nk of England notes to the amount of L20,000, made his escape to
Holland. Unable to present them himself, he sold them to a Jew. The
price which he received does not appear; but there is no doubt that,
under the circumstances, a good bargain was made by the purchaser. In
the meantime every plan was exhausted to give publicity to the loss. The
numbers of the notes were advertised in the newspapers, with a request
that they might be refused, and for about six months no information was
received of the lost property. At the end of that period the Jew
appeared with the whole of his spoil, and demanded payment, which was at
once refused on the plea that the bills had been stolen, and that
payment had been stopped.

The owner insisted upon gold, and the Bank persisted in refusing. But
the Jew was an energetic man, and was aware of the credit of the
corporation. He was known to be possessed of immense wealth, and he went
deliberately to the Exchange, where, to the assembled merchants of
London, in the presence of her citizens, he related publicly that the
Bank had refused to honour their own bills for L20,000; that their
credit was gone, their affairs in confusion; and that they had stopped
payment. The Exchange wore every appearance of alarm; the Hebrew showed
the notes to corroborate his assertion. He declared that they had been
remitted to him from Holland, and as his transactions were known to be
extensive, there appeared every reason to credit his statement. He then
avowed his intention of advertising this refusal of the Bank, and the
citizens thought there must be some truth in his bold announcement.
Information reached the directors, who grew anxious, and a messenger was
sent to inform the holder that he might receive cash in exchange for his
notes.

In 1843 the light sovereigns were called in. The total amount of light
coin received from the 11th of June to the 28th of July was L4,285,837,
and 2-3/4d. was the loss on each, taking an average of 35,000. The large
sum of L1,400, in L1 notes, was paid into the Bank this year. They had
probably been the hoard of some eccentric person, who evinced his
attachment to the obsolete paper at the expense of his interest. A few
years afterwards a L20 note came in which had been outstanding for about
a century and a quarter, and the loss of interest on which amounted to
some thousands.

And now a few anecdotes about bank-notes. An eccentric gentleman in
Portland Street, says Mr. G