ter of the man? A harassed mind, a body enervated by fatigue, an accusing conscience, a future without hope. What are the fruits? An irritable, nay, an irascible temper, sleepless nights and weary days, will make everything a burden, until the very objects of affection become means of torture, and thereby subjects of irritation to the feelings. Can domestic love exist in such an atmosphere as this? Can an example of regularity, order, and piety, be set by a being so circumstanced? the responsible head of a household goaded to all but madness, can that household be conducted with wisdom? Oh, no. Under such circumstances the affections themselves distil gall. This, my reader, is no picture of the imagination, it is a tragedy performing every day of our lives, the by-play of which the spectators do not see, but which goes to the heart of those behind the scenes. Would you avoid being an actor in such Avoid the first false step, then, as you value the objects of your affection, and your future happiness and respectability.

a one?

Having stated generally the effect of exceeding your means, need we notice the various items under which expenses may accumulate, if a wrong start in life be made? Extravagance in dress, public amusements, such as plays, concerts, balls, visits to watering-places, will, by associating with a certain class, become necessaries; artificial stimulants produce artificial desires, and these, when once implanted, have over their victim all but imperative control. Guard then against the first wrong step: make no acquaintance that shall induce a departure either from prudence or from principle. A religious man cannot associate much with what is called the world, without having his cars, if not his principles, tainted by its amusements, its latitudinarian axioms, and practice. A prudent man cannot associate intimately with an habitually imprudent man, without acquiring some of his tastes, and we must say also, some of his extravagance, for the intimacy itself shows a relaxation of the bands of prudence. Such an acquaintance may be necessary in business. Let him not, however, be habitually a visitor to your domestic fireside. In fact, starting into life, the fewer the visitors of any sort you have, the better; every expense saved at first, pays compound interest for the inconvenience. Such, reader, our experience enables us to assert. Will you not believe, until you have, like hundreds, paid for it yourself, perhaps by mental anguish and physical ex

haustion.

The habit of spending your evenings from home, is also a source of great expenditure, as well as destructive of female happiness, for it introduces to the sort of people whose society we deprecate. Our space prevents our enlarging upon this head. In the chapter upon Visiting Separately, we have said much on this subject, and particularly direct the reader's attention thereto.

That you may impress your wife with the necessity of aiding you in your plans of economy, point out to her the additional means it will leave at your coumand, by the time her affections as a mother will be called into action, which will induce the all-absorbing desire of providing for and educating her offspring. This is but a hint, which will suggest to an intelligent mind abundant arguments, too dearly interesting to a young married woman to fail in success. And depend upon it, however some wives may be blamed for extravagance, the man who allows this to operate injuriously upon his means, is JUSTLY BLAMEABLE by his friends and the world.

Lives of the English Saints. Nos. VI. and VII.

THIS is one of the many publications which owe their origin to the progress of Puseyism. As pieces of biography, apart from the doctrines they are made to inculcate, these Lives of the English Saints are very interesting. Their doctrinal parts, however, are altogether unscriptural. Just take an example in the life of St. Edwin, king of Northumberland.

"The use he had made," says the biographer of this saint, "of God's dispensations, like the alms and prayers of the unregenerate Cornelius, earned him a further grace, though the great grace was still deferred." Earning grace! Awful theology! It is as absurd as it is awful, for grace cannot be earned. If it were earned, it would cease to be grace. The work is got up in the fanciful style so much in vogue among the Tractarians.

Wilson's Description of the New Royal Exchange. With Eighteen Embellishments.

