Old and New London, A Narrative of its History, its People and its Places. Illustrated with Numerous Engravings from the Most Authentic Sources. vol I
Thornbury, Walter
1872-78
Threadneedle Street. Merchant Taylors' Hall Details Costume- Merchant 1840 Costume- Merchant's Wife 1840 Nate & Prov. Bank Threadneedle Street
Threadneedle Street. Merchant Taylors' Hall Details Costume- Merchant 1840 Costume- Merchant's Wife 1840 Nate & Prov. Bank Threadneedle Street
IN we stand in the centre of Roman London. In a tesselated pavement, now in the , was found at . The Exchange stands, as we have already mentioned, on a mine of Roman remains. In - tesselated pavements were found, about or feet deep, beneath the old French Protestant Church, with coins of Agrippa, Claudius, Domitian, Marcus Aurelius, and the Constantines, together with fragments of frescoes, and much charcoal and charred barley. These pavements are also preserved in the . In , in excavating the site of the church of St. Benet Fink, there was found a large deposit of Roman , consisting of Roman tiles, glass, and fragments of black, pale, and red Samian pottery. | |
The church of [extra_illustrations.1.531.5] , of which a representation is given at page , was so called from Robert Finck, or Finch, who built a previous church on the same site (destroyed by the Fire of ). It was completed by Sir Christopher Wren, in , at the expense of , but was taken down in . The tower was square, surmounted by a cupola of sides, with a small turret on the top. There was a large recessed doorwayon the north side, of very good design. | |
The arrangement of the body of the church was very peculiar, we may say unique; and although far from beautiful, afforded a striking instance of Wren's wonderful skill. The plan of the church was a decagon, within which composite columns in the centre supported semi-circular vaults. Wren's power of arranging a plan to suit the site was shown in numerous buildings, but in none more forcibly than in this small church. | |
says Maitland,
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Newcourt, who lived near St. Benet Fink, says the monks of the Order of St. Anthony hard by were so importunate in their requests for alms that they would threaten those who refused them with and that timid people were in the habit of presenting them with fat pigs, in order to retain their good-will. Their pigs thus became numerous, and, as they were allowed to roam about for food, led to the proverb, Stow accounts for the number of these pigs in another way, by saying that when pIgs were seized in the markets by the City officers, as ill-fed or unwholesome, the monks took possession of them, and tying a bell about their neck, allowed them to stroll about on the dunghills, until they became fit for food, when they were claimed for the convent. | |
[extra_illustrations.1.531.6] is very appropriately situated in , had their licence as granted by Edward I. Their master, Henry de Ryall, was called their as that travelled for the whole company, and their wardens Their charter is dated i Edward III. Richard II. confirmed his grandfather's grants. From Henry IV. they obtained a confirmatory charter by the name of the Henry VI. gave them the right of search and correction of abuses. The society was incorporated in the reign of Edward IV., who gave them arms; and Henry VII., being a member of the Company, for their greater honour transformed them from Tailors and Linen Armourers to Merchant Taylors, giving them their present acting charter, which afterwards received the confirmation and of sovereigns --Henry VIII., Edward VI., Philip and Mary, Elizabeth, and James I. | |
There is no doubt (says Herbert) that Merchant Taylors were originally cutters-out and makers--up of clothes, or dealers in and importers of cloth, having tenter-grounds in . The ancient London tailors made both men's and women's apparel, also soldiers' quilted surcoats, the padded lining of armour, and probably the trappings of war-horses. In the year of Edward III. the Taylors contributed towards the French wars, and in they sent members to the Common Council, a number equalling (says Herbert) the largest guilds, and they were reckoned | |
532 | the company in precedence. In we find the Merchant Taylors and Skinners disputing for precedence. The Lord Mayor decided they should take precedence alternately; and, further, most wisely and worshipfully decreed that each Company should dine in the other's hall twice a year, on the vigil of Corpus Christi and the feast of St. John Baptist--a laudable custom, which soon restored concord. In there is a precept from the Mayor ordering that men of this Company and men of the Vintners' should ward each of the City gates every day. In the Company was required to provide and train men for arms. In the master and wardens are threatened by the Mayor for not making the provision of gunpowder required of all the London companies. In the Company had to furnish armed men, as its quota for the Queen's service against the dreaded Spanish Armada. |
