Thomas Gresham.

You must learn something about this great man. He was the son of Sir
Richard Gresham, formerly Lord Mayor: nephew of Sir John Gresham, also
Lord Mayor (who preserved Bethlehem Hospital on the Dissolution of the
Religious Houses): he came of a Norfolk family originally of the village
of Gresham: like Whittington he was of gentle birth. He was educated at
Cambridge: he was apprenticed to his uncle after taking his degree: and
he was received into the Mercers' Company at the age of twenty-four. It
must be observed that from the outset the young man had every
advantage--good birth, good education, good society, and wealth.

[Illustration: SIR THOMAS GRESHAM.]

At the age of thirty-two he was appointed Royal Agent at Antwerp. At
this time the City was at the height of its splendour and prosperity.
Gresham walked upon the long quays, gazed at the lines of ships, saw
the river alive with boats and barges, loading and unloading, watched
the throng of merchants in the Bourse, saw the palaces, the rows and
streets of palaces in which they lived, thought of London which he had
formerly regarded with so much pride though he now perceived that it was
even poor and quiet compared with this crowded centre of an enormous
trade--why, the city which he had thought the envy of the whole world
could show no more than 317 merchants in all, against Antwerp's 5,000:
and these, though there were some esteemed wealthy, could not between
them all raise a loan of even 10,000_l._ The King had to go abroad for
the money and to pay 14 per cent. for it. Then he began to ask himself
whether something could not be done to divert some of this trade to his
native town.

[Illustration: FIRST ROYAL EXCHANGE.]

First of all, he applied himself to the reduction of the interest. This
he managed to lower from fourteen per cent. to twelve and even to ten. A
gain of four per cent. on a loan of, say, 60,000_l._ meant a saving of
2,400_l._ a year.

When he came back to England he brought with him a discovery which seems
simple. It is, however, the most difficult thing in the world for people
to understand: we are always discovering it, over and over again.

His discovery was this--it applies to every kind of business or
enterprise--It is that union will effect what single effort is powerless
to attempt. The City had for centuries understood this in matters of
government: they were now to learn the same thing in matters of trade.
The merch