e read, in a contemporary authority, a
description of the prevailing agitation, which forcibly reminds us of
a few years ago. "It is beyond the power of words to describe the
general consternation of the metropolis at this instant. No event for
fifty years has been remembered to give so fatal a blow to trade and
public credit. A universal bankruptcy was expected; the stoppage of
almost every banker's house in London was looked for; the whole city was
in an uproar; many of the first families were in tears. This melancholy
scene began with a rumour that one of the greatest bankers in London had
stopped, which afterwards proved true. A report at the same time was
propagated that an immediate stoppage of the greatest Bank of all must
take place. Happily this proved groundless; the principal merchants
assembled, and means were concocted to revive trade and preserve the
national credit."

[Illustration: DIVIDEND DAY AT THE BANK.]

The desire of the directors to discover the makers of forged notes
produced a considerable amount of anxiety to one whose name is indelibly
associated with British art. George Morland--a name rarely mentioned but
with feelings of pity and regret--had, in his eagerness to avoid
incarceration for debt, retired to an obscure hiding-place in the
suburbs of London. "On one occasion," says Allan Cunningham, "he hid
himself in Hackney, where his anxious looks and secluded manner of life
induced some of his charitable neighbours to believe him a maker of
forged notes. The directors of the Bank dispatched two of their most
dexterous emissaries to inquire, reconnoitre, search and seize. The men
arrived, and began to draw lines of circumvallation round the painter's
retreat. He was not, however, to be surprised: mistaking those agents of
evil mien for bailiffs, he escaped from behind as they approached in
front, fled into Hoxton, and never halted till he had hid himself in
London. Nothing was found to justify suspicion; and when Mrs. Morland,
who was his companion in this retreat, told them who her husband was,
and showed them some unfinished pictures, they made such a report at the
Bank, that the directors presented him with a couple of Bank notes of
L20 each, by way of compensation for the alarm they had given him."

The proclamation of peace in 1783, says Francis, was indirectly an
expense to the Bank, although hailed with enthusiasm by the populace.
The war with America had assumed an aspect which, with