THE MIRROR OF LITERATURE, AMUSEMENT, AND INSTRUCTION.

VOL. XIV, No. 395.] SATURDAY, OCTOBER 24, 1829. [PRICE 2d.


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[Illustration]




The Original Royal Exchange.

(_From a Correspondent_.)


Four centuries since the Merchants of London could not boast of a public
Exchange. They then assembled to transact business in Lombard-street,
among the Lombard Jews, from whom the street derives its name, and who
were then the bankers of all Europe. Here too they probably kept their
_benches_ or _banks_, as they were wont to do in the market-places of
the continent, for transacting pecuniary matters; and thus drew around
them all those of whose various pursuits money is the common medium.

At length, in 1534, Sir R. Gresham, who was agent for Henry the Eighth
at Antwerp, and had been struck with the advantages attending the
_Bourse_, or Exchange, of that city, prevailed upon his Royal Master to
send a letter to the Mayor and Commonalty of London, recommending them