STOCK-JOBBINGSTOCKINGS. 



413 



STOCK-JOBBING. The practice to which 

 the term stock-jobbing is more particularly applica- 

 ble, is that which is carried on amongst persons 

 who possess but little or no property in any of the 

 funds, yet who contract for the sale or transfer of 

 stock at some future period, the latter part of the 

 day, or the next settling day, at a price agreed on 

 at the time. Such bargains are called time-bar- 

 yains, and are contrary to law; and this practice is 

 gambling, in every sense of the word. The busi- 

 ness of jobbing is carried on to an amazing extent, 

 and is of this character: A. agrees to sell B. 

 10,000 of bank stock, to be transferred in twenty 

 days, for 12,000. A., in fact, does not possess 

 any such property ; yet if the price of bank stock 

 on the day appointed for the transfer should be 

 only 118 per cent., he may then purchase as much 

 as will enable him to fulfil his bargain for 11,800; 

 and thus he would gain 200 by the transaction. 

 Should the price of bank stock advance to 125 per 

 cent., he will then lose 500 by completing his 

 agreement. As neither A. nor B., however, may 

 have the means to purchase stock to the extent 

 agreed on, the business is commonly arranged by 

 the payment of the difference the profit or the 

 loss between the current price of the stock on the 

 day appointed and the price bargained for. In the 

 language of the alley, as it is called in London (all 

 dealings in the stocks having been formerly trans- 

 acted in 'Change alley), the buyer in these con- 

 tracts is denominated a bull, and the seller a bear. 

 As neither party can be compelled to complete 

 these bargains (they being illegal), their own sense 

 of " honour," the disgrace, and the loss of future 

 credit, that attend a breach of contract, are the sole 

 principles on which this singular business is regu- 

 lated. When a person refuses, or has not the 

 ability to pay his loss, he is termed a lame duck ; 

 but this opprobrious epithet is not bestowed on 

 those whose failure is owing to insufficient means, 

 provided they make the same surrender of their 

 property voluntarily, as the law would have com- 

 pelled had the transaction fallen within its cogniz- 

 ance. This illegal practice is nothing more than a 

 wager as to what will be the price^of stocks at a 

 fixed period; but the facility which it affords to 

 extravagant and unprincipled speculation, and the 

 mischief and ruin which have frequently followed 

 it, determined the legislature to lay a penalty of 

 500 on every person making such time bargains; 

 and the like sum on all brokers, agents, and 

 scriveners employed in transacting or writing the 

 said contracts. By the same statute also (7 Geo. 

 II., ch. 8), a similar penalty is imposed upon all per- 

 sons contracting for the sale of stock, of which 

 they are not possessed at the time of such bargain; 

 and 100 on every broker or agent employed in 

 procuring the said bargain. See Stock Exchange. 



STOCKHOLM; the capital of Sweden, and one 

 of the handsomest cities in the north of Europe, is 

 situated at the junction of the lake Malar with an 

 inlet of the Baltic; Ion. 18 4' E. ; lat. 59 21' N. ; 

 population in 1826, 79,526. Stockholm is generally 

 described as standing on seven islands, but is chiefly 

 built on three, of which the small one in the centre 

 constituted the original city, and is still the most 

 busy part of the town, and the residence of the 

 principal merchants. The Norrmalm and Soder- 

 malm, the two principal suburbs, occupy several 

 islands. The form of the city is an oblong, and its 

 situation is extremely picturesque, as well from 

 the mixture of land and water as from the uneven- 



ness of the ground on which it is built. The view 

 from the higher grounds embraces edifices of all 

 sorts, and vessels at anchor, or sailing across the 

 channels, and is terminated by mountains, with a 

 variety of romantic scenery. Constantinople is 

 perhaps the only city of Europe which surpasses it 

 in situation. There are thirteen stone bridges, and 

 several of wood. The houses in the central part 

 are of stone or brick, covered with plaster, of four 

 or five stories, with their foundations on piles, but 

 in the suburbs of only one or two stories, and partly 

 of wood. Among the public buildings are the royal 

 palace, the palace or house for the nobility of the 

 diet, arsenal, bank, royal stables, warehouse for 

 iron, hospitals, and twenty-four churches, eighteen 

 of which are Lutheran. The royal palace is a large 

 quadrangular edifice, the lower part of the walls of 

 polished granite, the upper part of brick, covered 

 with stucco, and is accounted second to no palace 

 in Europe, except that at Versailles. The literary 

 associations are numerous and respectable ; the 

 principal are the academy of sciences, founded in 

 1739, having a museum, library, an observatory, and 

 160 members ; the Swedish academy, founded in 

 1786, for improving the Swedish language, having 

 eighteen members ; the academy of fine arts, his- 

 tory and antiquities ; the military academy, academy 

 for painting and sculpture, and for music, and the 

 medical college. The royal library contains about 

 50,000 volumes, and there are several important 

 private collections. Stockholm is the mercantile 

 emporium of the eastern part of Sweden. The 

 harbour is of great depth, and so capacious that 

 1000 vessels may lie here in safety; and the 

 largest come close up to the quays. The number 

 of vessels that enter annually is, on an average, 

 about 1000. The chief exports are iron and steel, 

 also copper, pitch, tar, and timber; imports, colo- 

 nial produce, wine, fruit, salt, and British manu- 

 factures. The manufactures are various, but not 

 on a large scale. See Sweden. 



STOCKINGS are made of only one thread, en- 

 twined so as to form a species of tissue, extremely 

 elastic, and readily adapting itself to the part it is 

 employed to cover. The tissue cannot be called 

 cloth, for it has neither warp nor woof, but ap- 

 proaches it closely, and for the purposes to which 

 it is applied, is much superior. It is well known 

 that the ancient Romans had no particular covering 

 for the legs (see Breeches') ; but during the middle 

 ages, hose, or leggins, made of cloth, came into use ; 

 and, at a later period, the art of knitting stockings 

 was invented. Very different accounts are given 

 of the time and country of this important invention, 

 some attributing it to the Scots, and others deriv- 

 ing it from Spain. Woven stockings are manufac- 

 tured by the machine called stocking frame, which 

 is exceedingly ingenious, but too complex to be 

 described without plates. It was invented by 

 William Lee, of Nottinghamshire, in 1589. He 

 met with little encouragement in his attempts to 

 set up an establishment in England, but was in- 

 vited into France by Henry IV., and received with 

 great favour. Henry's assassination soon after in- 

 terrupted his prospects, and he died in Paris in 

 great poverty. A knowledge of bis machine was 

 carried back to England by some of his workmen, 

 who established themselves in Nottinghamshire, 

 which has since continued to be the principal seat 

 of the manufacture. For near 200 years, few im- 

 provements were made on Lee's invention, and two 

 men were usually employed on one frame ; but it 



