the Forum, under the inspection of the town magistrate; and when they ceased to show themselves, their bankruptcy was declared by these words, foro cessit.-Fosbroke's Encyclopædia. Such is the ancient history of bankers; with regard to modern times, Pennant says, regular banking by private people resulted in 1643, from the calamity of the time, when the seditious spirit was incited by the acts of the parliamentary leaders. The merchants and tradesmen, who before trusted their cash to their servants and apprentices, found that no longer safe, neither did they dare to leave it in the Mints at the Tower, by reason of the distresses of majesty itself, which before was a place of public deposit. In the year 1645, they first placed their cash in the hands of goldsmiths, who began publicly to exercise both professions. Even in my days, continues Pennant, were several eminent bankers who kept the goldsmith's shop, but they were more frequently separated. The first regular banker was Mr. Francis Child, goldsmith, who began business soon after the Restoration. He was the father of the profession, a person of large fortune, and most respectable character. He married between the years 1665 and 1675, Martha, only daughter of Robert Blanchard, citizen and goldsmith, by whom he had twelve children. Mr. Child was afterwards knighted. He lived in Fleet Street, where the shop still continues in a state of the highest respectability. Mr. Granger, in his Biographical History, mentions Mr. Child as successor to the shop of Alderman Backwel, a banker in the time of Charles II., noted for his integrity, abilities, and industry, who was ruined by the shutting up of the Exchequer, in 1672. His books were placed in the hands of Mr. Child, and still remain in the family. The next ancient shop was that possessed by Messrs. Snowe and Benne, a few doors to the west of Mr. Child's, who were goldsmiths of consequence in the latter part of the same reign. Mr. Gay celebrates the predecessor of these gentlemen, for his sagacity in escaping the ruins of the fatal year 1720, in his Epistle to Mr. Thomas Snow, goldsmith, near Temple Bar. To the west of Temple Bar, the only one was that of Messrs. Middleton and Campbell, goldsmiths, who flourished in 1622, and is now continued with great credit by Mr. Coutts. From thence to the extremity of the western end of the town, there was none till the year 1756, when the respectable name of Backwel rose again, conjoined to those of Darel, Hart, and Croft, who with great reputation opened their shop in Pall Mall. BANK OF ENGLAND. This national bank was first established in 1694, in the reign of William and Mary. It was projected by one Paterson, and its original capital was £1,200,000. The style of the firm is The Governor and Company of the Bank of England. SAVINGS' BANKS. The origin of these valuable institutions has been attributed to the Rev. Joseph Smith of Wendover, who, in 1799, circulated proposals to the inhabitants of his parish, to receive from Twopence upwards, every Sunday evening during the summer months, and to repay at Christmas the amount of the deposit, with the addition of one-third as a bounty. The next institution was established in 1804, at Tottenham, in Middlesex, by Mrs. Priscilla Wakefield; and from that period the system has gradually risen to its existing importance. EAST INDIA COMPANY. The East India Company of England was first established in 1600; their stock then consisting of £72,000, when they fitted out four ships; and, meeting with success, they have continued ever since; India Stock sold from 360 to 500 per cent., 1683; a new company was established, 1698; the old one re-established, and the two united, 1700; agreed to give government £400,000 per annum, for four years, on condition that they might continue unmolested, 1769; in great confusion, and applied to parliament for assistance, 1773; judges sent from England to administer the laws there, by the government, April 2nd, 1774; Board of Control instituted, 1784; Charter renewed, 1813. Some alterations in the constitution and administration of the Company were effected by the Act 3 and 4 William IV., c. 85, which passed 28th August, 1833. DISCOVERIES AND INVENTIONS. MANUFACTURE OF EDGE TOOLS. Parkes, in his Essay on Edge Tools, says the history of the invention of edge tools is involved in much obscurity. The materials employed by the ancients for making them were various; but the metal in general use in modern times, and among civilized nations, for the fabrication of such instruments, is iron, though this metal varies in its nature, and is differently prepared according to the purposes to which the instrument or weapon is applicable. Although iron was known before the deluge, yet there is reason to believe that the method of making it was afterwards lost. Tubal Cain, who lived nearly 4000 years before the commence 66 ment of the Christian era, was an instructor of every artificer in brass and iron;"* and we are told that Abraham took a knife to slay his son Isaac.+ In these early times mention is also made of shears, and of shearing of sheep; and yet many of the ancient nations knew nothing of iron, but used stones, flints, the horns and bones of various animals, the bones and shells of fish, reeds, and thorns, for every purpose in which the moderns now use edge tools of iron and steel. Hesiod, who probably lived a thousand years before the time of Christ, says plainly, that the ploughshare was made with a species of very hard oak; and from his manner of describing the ploughs that were then employed, there is no reason to suppose that any iron was used in constructing them. The following is Elton's translation of the passage: "If hill or field supply an ilex bough, Of bending figure like the downward plough, While thy strong steers in ridges clear the plains; Though the Britons had some iron when they were first invaded by the Romans, yet, as Cæsar observes, "they had it only in small quantities, hardly sufficient for home consumption, and none to spare for exportation." But after the Romans had been some time settled in this island, this most useful metal became very plentiful, and