operation. Tools for the purpose made of steel, imparted the figure to filver by means of a smart stroke with a hammer, and as the piece of filver afforded a handsome profit, the fraud was carried on to a great extent. The bank, when this fort of fpecie was called in, finding that much contention and much mifery to poor perfons would enfue from rejecting the spurious coinage received as genuine all that was produced to them, and fubmitted to the lofs.

OTHER DOLLARS AND TOKENS. In 1804, the current filver coin having been much reduced in value, a miserable spurious trafh introduced, and even of that a great portion withdrawn from circulation, the bank again iffued a number of Spanish dollars at five fhillings each, which were afterward raised to five fhillings and fix-pence. In this emiffion, they totally changed the appearance of the coin; all traces of the Spanish monarch and his arms being ftruck out, and the King's head on one fide, and fome words on the reverse being produced at one blow by force of a steam engine. Other tokens were afterward ifsued at three fhillings and eighteen pence each; but government having, in 1816, fent forth a copious supply of filver coin from the mint, thefe tokens have also been called in. Notwithstanding the pains which were taken to prevent these tokens from being easily counterfeited, they were no fooner iffued than the hand of fraud was in full activity. Spurious dollars and tokens were iffued in base metal, and some even in filver, when the price of bullion declined; in vain were strong statutes paffed denouncing capital penalties, transportation and imprisonment against those who made, uttered, or unlawfully poffeffed these deceptive fabrications; they were supplied by the guilty makers at fo low a price as to form an irresistible temptation to poverty or avarice, and innumerable prosecutions and convictions were not found to deter new adventurers from engaging in this wicked traffic.

BANK INDEMNITY AND RESTRICTION. Government aided the useful efforts of the bank by ftatutes indemnifying the governors as to all acts which might be irregular. On the third of May an act was paffed reciting a minute of the company forbidding the iffue of cafh in payments, and legalizing and continuing that reftriction for a limited time, and they were indemnified as to fuits that might be brought against them for refufing to give cafh for their notes. These restrictions have been by fubfequent acts continued with little variation to the prefent time. By these wife and provident measures, all the apprehenfions that were entertained have vanifhed; the credit of the bank is as high, both at home and abroad, as it ever was; and not the flightest inconvenience is or has been experienced from its not paying in cash.

BANK

BANK STOCK AND DIVIDENDS. In the preceding account mention has been made of monies advanced by the bank to government, the following table exhibits a general view of the progrefs of the capital and dividends of the Bank of England, from its establishment to the prefent time.

Dividend.

S. d.

16949
1697,

1708,

1759,

1710,

1722,

1730,

1,200,000

2,201,171 10 O

4,402,343
5,058,547 I Q

5,559,995 14 8
8,959,995 14 0

29th September 1730, 25th March - 1731, 29th September 1731, 25th March - 1732, 29th September 1732,

1742,

29th September 1742,

5th April Confequently the prefent capital on which the bank divides, amounts to 11,642,400/., which at an intereft of 7 per cent. is 814,9687. per annum. But this is not the exact fum due by the public to the company, and far lefs is the dividend above. mentioned the fum annually paid by the bank to its proprietors. The fums which the bank has lent on permanent fecurities, no portion of which the public is under any neceflity of repaying, until its privileges expire, amount to 11,686,800l., being 44,400/. more than that on which the bank pays its dividends. The intereft paid by the public is but 352,5021. 35. 6d.; whereas the bank, in confequence of the profits of its bufinefs, is able to make a regular annual dividend, befides occafional ones, at the rate of 814,9681. per annum, or 462,465l. 16s. 6d. more than it receives. In addition to the above interest, the fum of 5,8981. 35. 5d. is annually allowed for the charges of management; of which 4,000l. were given at the original establishment of the bank, and the remainder in 1722, when four millions were purchafed from the South Sea company. Befides

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Befides thefe regular dividends, the bank has occafionally given to the proprietors of stock, extraordinary allowances under the name of bonuses; amounting in all to upwards of two millions. The capital ftock of the bank is exempted from taxes; accounted a perfonal eftate, affignable over and not subject to forfeiture. The dividends are paid at Ladyday and Michaelmas, old style.

BUSINESS OF THE BANK. The bank is to be confidered as uniting three diftinct claffes of transactions; it is a place of depofit for monies, iffuing its notes in return; it is an office for difcounting the bills of merchants, bankers, and private tradesmen; and fince the year 1747, the management of government fecurities has been transferred from the exchequer to the bank. The profit on the two former branches of commerce is uncertain, depending on prudence and fortune, but its average must be very confiderable; the allowance on the management of government fecurities is 450l. per million of stock, or tenpence and four fifths of a penny per cent., in confideration of which government is freed from every charge for accountants, clerks, books, and the numerous other particulars requifite in the management of fo great a concern as the national debt. From this management an indirect profit arose to the bank from fums which were left in their hands through miftake or indolence, and were called unclaimed dividends. In 1791, thefe dividends had accumulated to 660,000l.; and on the principle that a fum which the creditor neglects to call for, muft remain with the debtor, and not with his agent or banker, Mr. Pitt propofed, that 500,000l. of that dormant money fhould be applied to the public fervice. The motion was oppofed by the directors of the bank, as dangerous to public credit; and the matter was compromised by the nation accepting that fum as a loan from the bank without intereft, on condition that a balance of the public money not lefs than 600,000/. (reckoning this loan of 500,000l. as part of it) should at all times remain in the hands of the bank, and that the annual allowance to the bank for the management of the public debt should continue at the accustomed rate of 450l. per million. Befides this profit, government pays to the bank, for receiving fubfcriptions on loans 205/. 155 10d. per million, and for making out, ifluing, and paying the tickets in eath lottery 1000/

