_Unfounded Charge.—Joint-Stock Companies.—Speculators.—Mark
Sprot.—Sketch of the House of Baring.—Policies on the Life
of Bonaparte.—Rumors of his Death.—David Ricardo.—Forgery of
Benjamin Walsh.—Excitement of the Nation.—Increase of the National
Debt.—Sinking Fund.—Unclaimed Dividends.—Francis Baily._
Although shares in life assurance companies form part of the
professed business of the Stock Exchange, yet the better class rarely
reach the hands of the brokers. They are held in such high and
deserved estimation, that they remain in the possession of families
for generations, passing as heirlooms, with the same confidence in
their value as if they were freehold. As an instance of this, it was
noticed in the papers that the first public sale of the stock of the
Royal Exchange Assurance Corporation occurred in 1812.
The charge of employing official information to speculate in the
funds has often been brought against public men. These accusations
have often been made with cause, but generally with caution. In
August, 1805, however, a letter was received by the head of the
government, signed by Ambrose Charles, a clerk in the employment of
the directors of the Bank of England, in which Lord Moira, a cabinet
minister, was accused of availing himself of his official information
to speculate in the stocks. The name of the broker employed by his
Lordship was given; and letters which implicated him were said to
have been publicly exhibited on ’Change. The underlings of newspapers
were declared to be in communication with the accused nobleman; and
the document concluded with the offer of proving these assertions,
should Lord Grenville require further information.
The letter was too important to be overlooked; and the prime
minister gave the required interview to the writer, who, persisting
in his assertion, calmly and confidently declared its truth; and
was proceeding with his story, when, with a dramatic effect rarely
witnessed off the stage, the door of an adjoining apartment was
opened, and the accused confronted his accuser. There appears to be
no other evidence of what passed at this interview than that given
by Ambrose Charles, which, being entirely favorable to himself,
cannot be trusted. No proof was tendered of the assertion; but the
morning on which the letter had been sent, the writer remarked to a
fellow-clerk, “I have done a deed which will immortalize me.” The
subject was made a matter of legal inquiry; affidavits from all who
had been named as having inculpated his Lordship evinced his complete
innocence, and the entire evidence proved the falsehood and folly of
the criminator. The charge was eventually dismissed as untenable; and
the whole affair can only be regarded as one of those morbid cravings
after notoriety which arise equally from a diseased brain and an idle
vanity.
In 1807 and 1808, a general and feverish love of speculation was
abroad. Joint-stock companies were the feature of the day; canals,
bridges, and life assurance being the great favorites, which, if
injurious to the speculator, were beneficial to the country. To this
period London owes Waterloo and Vauxhall bridges, with many more
of those public works forming to the foreigner objects of so much
interest.
It has lately been the custom to speak with contempt of joint-stock
associations, although it is to such bodies that England is indebted
for her greatest and her grandest undertakings. The Bank of England,
which has been called the bank of the world,—the railways, which bear
comfort and civilization to the remotest hamlets,—the canals, which
convey our commerce and irrigate our lands,—our docks, which contain
the wealth of the East and of the West,—our life-assurance companies,
which comfort many a desolate hearth and home,—are the result of
joint-stock companies. The evil is passing; but the good is permanent.
A similar outcry is always raised against projectors and speculators.
Swift employed his pen in ridiculing them; Scott introduced one
to turn him into contempt; Addison employed his fine genius in
satirizing them; Steele wrote one of his best essays on them. The
smaller herd of wits have swelled the cry; and they to whom mankind
are preëminently indebted are named with contempt, and treated with
derision. The projectors of all great works have been disdainfully
regarded at one period or another. The men who first planned our
bridges have been neglected; the promoters of railways, which are
now paying well, and rejoicing our rural homesteads with the polish
and the luxury of cities, were a by-word to the mass. And yet the
finest minds of the day are employed in projecting. The discoverer
of steam-power was a projector; Arkwright was only a projector;
Thomas Gray was the same. What does not England owe to men who bore
the burden and the heat of the day in the introduction of projects,
which, once household luxuries, they have made household necessities!
The cottage of the poor is comforted, the mansion of the rich is
gladdened, with works for which projectors were ridiculed and
speculators ruined. We cannot cast our eyes around without these
works meeting our view. They add a grace to our persons, they cheapen
our luxuries, they adorn our homes.
