; but, as a flock of some eight or a dozen were usually started at a time, miscarriage was not of frequent occurrence. At the time of the death of Mr. Rothschild, one was caught at Brighton, having been disabled by a gun-shot wound, and beneath the shoulder-feathers of the left wing was discovered a small note, with the words "Il est mort," followed by a number of hieroglyphics. Each pigeon man had a method of communication entirely his own; and if one fancied the key to it was in another person's power, he immediately varied it. A case of this description occurred worth noting. The parties interested in the scheme fancied that however soon they received intelligence, there were others in the market who were quite equal with them. In order to arrive at the real state of affairs, the chief proprietor consented at the advice of a friend, to pay £10 for the early perusal of a supposed rival's "pigeon express." The "express" came to hand, he read it, and was not a little surprised to find that he was in reality paying for the perusal of his own news! The truth soon came out. Somebody had bribed the keepers of his pigeons, who were thus not only making a profit by the sale of his intelligence, but also on the speculations they in consequence conducted. The defect was soon remedied by changing the style of characters employed, and all went right as before.

Among the various plans adopted for securing early intelligence for Stock Exchange purposes before the invention of the telegraph, none proved more successful than that of "pigeon expresses." Till about the beginning of the century the ordinary courier brought the news from the Continent; and it was only the Rothschilds, and one or two other important firms, that "ran" intelligence, in anticipation of the regular French mail. However, many years ago, the project was conceived of establishing a communication between London and Paris by means of pigeons, and in the course of two years it was in complete operation. The training of the birds took considerable time before they could be relied on; and the relays and organisation required to perfect the scheme not only involved a vast expenditure of time, but also of money. In the first place, to make the communication of use on both sides of the Channel, it was necessary to get two distinct establishments for the flight of the pigeons-one in England, and another in France. It was then neces- When a defalcation takes place in the Stock sary that persons in whom reliance could be placed Exchange (says a City writer of 1845), the course should be stationed in the two capitals, to be in pursued is as follows:-At the commencement of readiness to receive or despatch the birds that the "settling day," should a broker or jobbermight bring or carry the intelligence, and make it the one through the default of his principals, and available for the parties interested. Hence it the other in consequence of unsuccessful speculabecame almost evident that one speculator, without | tions-find a heavy balance on the wrong side of he was a very wealthy man, could not hope to support a pigeon "express." The consequence was, that, the project being mooted, two or three of the speculators, including brokers of the House, them

his accounts, which he is unfortunately unable to settle, and should the attempt to get the assistance from friends prove unavailing, he must fail. In that case it is publicly announced by the porter of

the House that Mr. "bargains."

is unable to fulfil his will suppose the price to be 80, that is, £80 2s. 6d. sterling for £100 stock. Upon my asking the price of the Four per Cents., the answer probably is, "Buyers at an eighth, and sellers at a quarter;" that is, the jobbers who either buy or sell will have the turn, or . Now if I leave the purchase to a broker, he probably gives, without the least hesitation, 80g, because he may have a friendly turn to make to his brother broker, for a similar act of kindness the preceding day. Well, but I do

Visit Bartholomew Lane at any time of the year, says a City writer, and you will be sure to find several people of shabby exterior holding converse at the entrance of Capel Court, or on the steps of the auction mart. These are the "Alley men." You will see one, perhaps, take from his pocket a goodsized parcel of dirty-backed letters, all arranged, and tied round with string or red tape, which he sorts

with as much care and attention as if they were not leave the purchase to a broker; I manage it bank-notes. That parcel is his stock-in-trade. Per- myself. I direct my broker to buy me £100 haps those letters contain the allotment of shares, stock at 801. He takes my name, profession, in various companies, to an amount, if the capital and place of residence; he then makes a purchase, subscribed was paid, of many thousands of pounds. and the seller of the stock transfers it to me, my The purchase of stock is thus described by an heirs, assigns, &c., and makes his signature. On habitué. "Suppose I went," he says, "to buy 100 the same leaf of the same book in which the stock in the Four per Cents. I soon know whether transfer is made to me, there is a form of acceptthe funds are better, or worse, or steady; for this ance of the stock transferred to me, and to which is the language of the place. If they are better, I also put my signature; the clerk then witnesses they are on the rise from the preceding day; if the receipt, and the whole business is done. The worse, they are lower than on that day; if steady, seller of the stock gives me the receipt, with his they have not fluctuated at all, or very little. To signature to it, which I may keep till I receive a render the matter as intelligible as possible, we dividend, when it is no longer any use. The