In an interesting entry records Stow (a tailor and member of the Company) presenting his famous to the house, and receiving in consequence an annuity of per annum, eventually raised to . The Company afterwards restored John Stow's monument in the Church of St. Andrew . Speed, also a tailor and member of the Company, on the same principle, seems to have presented the society with valuable maps, for which, in , curtains were provided. In the Company subscribed towards a pest-house, the plague then raging in the City, and the same year contributed towards ships and a pinnace fitted out for her Majesty's service. | |
In the Company contributed towards the required from the London companies to welcome James I. and his Danish queen to England. triumphal arches were erected between and , that in being feet high and broad. Decker and Ben Jonson furnished the speeches and songs for this pageant. , was of the grandest days the Company has ever known; for James I. and his son, Prince Henry, dined with the Merchant Taylors. It had been at proposed to train some boys of Merchant Taylors' School to welcome the king, but Ben Jonson was finally invited to write an entertainment. The king and prince dined separately. The master presented the king with a purse of . The prince was then made a freeman, and put on the garland.. There were lutes ( in window and in another). | |
(or swung up above their heads)
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The king seems at this time to have scarcely recovered the alarm of the Gunpowder Plot; for the entries in the Company's books show that there was great searching of rooms and inspection of: walls, The cost of this feast was more than . The king's chamber was made by cutting a hole in the wall of the. hall, and building a small room behind it. | |
In (James I.), before a Company's dinner, the names of the livery were called, and notice taken of the absent. Then prayer was said, every kneeling, after which the names of benefactors and their were read, also the ordinances, and the orders for the grammar-school in St. Laurence Pountney. Then followed the dinner, to which were invited the assistants and the ladies, and old masters' wives and wardens' wives, the preacher, the schoolmaster, the wardens' substitutes, and the humble almsmen of the livery. Sometimes, as in , the whole livery was invited. | |
The kindness and charity of the Company are strongly shown in an entry of ,--, when John Churchman, a past master, received a pension of per annum. With true consideration, they allowed him to wear his bedesman's gown without a badge, and did not require him to appear in the hall with the other pensioners. All that was required was that he should attend Divine service and pray for the prosperity of the Company, and share his house with Roger Silverwood, clerk of the Bachellors' Company. Gifts to the Company seem to have been numerous. Thus we have | |
533 [extra_illustrations.1.533.1] [extra_illustrations.1.533.2] | () Richard Dove's gift of gilt spoons, marked with a dove; () a basin and ewer, value , gift of Thomas Medlicott; () a standing cup, value , from Murphy Corbett; same year, pictures for the parlour, from Mr. John Vernon. |
In the Civil War was brewing, and the Mayor ordered the Company to provide (in their garden) barrels of powder and hundredweight of metal and bullets. They had at this time in their armoury muskets and rests, muskets and headpieces, round muskets, corselets with headpieces, pikes, swords, and halberts. The same year they lent towards the maintenance of the king's northern army. In the procession on the return of Charles I. from Scotland, the Merchant Taylors seem to have taken a very conspicuous part. of the gravest, tallest, and most comely of the Company, apparelled in velvet plush or satin, with chains of gold, each with a footman with staff-torches, met the Lord Mayor and aldermen outside the City wall, near , and accompanied them to , and afterwards escorted the king from to his palace. The footmen wore ribands of the colour of the Company, and pendants with the Company's coatof-arms. The Company's standing extended feet. There stood the livery in their best gowns and hoods, with their banners and streamers. attended the king at dinner. This was the last honour shown the faithless king by the citizens of London. | |
The next entries are about arms, powder, and fire-engines, the defacing superstitious pictures, and the setting up the arms of the Commonwealth. In the Company was so impoverished by the frequent forced loans, that they had been obliged to sell part of their rental ( per annum); yet at the same date the generous Company seem to have given the poet Ogilvy , he having presented them with bound copies of his translations of Virgil and Aesop into English metre.--In the boys of [extra_illustrations.1.533.3] acted in the Company's hall Beaumont and Fletcher's comedy of | |
In the Duke of York, as Captain-general of the Artillery, was entertained by the artillerymen at Merchant Taylors' Hall. It was supposed that the banquet was given to test the duke's popularity and to discomfit the Protestants and exclusionists. After a sermon at Bow Church, the artillerymen () mustered at dinner. Many zealous Protestants, rather than dine with a Popish duke, tore up their tickets or gave them to porters and mechanics; and as the duke returned along , the people shouted,