The mere man of routine thinks it a sacred duty to laugh at those of
whose services he is glad to avail himself; while the banker, the
merchant, and the moneyed tradesman first treat him as an intruder,
and then buy shares in the discovery they disdainfully rejected.
The world is rich in the names of those who have benefited and been
neglected by their fellow-men.
One of the greatest capitalists of the reign of George III. died in
1808. Mark Sprot, a name which will recall many a pleasant anecdote
to members of the Stock Exchange, born a younger brother, with a
younger brother’s portion, achieved, by his own exertions, one of
those fortunes which arose out of the loans of the French war. In
1780 he settled in London, with moderate means; and, from occasional
visits to the Bank and Stock Exchange, formed an intimacy with the
members of the moneyed interest. He soon saw that, with small risk,
he might make great gain, and commenced a career which ended in
splendid success. In 1799, he was one of the contractors for the
lottery; and, in 1800 and the three following years, he was at the
head of those who bid for the loans.
During the trial of Lord Melville, Mark Sprot was examined, in
consequence of having borrowed money from Mr. Trotter. The latter, on
a comparatively trifling income, had built a splendid mansion; and as
attention had been drawn to the circumstance, Mr. Sprot’s name was
involved. When examined by the committee, and asked whether he did
not act as banker to members of both Houses, “I never do business
with privileged persons,” was the shrewd, but daring reply. This
answer originated, probably, from the following anecdote.
On one occasion a broker applied to Mr. Sprot, and with great sorrow
told him that he was a ruined man. Mr. Sprot was surprised, for
he knew the speaker was careful, industrious, and not likely to
speculate. He asked the cause, and the broker replied, that he had
been employed largely by a principal, who, the prices having gone
against him, had refused to pay his losses. Mr. Sprot immediately
inquired his name; and on being told it was a noble earl, of whose
resources he was well aware, could scarcely believe he heard
correctly.
He knew him to be in possession of large landed estates; and, when
informed that his Lordship had refused to give any reason except
that it was not convenient, Mr. Sprot told his visitor not to be
alarmed, that he would not press his claim, and concluded by making
an engagement with him to visit his Lordship.
Together they went, and were received with patrician dignity. Mr.
Sprot deliberately detailed his business, and received the cool
reply, that it was not convenient to pay. But the energetic jobber
was not a man to bow before rank, unless accompanied by worth; and
Mr. Sprot unhesitatingly declared, that, if the account were not
settled by a certain hour next day, he would post his Lordship as a
defaulter. The latter grew alarmed, and attempted to conciliate; but
the conference closed with the repeated determination of Mr. Sprot
to post him. Long before the hour appointed, however, his Lordship’s
solicitor waited on the broker to arrange the payment; and thus the
honor of the earl was preserved, and the credit of the broker saved
in the money-market, through the acuteness and determination of Mark
Sprot.
In 1810, an application was made to Parliament for permission to
erect and secure to the public the right of admission to an open
market for the sale and purchase of national securities, on the
ground that the public ought not to be excluded from the room in
which business in the public funds is contracted. The bill was
introduced by Sir William Curtis, and rejected by the senate.
The history of the house of Baring—which, though generally regarded
as mercantile, is largely connected with the loans—has been termed an
evidence of the power of a few active young men to advance themselves
to immense fortune, and to distinguished marks of favor from the
sovereign. Various origins are attributed to the members of the firm,
and the Herald’s College has been employed to give the dignity of
ancestral honors to the family. In 1793, the first baronet of the
name was created, and the signal services of Sir Francis to the East
India Company, of which he was a director, were greatly appreciated.
It has been stated,—but as the writer is uncertain of his authority,
he gives it with caution,—that they were originally German weavers,
who came over to London, and, being successful in business, were,
through the interest of William Bingham, of Philadelphia, appointed
agents to the American government. Considering, therefore, the
large resources at their command, it is not surprising that, during
the loyalty loan in 1797, the head of the house made one hundred
thousand pounds for three consecutive days; or that, in 1806, it was
sarcastically said, “Sir Francis Baring is extending his purchases so
largely in Hampshire, that he soon expects to be able to inclose the
country with his own park paling.”
