The Clock, which has been recently fixed up in a building erected for the purpose directly over the Hall, is a very ingenious piece of mechanism; and is intended, as much as possible, to obviate the inconvenience frequently experienced in the various offices most immediately connected with the stock business, by the Clocks differing from each other several minutes in time. This, with the present Clock, cau never be the case; for as the hands are all moved by one machine, whether that be right as to time, or faster or slower than the true time, the hands must all shew the same as the regulating hand which is attached to the Clock. The whole of the communication is carried on by means of brass rods, properly arranged within the roof of the Hall, and from thence continued externally, along the top or roof of the different offices in which the time is to be shewn. From the external rods, smaller ones are carried into the building to the hands of the respective dial-plates, which are sixteen in number. The aggrcgate length of the various rods employed to communicate the motion, is about 700 feet; and the weight of them is between six and seven cwt. The number of wheels in constant action is about 200; yet notwithstanding the length of the communication, the weight of the rods, and the quantity of wheels, the entire power requisite to keep the machine in play does not exceed the weight of seven pounds on the periphery of the wheel that first communicates the motion, and which wheel is ten inches in diameter. The Clock is wound up twice a week; the principal weight is between three and four cwt. Besides shewing the time on the sixteen dial-plates as already stated, this Clock strikes the hours and quarters on very large bells, so as to denote the same to those offices which have not dial-plates from it.*

The Court-Room was designed by Sir Robert Taylor, and it is unquestionably one of the best compositions that he ever made. It is a very superb apartment of the Composite order, 60 feet long

• The ingenious makers of this curious machine were Messrs. Thwaites and Reed, Rosomond street, Clerkenwell.

long and 31 feet 6 inches wide, with large and well-proportioned Venetian windows on the south side; these overlook the churchyard of St. Christopher, which now forms a pleasant area planted with trees and shrubs. On the north side are three fire-places, having sumptuous chimney-pieces variegated with statuary marble; the central one is particularly grand. At the east and west ends are coupled columns, detached from the walls, supporting enriched arches, which sustain an horizontal ceiling, highly decorated by stuccoed ornaments of varied character. The west end communicates by folding doors, with an elegant octagonal Committee Room, where also is a rich marble chimney-piece; and over it a clever half-length picture of WILLIAM THE THIRD, who is represented in armour. The Governor's Room, which is square, and painted of a red colour, has an intersected ceiling, with semi-circular windows near the top. The chimney-piece is of statuary marble, and above it is a very large mirror; against the opposite wall is a fine painting by Morland, of the Bank, Bankbuildings, Cornhill, and Royal Exchange, from an interesting point of view near the Mansion House. The Anti-Room contains a good half-length portrait of the late celebrated Abraham Newland, Esq. who was Chief Cashier to the Bank, from January, 1782, till the infirmities of age obliged him to retire from office in September, 1807;* and a whole length by Hickey, of January 6th, 1814:

20

Mr.

The life and advancement of MR. NEWLAND presents a most splendid example of the beneficial consequences resulting from persevering industry and attention to business. He was the son of Mr. William Newland, who had been a Miller and Baker, at Grove, in Buckinghamshire, and who afterwards carried on the latter trade in Castle Street, Southwark, where young Newland was born on the 23rd of April, 1730. At an early age he became acquainted with the arrangements of the Counting-house; and before he was eighteen, was admitted into the Bank as a Junior Clerk. The assiduity with which he fulfilled his duty soon attracted notice, and he was progressively advanced through the various gradations of the Company's establishment, till he attained the high and important office of Chief Cashier. In this

situation

Mr. David Race, who also was a Chief Cashier, and is repre sented as a diminutive man, habited in black. These paintings were executed by order of the Directors, in grateful and honourable testimony of their approbation of the faithful services of the persons thus commemorated. In the adjoining Waiting-room on brackets, are two very fine Busts, in statuary marble, by Nollekens, of the late renowned but rival statesmen, Charles James Fox, and William Pitt. The whole of this suite of apartments is elegantly fitted up, and appropriately furnished.

The Rotunda is a spacious and lofty apartment, disposed octagonally below, but terminating above in a circular dome and lantern lights. Here a vast crowd of Stock-brokers, Stockjobbers, and other persons having business in the Funds, daily assemble to make purchases, drive bargains, &c. yet the strangely discordant and Babel-like confusion which arises in this place from the avidity with which the pursuit of gain is carried on, is by no means equal to what it was previously to the erection of the Stock Exchange, in Capel Court. The original Rotunda, by Sir Robert Taylor, having been roofed with timber, was, on a survey in 1794, found to be in such a decayed state, that it was judged expedient to take the whole down; and, in the following year, the present fabric was erected from the designs,

and

situation a suite of rooms within the Bank was appropriated to his use; and so devoted was he to his official business, and so regular in his habits, that he never absented himself for a single night till the period of his resignation. He died at Highbury-Place, Islington, on the 21st of November, 1807, leaving property to the amount of about 60001. per annum, which had been principally obtained by various successful speculations in the Funds. He never was married; but many instances of his liberality to his poor relations, and others, have been recorded. He is stated to have written the following Epitaph upon himself only a short time previously to his decease

Beneath this stone Old Abraham lies;

Nobody laughs and nobody cries.
Where he is gone, and how he fares,

No one knows, and no one cares