Of the fish we confess we are able to say nothing: when numbers mount to billions, the calculations become too trying to our patience. We have little doubt, however, that they would be quite sufficient to make the Serpentine one solid mass.

Of ham and bacon, again, preserved meats, and all the countless comestibles, we have taken no account; and, in truth, they are little more to the great mass than the ducks and geese were to Sancho Panza's celebrated mess- "the skimmings of the pot."

The railways having poured this enormous amount of food into the metropolis, as the main arteries feed the human body, it is distributed by the various dealers into every quarter of the town; first into the wholesale markets, or great centres; then into the sub-centres, or retail shops; and lastly into the moving centres, or barrows of the hawkers: by which means nourishment is poured into every corner of the town, and the community at large is supplied as effectually as are the countless tissues of the human body by the infinitely divided net-work of capillary vessels. These food distributors amount to about 100,000. Among them are no less than 7,000 grocers, nearly 10,000 bakers, and 7,000 butchers.-Dr. Wynter.

London is, as a city, in its arrangements and regulations, perhaps the most complete in the world. All seems in the most perfect order; everything in its place, like the brooms, brushes, dusting-cloths of a perfect housekeeper; and for that prime virtue, cleanliness, it is, perhaps, more remarkable than any other. Even the air of London is sweet, save in a few neighbourhoods. The atmosphere is often, indeed, thick with mingled smoke and fog, but the sense of smell is rarely offended; and this is the best evidence of an all-pervading cleanliness. As a remarkable example of arrangement, nothing can be conceived more complete in all its parts than the management of the post-office department in London. Ten times daily all throughout London there is a pennypost delivery of letters; and notes, often scarce bigger than the wax that seals them, are conveyed with exactness and rapidity to and from every street, lane, and alley of the vast metropolis.

1

THE BANK OF ENGLAND-GOLD, SILVER, AND

COPPER.

In the earlier stages of society a system of barter exists, by which men exchange their property with each other, and satisfy their wants by parting with their superfluities. But in process of time barter is found inconvenient, and consequently almost all nations have introduced the use of what is called Money; that is to say, they have fixed upon some particular substance capable of being divided into small portions, which, although itself possessing little intrinsic value applicable to human use, is nevertheless received as a representative of the value of all commodities. Particular kinds of shells are used as money in some countries; in others, leather, cloth, and iron, are employed; but gold and silver, divided into small portions, are used for this important purpose almost all over the world.

During the reign of Richard Cœur de Lion the first European bank, the Bank of Venice, was established. About a hundred years afterwards, in the reign of Edward I., the Lombards-by which general term, the early Italian merchants of Genoa, Florence, and Venice were known-came over and established themselves in the street in London which still bears their name. With them came many of the arts and the skill of trade; with them came the only knowledge of banking then possessed; with them came into more common use "the wonderful invention" of bills of exchange, by the agency of which they remitted money to their own country. Success followed exertion; a firm footing was obtained by the skilful Lombard, who, uniting to the art of the goldsmith the science of the banker, took the initiative in that business which has since been the means of so much good, and which has been found to increase with the trade and commerce of the country.

The Lombards increased in wealth, power, and position. They had gained so much importance by the fifteenth century, that we find them advancing large sums for the service of the State on the security of the customs,

By the middle of the seventeenth century the trade and commerce of the country had increased to such an extent that the necessity of a national bank was universally felt; and in 1694 the Bank of England was established. Its founder was a Scotchman named William Paterson.* This institution is now the great centre of the money business of the world. Its buildings cover a quadrangular space of about four acres, and the number of persons employed is about nine hundred.

Besides issuing notes and carrying on the business of an ordinary bank, to this establishment is intrusted the management of the National Debt, which now amounts to £775,000,000. For this the Bank is allowed about £200,000 a year.

A very large amount of bullion is from £14,000,000 to £17,000,000. weighing 16 lbs., and worth £800. bars, or in bags of dollars.

kept in its vaults, usually The gold is in bars, each The silver is also kept in

Notes representing from £18,000,000 to £19,000,000 sterling are usually in circulation.

