Gardens, with fireworks. Mr. Albert Smith and Mr. Coxwell accompanied the aëronaut. At 7000 feet high the Balloon burst, but, by Mr. Coxwell cutting some lines, the Balloon assumed a parachute form, and descended safely.

Aug. 7, 1850, Mrs. Graham's Balloon destroyed by fire, after her descent, near Edmonton.

Sept. 7, 1854, ascent of Mr. Coxwell's War Balloon, from the Surrey Zoological Gardens, with telegraphic signals.

June 15, 1857, night voyage from Woolwich to Tavistock, 250 miles, made by Mr. Coxwell, in five hours.

July 17, 1862, Mr. Glaisher and Mr. Coxwell first ascended in a large Balloon made by the latter for the experiments of the British Association: ascent from Wolverhampton; elevation attained, 26,177 feet above the sea-level.

Sept. 5, 1862, the highest and most memorable ascent on record. Mr. Glaisher and Mr. Coxwell attained an elevation of 37,000 feet, or 7 miles. Mr. Glaisher became insensible; and Mr. Coxwell, his hands being frozen, had to pull the valve-cord with his mouth, and thus escaped death.

Jan. 12, 1864, Mr. Glaisher's seventeenth scientific ascent in Mr. Coxwell's large Balloon; the only ascent made in England during the month of January.

Aug. 3, 1864, M. Godard ascended from Cremorne Gardens, in his huge Montgolfier Balloon, and made a perilous descent at Walthamstow.

Mr. Glaisher, by his scientific ascents, has proved that the Balloon does afford a means of solving with advantage many delicate questions in physics; and the Committee of the British Association report that Science and the Association owe a debt of gratitude to Mr. Glaisher for the ability, perseverance, and courage with which he has voluntarily undertaken the hazardous labour of recording meteorological phenomena in the several ascents. The following survey of London, Oct. 9, 1863, sixteenth ascent, as the Balloon passed over London Bridge, at the height of 7000 feet, in an unusually elear atmosphere, is picturesquely descriptive.

"The scene around," says Mr. Glaisher, "was probably one that cannot be equalled in the world at one glance the homes of 3,000,000 of people were seen, and so distinctly that every large building at every part was easily distinguished; while those almost under us-viz., the Bank and Newgate, the Docks and surrounding buildings, &c., in such detail that their inner courts were visible, and their ground-plans could have been drawn. Cannon-street was easily traced; but it was difficult to believe at first sight that small building to be St. Paul's. Looking onward, Oxford-street was visible; the Parks, the Houses of Parliament, and Millbank Priscn, with its radiating lines from the centre, at once attracted notice. In fact, the whole of London was visible, and some parts of it very clearly. Then all around there were lines of detached villas, imbedded as it were in shrubs; and beyond, the country, like a garden, with its fields well marked, but becoming smaller and smaller as the eye wandered further

away.

"Again looking down, there was the Thames, without the slightest mist, winding throughout its whole length, with innumerable ships, apparently very long and narrow, and steamboats like moving toys. Gravesend was visible, as were the mouth of the Thames and the coast leading on to Norfolk. The southern boundary of the mouth of the Thames was not quite so clear, but the sea beyond was discernible for many miles; and when higher up I looked for the coast of France, but I could not see it. On withdrawing the eye it was arrested by the garden-like appearance of the county of Kent, till again London claimed attention. Smoke, thin and blue, was curling above it and slowly moving away in beautiful curves, from all but south of the Thames; here the smoke was less blue and became apparently more dense, till the cause was evident, it being mixed with mist rising from the ground, the southern limits of which were bounded by an even line, doubtless indicating the meeting of the subsoils of gravel and clay.

"The whole scene was surmounted by a canopy of blue, the sky being quite clear and free from cloud everywhere except near the horizon, where a circular band of cumuli and strata clouds, extending all round, formed a fitting boundary for such a scene. The sun was seen setting, but was not itself visible, except a small part seen through a break in a dark stratus cloud-like an eye overseeing all. Sunset, as seen from the earth, is described as fine, the air being clear and shadows sharply defined. As we rose the golden hues decreased in intensity and richness both right and left of the place of the sun; but their effects extended to fully one-fourth part of the circle, where rose-coloured clouds limited the scene. The remainder of the circle was completed partly by pure white cumulus of very rounded and symmetrical forms. I have seen London from above by night, and I have seen it by day when four miles high, but nothing could exceed the view on this occasion at the height of one mile, varying to one mile and three-quarters, with a clear atmosphere. The roar of London even at the greatest height, was one unceasing rich and deep sound, and added impressive interest to the general circumstances in which we were placed."