BANK NOTES. Mention has already been made of the first notes iffued from the bank, but intereft on them has long been difcontinued. Until 1759, twenty pounds was the amount of the fmalleft: in that year notes for fifteen pounds, and ten pounds began to be circulated; in 1793 those of five pounds

pounds were given, and in 1797, the bank gave notes of two and one pounds. All thefe notes are printed on a transparent but ftrong paper; the compofition of which is fo contrived as to exhibit in all parts a wavy appearance, each piece is furrounded with flourishes, and at the bottom, in Roman capital letters are the words "Bank of England." These characteriftics cannot be difcerned unlefs the note is held between the eye and the light. The more vifible part confifts of an engraved promife to pay to the principal cafhier of the bank by name, or bearer, the given fum, which is again inferted in the lower corner on the left of the note, in white letters on a black ground. The notes are numbered progreffively, the date of their being iffued twice inferted, and the names of one clerk who promifes to pay the money in the name of governor and company, and of another who attefts the entry in the book, are fubfcribed; the numbers, dates, and fignatures are in courfe written, the name of the general payee is engraved, but in a character more like an ordinary hand writing than the refiduc of the note. Befides thefe notes there are bank poft bills, which differ principally in being made payable to fome other perfon than the chief cafhier of the bank, or order, and incapable of circulation without an indorfement. Confiderable gains muft undoubtedly accrue to the bank from the iffue of their paper, not only by the ufe of money left with them at intereft, while their notes bear none, but by the frequent, and almoft continual lofs of bank notes as well through careleffnefs as fire and other accidents. Yet the bank occafionally fuffers by paying undetected forgeries, and the expence of preparing, filling up, figning, and entering the notes is fo far confiderable, that after fome time the company iffued again those for one pound and two pounds which came to them after having been in circulation: their general practice is not to reiffue, but cançel all notes returning to them, The amount of bank notes in circulation in February 1797, was 8,640,250/.; in November 1803, it had increafed to 17,931,930. ; but the property of the bank is more than adequate to a much larger issue for the purpose of extending difcounts and facilitating commerce; and perhaps the reproach against them is not ill founded, that frequently they have had cafh and bullion hoarded up, nearly equal in amount to all their notes in circulation.

LAWS PECULIARLY RELATING TO THE BANK. Independently of the statutes made for the establishment and internal regulation of this great national concern, there are feveral laws for restraining offences by which their property or credit might be endangered. By 15th Geo. II. c. 13. any officer or fervant of the governor and company, who embezzles, fecretes, or rank

M 3

away

away with any note, bill, dividend-warrant, bond, deed, or other fecurity; money or other effects belonging to the faid company, or belonging to any other perfon and depofited with the gover nor and company, or with him as their officer or fervant, fhall be deemed guilty of felony without benefit of clergy. By the fame ftatute any perfon forging the feal of the bank, or forging or altering bank notes, or tendering fuch forged or altered notes in payment, or demanding to have them exchanged, or forging the name of any cafhier of the bank, is guilty in the fame degree. By 13th Geo. III. c. 79. Perfons not authorized by the bank, making or using moulds for the making of paper, with the words Bank of England, viûble in the fubitance, or having fuch moulds in their poffeffion, are guilty of felony without benefit of clergy: and perfons ifluing notes and bills engraved to refemble thofe of the bank, or having the fum exprefed in white characters on a black ground, may be punished by imprifonment, not exceeding fix months; but innocent perfons poflefled of fuch notes carrying them for payment are not affected. By a late ftatute 41ft Geo. III. c. 39. the penalties of this act are extended to perfons who have in their poffeffion any paper made from fuch moulds, or refembling that whereon the notes of the Bank of England are generally printed. It is also to be obferved that perfons dealing in, or being proprietors of bank stock are not by that dealing within the statutes respecting bankrupts, and fuch ftock is not only exempt from tax, but protected against attachments.

BUILDINGS AND CFFICES. The bufinefs of this corporation was originally tranfacted at Grocers' Hall in the Poultry. In 1732 the first ftone of the prefent building was laid, on the fite of the house and garden of Sir John Houblon, the first governor; it then only comprifed what now forms the centre, with the court yard, the hall, and the bullion court, The eaft wing was added in 1770; and the western wing, with the Lothbury front, were begun in 1789. The building is a ftone edifice, fituated a little to the north of Cornhill. The front is compofed of a centre, eighty feet in length, of the Ionic order, on a rustic base; and two wings, ornamented with a colonnade. The back of the building, which is in Lothbury, is a high and heavy wall of stone, with a gateway for carriages into the bullion court. The principal entrance into the bank is from Threadneedle Street. The wings were defigned by Sir Robert Taylor, and for the purpofe of erecting them, feveral houses were taken down, and the church of St. Chriftopher le Stocks, to the great injury, and disturbance of the afhes and memorials of the dead, On the caft fide of the great entrance is a paffage leading to a spacious apartment, called the rotunda, where the

ftock