se approaches, which, it seems, cannot be whitened, one could form
no guess at the mighty deeds of the place; and when the hourly
quotations of the price of stocks are the same, the place is silent, and
only a few individuals, with faces which grin but cannot smile, are seen
crawling in and out, or standing yawning in the court, with their hands
in their breeches' pockets. If, however, the quotations fluctuate, and
the Royal Exchange, where most of the leading men of the money market
lounge, be full of bustling and rumours, and especially if characters,
with eyes like basilisks, and faces lined and surfaced like an asparagus
bed ere the plants come up, be ever and anon darting in at the north
door of the Royal Exchange, bounding toward the chief priests of Mammon,
like pith balls to the conductor of an electric machine, and, when they
have "got their charge," bounding away again, then you may be sure that
the Stock Exchange is worth seeing, if it could be seen with comfort, or
even with safety. At those times, however, a stranger might as well jump
into a den of lions, or throw himself into the midst of a herd of
famishing wolves.

Among the various plans adopted for securing early intelligence for
Stock Exchange purposes before the invention of the telegraph, none
proved more successful than that of "pigeon expresses." Till about the
beginning of the century the ordinary courier brought the news from the
Continent; and it was only the Rothschilds, and one or two other
important firms, that "ran" intelligence, in anticipation of the regular
French mail. However, many years ago, the project was conceived of
establishing a communication between London and Paris by means of
pigeons, and in the course of two years it was in complete operation.
The training of the birds took considerable time before they could be
relied on; and the relays and organisation required to perfect the
scheme not only involved a vast expenditure of time, but also of money.
In the first place, to make the communication of use on both sides of
the Channel, it was necessary to get two distinct establishments for the
flight of the pigeons--one in England and another in France. It was then
necessary that persons in whom reliance could be placed should be
stationed in the two capitals, to be in readiness to receive or dispatch
the birds that might bring or carry the intelligence, and make it
available for the parties interested. Hence it became almost evi