*64 LON 
when he fays, “Hera was a great meffuage, called the Spa- 
r.ifti arnbalfador’s houfe, of late inhabited by fir James 
Hofiblon, knt. and alderman of London.” 
At the upper end of Pinner’s-court, in Winchefter-ftreet, 
ft a mis Pinners’ or Pinmakers’ Hall, a very antique build¬ 
ing, principally ufed as adiffenting meeting-houfe. This 
was alfo a part of the Auguftine priory, which was con¬ 
verted into a glafs-houfe before it became the property 
of the Pinners’ company. 
Broad-Hxeet, which is inhabited by feveral merchants, 
or who at leaf! have their counting-houfes there, as being 
near the centre of trade and bufinefs, leads us to the 
eaftern end of Threadneedle-ftreet, and to feveral of the 
moft interefting buildings in the city, a focus of lofty and 
elegant edifices, not more important to the fight by their 
exterior afpect, than they are momentous relatively to 
the bufinefs which is daily tranfadfed there.—We mean 
the Koyal Exchange, the Bank, the Stock Exchange, and 
the Manfion Houfe; with the appendages of the Poft-office, 
feveral lottery and fire offices, and a number of churches, 
tiie fpires and towers of which feem to brittle above the 
roofs of tire whole neighbourhood. There is not, perhaps, 
in any metropolis through the whole range of European 
cities, a fpot fo interefting as the one we have juft alighted 
upon. We were hurried there on the wings of curiofity ; 
and we left many interefting objects behind, which we 
may refume, as a fort of reft, when we have palled, in ad- 
xiiration, through the buftle of the three or four places 
we have juft enumerated. 
The Bank. The afpect of this building is noble, and 
adapted to the purpofe of giving an adequate idea, if pof- 
fible, of the important and extenfive bufinefs which is in- 
ceffantly doing within its walls. The architecture is light 
on the fouth fide; and the improvements on the northern 
part of the edifice, being more lofty, and upon a larger 
fcale, add a cotifiderable degree of majefty to the whole. 
This might be properly called the Temple of Plutus, the 
Palace of Mammon. And, if we confider the Jcpulchral 
ornaments crowning the more modern parts, may we not 
ftyle it the “tomb” where gold and lilver are buried, and 
fleep underground whilft their paper-ghojls and filmy fvnu- 
lacra flutter about in the fliape of bank-notes ? This is the 
place wherefrom and whereto the immenfe and immenfu- 
rable wealth of the united kingdom—nay, of'ali the world— 
circulates, on the Herculean ltrength ot credit, in light pa¬ 
per as well as in (olid tokens, through the mercantile uni- 
verfe. The building fills a (pace inclofed by the four 
ftreets, Bartholomew-lane, Lothbury, Prince’s-ftreet, and 
Bank Buildings. The principal front is compofed of a cen¬ 
tre and two wings. The former is eighty feet in length, of 
ttie Ionic order, and railed onarultic bafe: the wings are 
each ornamented with a colonnade of Corinthian pillars, 
which, though in itfelf beauti/ul, is confidered as too in- 
fignificant for the ft.ru tt u re with which it is connected. 
Through this front are three entrances, one larger than 
the other two, into a handlome fquare court, on the north¬ 
ern fide of which is the Great Hall, a noble apartment, 
feventy-nine feet in length, and forty broad. Here was 
ereCted a fine marble ltatue, in honour of the founder, 
William the Third, with a Latin infcription, of which 
the following is a translation : 
For reftoring Efficacy to the Laws, 
Authority to theCourts of J u it ice, Dignity to theParliament, 
To all his Subjedts their Religion and Liberties, 
And confirming thefe to polferity. 
By the fucceffion of the illuftrmis Houle of Hanover 
to the Bfitilh Throne : 
To the beft of princes, William the Third, 
Founder of the Bank, 
This Corporation, from a fen fie of gratitude, 
Has erected this ftatue, and dedicated it to his memory, 
in the Year of our Lord 1734. 
