Slye, 501. To Thomas Newman, of Newbury, 100l. To the secretary to the Merchant Adventurers, 100l. To widow Harrison, and her daughter, 51. To Mr. Bennet, formerly his partner, 300l. To Messieurs Towerson and Smith, 107. To three officers of the Merchant Adventurers, 157. To the mayor and burgesses of Reading, for maintaining prayers at six o'clock at St. Mary's, 250l. The like to Newbury, 250. To his kinsman, William Rye, 100l. To the Drapers' Company, for a dinner at the day of his funeral, 401. So that the whole sum devised by this will, is 32,88931. besides that to his executor. Among the rectors of eminence, are to be noticed JOHN, bishop of Ardfert, 1462. JOHN, bishop of Kildare, 1485. HENRY CESAR, alias ATHELMARE, S. T. P. who was of Baliol College, Oxon, where the chambers in which he resided are called Cæsar's Lodgings; he was afterwards of Edmund Hall, and proceeded D. D. in 1595. This divine was third son of Cæsar Dalmarius, of Trevigno, in Italy, doctor of physic to queens Mary and Elizabeth; his other sons were Sir Julius Caesar, mentioned under St. Helen's; and Sir Thomas Cæsar, one of the barons of the Exchequer. Henry, after having been appointed rector of this church, was installed a prebendary of Westminster, and dean of Ely, where be died in 1636, at the age of seventy-two. He gave to Jesus College, Cambridge, two fellowships of 121. per annum, each, and five scholarships, on condition that the students were elected from the king's free school at Ely.. JAMES CRANFORD, A. M. 1642, was also of Baliol College, Oxon; he became rector upon the expulsion of his successor, Mr. Hansley, by the parliament commissiouers. He was a rigid Presbyterian, an assiduous preacher, an excellent linguist, and well versed in ecclesiastical history; he died 1657, and was buried in this church. JOHN PEARSON, D.D. was born at Croak, in Norfolk, bred in Fiton School, admitted into King's College, Cambridge, in J631; where he commenced M. A. and became chaplain to Lord Goring, prebendary of Sarum, lecturer of St. Cle ment, ment, Eastcheap, and rector of this church in 1660; and in the same year promoted to the archdeaconry of Surrey. He was afterwards mafter of Jesus College, Cambridge, prebendary of Ely, chaplain in ordinary to Charles II. master of Trinity College, Cambridge; and in 1672, he was consecrated bishop of Chester; he died in the year 1686. Bishop Pearson was a very learned and exemplary divine; his Exposition of the Creed will hand down his name to posterity with unabated veneration. THOMAS HACKET, D.D. 1663, being then dean of Cork, in Ireland. He was consecrater bishop of Down and Connor, in 1672. Preparatory to our description of the Bank of England, we have attempted to form a connexion by the History of the BANK, and of BANKING. To trace the origin of Banking, we find it of very an. tient date. Joseph gathered all the money, that was found in the land of Egypt, and laid up the money in Pharaoh's house*; and the unthrifty servant is thus condemned by his lord: "Wherefore then gavest not thou my money into the Bank, that at my coming I might have required mine own with advantage (or usury) +." Christ also is recorded to have found the money-changers, &c. in the Temple, and to have driven them out, and overthrown their tables; declaring that "his father's house was not a house of merchandizet." It cannot be doubted but that the beginning of traffic was by exchanging one commodity for another, as could best suit the various occafions of mutual convenience: the necessities of mankind became, however, so various and different, with respect to the quantity and quality of requisites, that money was instituted as the moft convenient medium of mercantile intercourse; and by which might be procured in quantities whatsoever exigency required. Money then becoming the principal engine for circulating the bulk of commerce, was divided into the smaller denomina * Gen, xlvii. 14. VOL. III, No. 53, Luke xix. 23. John ii. 14. & seq. tions tions of its species for minuter kinds of dealing; but this not being adequate to quick circulation, the introduction of bills and assignments took place, commonly called Paper Credit. This mode of payment being attended with its various inconveniences, such as the trouble of counting money, hazard in securing it from the attempts of robbers, loss from unfaithful servants, &c. cities, and public bodies of men, for the prevention of such inconveniences, BANKs were naturally introduced, as a common repository where cash might be kept to be always ready at call or direction. The word Bank, equally implies a bench, or a table, and was taken from the mensarii of the Romans. These were tables which were set in