sisting of 500 shareholders, and the shares were originally of £50 each, but are now of uncertain amount, the last addition being a call of £25 per share, made for the construction of the new edifice. The affairs of this company are conducted under a cumbersome and restrictive deed of settlement, by nine "managers," elected for life by the shareholders, no election taking place till there are four vacancies. The members or subscribers, however, entirely conduct their own affairs by a committee of thirty of their own body. Neither members nor committee are elected for more than one year.

The number of members at present exceeds 2,000. The subscription is paid to the "managers," who liquidate all expenses, and adopt alterations in the building, upon the representations of the committee of the members, or even on the application

of the subscribers. The shares, as mentioned before, amount in number to about 4,000; and the whole, with scarcely an exception, are held by the members themselves. No one person is allowed to hold, directly or indirectly, more than ten.

The present building stands in the centre of the block of buildings fronting Bartholomew Lane, Threadneedle Street, Old Broad Street, and Throgmorton Street. The principal entrance is from Bartholomew Lane through Capel Court. There are also three entrances from Throgmorton Street, and one from Threadneedle Street. The area of the new house is about 75 square yards, and it would contain 1,100 or 1,200 members. There are, however, seldom more than half that number present. The site is very irregular, and has enforced some peculiar construction in covering it, into which iron enters largely.

CHAPTER XLII.

THE ROYAL EXCHANGE.

The Greshams-Important Negotiations-Building of the Old Exchange-Queen Elizabeth visits it-Its Milliners' Shops-A Resort for IdlersAccess of Nuisances-The various Walks in the Exchange-Shakespeare's Visits to it-Precautions against Fire-Lady Gresham and the Council-The "Eye of London"-Contemporary Allusions-The Royal Exchange during the Plague and the Great Fire-Wren's Design for a New Royal Exchange-The Plan which was ultimately accepted-Addison and Steele upon the Exchange-The Shops of the Second Exchange.

In the year 1563 Sir Thomas Gresham, a munifi- | gifts of Church lands. Sir Richard died at Bethnal cent merchant of Lombard Street, who traded largely with Antwerp, carrying out a scheme of his father, offered the City to erect a Bourse at his own expense, if they would provide a suitable plot of ground; the great merchant's local pride having been hurt at seeing Antwerp provided with a stately Exchange, and London without one.

A short sketch of the Gresham family is here necessary, to enable us to understand the antecedents of this great benefactor of London. The family derived its name from Gresham, a little village in Norfolk; and one of the early Greshams appears to have been clerk to Sir William Paston, a judge. The family afterwards removed to Holt, near the sea. John Gresham married an heiress, by whom he had four sons, William, Thomas, Richard, and John. Thomas became Chancellor of Lichfield, the other three brothers turned merchants, and two of them were knighted by Henry VIII. Sir Richard, the father of Sir Thomas Gresham, was an eminent London merchant, elected Lord Mayor in 1537. Being a trusty foreign agent of Henry VII., and a friend of Cromwell and Wolsey, he received from the king five several

Green, 1548-9, and was buried in the church of St. Lawrence Jewry. Thomas Gresham was sent to Gonville College, Cambridge, and apprenticed probably before that to his uncle Sir John, a Levant merchant, for eight years. In 1543 we find the young merchant applying to Margaret, Regent of the Low Countries, for leave to export gunpowder to England for King Henry, who was then preparing for his attack on France, and the siege of Boulogne. In 1554 Gresham married the daughter of a Suffolk gentleman, and the widow of a London mercer. By her he had several children, none of whom, however, reached maturity.

It was in 1551 or 1552 that Gresham's real fortune commenced, by his appointment as king's merchant factor, or agent, at Antwerp, to raise private loans from German and Low Country merchants, to meet the royal necessities, and to keep the privy council informed in the local news. The wise factor borrowed in his own name, and soon raised the exchange from 16s. Flemish for the pound sterling to 22s., at which rate he discharged all the king's debts, and made money plentiful. He says, in a letter to the Duke of Northumberland, that