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In the Company ordered a portrait of Mr. Vernon, of their benefactors, to be hung up in St. Michael's Church, . In they let their hall and rooms to the East India Company for a meeting; and in they let a room to the South Sea Company for the same purpose. In , when the Lord Mayor visited the King of Denmark, the Company's committee decided, Mr. Herbert thinks that this is the last instance of a Lord Mayor sending a precept to a City company, though this is by no means certain. In , Mr. Clarkson, an assistant, for having given the Company the picture, still extant, of Henry VII. delivering his charter to the Merchant Taylors, was presented with a silver waiter, value . | |
For the searching and measuring cloth, the Company kept a that weighed thirtysix ounces, and was graven with the Company's arms. With this measure they attended Bartholomew Fair yearly, and an annual dinner took place on the occasion. The livery hoods seem finally, in , to have settled down to scarlet and puce, the gowns to blue. The Merchant Taylors' Company, though not the in City precedence, ranks more royal and noble personages amongst its members than any other company. At King James's visit, before mentioned, no fewer than earls and lords, besides knights, esquires, and foreign ambassadors, were enrolled. Before , the Company had granted the freedom to kings, princes, bishops, dukes, earls, and lord mayors. The Company is specially proud of illustrious members--Sir John Hawkwood, a great leader of Italian Condottieri, who fought for the Dukes of Milan, and was buried with honour in the Duomo at Florence; Sir Ralph Blackwell, the supposed founder of [extra_illustrations.1.533.4] and of Hawkwood's companions at arms; and Sir William Fitzwilliam, Lord High Admiral to Henry VIII., and Earl of Southampton. He left to the Merchant Taylors his best standing cup, They also boast of Sir William Craven, ancestor of the Earls of Craven, who came up to London a poor Yorkshire lad, and was bound apprentice to a draper. His eldest son fought for Gustavus Adolphus, and is supposed to have secretly married the | |
534 | unfortunate Queen of Bohemia, whom he had so faithfully served. |
The hall in originally belonged to a worshipful gentleman named Edmund Crepin. The Company moved there in (Edward III.) from the old hall, which was behind the in , , an executor of the Outwich family leaving them the advowson of St. Martin Outwich, and shops. The Company built almshouses near the hall in the reign of Henry, IV. The original mansion of Crepin probably at this time gave way to a new hall, and to which now, for the time, were attached the almshouses mentioned. Both these piles of building are shown in the ancient plan of St. Martin Outwich, preserved in the church vestry, and which was taken by William Goodman in . The hall, as there drawn, is a high building, consisting of a ground floor and upper storeys. It has a central pointed- | |
arched gate of entrance, and is lighted in front by large windows, exclusive of smaller attic windows, and at the east end by . The roof is lofty and pointed, and is surmounted by a louvre or lantern, with a vane. The almshouses form a small range of cottage-like buildings, and are situate between the hall and a large building, which adjoins the church, and bears some resemblance to an additional hall or chapel. It appears to rise alternately from to storeys high. | |
In the hall was wainscoted instead of whitewashed; and in it was paved with red tile, rushes or earthen floors having At the Great Fire the Company's plate was melted into a lump of ' weight. | |
In the reign of Edward VI., when there was an inquiry into property devoted to superstitious uses, the Company had been maintaining chantry priests. | |
535 536 | |
The modern Merchant Taylors' Hall (says Herbert) is a spacious but irregular edifice of brick. The front exhibits an arched portal, consisting of an arched pediment, supported on columns of the Composite order, with an ornamental niche above; in the pediment are the Company's arms. The hall itself is a spacious and handsome apartment, having at the lower end a stately screen of the Corinthian order, and in the upper part a very large mahogany table feet long. The sides of the hall have numerous emblazoned shields of masters' arms, and behind the master's seat are inscribed in golden letters the names of the different sovereigns, dukes, earls, lords spiritual and temporal, & c., who have been free of this community. In the drawing-room are full-length portraits of King William and Queen Mary, and other sovereigns; and in the court and other rooms are half-lengths of Henry VIII. and Charles II., of tolerable execution, besides various other portraits, amongst which are those of Sir Thomas White, Lord Mayor in , the estimable founder of . College, Cambridge, and Sir Thomas Rowe, Lord Mayor in , and Mr. Clarkson's picture of Henry VII. presenting the Company with their incorporation charter. In this painting the king is represented seated on his throne, and delivering the charter to the Master, Wardens, and Court of Assistants of the Company. His attendants are Archbishop Warham, the Chancellor, and Fox, Bishop of Winchester, Lord Privy Seal, on his right hand; and on his left, Robert Willoughby, Lord Broke, then Lord Steward of the Household. In niches are shown the statues of Edward III. and John of Gaunt, the king's ancestors. In the foreground the clerk of the Company is exhibiting the roll with the names of the kings, & c., who were free of this' Company. In the background are represented the banners of the Company and of the City of London. The Yeomen of the Guard, at the entrance of the palace, close the view. On the staircase are likewise pictures of the following Lord Mayors, Merchant Taylors :--Sir William Turner, , Sir P. Ward, ; Sir William Pritchard, ; and Sir John Salter, . | |