The

The gold portion of the British coinage is prepared at the Royal Mint, London, and is slightly alloyed with silver and copper, so as to bring it to the exact state called sterling. whole process of coining is an exceedingly interesting one. The machine for weighing the pieces of gold after they have been cut into the required size is a perfect triumph of mechanism. It separates them into three groups, according as they are too heavy, too light, or the exact weight; but so great is the care taken

* This remarkable person afterwards projected the celebrated expedition to the Isthmus of Darien, now better known as the Isthmus of Panama; "one of the best situations," says a modern writer, "for a colony from a trading and manufacturing country, on the face of the earth." The same opinion was entertained by Paterson, who had visited the country in his youth, and was thoroughly acquainted with the position and its natural advantages. He proposed to colonize it; but the project was coldly received by the English people, and Paterson appealed to his native country, Scotland. There the scheme was entered into with enthusiasm, and neighbouring nations saw with surprise and respect the poorest country in Europe send forth the most gallant and numerous colony which had ever passed from the Old to the New World. Unhappily, the expedition proved a failure. Disease, famine, and the attacks of the Spaniards, who are said to have been covertly instigated by the English monarch, gradually thinned the ranks of the bold adventurers, and the remnant determined to return home. The expedition appears, indeed, to have been a grand scheme; grand in its conception, grand in its attempted execution, and worthy the mind of that man with whom the idea of the Bank of England originated.

beforehand, that forty-nine out of every fifty pieces are found fit for coining.

It has been estimated that the total amount of gold in use in the world is about £820,000,000, weighing 8,542 tons. Great as this amount seems, it could all be contained in a cubic block of gold measuring twenty-three feet in diameter!

The chief supplies of gold are now obtained from Australia and California.

Gold is most generally found in the form of small grains, mixed with the sand and mud of rivers. It is also found in crystals, combined with quartz, from which it is separated by crushing and washing. Any impurities that may be in combination with it are removed by the aid of quicksilver, which dissolves it in the same manner as water dissolves sugar. It is afterwards separated from the quicksilver by a process of distillation, being subjected to a high degree of heat in a retort.

Gold is the most ductile of all metals. One grain of it may be drawn out into 500 feet of wire; and it is so malleable that it may be beaten out into a sheet or leaf less than one 250,000th of an inch in thickness. Unlike iron or steel, it does not tarnish from exposure to the air.

Silver is the whitest of all metals. It ranks next to gold in ductility and malleability. It is harder than gold, and softer than copper. The addition of a small quantity of copper increases its hardness; and in this state it is used for coinage, there being 111 parts of silver and nine of copper in all our silver coins.

The most valuable silver mines are in Mexico and South America. Sometimes large masses of pure silver are found, but the chief produce of the mines is obtained by extracting the metal from the ore by a process of crushing, roasting, washing, and refining, similar to that employed with gold and other metals.

Copper derives its name from Cyprus, where it is supposed to have been first obtained.

This metal was known in the earliest ages of the world, and was applied to a vast number of purposes for which iron is now used, and is better adapted. At a very early period it was used to make

instruments of war and of industry; and though, from its softness, it was not the best calculated for these purposes, yet it was better than flint, and other hard stones, which had previously been used by ancient tribes.

The earliest inhabitants of Britain of whom we have any authentic account wore massive rings of copper or bronze upon their arms and legs, but whether of native manufacture or imported is not known.

The chief source of our copper is Cornwall, a county celebrated from remote antiquity for its valuable tin mines. The value of its copper ore only became known in the fifteenth century. The annual value of the copper raised in Cornwall is now about a million sterling.

Copper is sometimes found in a metallic state so pure as to be used for manufacturing purposes. There are examples of this in the mines of Lake Superior, in America, where occasionally large masses of metallic copper have been found weighing several tons. Generally, however, copper is produced from ore by smelting.

It is a curious fact that nearly all the ore raised from the mines of Cornwall and Devon is smelted at Swansea, in South Wales, owing to the abundance of coal there, it being cheaper to take the ore to the coal than the coal to the ore.

Bronze, a mixture of copper and tin, is now the metal used to supersede the old copper coinage of this country.

THE ROYAL EXCHANGE.

THERE is no place in town which I so much love to frequent as the Royal Exchange. It gives me a secret satisfaction, and in some measure gratifies my vanity as an Englishman, to see so rich an assembly of my countrymen and foreigners consulting together upon the private business of mankind, and making this metropolis a kind of emporium for the whole earth. I must confess I look upon High Change to be a grand council, in which all considerable nations have their representatives. Factors, in the trading