BANK OF ENGLAND, THE,

Is an insulated assemblage of buildings and courts, occupying three acres, minus nine or

ten yards, north of the Royal Exchange, Cornhill; bounded by Prince's-street, west;

Lothbury, north; Bartholomew-lane, east; and Threadneedle-street, south. Its exterior measurements are 365 feet south, 410 feet north, 245 feet east, and 440 feet west. Within this area are nine open courts; a spacious rotunda, numerous public offices, court and committee-rooms, an armoury, engraving and printing-offices, a library, and apartments for officers, servants, &c.

The Bank, "the greatest monetary establishment in the world," was projected in 1691, by Mr. William Paterson, a Scotsman; was established by a company of Whig merchants, and incorporated by William III., July 27, 1694, Paterson being placed on the list of Directors for this year only; the then capital, 1,200,000l., being lent to Government. The first chest used was somewhat larger than a seaman's.

The first Governor was Sir John Houblon, whose house and garden were on part of the site of the present Bank; and the first Deputy-Governor was Michael Godfrey, who, July 17, 1695, was shot at the siege of Namur, while attending King William with a communication relating to the Bank affairs.

The Bank commenced business at Mercers' Hall, and next removed to Grocers' Hall, then in the Poultry; at this time the secretaries and clerks numbered but 54, and their united salaries amounted to 4350. In 1734 they removed to the premises built for the Bank, the earliest portion of which part is still remaining—the back of the Threadneedle-street front, towards the court-was designed by an architect named Sampson. To this building Sir Robert Taylor* added two wings of columns, with projections surmounted by pediments, and other parts. On Jan. 1, 1785, was set up the marble statue of William III., amid the firing of three volleys, by the servants of the establishment, Cheere, sculptor, in the Pay Hall, 79 feet by 40 feet, which, in the words of Baron Dupin, would "startle the administration of a French bureau, with all its inaccessibilities."

In 1757, the Bank premises were small, and surrounded by St. Christopher-le-Stocks Church (since pulled down), three taverns, and several private houses. Between 1766 and 1786 east and west wings were added by Taylor: some of his work is to be seen in the architecture of the garden court. Upon Sir Robert Taylor's death, in 1788, Mr. John Soane was appointed Architect to the Bank; and, without any interruption to the business, he completed the present Bank of brick and Portland stone, of incombustible materials, insulated, one-storied, and without external windows. The general architecture is Corinthian, from the Temple of the Sibyl at Tivoli, of which the southwest angle exhibits a fac-simile portion. The Lothbury court is fine; and the chief Cashier's office is from the Temple of the Sun and Moon at Rome. The embellishments throughout are very beautiful; and the whole well planned for business-high architectural merit. The Rotunda has a dome 57 feet diameter; and the Bank Parlour, where the Governor and Company meet, is a noble room by Taylor. Here the Dividends are declared; and here the Directors are baited half-yearly by every Proprietor who has had 5007. Bank-stock in his possession for six months. In the Parlour lobby is a portrait of Daniel Race, who was in the Bank service for more than half a century, and thus amassed upwards of 200,000l. In the ante-chamber to the Governor's room are fine busts of Pitt and Fox, by Nollekens. The ante-room to the Discount Office is adapted from Adrian's Villa at Tivoli. The private Drawing Office, designed in 1836, by Cockerell (Soane's successor), is original and scenic; and the Drawing Office, completed by the same architect in 1849, is 138 feet 6 inches long, and lit by four large circular lanterns. In 1850, the Cornhill front was heightened by an attic; and a large room fitted up as a Library for the clerks.

The entrance to the Bullion Yard is copied from Constantine's Arch at Rome, and has allegories of the Thames and Ganges, by T. Banks, R.A. The Bullion Office, on the northern side of the Bank, consists of a public chamber and two vaults-one for the public deposit of bullion, free of charge, unless weighed; the other for the private stock of the Bank. The duties are discharged by a Principal, Deputy-Principal, Clerk, Assistant-Clerk, and porters. The public are on no account allowed to enter the Bullion Vaults. Here the gold is kept in bars (each weighing 16 lbs. and worth about

The late Professor Cockerell, in his earlier lectures, used to exhibit, as a specimen of clever arrangement, a plan of the triangular block of buildings, by Sir Robert Taylor, that formerly stood between the Bank and the Mansion House, where the Wellington Statue is now.

