itch the money into some secret part of their
antiquated garments. The two private detective officers on duty
generally watch these careful proceedings with amusement and interest,
and are looked upon by the old fundholders and annuitants as highly
dangerous and suspicious characters."

Among the curiosities shown to visitors are the Bank parlour, the
counting-room, and the printing-room; the albums containing original
L1,000 notes, signed by various illustrious persons; and the Bank-note
library, now containing ninety million notes that have been cancelled
during the last seven years. There is one note for a million sterling,
and a note for L25 that had been out 111 years.

In the early part of the century, when "the Green Man," "the Lady in
Black," and other oddities notorious for some peculiarity of dress, were
well known in the City, the "White Lady of Threadneedle Street" was a
daily visitor to the Bank of England. She was, it is said, the sister of
a poor young clerk who had forged the signature to a transfer-warrant,
and who was hung in 1809. She had been a needle-worker for an army
contractor, and lived with her brother and an old aunt in Windmill
Street, Finsbury. Her mind became affected at her brother's disgraceful
death, and every day after, at noon, she used to cross the Rotunda to
the pay-counter. Her one unvarying question was, "Is my brother, Mr.
Frederick, here to-day?" The invariable answer was, "No, miss, not
to-day." She seldom remained above five minutes, and her last words
always were, "Give my love to him when he returns. I will call
to-morrow."

CHAPTER XLI.

THE STOCK EXCHANGE.

The Kingdom of Change Alley--A William III. Reuter--Stock Exchange
Tricks--Bulls and Bears--Thomas Guy, the Hospital Founder--Sir John
Barnard, the "Great Commoner"--Sampson Gideon, the famous Jew
Broker--Alexander Fordyce--A cruel Quaker Criticism--Stockbrokers
and Longevity--The Stock Exchange in 1795--The Money Articles in the
London Papers--The Case of Benjamin Walsh, M.P.--The De Berenger
Conspiracy--Lord Cochrane unjustly accused--"Ticket
Pocketing"--System of Business at the Stock Exchange--"Popgun
John"--Nathan Rothschild--Secrecy of his Operations--Rothschild
outdone by Stratagem--Grotesque Sketch of Rothschild--Abraham
Goldsmid--Vicissitudes of the Stock Exchange--The Spanish Panic of
1835--The Railway Mania--Ricardo's Golden Rules--A Clerical Intruder