The interior of the was adorned with costly tapestry, or arras, representing the history of St. John the Baptist. It had a screen, supporting a silver image of that saint in a tabernacle, or, according to an entry of , The hall windows were painted with armorial bearings; the floor was regularly strewed with clean rushes; from the ceiling hung silk flags and streamers; and the hall itself was furnished, when needful, with tables on tressels, covered on feast days with splendid table linen, and glittering with plate. | |
The Merchant Taylors have for their armorial ensigns-Argent, a tent royal between parliament robes; gules, lined ermine, on a chief azure, a lion of England. Crest--a Holy Lamb, in glory proper. Supporters- camels, or. Motto
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The stained glass windows of the [extra_illustrations.1.536.1] , as engraven in Wilkinson's history of that church, contain a representation of the original arms, granted by Clarencieux in . They differ from the present (granted in ), the latter having a lion instead of the Holy Lamb (which is in the body of the arms), and which latter is now their crest. | |
of the most splendid sights at this hall in the earlier times would have been (says Herbert), of course, when the Company received the high honour of enrolling King Henry VII. amongst their members; and subsequently to which, says Strype,
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From Merchant Taylors' Hall began the famous cavalcade of the archers, under their leader, as Duke of , in , consisting of archers, sumptuously apparelled, whereof wore chains of gold about their necks. This splendid company was guarded by whifflers and billmen, to the number of , besides pages and footmen, who marched through (the residence of the duke their captain). They continued their march through , by Finsbury, to , where, after having performed their several evolutions, they shot at the target for glory. | |
[extra_illustrations.1.536.2] , existing some years ago in , was begun in by Mr. Edward Moxhay, a speculative biscuit-baker, on the site of the old French church. Mr. Moxhay had been a shoemaker, but he suddenly started as a rival to the celebrated Leman, in . He was an amateur architect of talent, and it was said at the time, probably unjustly, that the building originated in Moxhay's vexation at the Gresham committee rejecting his design for a new . He opened his great commercial news-room years before the Exchange was finished, and while merchants were fretting at the delay, intending to make the hall a mercantile centre, to the annihilation of Lloyd's, the Baltic, Garraway's, the Jerusalem, and the North and South American Coffee-houses. were laid out. | |
537 | There was a grand bas-relief on the front by Mr. Watson, a young sculptor of promise, and there was an inaugurating banquet. The annual subscription of soon dwindled to There was a reading-room, and a room where commission agents could exhibit their samples. Wool sales were held there, and there was an auction for railway shares. There were also rooms for meetings of creditors and private arbitrations, and rooms for the deposit of deeds. |
A describer of in particularly mentions amongst the few beggars the Creole flower-girls, the decayed ticket-porters, and cripples on go-carts who haunted the neighbourhood, a poor, shrivelled old woman, who sold fruit on a stall at a corner of of the courts. She. was the wife of Daniel Good, the murderer. | |
The Baltic Coffee House, in , used to be the rendezvous of tallow, oil, hemp, and seed merchants indeed, of all merchants and brokers connected with the Russian trade. There was a time when there was as much gambling in tallow as in Consols, but the breaking down of the Russian monopoly by the increased introduction of South American and Australian tallow has done away with this. Mr. Richard Thornton and Mr. Jeremiah Harman were the monarchs of the Russian trade years ago. The public saleroom was in the upper part of the house. The Baltic was superintended by a committee of management. | |
That famous free school of the City, St. Anthony's, stood in , where the French church afterwards stood, and where the Bank of London now stands. It was originally a Jewish synagogue, granted by Henry V. to the brotherhood of St. Anthony of Vienna. A hospital was afterwards built there for a master, priests, a schoolmaster, and poor men. The Free School seems to have been built in the reign of Henry VI., who gave presentations to Eton and Oxford scholarships, at the rate of francs a week each, to the institution. Henry VIII., that arch spoliator, annexed the school to the collegiate church of , Windsor. The proctors of St. Anthony's used to wander about London collecting The school had great credit in Elizabeth's reign, and was a rival of . That inimitable coxcomb, Laneham, in his description of the great visit of Queen Elizabeth to the Earl of Leicester, at Kenilworth Castle, , a book which Sir Walter Scott has largely availed himself of, says- saith he, & c. | |