8007.), and the silver in pigs and bars, and dollars in bags. The value of the Bank bullion in May, 1850, was sixteen millions. This constitutes, with their securities, the assets which the Bank possess against their liabilities, on account of circulation and deposits: and the difference between the several amounts is called "the Rest," or balance in favour of the Bank. For weighing, admirably-constructed machines are used: the larger one, invented by Mr. Bate, for weighing silver in bars from 50 lbs. to 80 lbs. troy; second, a balance, by Sir John Barton, for gold; and a third, by Mr. Bate, for dollars, to amounts not exceeding 72 lbs. 2 oz. troy. Gold is almost exclusively obtained by the Bank in the bar form; although no form of deposit would be refused. A bar of gold is a small slab, weighing 16 lbs., and worth about 8007.

In the Weighing Office, established in 1842, to detect light gold, is the ingenious machine invented by Mr. William Cotton, then Deputy-Governor of the Bank. About 80 or 100 light and heavy sovereigns are placed indiscriminately in a round tube; as they descend on the machinery beneath, those which are light receive a slight touch, which moves them into their proper receptacle; and those which are of legitimate weight pass into their appointed place. The light coins are then defaced by a machine, 200 in a minute; and by the weighing-machinery 35,000 may be weighed in one day. There are six of these machines, which from 1844 to 1849 weighed upwards of 48,000,000 pieces without any inaccuracy. The average amount of gold tendered in one year is nine millions, of which more than a quarter is light. The silver is put up into bags, each of one hundred pounds value, and the gold into bags of a thousand; and then these bagfuls of bullion are sent through a strongly-guarded door, or rather window, into the Treasury, a dark gloomy apartment, fitted up with iron presses, and made secure with huge locks and bolts.

The Bank-note machinery, invented by the Oldhams, father and son, exerts, by the steam-engine, the power formerly employed by the mechanic in pulling a note. The Bank-notes are numbered on the dexter and sinister halves, each bearing the same figures, by Bramah's machines: as soon as a note is printed, and the handle reversed to take it out and put another in its place, a steel spring attached to the handle alters the number to that which should follow.

The Clock in the roof is a marvel of mechanism, as it is connected with all the clocks in the Stock offices: the hands of the several dials indicate precisely the same hour and second, by means of connecting brass-rods (700 feet long, and weighing 6 cwt.), and 200 wheels; the principal weight being 350 lbs.

The Bank has passed through many perils: it has been attacked by rioters, its notes have been at a heavy discount, it has been threatened with impeachment, and its credit has been assailed by treachery. In 1696 (the great re-coinage) the Directors were compelled to suspend the payment of their notes. They then increased their capital to 2,201,271. The Charter has been renewed from 1697 to the present time.

The earliest panic, or run, was in 1707, upon the threatened invasion of the Pretender. In the run of 1745, the Corporation was saved by their agents demanding payment for notes in sixpences, and who, paying in the same, thus prevented the boná fide holders of notes presenting them. Another memorable run was on February 26, 1797, upon an alarm of invasion by the French, when the Privy Council Order and the Restriction Act prohibited the Bank from paying cash, except for sums under 20s. During the panic of 1825, from the evidence of Mr. Harman before Parliament, it appears that the quantity of gold in the treasury, in December, was under 1,300,0007. It has since transpired that there was not 100,000l., probably not 50,000l.! Bank then issued one-pound notes, to protect its remaining treasure; which worked wonders, though by sheer good luck : "because one box containing a quantity of onepound notes had been overlooked, and they were forthcoming at the lucky moment."

