1840.] 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECTS JOURNAL. 



223 



gether, mid two classes of fora were established, viz. Venalia or market 

 places, properly so called, and Civilia, or places of assembly, of which, 

 however, there was but one until the time of Julius Csesar. The 

 Venalia were again divided into the Boarium or ox-market, the Pis- 

 carium, or fish-market, and the like. Something resembling this sepa- 

 ration and improvement is to be traced in the history of the establish- 

 ment of the English courts of law. The Saxon constitution compre- 

 hended but one superior court of justice in the kingdom, viz. the Great 

 Council ; but, after the Norman invasion, the ecclesiastical jurisdiction 

 was se|)arated from the civil, and the king subsequently effected another 

 separation between the judicial and the parliamentary power, vested 

 in the remaining members. He then established that very compre- 

 hensive court in his own residence, called "the King's Hall," composed 

 of the great officers of state; which became at length divided into the 

 different courls of Chancery, Exchequer, Common Fleas, and the Earl 

 Marshall's court, or Court of Honour. The simple features of a Roman 

 Forum appear at once to convey the image of a modern Exchange, it 

 having been an open area surrounded by a colonnade, about which 

 were subsequently established temples and prisons, courts and record 

 offices, public granaries, offices of money changers, and a variety of 

 trades, the municipal treasuries, and the rostra whence orators ad- 

 dressed the people. Some differences existed between the Greek and 

 Roman Fora, derived from the different uses to which they were to he 

 applied. Those of the Greeks were built square, with the columns 

 near together, to afford as much shelter as possible; above which was 

 an upper ambulatory or gallery for walking. The Roman fora, on the 

 contrary, were oblong in the area, having the columns set at considerable 

 intervals, but still surmounted by the gallery, in which latter feature, 

 also, they somewhat resembled the Bourses of the IGth and 17th cen- 

 turies. In those places which lay inland, the Forum was erected in 

 the centre of the city, but in marine towns it was situated at the port. 

 Accordingly the Pirseus, or maritime town of Athens, was the principal 

 place of commerce connected therewith, and it contained temples and 

 theatres, arsenals, granaries and shops, and also the established place 

 of assembly for merchants. 



These circumstances are curiously illustrated by Theophrastus, in a 

 description of the character of an ostentatious Athenian merchant, 

 •€i' Tti- SayitaTi 'cs-qKois, and vaunting of his enterprise and wealth ; in 

 which description it is supposed by Casaubon and others, that the 

 SeoA'oi expresses the place where samples of merchandize were pro- 

 duced and examined. 



Down to this period, and most probably to a much later time, the 

 places of assembly for merchants were to be found in the forum ; and 

 they appear to have generally occupied that interior extremity called 

 the Basilica, for the choice of which, perhaps, Vitruvius gives one of 

 the original reasons several centuries after, when he says, " the Basilica 

 should be adjoining to the forum on the warmest side, that the mer- 

 chants may confer together without being incommoded by the weather." 

 Another cause for the selection might possibly be that they were there 

 completely removed from the noise and confusion of the rest of the 

 market or forum. 



Livy also alludes to the formation of a " collegium mercatorum," in 

 the fifth century before the Christian aera; but it maybe doubted 

 whether this phrase of itself can fairly be considered as proving any 

 thing more than the existence of a "fraternity of merchants." It will 

 be proper also to observe, before dismissing all notice of that period of 

 remote antiquity, that there were certain secular points of view in 

 which the Temple at Jerusalem may be taken as aft'ording an illustra- 

 tion of this subject. The first Temple, it will be remembered, con- 

 sisted of several square courts, surrounded by colonnades and chambers ; 

 and this building was an extended and greatly improved copy of the 

 tabernacle, to which, therefore, may be referred the remote original of 

 that extremely natural ar.d convenient form for places of public assem- 

 bly, which were subsequently to be found throughout the whole of the 

 civilized world. When the corrupted traditions of the Hebrews led 

 them to misemploy and profane the second temple, by making it a 

 place of merchandize, the resemblance between the court of the Gen- 

 tiles and a Roman Forum was very remarkable. After the conclusion 

 of the feast of Purim, in commemoration of the triumph of Esther and 

 Mordecai, the money-changers considered it lawful to seat themselves 

 ■in the outer court, to exchange foreign coins for such as were current 

 at Jerusalem; for the temple tribute, though collected in heathen 

 money, was required to be paid in the shekels of the sanctuary, and 

 several offerings also required the addition of parts of shekels to make 

 them complete. 



In this last circumstance, it will be shown hereafter, that there may 

 be an especial parallel found to the facts that probably gave rise to the 

 disignation of our own edifice of London. The court of the great 

 temple at Mecca, as dccribed by Sale, and many of the eastern Khans 

 or Caravanserais will furnish some additional illustration of the forms 



of buildings applied in later ages and other climes to mixed purposes, 

 not dissimilar to those under consideration. 