In Elizabeth's reign as the used to call the Threadneedle boys, used to have an annual breaking--up day procession, with streamers, flags, and beating drums, from Mile End to . The French or Walloon church established here by Edward VI. seems, in , to have been the scene of constant wrangling among the pastors, as to whether their disputes about celebrating holidays should be settled by of the foreign churches in London, or the French churches of all England. At this school were educated the great Sir Thomas More, and that excellent Archbishop of Canterbury, the zealous Whitgift (the friend of Beza, the Reformer), whose only fault seems to have been his persecutions of the Genevese clergy whom Elizabeth disliked. | |
Next in importance to Lloyd's for the general information afforded to the public, was certainly the North and South American Coffee House (formerly situated in ), fronting the thoroughfare leading to the entrance of the . This establishment was the complete centre for American intelligence. There was in this, as in the whole of the leading City coffeehouses, a subscription room devoted to the use of merchants and others frequenting the house, who, by paying an annual sum, had the right of attend- Dance to read the general news of the day, and make reference to the several files of papers, which were from every quarter of the globe. It was here also that information could be obtained of the arrival and departure of the fleet of steamers, packets, and masters engaged in the commerce of America, whether in relation to the minor ports of Montreal and Quebec, or the larger ones of Boston, Halifax, and New York. The room the subscribers occupied had a separate entrance to that which was common to the frequenters of the eating and drinking part of the house, and was most comfortably and neatly kept, being well, and in some degree elegantly furnished. The heads of the chief American and Continental firms were on the subscription list; and the representatives of Baring's, Rothschild's, and the other large establishments celebrated for their wealth and extensive mercantile operations, attended the rooms as regularly as Change, to see and hear what was going on, and gossip over points of business. | |
538 [extra_illustrations.1.538.1] | |
At the north-east extremity of is the once famous South Sea House. The back, formerly the , afterwards the South Sea Company's office, thence called the Old South Sea House, was consumed by fire in . The building in , in which the Company's affairs were formerly transacted, is a magnificent structure of brick and stone, about a quadragle, supported by stone pillars of the Tuscan order, which form a fine piazza. The front looks into , the walls being well built and of great thickness. The several offices were admirably disposed; the great hall for sales, the dining-room, galleries, and chambers were equally beautiful and convenient. Under these were capacious arched vaults, to guard what was valuable from the chances of fire. | |
The [extra_illustrations.1.538.2] was originated by Swift's friend, Harley, Earl of Oxford, in the year . The new Tory Government was less popular than the Whig it had displaced, and public credit had fallen. Harley wishing to provide for the discharge of millions of the floating debt, guaranteed per cent. to a company who agreed to take it on themselves. The due for the annual interest was raised by duties on wines, silks, tobacco, & c.; and the monopoly of the trade to the South Seas granted to the ambitious new Company, which was incorporated by Act of Parliament. | |
To the enthusiastic Company the gold of Mexico and the silver of Peru seemed now obtainable by the ship-load. It was reported that Spain was willing to open ports in Chili and Peru. The negotiations, however, with Philip V. of Spain led to little. The Company obtained only the privilege of supplying the Spanish colonies with negro slaves for years, and sending an annual vessel to trade; but even of this vessel the Spanish king was to have - of the profits, and a tax of per cent. on the residue. The vessel did not sail till , and the year after a rupture with Spain closed the trade. | |
In , the King alluding to his wish to reduce the National Debt, the South Sea Company at once petitioned Parliament (in rivalry with the Bank),that their capital stock might be increased from millions to , and offered to accept , instead of per cent. upon the whole amount. Their proposals were accepted. | |
The success of Law's Mississippi scheme, in , roused the South Sea directory to emulation. They proposed to liquidate the public debt by reducing the various funds into . , a committee met on the subject. The South Sea Company offered to melt every kind of stock into a single security. The debt amounted to at per cent. for years, and afterwards at per cent, for which they would pay . The Government approved of the scheme, but the opposed it, and offered for the privilege. The South Sea shareholders were not to be outdone, and ultimately increased their terms to . In the end they remained the sole bidders; though some idea prevailed of sharing the advantage between the companies, till Sir John Blunt exclaimed, The preference thus given excited a positive frenzy in town and country. On the their stock rose to ; it quickly reached , and several of the principal managers were dubbed baronets for their Mysterious rumours of vast treasures to be acquired in the South Seas got abroad, and per cent. was boldly promised. | |