Behind this court, new buildings of great extent have 
Been e.eAed. The back of the Bank is a huge wall, 
D O N. 
ftrangely ornamented at top, and forming, by its heavy 
afpect, a contraft of (Length and fecurity with the puny 
elegance of the front. The gateway, however, through 
which the carriages that bring gold and' filvcr enter,"’is 
handfome. A back and front view of the building is 
given in Plate VII /.' 
A ltranger to the bufinefs tranfafted at the Bank, 
when entering the premiies for the firft time, appears 
bewildered and at a lofs to know where he is. The 
buftle, which is conftantly kept up in the rotunda", among 
the buyers and fellers of ftock, and thole who are equally 
bufy in transferring, prefents a curious feene; if is truly 
interefting to fee the throng, all eagerly occupied with 
their own affairs, and expreffing their anxiety by their 
countenances. This apartment is crowned with a noble 
dome, admitting the light through an elegant cupola, 
fupported by twelve female figures, reprefenting the 
months of the year. Within the cupola is a dial, that 
(hows the direction of the wind. 
On each fide of the entrance into the Bank from Bar- 
tholomewdane, are large commodious offices; and on the 
door of each, the names of the funds managed in it. The 
apartments are heated by itoves, fome of them defigned 
with great tafte. Beneath this extenfive edifice are ftron«’ 
vaults, where the cafli and bullion aredepofited. In dig¬ 
ging for the foundations, the workmen found oyfter-fhells 
lb far beneath the furface as to ltrengthen the tradition 
recorded by Stowe, that the Thames once flowed as far 
as Bucklerlbury. Such are the changes on the furface of 
our earth, as well as in the circumltances of thole who 
dwell upon it. The increafe of the national wealth may 
be eftimated by the augmentation of the capita! of the 
Bank: in 1694, when Mr. Paterfon firft projected the 
plan, it was limited to 1,200,oool. (fee the article Bank, 
vol. ii. p. 672.) at prefent it amounts to 11,550,000!. 
The affairs of the proprietors are managed by a governor, 
deputy-governor, and twenty-four direftors. 
Near the Bank is the Stock Exchange, which, as a 
building, has nothing remarkable, but is the place where 
not only real ftock is transferred from one owner to ano¬ 
ther, by brokers, whofe foie occupation it is to do this 
bufinefs for their principals ; but alfo where immenle no¬ 
minal fums are bought and fold upon fpeculation. This 
is a molt curious (our pen was ready to write nefarious ) 
fort of gambling, which has wrought in a few hours fonie- 
times the fortune, often the ruin, of individuals. This 
nominal game is played in the following manner: A man, 
who fometimes pofleffes not a farthing in the ftocks, di¬ 
rects his broker to buy, forinltance ioo,oool. for the 30th 
of next month, or any other fixed and agreed time at a 
certain price : if, by fome unexpected event, ftocks rife 
in value during that time, the difference arifir.g in the 
price conftitutes his profit ; but, if they fall, then he lofes, 
and thus falls with them, if he cannot pay his differences, 
as it is called, to a deferved degree of ignominy which is 
feldom obliterated. Thofe people who cannot pay their 
differences upon the fettling day, are humouroufly Ityle.d, 
lame ducks waddling outyj the alley. —It is curious to fee a 
landfcape and one or two other paintings hanging on high 
in this room, where all eyes fixed down upon paper, and 
ready to lplit a (billing into ten thoufand fractions, never 
rife to look at any thing but what can bring the molt pro¬ 
fitable intereft. The painting, however, is not 'worth 
looking at; and the reafon why it is there is lb triflin®- 
that it deferves not to be noticed. 
Cornhill, though a fhort ftreet, is wide and well built; 
difplaying two rows of fine fnops. On each fide of it are 
numerous courts, lanes, and alleys, that, notwithlfaiidino- 
their clofenefs, are, from their vicinity to the main fear of 
bufinefs, occupied by molt refpedtable inhabitants in the 
commercial line of life. They abound alfo w.ith count¬ 
ing-houfes and coffee-h'oufes, for the accommodation of 
perfons who refide at a diltance, and require only a tem¬ 
porary accommodation in this, neighbourhood ..of mercan¬ 
tile activity. 
The 