public places for the exchange of commodities for money; and when a tradesman slipped away to deceive his creditors, he left only some vestigia, or signs of his shop or table behind him; this in French has been denominated Banqueroute (bancus ruptus) a breaking or failing in the world. The first institution of banks in Europe was in Italy, where the Lombard Jews kept benches or banks in the market places for the exchange of money and bills. This mode of traffic turning out very profitable, soon spread into various parts of the world. These money-negociators were introduced into England by William I. and having settled in London, gave to one of its streets the name which it at present bears. The various extortions, punishments, and persecutions of these people, have already been amply detailed in our account of Duke's Place. After their expulsion, the trade of banking was monopolized by the Goldsmiths, many of whom supplied the exigencies of the state to their own ruin; but an equal number enriched themselves by the abolition of the Cambium Regis, or Royal Exchange; which had existed from the reign of Henry III. till about the middle of the reign of Henry VIII. It appears however that the profit upon the gold thus monopolized amounted in the reign of James I. to the annual sum of 10,000l. The The mischiefs arising from these private banks of the goldsmiths had produced so many well-founded discontents during and after the Civil Wars, that several well-meaning persons, published their observations upon the subject; and, among others, it was one of the beneficial projects of Mr. Yarrenton, in "Improvements by Sea and Land," during the seventeenth century. But in the year 1694, Mr. Paterson, a merchant of great eminence in the city of London, suggested the plan for establishing "THe Bank of EngLAND," for the purposes, as he expressed it," of supplying the exigencies of government, and to save the ministerial people the disgrace of stooping so frequently to solicitations to the London common council, for the borrowing of only one or two hundred thousand pounds upon the credit of the land tax; as the common council did to the private inhabitants of their wards, going from house to house for the loan of the money." The Bank, therefore, was established for the support of public credit, the prevention of extravagant usury, and the utility of trade. Such important considerations coinciding, it was enacted by parliament in the fifth and sixth years of William and Mary, "That their majesties, by commission under the Great Seal, might appoint per. sons to take subscriptions on or before the 1st day of August 1694, from any persons, natives or foreigners, for raising and paying into the receipt of the Exchequer 1,200,000l.; for the security whereof, the yearly sum of 140,000l. should be kept apart in the receipt of the Exchequer, payable out of the duties of excise; out of which the yearly sum of 100,000l. should be applied to the use of the subscribers. Their majesties were also empowered to incorporate such subscribers under the name and title of "THE GOVERNOR AND COMPANY OF THE BANK OF ENGLAND." The restrictions upon these persons were, "that they should no borrow more money under their common seal than the above sum of 1,200,000l. unless by act of parliament; that they should not with the stock of the company trade by themselves, or suffer any person in trust for then to trade, in any sort of goods or merchandize whatsoever but that they might deal in bills of exchange, and also in the buying and selling bullion, gold, or silver; or in setling goods mortgaged to them, and not redeemed within three months after the time of such redemption had expired." This act induced several persons to subscribe various sums, on the 5th day of June 1696, at Exeter Exchange, in the Strand, where books had been opened for that purposeThe sum which the lords of the treasury subscribed on behalf of his majesty was 5000l. Such, however, was the untoward complexion of the times, and the lassitude to encourage so a patriotic an undertaking, that besides the above Sum, the other subscriptions amounted only to the trifling amount of 2,100/. The reason was, that as every kind of security, both public and private, at that time, produced an interest of 8 per cent. the security of the new undertaking was offered at only 5 per cent. The necessity of different measures, was perceived; they were wisely adopted, the subscription filled, and the charter was granted, appointing the following respectable characters, THE FIRST CORPORATION: Sir John Houblon, Knight, GovVERNOR. Michael Godfrey, Esq. DEPUTY GOVERNOR. DIRECTORS. Sir John Huband, Bart. Thomas Goddard, Esq.. A pro |