says [extra_illustrations.1.538.3] ,
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Sir Robert Walpole alone opposed the bill in the House, and with clear-sighted sense (though the stock had risen from to in day) denounced he said, Rumours of free trade with Spain pushed the shares up to , and the bill passed the Commons by a majority of against . In the other House, peers were against it, and for it. Then the madness fairly began. Stars and garters mingled with squabbling Jews, and great ladies pawned their jewels in order to gamble in the Alley. The shares sinking a little, they were revived by lying rumours that Gibraltar and Port Mahon were going to be exchanged for Peruvian sea-ports, so that the Company would be allowed to send out whole fleets of ships. | |
Government, at last alarmed, began too late to act. On the King published a proclamation denouncing eighteen petitions for letters patent and bubble companies, of which the following are samples:--
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of the most famous bubbles was for discharging round and square cannon-balls and bullets, and making a total revolution in the art of war. says Charles Mackay, in his
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Another fraud that was very successful was that of the as they were called. They were nothing more than square pieces of playing cards, on which was the impression of a seal, in wax, bearing the sign of the in the neighbourhood of Exchange Alley, with the inscription of The possessors enjoyed no other advantage from them than permission to subscribe at some future time to a new sail-cloth manufactory, projected by who was then known to be a man of fortune, but who was afterwards involved in the peculation and punishment of the South Sea directors. These permits sold for as much as guineas in the Alley. | |
During the infatuation (says Smollett), luxury, vice, and profligacy increased to a shocking degree; the adventurers, intoxicated by their imaginary wealth, pampered themselves with the rarest dainties and the most costly wines. They purchased the most sumptuous furniture, equipage, and apparel, though with no taste or discernment. Their criminal passions were indulged to a scandalous excess, and their discourse evinced the most disgusting pride, insolence, and ostentation. They affected to scoff at religion and morality, and even to set Heaven at defiance. | |
A journalist of the time writes:
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By the end of May, the whole stock had risen to . It then, in days, made a tremendous leap, and rose to . It was now thought impossible that it could rise higher, and many prudent persons sold out to make sure of their spoil. any of these were noblemen about to accompany the king to Hanover. The buyers were so few on , that stock fell at once, like a plummet, from to . The directors ordering their agents to still buy, confidence was restored, and the stock rose to . By August, the stock culminated at per cent., or, as Dr. Mackay observes,
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The reaction soon commenced. Many government annuitants complained of the directors' partiality in making out the subscription lists. It was soon reported that Sir John Blunt, the chairman and several directors had sold out. The stock fell all through August, and on was quoted at only. Things grew alarming. The directors, to restore confidence, summoned a | |
540 | meeting of the corporation at Merchant Taylors' Hall. was blocked by the crowd.
[extra_illustrations.1.540.1] urged the necessity of union; and Mr. Hungerford said the Company had done more for the nation than Crown, pulpit, and bench. It had enriched the whole nation. The Duke of Portland gravely expressed his wonder that any could be dissatisfied. But the public were not to be gulled; that same evening the stock fell to , and the next day to . It soon got so low as . The ebb tide was running fast. wrote Mr. Broderick to Lord Chancellor Middleton, The Bank was pressed to circulate the South Sea bonds, but as the panic increased they fought off. Several goldsmiths and bankers fled. The Sword Blade Company, the chief cashiers of the South Sea Company, stopped payment. King George returned in haste from Hanover, and Parliament was summoned to meet in December. |
In the debate the enemies of the South Sea Company were most violent. Lord Molesworth said he should be satisfied to see the contrivers of the scheme tied in sacks and thrown into the Thames. Honest Shippen, whom even Walpole could not bribe, looking fiercely in Mr. Secretary | |
Craggs' face, said Mr. Craggs, rising in wrath, declared he was ready to give satisfaction to any in the House, or out of it, and this unparliamentary language he had afterwards to explain away. Ultimately a committee was appointed, with power to send for persons, papers, and records. The directors were ordered to lay before the house a full account of all their proceedings, and were forbidden to leave the kingdom for a twelvemonth. | |