The

Panies have been produced sometimes by extraordinary means. In May, 1832, a "run upon the Bank of England" was produced by the walls of London being placarded with the emphatic words, "To stop the Duke, go for Gold;" advice which was followed, as soon as given, to a prodigious extent. The Duke of Wellington was then very unpopular; and on Monday, the 14th of May, it being currently believed that the Duke had formed a Cabinet, the panic became universal, and the run upon the Bank of England for coin was so incessant, that in a few hours upwards of half a million was carried off. Mr. Doubleday, in his Life of Sir Robert Peel, states it to be well known that the above placards were "the device of four gentlemen, two of whom were elected members of the reformed Parliament. Each put down 201.: and the sum thus clubbed was expended in printing thousands of these terrible missives,

which were eagerly circulated, and were speedily seen upon every wall in London. The effect is hardly to be described. It was electric."

The Bank is the banker of the Government; for here are received the taxes, the interest of the National Debt paid, the Exchequer business transacted, &c. The amount paid by the Government to the Bank for the management of the National Debt is at the rate of 3407. per million for the first 600,000,000l., and 300l. per million for the remainder. This amounts to about 250,000l. a year. "The Old Lady of Threadneedle-street," applied to the Bank, is a political sobriquet now almost forgotten.

The forgeries upon the Bank supply a melancholy chapter in its history. The first forger of a note was a Stafford linendraper, who, in 1758, was convicted and executed. Through the forgeries of one person, Robert Aslett, the Bank lost 320,000l.; and by another, Fauntleroy, 360,000%. In 1862, there were forgeries to a large amount, by paper expressly manufactured for the Bank, which had been stolen, for which four persons suffered penal imprisonment.

The Committee of Treasury sit weekly, and is composed of all the Directors who have passed the chair. The Accountant, the Secretary, and the Cashier reside within the Bank; and a certain number of Clerks sit up nightly to go the round of the building, in addition to the military guard.

The Bank possesses a very fine collection of ancient coins. Visitors are shown in the old Note Office, paid notes for ten years; and some bank-notes for large amounts which have passed between the Bank and the Government, including a single note for one million sterling, kept in a frame.

Madox, who wrote the History of the Exchequer, was first Cashier; but more popu larly known was Abraham Newland, Chief-Cashier from 1778 to 1807, who had slept twenty-five years within the Bank, without absenting himself a single night. He signed every note: his name was long remembered in a popular song, as one that is wrote upon every bank-note," to forge which, in street slang, was to "sham Abraham."

In 1852 was placed in the Garden Court a fountain, constructed by the then Governor, Mr. Thomas Hankey. The water is thrown by a single jet, 30 feet high, amongst the branches of two of the finest lime-trees in London, and is part of the Bank system of waterworks. An Artesian well sunk 330 feet-100 in the chalk-yields soft water, free from lime, and without a trace of organic matter. The water is pumped into the tanks at the top of the building, which contain 50,000 gallons, and the fountain is connected with these tanks; the pumping being by the steam-engine employed also in printing the bank-notes. The fountain is placed on the site of St. Christopher's churchyard. The last person buried there was Jenkins, a Bank clerk, 7 feet in height, and who was allowed to be buried within the walls of the Bank, to prevent disinterment, on account of his unusual height.

There are in the Bank upwards of eight hundred clerks, at salaries ranging from 651. per annum to 8007.; the patronage is in the hands of the directors, of whom there are twenty-four, each having a nomination to admit one clerk, provided he be found qualified on examination. The vacancies are not, as in most public offices, filled up as they occur by deaths, resignations, &c., but by electing from twenty-five to thirty junior clerks every four or five months; it is also usual to admit one-fifth of this number from the sons of clerks already in the service. The scale of pensions for length of service is the same as in the Government offices.

Among the Curiosities are the bank-note autograph-books-two splendidly-bound folio volumes, each leaf embellished with an illuminated border, exactly surrounding the space required to attach a bank-note. When any distinguished visitor arrives he is requested to place his autograph to an unsigned note, which is immediately pasted over one of the open spaces. They are thus illustrated by the signatures of various royal and noble personages. That of Napoleon III., Henry V., the Kings of Sweden, Portugal, and Prussia, a whole brigade of German Princes, Ambassadors from Siam, Persia, Turkey-the latter in Oriental characters-and some of our higher nobility. There are some scientific names, but few literary celebrities; among them those of Lady Sale; and Mehemet Ali, the Pasha of Egypt.