In 1805 this gentleman, the first algebraist of the day, retired from
business with a princely fortune, and shortly afterwards died, full
of years and honors. A green old age, a career closed at the pinnacle
of prosperity, and a death-bed surrounded by sons and daughters, whom
the descendant of the German weaver had lived to place in splendid
independence, was his enviable lot. The great commercial house which
he had raised to so proud a position was continued by his sons, and
may be considered the most important mercantile establishment in the
empire. Freehold estates to the amount of half a million, besides
enormous personal property, rewarded his great capacity, and his yet
greater integrity.
The house of Baring, notwithstanding some periods when doubt and
almost dismay hung over it, yet retains the power and position
bequeathed by Sir Francis; and, as an instance of the fortune and
capacity of its members, it may be mentioned that the late Lord
Ashburton, when bearing, as Sir Robert Peel feelingly expressed it,
the honored name of Alexander Baring, realized £170,000 in two years
by his combinations in French _Rentes_.
From 1810 to 1815, the business in every department of the Stock
Exchange increased greatly. Loan after loan came rapidly forward,
was as rapidly taken, went to a premium, was merged in the funded
debt, and was succeeded by fresh demands for fresh loans. The public
feeling was so strong, even during those fearful campaigns which
preceded the fatal field of Austerlitz, when the futile threat
of invasion was frequent, and “the army of England” assembled at
Boulogne, that no ministry could have maintained its power unless
it had been a war ministry. And when the event of that battle,
known as the “battle of the three emperors,” was made public, when
the entire powers of the Continent were at the feet of Napoleon,
and William Pitt, the soul of the coalition, died from fear of the
calamities that threatened, the people of England were unchanged in
their resolute defiance. Enmity towards the French was an article of
faith. Hatred to their leader was taken from the mother’s breast, and
nourished by the stories which day by day engrossed the public mind,
or violated public feeling. At one time, the commercial world was
excited with the story that all the specie in all the private banks
of France had been seized. At another, some cruelty which outraged
humanity passed current with the vulgar. Stories of the conscription
harrowed the feelings of parents; tales of insurrection, suppressed
with heartless cruelty, raised the indignation of the child. The
evening fireside derived its great attraction from the talk about
Bonaparte; and it is no exaggeration to say, that nurses stilled
their querulous charges, or that mothers hushed their children, with
that dreaded name. Policies were opened on his life; and so uncertain
was it considered in 1804, that fifty-five guineas per cent. were
paid to insure it for one year. No fiction was more favorite or more
frequent than that which detailed his death; and in this the powerful
invention of the romancer was often proved. Poison and steel, the
dagger of the conspirator and the bullet of the republican, were
constantly asserted to have ended his career. On one occasion, it
was universally credited that the great Corsican was no more. A
despatch had been received by Lord Grenville announcing his death,
and circumstantially detailing its manner. No doubt was entertained;
the funds rose, and the news spread. Some very loyal persons set the
bells ringing in a suburban village, and the whole affair bore the
aspect of truth. The story circulated wore an appearance of romance
entirely in keeping with the career of the man whose death was
announced. It was stated that Napoleon, having called a council of
war, to which he had invited one of the wild chiefs of the desert,
who professed attachment till he could procure revenge, had been
shot by him in open council; and, on the signal thus given, the wild
hordes of the desert had slain Bonaparte and his devoted followers
in the land so recklessly invaded. News was not then so frequent,
information was not so widely diffused; and the document was credited
much longer than it would have been a quarter of a century later. It
deserves to be mentioned as a curiosity, that the forgery was not
attributed to members of the Stock Exchange, but to a pair of “state
speculators,” assisted by “members of the lower House.” But though
it was not caused by them, they felt its effect in the fluctuating
price, and several were ruined by the ingenious device of these
“state speculators” and “members of the lower House.”