Mr. Walpole laid before a committee of the whole house his scheme for the restoration of public credit, which was, in substance, to ingraft millions of South Sea stock into the , and the same sum into the East India Company, upon certain conditions. The plan was favourably received by the House. After some few objections it was ordered that proposals should be received from the great corporations. They were both unwilling to lend their aid, and the plan met with a warm but fruitless opposition at the general courts summoned for the purpose of deliberating upon it. They, however, ultimately agreed upon the terms on which they would consent to circulate the South Sea bonds; and their report being presented to the committee, a bill was then brought in, under the superintendence of Mr. | |
541 | Walpole, and safely carried through both Houses of Parliament. |
In the , [extra_illustrations.1.541.1] said that every farthing possessed by the criminals, whether directors or not, ought to be confiscated, to make good the public losses. | |
The wrath of the soon fell quick and terrible as lightning on members of the Ministry, Craggs, and Mr. Aislabie, Chancellor of the Exchequer. It was ordered, on the , that all South Sea brokers should lay before the House a full account of all stock bought or sold by them to any officers of the Treasury or Exchequer since Michaelmas, . Aislabie instantly resigned his office, and absented himself from Parliament, and of the South Sea directors (including Mr. Gibbon, the grandfather of the historian) were ordered into the custody of the Black Rod. | |
The next excitement was the flight of Knight, the treasurer of the Company, with all his books and implicating documents, and a reward of was offered for his apprehension. The same night | |
the Commons ordered the doors of the House to be locked, and the keys laid on the table. | |
General Ross, of the members of the Select Committee, then informed the House that there had been already discovered a plot of the deepest villany and fraud that Hell had ever contrived to ruin a nation. directors, members of the House-i.e., Sir Robert Chaplin, Sir Theodore Janssen, Mr. Sawbridge, and Mr. F. Eyles-were expelled the House, and taken into the custody of the Serjeant-at-Arms. Sir John Blunt, another director, was also taken into custody. This man, mentioned by Pope in his had been a scrivener, famed for his religious observances and his horror of avarice. He was examined at the bar of the , but refused to criminate himself. The Duke of Wharton, vexed at this prudent silence of the criminal, accused Earl Stanhope of encouraging this taciturnity of the witness. The Earl became so excited in his return speech, that it brought on an apoplectic fit, of which he died the next day, to the great grief of his royal master, George I. The | |
542 | Committee of Secrecy stated that in some of the books produced before them, false and fictitious entries had been made; in others there were entries of money, with blanks for the names of the stockholders. There were frequent erasures and alterations, and in some of the books leaves had been torn out. They also found that some books of great importance had been destroyed altogether, and that some had been taken away or secreted. They discovered, moreover, that before the South Sea Act was passed there was an entry in the Company's books of the sum of upon account of stock stated to have been sold to the amount of . This stock was all fictitious, and had been disposed of with a view to promote the passing of the bill. It was noted as sold on various days, and at various prices, from to per cent. |
Being surprised to see so large an amount disposed of, at a time when the Company were not empowered to increase their capital, the committee determined to investigate most carefully the whole transaction. The governor, sub-governor, and several directors were brought before them and examined rigidly. They found that at the time these entries were made the Company were not in possession of such a quantity of stock, having in their own right only a small quantity, not exceeding at the utmost. They further discovered that this amount of stock was to be esteemed as taken or holden by the Company for the benefit of the pretended purchasers, although no mutual agreement was made for its delivery or acceptance at any certain time. No money was paid down, nor any deposit or security whatever given to the Company by the supposed purchasers; so that if the stock had fallen, as might have been expected had the act not passed, they would have sustained no loss. If, on the contrary, the price of stock advanced (as it actually did by the success of the scheme), the difference by the advanced price was to be made good by them. Accordingly, after the passing of the act, the account of stock was made up and adjusted with Mr. Knight, and the pretended purchasers were paid the difference out of the Company's cash. This fictitious stock, which had chiefly been at the disposal of Sir John Blunt, Mr. Gibbon, and Mr. Knight, was distributed among several members of the Government and their connections, by way of bribe, to facilitate the passing of the bill. To the Earl of Sunderland was assigned of this stock; to the Duchess of Kendal, ; to the Countess of Platen, ; to her nieces, ; to Mr. Secretary Craggs, ; to Mr. Charles Stan. hope ( of the Secretaries of the Treasury), ; to the Sword Blade Company, . It also appeared that Mr. Stanhope had received the enormous sum of , as the difference in the price of some stock, through the hands of Turner, Caswall, and Co., but that his name had been partly erased from their books, and altered to Stangape. | |