made a part of the British exports. On the arrival of the Saxons in Great Britain, our ancestors were still in a low state of civilisation. One of their laws enacts, that no man should undertake to guide a plough who could not make one; and that the cords with which it is drawn should be formed of twisted willows. || From this period edge tools gradually made their appearance, but centuries elapsed, even in Britain, or England as it is now called, before they were brought to any kind of perfection. We read but little of swords in the beginning of the 15th century, though no doubt they were then in use, since there is the evidence of Geoffrey Chaucer, who died only two years before the memorable battle of Hamilton was fought, that Sheffield was, even then, famous for its cutlery: "A dagger hanging at his belt he had, Made of an ancient sword's well-tempered blade; Chronology informs us, iron was first discovered by the burning of Mount Ida, 1406 B. C. In England by the Romans, soon after the landing of Julius Cæsar. First discovered in America, in Ibid. xxxviii. 12, 13. § Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. * Genesis iv. 22. † Ibid. xxii. 10. Virginia, 1715. First cast in England, at Blackstead, Sussex, 1544. KNIVES. It is difficult to ascertain the date of the introduction of every kind of cutting or pointed instruments; but when the utility and convenience of these domestic implements were once experienced, there can be no doubt that the practice of using them quickly became very general, and that manufactories of knives and other edge tools were consequently soon established in various parts of the kingdom. Table knives were first made in London in the year 1563, by one Thomas Matthews of Fleet Bridge. They were probably not in use in the time of Chaucer. FORKS. Neither the Greeks nor the Romans have any name for forks; they were not used by the ancients; they used the ligula, similar to our spoons. Formerly, persons of rank kept in their houses a carver. The Chinese use no forks, but have small sticks of ivory, of very beautiful workmanship, inlaid with gold and silver. The use of forks was first known in Italy towards the end of the fifteenth century, but at that time they were not very common. In France, at the end of the sixteenth century, even at Court, they were entirely new. Coryate, the traveller, is said to be the first person who used forks in England, on which account, says Beckmann, he was called, by way of joke, Furcifer. In many parts of Spain at present, forks are rarities. Among the Scotch Highlanders, knives have been introduced at table only since the revolution. Before that period every man had a knife of his own, as a companion to his dirk or dagger. The men cut the meat for the women into small morsels, who then put them into their mouths with their fingers. The use of forks at table, was at first considered as a superfluous luxury; and therefore they were forbidden to convents, as was the case in regard to the congregation of St. Maur. RAZORS. The term Razor, as applied to the instrument that we shave with, is supposed to be derived from the word raze, to cut or pull down, to leave nothing standing. Razors are mentioned by Homer. Before English manufactures excelled in cutlery, Fosbroke says, razors were imported from Palermo in Italy, or rather Sicily. PINS. The pin was not known in England till towards the middle or latter end of the reign of Henry VIII.; the ladies until then using ribbons, loops, skewers made of wood, of brass, silver, or gold. At first the pin was so ill made, that in the 34th year of the king, parliament enacted that none should be sold unless they be "double-headed, and have the headdes soudered faste to the shanke of the pynne," &c. But this interference had such an influence on the manufacture, that the public could obtain no supply until the obnoxious act was repealed. On referring to the statute book, the act of repeal, which passed in the 37th year of the same reign, contains the following clauses, which tends to shew how cautious the legislature ought to be not to interfere with any manufactory which they do not perfectly understand. The act of repeal having recited the former act, it then goes on "At which tyme the pynners playnly promised to serve the kynge's liege people wel and sufficiently, and at a reasonable price. And for as much sens the makyng of the saide act there hath ben scarcitee of pynnes within this realme that the kynge's liege people have not ben wel nor competetly served of such pynnes nor ar like to be served nor the pynners of this realme (as it doeth nowe manifestly appere) be hable to serve the people of this realme accordyng to their saied promise. In consideracion whereof it maie please the kyng, &c., that it maie be adjudged and demed from hensforth frustrated and nihilated and to be repealed for ever."-Stat. Henrici Octavi, xxxvii. cap. 13.-The consumption of the whole nation is now, 1831, estimated at sixteen millions of pins per day. to say, NEEDLES. The Cambrian inhabitants of Britain sewed together for garments the skins of animals, while they used as needles small bones of fish or animals, rudely sharpened at one end; and needles just of the same sort were used by the natives of the Sandwich islands when Captain Cook first visited them. Stowe says, that needles were first sold in Cheapside in the reign of Queen Mary, and then they were made by a Spanish negro, who refused to discover the secret of his art. It will be recollected, that many Spanish artisans came over to England on the marriage of Philip the Second with the said princess. So that we may fairly suppose the needle to be of Spanish origin. Needles were first manufactured in England 1566, by Elias Grouse, a German. SAWS, &c. The invention of this instrument is ascribed to the nephew of Daedalus, who, as they say, having accidentally met with the jaw of a serpent, which he used with success to divide a small piece of wood, thus acquired the first idea of such an implement, and soon afterwards formed a metallic instrument in imitation of it. It is also said, that from the saw originated the idea of the file. |