Page:The National Gazetteer - A Topographical Dictionary of the British Islands, Volume 2.djvu/700

Rh LONDON. 692 LONDON. at-hill. Above the portico is a tower, with a stair- case inside, leading to the rooms and offices on the several stories. The principal hall for the merchants is a rotunda 60 feet in diameter, covered by a glazed dome, the height from the floor to the apex of the dome being 74 feet. In the basement on the E. side, are the remains of a Roman bath. The merchants' hall has three pro- jecting galleries, and the floor is laid so as to resemble the face of a mariners compass, -with the city shield, &c., in the centre. The Corn Exchange is in Mark-lane. The building exhibits an application of the Doric style of architecture, and the large door has wreaths of corn- ears in the frieze, and there are lions' heads in the cor- nice, while the podium is surmounted by a sculptured representation of the royal arms, grouped with agricul- tural implements. The great mart for groceries and colonial produce is in Mincing-lane, while the Baltic Coffee-house is the chief resort of the Russian merchants, having a large room for the trade-sales of tallow, hides, hemp, and other Baltic produce ; and the Jamaica Coffee- house in St. Michael's Alley, the Jerusalem, and East India Coffee-house in Cowper's-court, are much fre- quented for purposes of business by those who deal in the stocks, shares, manufactures, or natural products of the countries indicated by the above names. There is a large hide and leather market in Weston-street, Southwark ; and at Garraway's Coffee-house, in Change- alley, and the Auction Hart in Token House Yard there are sale-rooms where auctions of landed property, houses, reversionary interests, securities, advowsons, and the like, are constantly disposed of by public sale. There are also several auction-rooms in King-street, Covent-garden, Oxford-street, Holborn, and elsewhere, where jewelry, musical instruments, wearing apparel, furniture, and all kinds of miscellaneous property are constantly sold ; while literary property is usually disposed of in Wellington-street, Strand, Bond-street, and Leicester-square. At Tattersall's, the celebrated sporting establishment at Knightsbridge, which is under the direct patronage and support of the Jockey Club, there are always on sale many valuable horses ; and periodical sales take place, at which the studs of noblemen and gentlemen who are or have been celebrated patrons of the turf or the hunting-field, are disposed of ; and some of the finest animals in the world frequently leave these stables to become the property of foreigners, who send over agents to bid high prices for the pick of our English horses in order to improve their own breeds. There is also another large establishment for the sale by auction of horses- of inferior kinds, and of carriages and vehicles of all descriptions, at Aldridge's, in St. Martin's-lane. The Bank of England occupies an area of 8 acres between Lothbury and Threadneedle-street on the N. and S., and Bartholomew-lane and Princes-, street on the E. and W. It was originally founded by William Patterson, a Scotchman, in 1691, and received its charter of incorporation in 1694. Up to 1736 its business was earned on at Grocers' Hall in the Poultry, when it was transferred to its present site. The archi- tect first employed was Mr. G. Sampson. In 1766-86 several additions and alterations were made by Sir Robert Taylor; and in 1788 Sir John Soane, upon being appointed architect, still further enlarged the building, and attempted the difficult task of making the various parts harmonise with each other. This, however, he found impracticable ; and although he carried out his plan as far as possible, yet the long, low structure of the Bank of England still presents great incongruities of style, and although various portions of it when taken singly are worthy of much admiration, yet, as a whole, its architecture is of a very heterogeneous nature, and bears decided testimony to its having been commenced, carried on, and finished, from very different designs. The business of the bank is conducted by a governor, a deputy-governor, and a board of twenty-four directors, who hold their meetings in an apartment called the " Bank Parlour," where they settle the rate of discount, declare the dividend on their stock, and transact all the various '^matters connected with their office. The num- ber of clerks, messengers, and porters employed is over 1,000, and the salaries paid them amount to above 220,000 per annum. The principal offices are the bullion office, the public drawing office, the pay office, the transfer rooms, the five-pound note office, the post bill office, the power of attorney office, the telling room, and the rotunda. Through this last is a public thorough- fare, and it presents an extraordinary scene at dividend time, as here the money is paid in exchange for the dividend warrants ; and it is crowded for several days with persons thronging to the counter to receive their change. The principal entrance is in Threadneedle- street, and inside the walls are a garden, with a foun- tain, and an excellent library and reading-room, for the use of those who are employed on the establishment. There are several mechanical curiosities worth seeing in the bank, such as a clock with sixteen faces, over the drawing office, so placed that a face is seen in each of sixteen different offices ; a machine in the weighing office for testing light sovereigns ; the method of printing the bank notes ; and the arrangement and resources of the bullion department. For these special orders are necessary from persons officially connected with the establishment, but the public offices are open to general inspection on every day except holidays between thi hours of nine and three. In the immediate neighbour- hood of the Bank are all the principal life, fire, shipping, and other insurance offices, as also the private and joint stock banks, the stock and share brokers' offices, and all the various places of business in which the large daily monetary, mercantile, and commercial transactions not only of London, but of a great portion of the world, are settled and earned on. Lombard-street, lying to the S. of the Bank, and leading from Cornhill to Fenchurch- street, and so called from the Langobard or Lombard merchants, who established themselves as early as the reign of Edward II., consists almost entirely of the banking houses of several of the best known and richest firms of London bankers, and from this circum- stance it is said to be the wealthiest street in Europe. The General Post-Office stands at the S.E. corner of St. Martin's-le-Grand. It is a handsome building in the Ionic style of architecture, and was erected in 1829. It is 390 feet in length by 130 in width, and 64 in height. It has a lofty portico, up an ascent of a feif steps, which forms the entrance into the great hall. This is 80 feet in length, about 53 feet high in the centre, and extends entirely across the building, hav- ing its back entrance in Foster-lane, in which Gold, smiths' Hall is situated. Here is a largo court-yard where the mail carts, vans, &c., are received an< despatched upon going to or returning from thei respective destinations. The great hall contains boxes and offices for posting letters, books, newspapers, patterns, &c. ; and much hurry and excitement pre- vail there every day, but especially on Saturdays, as the hour approaches when the evening mails are being made up, and between 5'30 and 7'30, up to which time the late letters and newspapers may be posted. The management and patronage of the Post-office are in the hands of the postmaster - general, who is always ex officio a minister of state. He is assisted by a secretary^ upon whom all the internal arrangements devolve, an/ to whom the public are indebted for originating sud improvements as may from time to time take place in the postal system. It has been calculated that upwards of 6,000,000,000 letters pass through the General Post- Office annually, of which London takes and sends con- siderably more than a fourth, and, besides these, about 75,000,000 gazettes and newspapers, and 12,000,000 of parcels of magazines and books. The operations of the Post-office are now largely increased by Oi<J money-order and government savings-banks d'epart- inents which have been added to it, and the business of the former office, as connected with the (i'jmal Post-Office, is so largo that it employs a building for the purpose. This is on the opposite fide of St. Martin's-le-Grand, a little farther to the N., and next to the French Protestant church. There are