The punishment fell heavy on the chief offenders, who, after all, had only shared in the general lust for gold. Mr. Charles Stanhope, a great gainer, managed to escape by the influence of the Chesterfield family, and the mob threatened vengeance. Aislabie, who had made some , was expelled the House, sent to the Tower, and compelled to devote his estate to the relief of the sufferers. Sir George Caswall was expelled the House, and ordered to refund . The day he went to the Tower, the mob lit bonfires and danced round them for joy. When by a general whip of the Whigs the Earl of Sunderland was acquitted, the mob grew menacing again. That same day the elder Craggs died of apoplexy. The report was that he had poisoned himself, but excitement and the death of a son, of the secretaries of the Treasury, were the real causes. His enormous fortune of a million and a half was scattered among the sufferers. Eventually the directors were fined , each man being allowed a small modicum of his fortune. Sir John Blunt was only allowed out of his fortune of ; Sir John Fellows was allowed out of ; Sir Theodore Janssen, out of ; Sir John Lambert, out of . director, named Gregsley, was treated with especial severity, because he was reported to have once declared he would feed his carriage-horses off gold; another, because years before he had been mixed up with some harmless but unsuccessful speculation. According to Gibbon the historian, it was the Tory directors who were stripped the most unmercifully. | |
says Charles Mackay,
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A volume (says another writer) might be collected of anecdotes connected with this fatal speculation. A tradesman at Bath, who had invested his only. remaining fortune in this stock, finding it had fallen from to , left Bath with an intention to sell out; on his arrival in London it had fallen to . He thought the price too low, sanguinely hoped that it would re-ascend, still deferred his purpose, and lost his all. | |
The Duke of Chandos had embarked in this project; the Duke of Newcastle strongly advised his selling the whole, or at least a part, with as little delay as possible; but this salutary advice he delayed to take, confidently anticipating the gain of at least half a million, and through rejecting his friend's counsel, he lost the whole. Some were, however, more fortunate. The guardians of Sir Gregory Page Turner, then a minor, had purchased stock for him very low, and sold it out when it had reached its maximum, to the amount of . With this large sum Sir Gregory built a fine mansion at Blackheath, and purchased acres of land for a park. maiden sisters, whose stock had accumulated to , sold out when the South Sea stock was at . The broker whom they employed advised them to re-invest in navy bills, which were at the time at a discount of per cent.!; they took his advice, and years afterwards received their money at par. | |
Even the poets did not escape. Gay (says Dr. Johnson, in his ) had a present from young Craggs of some South Sea stock, and once supposed himself to be the master of . His friends, especially Arbuthnot, persuaded him to sell his share, but he dreamed of dignity and splendour, and could not bear to obstruct his own fortune. He was then importuned to sell as much as would purchase a a year for life, said Fenton, This counsel was rejected; the profit and principal were both lost, and Gay sunk so low under the calamity that his life for a time became in danger. | |
Pope, always eager for money, was also dabbling in the scheme, but it is uncertain whether he made money or lost by it. Lady Mary Wortley Montague was a loser. When Sir Isaac Newton was asked when the bubble would break, he said, with all his calculations he had never learned to calculate the madness of the people. | |
Prior declared,
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In the full heat of it, the Duchess of Ormond wrote to Swift:
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Swift, cold and stem, escaped the madness, and even denounced in the following verses the insanity that had seized the times:--
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Budgell, Pope's barking enemy, destroyed him. self after his losses in this South Sea scheme, and a well-known man of the day called lost his reason. | |
Charles Lamb, in his has described the South Sea House in his own delightful way. says the poet clerk,
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Footnotes: [extra_illustrations.1.531.5] St. Benet Fink [extra_illustrations.1.531.6] The Merchant Taylors, whose hall [extra_illustrations.1.533.1] Merchant Taylors' School-Interior [extra_illustrations.1.533.2] Merchant Taylors' School-Cloisters [extra_illustrations.1.533.3] Merchant Taylors' School [extra_illustrations.1.533.4] Blackwell Hall [extra_illustrations.1.536.1] old St. Martin Outwich [extra_illustrations.1.536.2] The Hall of Commerce [extra_illustrations.1.538.1] South Sea House-Arms for Court Room [extra_illustrations.1.538.2] South Sea Company [extra_illustrations.1.538.3] Smollett [extra_illustrations.1.540.1] Mr. Secretary Craggs [extra_illustrations.1.541.1] Lord Stanhope |