THIS little work appears most opportunely. It is written as well as published by Mr. Effingham Wilson, who, we observe, is once more located in his old quarters in the Royal Exchange. His little book is well written, and is full of interesting facts. It includes a historical

notice of the former edifices, and a brief memoir of Sir Thomas Gresham, founder of the original Burse in the reign of Elizabeth. At the present time, the new Exchange being just opened, the memoir of Sir Thomas Gresham will be read with great interest. We subjoin some portions of it:

"The Gresham family were of considerable importance in the fourteenth century. They are supposed to have taken their name from the village of Gresham in Norfolk. John Gresham is mentioned as residing there, and his son James appears to have been clerk to Sir William Paston, the judge. James Gresham had a son named John, who married Alice Blyth, daughter of Alexander Blyth, Esq., of Stratton. She brought him a large fortune, and became the mother of four sons, William, Thomas, Richard, and John. The two younger received the honour of knighthood from King Henry the Figth, and Sir Richard was the father of Sir Thomas Gresham. Of the four brothers, three devoted themselves to commercial pursuits; the fourth, Thomas, became prebendary of Winchester, aud in 1535 was collated to the chancellorship of the cathedral of Lichfield.

"The Greshams acted a conspicuous part in the days of Henry VIII. and Edward VI. To his uncle, Sir John, Thomas Gresham, founder of the Royal Exchange, was apprenticed, as he writes, for viii. yeres.' His uncle and master were frequently employed as the agent of King Henry in Flanders: he made a considerable fortune, and died of a malignant fever in 1556, leaving to the Mercers' Company by his will £13 6s. 8d. for a feast, and desiring them, after dinner, to "have his soul in remembrance with their prayers." Sir Richard, his brother, the father of Sir Thomas, became an eminent merchant, and in 1537 was elected Lord Mayor of London. He was evidently in favour with the King, from whom he received five grants of church lands. He closed his life at Bethnal Green, February 21, 1548-9.

"His son Thomas was sent to Cambridge, but at an early period of his career was engaged in important commercial negotiations. We find in 1543, a license granted by the Regent of the Low Countries, Margaret Queen of Hungary, for the exportation of gunpowder, was delivered to younge Thomas Gresham, solycitor' to the King of England.

"He married, about the year 1544, Anne, the daughter of William Fernely, Esq., of West Creting, in Suffolk, and widow of William Read, a gentleman of good family, who is styled by himself in his will citizen and mercer of London,' who died early in 1544-the same year which saw his widow become the wife of Gresham. By her he had several children, all of whom, with the exception of a son named Richard, who lived to approach maturity, died in their infancy.

"In connexion with his uncle's affairs, he had become intimately acquainted with the money market of Flanders, and in consequence was appointed agent, or King's factor with the trading interest,' or King's merchant,' a situation of importance and trust, which had formerly been granted to William de la Pole, father of Michael Earl of Suffolk. It was on the occasion of the disgrace of Sir William Dansell, who filled the same post in the time of Edward VI., that Gresham was sent for about the close of 1551, and interrogated by the counsel as to the best manner of getting the King out of debt. This caused him to remove with his wife to Anwerp, where he took up his abode with the family of the Schetz.

"During the two first years of his being engaged in the public service, he posted from Antwerp no fewer than forty times. Between the 1st of March, 1552, and the 27th of July, his payments amounted £106,301 4s. 4d.; his travelling expenses for riding in and out eight times £102 10s., including a supper and a banquet to the Schetz and the Fuggers, with whom he had to transact business-£26 being equal, Mr. Burgon calculates, to £250 at the present day. The feast must have been one of great magnificence, as the guests appear to have been not more than twenty. On such occasions Gresham deemed it policy to make as good chere as he could.'

"Intwood Hall, near Norwich, built by Sir Richard Gresham, was his country seat in England, which was often the scene of elegant hospitality. His London establishment was in Lombard Street, then the handsomest street in London, where he had a shop, over the door of which his crest, a grasshopper, appeared by way of sign, the common usuage of the merchants and bankers of that time, The site of Sir Thomas Gresham's place of business is now occupied by the banking-house of Messrs. Stone, Martins, and Stone. From the nature of his engagements he was compelled, for the greater part of his time, to reside with his family at Antwerp. His exertions met with the distinct approbation of his royal master. He bestowed on Gresham a gift of lands of the value of one hundred pounds per annum, accompanying it with the remark, 'you shall know that you have served a king.'