From precedents such as these it may have been that the Venetians, 

 in more modern times, but during the earlier ages of their republic, 

 obtained a model for their great Exchange on the Island of the Rialto. 

 It will be observed that this place of mercantile concourse was not the 

 celebrated Bridge of the Rialto, as is usually imagined, but a portion 

 of the Island of that name immediately adjacent to the Bridge. This 

 island appears to have been the first inhabited among the many that 

 now constitute the City of Venice ; it became the centre of commerce, 

 and the vast depository of the most valuable merchanize of all nations. 

 As described by Sabellico in the year 14'.):2, it appears that nothing 

 was wanting to the completeness of this site, not only for mercantile, 

 but for municipal purposes. The great place of meeting was a spacious 

 quadrangular piazza, almost surrounding the church of St. Jacopo; and 

 in its immediate vicinity were warehouses, banks, shops, markets, 

 public offices, and halls of every description. The greater portion of 

 these buildings was destroyed by fire in 15 15, but was rebuilt, in a style 

 of superior magnificence, during the following nine years, under the 

 architectural superintendence of Antonio Scarpagni. 



Passing by other Italian structures of inferior note, raised for the 

 same objects, we shall find the example derived from them followed 

 with conspicuous splendour in some of the cities of the Netherlands. 

 To meet the rising commercial importance of Antwerp, at the begin- 

 ning of the IGth century, a Bourse (according to the name introduced 

 froili Bruges), was erected in the year 1531. This structure is ISO 

 feet in length bv 140 in breadth, and is supported by 44 stone pillars, 

 which are differently sculptured. It contains numerous subterranean 

 warehouses, over which are the halls occupied by the tribunal and the 

 chamber of commerce. It was not until nearly 40 years after this 

 period that England possessed any similar building, during all which 

 time the merchants v\ere accustomed to assemble twice in each day, 

 in the open air in Lombard-street. The king himself, however, so 

 early as 1535, proposed that they should remove to the old edifice ot 

 Leadenhall, which they declined doing; and in 1537 Sir Richard 

 Gresham laid before Thomas Cromwell, then Lord Privy Seal, the plan 

 of a Bourse for London, in the old resort of Lombard-street, to which 

 he had been probably incited by a visit to Antwerp. Before retiring 

 from his Mayoralty in the following year, he made another effort to 

 complete this design in a letter to Lord Cromwell, which is still ex- 

 tant. He states therein that " it vsiU cost £2,000 and more," and at 

 the same time shows the real cause why the work was not then and 

 there carried into effect; since he adds, "there is certain houses in 

 the said street belonging to Sir George Monnocks, and, except we may 

 purchase them, the said Burse cannot be made. Wherefore, may it 

 please your good lordship to move the King's Highness to have his 

 most gracious letters directed to the said Sir George, willing, and also 

 commanding him to cause the said houses to be sold to the Mayor and 

 Commonalty of the City of London, for such prices as lie did purchase 

 them for, and that he "fault not but to accomplish his gracious com- 

 mandment. The letter must be sharply made, for he is of no gentle 

 nature ; and, that he shall give farther credence to the Mayor, I will 

 deliver the letter, and handle him the best I may: and, if I may obtain 

 to have the said houses, I doubt not hut to gather £ 1,000 toward the 

 building, or I depart out of mine office. There shall lack no good will 

 in me." 



The project which thus originated with Sir Richard Gresham, was 

 realized by the liberality and enterprise of his son Sir Thomas, who 

 commenced his edifice in London in the year 1 50 J. The similarity which 

 subsisted between this building and that of Antwerp, was very conspi- 

 cuous. Like the latter, the Exchange of London had a tall tower 

 placed on the east side of the principal entrance, containing a bell, 

 which twice in the day summoned the merchants to assemble, at noon, 

 and at six in the evening. In the interior of both we observe the same 

 quadrangular arcade, carrying a similar upper story, and surmounted 

 again by a high roof and regular gabled dormers of the same char cter. 

 The Royal Exchange received its name on being opened in person by 

 Queen Elizabeth, on the 23rd January, 1570-71. 



There does not appear to have been assigned, either by contempo- 

 raneous or modern authority, any reason for the change of the name of 

 this edifice by the Queen ;"though, from the very time of the procla- 

 mation, it seems to have been most effectual and complete. If, how- 

 ever, at this very distant date, a conjecture may be offered, it might 

 have been a design of Elizabeth, which was never brought to maturity, 

 to have re-established, in this building, the ancient exchange of the 

 sovereigns of England, the former situation of wdiich remains comme- 

 morated, even at the present day, in the street in Cheapside called 

 Old 'Change. It was here that one of those ancient officers known as 

 "the King's Exchangers" was placed, whose duty it was to attend to 

 the supply of the Mints with bullion, to distribute the new coinages 



