WILLIAM THE IHIED.

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to have lived to a great extent on credit. Even an opulent manseldom had the means of discharging the weekly bills of his -baker and butcher.* A promissory note, however, subscribedby such a man, was readily taken in the district where his meansand character were well known. The notes of the wealthymoneychangers of Lombard Street circulated widely.** Thepaper of the Bank of England did much service, and would havedone more, but for the unhappy error into which the Parliamenthad recently been led by Harley and Foley. The confidencewhich the public had felt in that powerful and opulent Companyhad been shaken by the Act which established the Land Bank.It might well be doubted whether there would be room for thetwo rival institutions; and of the two, the younger seemed tobe the favourite of the government and of the legislature. Thestock of the Bank of England had gone rapidly down from ahundred and ten to eighty three. Meanwhile the goldsmiths,who had from the first been hostile to that great corporation,were plotting against it. They collected its paper from everyquarter; and on the fourth of May, when the Exchequer hadjust swallowed up most of the old money, and when scarcelyany of the new money had been issued, they flocked to Grocers’Hall, and insisted on immediate payment. A single goldsmithdemanded thirty thousand pounds. The Directors, in thisextremity, acted wisely and firmly. They refused to cash thenotes which had been thus maliciously presented, and left theholders to seek a remedy in Westminster Hall. Other creditors,who came in good faith to ask for their due, were paid. Theconspirators affected to triumph over the powerful body, which

* “Money exceeding scarce, so that none was paid or received: but allwas on trust.” — Evelyn, May 13. And again, on June 13.: “Want ofcurrent money to carry on the smallest concerns* even for daily provisionsin the markets."

** L'l-Iermitage, See a Letter of Dryden to Tonson, which

Malone, with great probability, supposes to have been written at this time.

CHAP.

XXII.

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51

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