"The circulation of the Bank of England has been stationary or slightly retrogressive for some years past, notwithstanding the increase of trade, wealth, and population. The authorities even of the Currency principle no longer insist upon the variations of the bank-note circulation as the symptoms to be chiefly regarded. They, with the rest of the world, have discovered that the state of the banking reserve at the Bank of England, the condition of credit, and the effects of a high or low rate of interest, are the circumstances which really control the financial phenomena of the country from week to week and month to month."-Economist.

Upwards of a million is paid into the Bank daily, in the shape of notes. When' cashed a corner is torn off, and this now valueless piece of paper, after being duly entered in the books, is deposited in chambers beneath the sorting-room, where it is kept ten years, in case it may be required as testimony at some future trial, or to settle any other legal difficulties. In one of the court-yards of the building is a large circular cage, within which is an octagonal furnace constructed of bricks, laid only half over each other, so as to afford ample ventilation. In this furnace, once a month, all the notes that were received during the month previous ten years back are consumed. The furnace is five feet high, by at least ten in diameter; yet we are assured that it is completely filled by the number returned during one month.

Notes of the Bank, at its establishment, 20 per cent. discount; in 1745 under par. Bank Bills paid in silver, in 1745. Bank Post Bills first issued, 1754. Small Notes issued, 1759. Cash payments disecntinued, Feb. 25, 1797, and Notes of 17. and 21. put into circulation. Cash payments partially resumed, Sept. 22, 1817. Restriction altogether ceased, 1821. May 14, 1832, upwards of 300,000l. weighed and paid to bankers and others. Quakers and Hebrews not eligible as Directors. Qualification for Director, 20007. Bank Stock; Deputy-Governor, 3000l.; Governor. 4000l. Highest price of Bank Stock, 299; lowest 91. The Bank has paid Dividends at the rate of 21 per cent., and as low as 4 per cent. per annum. Silver Tokens issued, Jan., 1798. Issue on paper securities not permitted to exceed 14,000,0007. Capital punishment for forgery, excepting only forgeries of wills and powers of attorney, abandoned in 1-32-(See Francis's popular History of the Bank of England, 3rd edit. 1848.)

1552, Oct. 1, West-end Branch opened at Uxbridge House, Burlington Gardens.

The total of deposits held ten years ago by the Bank of England was about 14,300,000Z.; it is now (1866) 20,140,0007.

In the Riots of 1780, the Bank was defended by military, the City volunteers, and the officers of the establishment, when the old inkstands were cast into bullets. It was attacked by the mob, when Wilkes rushed out and seized some of the ringleaders. Since this date a military force has been stationed nightly within the Bank; a dinner is provided for the officer on guard and two friends. (See a clever sketch in Melibaus in London.) In the political tumult of November, 1830, provisions were made at the Bank for a state of siege. At the Chartist Demonstration of April 10, 1848, the roof of the Bank was fortified by Sappers and Miners, and a strong garrison within. The Bank has now its own company of Rifles, 150 strong, with two subdivisions each, having a lieutenant and ensign, and fully armed and equipped.

BANKSIDE.

THAT part of the Liberty of Paris Garden called by old writers the "Bank” simply, and afterwards Bankside, bordering on the Thames, was the site of several early theatres, namely, the Globe, the Hope, the Rose, and the Swan; and superseded the circus for "Bull-bayting" and "Bear-baiting," shown in Aggas's Map, about 1560. (See THEATRES.) The stews here were as old as the reign of Henry II., and in the time of Richard II. belonged to Sir William Walworth who slew Wat Tyler, who had several stew-houses on the Bankside. They had signs painted on the walls; as a Boar's Head, the Cross Keys, the Gun, the Castle, the Cranes, the Cardinal's Hat, the Bell, the Swan, &c. These stews, which were regulated by Parliament, were put down by sound of trumpet in 1546; about 1506 this part was known as Stews-bank. Bears were baited here from a very early period, but the bear-garden was removed to Clerkenwell about 1686; the site at Bankside is now occupied by the Eagle iron foundry and Bear-garden wharf. In 1720, the Bank was chiefly inhabited by dyers, "for the conveniency of the water." In the reigns of Queen Elizabeth and James I., Edward Alleyn, the founder of Dulwich College, kept the garden on the Bankside, in conjunction with his father-in-law, Philip Henslowe, who was originally a dyer here. Here were the Bishop of Winchester's park and garden and palace: of the latter a fragment remains; and here is "Cardinal's Cap-alley," and " Pike-garden."