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298 bullion in the bank, he obtained credit in its books for the sum which he so invested, and a receipt, by which, within the period of six months, after cancelling the credit that he had obtained, he could draw his cash or bullion from the bank. These receipts were renewable on payment of a small per centage to the bank, as warehouse rent for the cash lodged in it. If they were permitted to expire, the money or bullion, for which they were granted, could not be withdrawn from the bank, but the person who had so invested it, possessed an equivalent bank credit; which, however, he could convert into cash, by purchasing a receipt for the sum that he wanted in the stock-market, where they were generally to be sold.

Of the cash and bullion which had fallen to the bank, or rather was become, or ought to have been, locked up in it, from the expiration of these receipts, not a single florin remained; and the amount of this mighty and boasted treasure, had it been carefully