216 ADDRESS TO THE [LECT. 



Barcelona, founded in 1401. In this case, the city funds 

 were made responsible for any moneys entrusted to the 

 bank, which not only received deposits, but exchanged 

 money and discounted bills. The Bank of Amsterdam 

 was founded in 1609. The so-called Bank of St. George, 

 at Genoa, dates back to 1407, but does not appear to 

 have done genuine banking business until 1675. The 

 Bank of Stockholm, which commenced in 1668, was the 

 first bank in Europe to issue bank notes, which until 

 that time were totally unknown in the West, although, 

 as we have seen, they had long been in use in China. 



Our coinage, however, is far more ancient than our 

 banking system, in so far at least as our present in- 

 formation goes. Our ancestors, before the arrival of the 

 Romans, are generally regarded as mere barbarians. 

 Nevertheless, they were already acquainted with the 

 art of coinage, which, as shown by Mr. Evans in his 

 excellent work on The Coins of the Ancient Britons, 

 appears to have commenced in Kent about 200 to 

 150 B.C., and to have spread over the south-east of 

 England to Devonshire on the west and northwards as 

 far as Yorkshire. The principal mints appear to have 

 been at Camulodunum and Verulamium. The original 

 coins were copies of Gaulish imitations of the staters 

 of Philip of Macedon, which have a head of Apollo on 

 one side and a chariot and horses on the other (Fig. 

 III., Plate II.). Gradually, however, the execution 

 became worse and worse, as shown in the illustrations 

 (Figs. IV., and V., Plate II.), until at length no one 

 looking at one of these coins for the first time would 

 be able to tell which side was meant for the head of 

 Apollo and which for the chariot and horses. The fact 