"When queen Mary succeeded her brother, Gresham found himself superse led. This he thought he owed to the hostility of the Bishop of Winchester. He memorialised Mary, and set forth the valuable services he had rendered to her brother, which had been requited in the manner already described. His representations, or the inefficiency of his successor, led to his being speedily reinstated. From the correspondence preserved in the State-paper Office, of which Mr. Burgon has largely availed himself, it is clear that he used great activity as well as much skill and prudence, in raising money for the Queen. It was customary to pay a rate of interest that would now be regarded as enormous on a loan. Great difficulty was found in obtaining money; and when parties were willing to lend, to claim 10, 12, or 14 per cent. per annum was not thought at all out of the way. After negotiating several loans, Gresham felt that, instead of sending such large sums abroad, it would be a desirable thing to secure them for the capitalist at home. With the eye of a statesman he saw that it would be more convenient for the borrower. The still more profitable system of repudiation,' which borrows and refuses all payment, never occurred to him.

Mr. Wilson then proceeds to point out some of the great pecuniary obligations Sir Thomas Gresham conferred on this country, by turning the exchanges in our favour. We pass over this part of the memoir, and extract the following from another portion of it :

"Living generally at Antwerp, he was in that city when the rejoicings took place for the birth of a son to Queen Mary, which birth never took place. That a false report of such a character obtained credence abroad should hardly surprise, when even so near the court as Aldersgate, not only the accouchment of the queen, but the admirable proportions of the prince were announced to his

congregation by the minister of St. Ann's Church. Gresham was present at the abdication of the Emperor Charles the Fifth. The Christmas of 1555 he passed in England, and in the following month the Priory of Austin Canons, at Massingham Magno in Norfolk, and several benefices, were conferred upon him as a mark of the Queen's favour. What he received from her Majesty altogether, she tates to have been of the annual value of £200.

66

Queen Mary died on the 17th of November, 1558. Gresham is believed to have been out of England when that event took place; and if so, he deemed it prudent to lose no time in paying his duty to the new sovereign. On the 20th, we find him at Hatfield, Hertfordshire, where Queen Elizabeth was then staying, and there he met with a singularly gracious reception. Her Majesty promised that, if he only served her as he had served her brother and sister, she would grant him as much land as he had received from both of them. She then gave him her hand to kiss, and promised if anything unfavourable should be reported to his prejudice during his absence, she would always reserve one ear to listen to his vindication on his return. Of this gracious assurance he had occasion to remind the ministers of Queen Elizabeth when the Marquis of Winchester attempted to injure him with his royal mistress. He, however, triumphed over all the malice of his enemies, and his powerful assistance and advice continued to be in much request, not only when a loan was to be raised, but in reference to matters of commerce generally, as well as in various questions of great political importance.

"After he had received the honour of knighthood, Lombard Street was not considered to be sufficiently dignified for his residence, and he purchased or built a mansion in Bishopsgate Street, which received the name of Gresham House. He enjoyed great familiarity with many of the most distinguished persons of his time; both officially and personally he was very intimate with Sir William Cecil, afterwards Lord Burleigh. On one occasion, we learn from a passage in his correspondence, he sent a present of silk stockings to the secretary for himself, and, as he expressed it, for my ladye your wiffe.' His ingenuity and address were often exercised in procuring munitions of war to be sent to England from the Netherlands. A thousand pounds weight of gunpowder, it was arranged, should be indicated in his letters by the words piece of velvet.' In spite of such precaution, a discovery had nearly taken place. It was turned aside by his skill, and the influence he had gained from the high reputation he had established, or by the presents he had made. He showed that he possessed no mean talent for intrigue, and the art of bribing in the cause of his sovereign was not unknown to Gresham. In various matters the information obtained through him was of the highest importance.

one

“Mr. Burgon has laboriously followed him through all the negociations with which he was concerned, both at home and abroad. They prove that the utmost confidence was reposed in him, and it is hardly creditable to the liberality or the prudence of Elizabeth's government, that so valuable an agent should have been obliged to importune them very frequently to bear in mind, after the services he had rendered, the promise made to him at Hatfield on the accession of the Queen. He did not fail to do so very plainly; and on such occasions he set forth the magnitude of the labours he had accomplished without reserve. He might do this boldly; as sometimes more was owing to him than the government was prepared to pay.

