"Buyers at an
eighth, and sellers at a quarter;" that is, the jobbers who either buy
or sell will have the _turn_, or 1/8. Now if I leave the purchase to a
broker, he probably gives, without the least hesitation, 80-3/8, because
he may have a friendly turn to make to his brother broker, for a similar
act of kindness the preceding day. Well, but I do _not_ leave the
purchase to a broker; I manage it myself. I direct my broker to buy me
L100 stock at 80-1/4. He takes my name, profession, and place of
residence; he then makes a purchase, and the seller of the stock
transfers it to me, my heirs, assigns, &c., and makes his signature. On
the same leaf of the same book in which the _transfer_ is made to me,
there is a form of acceptance of the stock transferred to me, and to
which I also put my signature; the clerk then witnesses the receipt, and
the whole business is done. The seller of the stock gives me the
receipt, with his signature to it, which I may keep till I receive a
dividend, when it is no longer any use. The payment of the dividend is
an acknowledgment of my right to the stock; and therefore the receipt
then becomes useless."

[Illustration: SIR THOMAS GRESHAM.]

The usual commission charged by a broker is one-eighth (2s. 6d.) per
cent. upon the stock sold or purchased; although of late years the
charge has often been reduced fifty per cent., especially in
speculators' charges, a reduction ascribed to the influx into the market
of a body of brokers who will "do business" almost for nothing, provided
they can procure customers. The broker deals with the "jobbers," a class
of members, or "middle-men," who remain stationary in the stock market,
ready to act upon the orders received from brokers.

There is, moreover, a fund subscribed by the members for their decayed
associates, the invested capital of which, exclusive of annual
contributions, amounts to upwards of L30,000.

The Stock Exchange has numbered amongst its subscribers some valuable
members of society, including David Ricardo and several of his
descendants, Francis Baily the astronomer, and many others, down to
Charles Stokes, F.R.S., not long ago deceased. Horace Smith and the
author of the "Last of the Plantagenets"--himself in his prosperity a
munificent patron of literature--also for a long time enlivened its
precincts. The writer of the successful play of "The Templar," and other
elegant productions, was one of the body.

The managers, in 1854,