e
counter. The teller, on discovering the bag, laid it aside for the
time. Late in the day the gentleman returned to the bank in great
distress, stating he had lost the bag with the L1,000, and could
not tell whether he dropped it in the crowd or left it behind him
on leaving the bank. 'Oh, you left it on the counter,' said the
teller, quietly, 'and if you call to-morrow you will get your
L1,000.' (_Vide_ 'History Bank of England,' p. 429.)

The facts and statistics from the year 1844 to 1860 relating to the bank
are superadded to the English work by the American editor. Of the
important phases of this period the editor gives a slight sketch in the
following paragraphs. The prominent financial movements in England,
France, and the United States are given in the subsequent pages of the
volume.

'The sixteen years which followed the last charter of the bank have
been pregnant with important events of a financial character; the
most important, perhaps, during the whole history of the
institution. The bank has twice, during this short period, been on
the brink of suspension, and was relieved only by the interference
of Government. The second instance occurred after new gold, to the
extent of one hundred millions sterling, or more, had been poured
into Western Europe from California and Australia. The Bank of
France had, during the same period, suspended specie payment. Two
financial revulsions have occurred in the United States, when, with
few exceptions, the banks of the whole country suspended specie
payments. The production of gold and silver throughout the world,
which, up to 1844, was annually about ten or twelve millions
sterling, had recently advanced from twenty-five to thirty millions
sterling per annum, thus stimulating industry and production
largely throughout Europe and America. Sir Robert Peel, the author
of the new charter of the bank, has left the world's stage, after
witnessing the failure of the charter to fully accomplish the end
promised; Europe and America, Asia and Europe, have been knit
together by a wire cord, and capital is now subscribed to

'Put a girdle round about the earth,'

whereby London may speak to San Francisco (the prospective
commercial centre of the world) in less than '_forty minutes_.'
During the same short space of sixteen