"Through many years he continued in the habit of frequently passing from England to Antwerp-the lords of which, in 1543-4, sent him a present of wine of the value of £10, to dispose him to give them the benefit of his good offices with the Queen of England.

"His dignity as a British merchant was offended at seeing a noble Burse in Antwerp, while London could boast no such accommodation for those whose lives were devoted to commerce. About the year 1565 he applied himself in earnest to correct this evil-how successful will hereafter appear. While at home and furthering this great work, he was actively engaged in raising or disbursing money for the treasury.

Nov. 1844.-VOL. XLI.-NO. CLXIII.

2 E

66

Among the guests at Gresham House, we find, self-invited, the Duke of Norfolk, who lost his life on the scaffold some years afterwards, for connecting himself with the affairs of Mary Queen of Scots. In the eyes of foreigners, Gresham was a person of so much importance that when, in 1567, the heads of the reformed church in Antwerp thought it expedient to send an address to the Secretary of State, Cecil, praying his influence with the Queen on their behalf, a similar address was, by the same body, voted to him. In the following month, he again proceeded to Antwerp, wliere he interested himself for the Protestants of that city. This was his last appearance there. He witnessed the troubles which then broke out in the Netherlands, and wrote home an exact account of them. Shortly afterwards he returned to England. In the following year, he was a suitor to the Queen for the purchase of certain lands. He indeed seems constantly to have had an eye to the accumulation of wealth, though not with a sordid view, as was proved in the sequel. His company was courted by persons of the greatest consideration; and when foreigners of high rank came to England, Sir Thomas was frequently appointed to receive them, and to attend them in their visits to the principal objects of interest in London; while on any extraordinary emergency, Sir William Cecil did not disdain to seek advice from the merchant. It was by his counsel, as already mentioned, that Elizabeth was brought, when a loan was necessary, not to use any strangers, but her own subjects, that it might be seen what a prince of power she was.' Having suggested the idea, by his active exertions in the city, it was eventually carried out."

"The Lady Mary Grey, sister to the unfortunate Lady Jane, who had offended the Queen by her marriage, was, in 1569, committed to the custody, or at all events to the care, of Sir Thomas Gresham. Of this honour he soon became weary, and made pressing representations to obtain her removal. He did not succeed till after the noble or royal guest had been under his roof more than three years. Ultimately she gained some degree of favour at court.

"He had purchased, at an early period of his life, a seat at Mayfield, in Sussex. Thither, with his wife and household, he retreated in 1570, when the plague broke out in London; and there, in 1573, he received a visit from the Queen. In the year preceding, on her setting out on a summer progress, he had been named, with the Archbishop of Canterbury and others, as one of the persons of great trust, wisdom, and experience,' from whom the Lord Mayor of London might seek advice for the better government of the metropolis during her absence; and he continued a member of that commission till within a year of his death."

Towards the conclusion of the memoir, we are presented with some farther interesting particulars respecting this distinguished merchant.

"This distinguished citizen remained on the most intimate footing with the principal statesmen of his day. Besides building and endowing almshouses near his own mansion, he founded what has been called the epitome of a university,' which was named Gresham College.' In 1570, he purchased the manor of Heston, and shortly afterwards took up his residence in Osterley Park (which was part of that manor), where, in 1576, he received a visit from Queen Elizabeth, on which occasion she was entertained with extraordinary festivity. It is related that she objected the court-yard was too large, and would have been more handsome if divided in the middle. Upon this Sir Thomas forthwith sent for workmen from London, who laboured in the night silently, but with such diligence that, when the Queen rose in the morning, a wall had been raised, and the fault which she had noticed corrected.

"Gresham did not long survive this honour. He was now sixty years of age, when on Saturday, the 21st of November, 1579, between six and seven in the evening, having just come from the Royal Exchange to his house in Bishopsgate Street, he was suddenly attacked, it is supposed, by apoplexy He was found speechless on the floor of his kitchen, and in a short time