Among the names conspicuous in the city for character and capacity,
stands that of the great political economist, David Ricardo, who, at
the early age of fourteen, was introduced by his father, a Hebrew
of the Hebrews, to the mysteries of the Stock Exchange. The mind
of the younger Ricardo was of an inquiring character. He began to
study the principles of the creed in which he had been educated. The
result was his secession from the faith of the ancient people, and
his abandonment to his own resources by his father. Those resources
were small; but his conduct and character had interested the members
of Capel Court, and, to their honor, with a liberality which not
unfrequently distinguishes them, the oldest and most influential
came to his assistance. The extraordinary powers of Mr. Ricardo were
soon developed in the acquisition of a considerable fortune; and,
having hitherto employed but little time in study, he amply and nobly
redeemed his lost hours. At twenty-five he commenced mathematics, and
with great application studied chemistry and mineralogy, fitted up a
laboratory, formed a collection of minerals, and bestirred himself
with all the energy of his character. These sciences, however, he
soon abandoned, and, having accidentally become acquainted with Adam
Smith’s “Wealth of Nations,” he employed his great thought upon the
subject of political economy, in which he soon became distinguished.
He led the van in the bullion controversy; his principles were those
on which the present bank charter is founded; and, in 1817, he
published that great work on his favorite science so familiar to the
commercial reader.
His reputation preceded him to the senate; and his opinions on the
above subjects were deferred to with respect. When Mr. Peel’s bill
was introduced, in 1819, his name was called for from all sides
of the House; and, in 1823, David Ricardo, an acute, patient, and
comprehensive thinker, a firm and faithful friend, and an honor
to the body of which he was a member, died, at the early age of
fifty-two.
Few trials, which were not for life, have excited so much interest
in the city, as that in which Benjamin Walsh—a member of the senate,
a member of the Stock Exchange, and a confessed felon—stood at the
bar of the Old Bailey, on the charge of defrauding Sir Thomas Plomer.
The bench was crowded with the rank and respectability of the city.
The melancholy appearance of the prisoner, his grave bearing, and
dejected countenance, excited the interest of the spectators, and
spoke the regret of the culprit.
In 1811, Sir Thomas informed his broker, Mr. Benjamin Walsh, M. P.,
that, having bought an estate, it would be necessary to sell out a
large amount of stock to complete the purchase. Mr. Walsh advised
Sir Thomas not to sell directly, as there was every prospect of the
funds rising; and, the title of the estate not being complete, this
advice was complied with. About the middle of November, however, Mr.
Walsh changed his opinion, and repeatedly urged Sir Thomas to sell
his stock, alleging his belief that the price would fall. Again the
broker’s suggestion was complied with; but, as it was sold before
the money was required for the estate, it was recommended by the
prisoner that, to prevent it from lying idle, exchequer-bills should
be purchased with the proceeds. Sir Thomas again consented, and gave
a check amounting to £22,000 to Mr. Walsh, who promised to lodge
the notes at Goslings’, the bankers to Sir Thomas, and hand the
latter their receipt. In the evening, however, he presented their
acknowledgment for only £6,000, and making some excuse for not having
paid in the remaining exchequer-bills, promised to deliver them on
the following day; adding that, as he had not settled for them, he
had repaid the difference to the account of Sir Thomas. The latter,
on his way home, called at his bankers’, and found that, though
the £6,000 in exchequer-bills had been deposited, the check of Mr.
Walsh for the £16,000 had been received too late for presentation.
No suspicion was, however, attached to the transaction until next
day, when the check was refused payment. Sir Thomas was immediately
informed, and an inquiry instituted. It was soon found that the money
thus iniquitously gained, had been disposed of in paying his brother
£1,000, in purchasing £11,000 American stock, and in investing £500
in Portuguese doubloons. The prisoner was found guilty; but certain
points, reserved for the judges, being interpreted favorably, he was
discharged from Newgate, and expelled from the House of Commons.
In 1813, Mr. Vansittart introduced a modification of Mr. Pitt’s
sinking fund; and, among other objects, proposed to rescind the
alterations of 1786 and 1792, and to restore them to the position in
which they would have stood if no such alteration had taken place.
By this Mr. Vansittart designed to provide that relief which the
public would have obtained from the original plan, _to restrain
the excessive increase of the sinking fund_, and to secure the
redemption of each loan within a period of forty-five years from its
commencement. For these purposes it was proposed,—
1st. That, as a sum equal to the debt of 1786, bearing an interest
nearly equal to the interest of that debt, is now vested in the
hands of the commissioners, so soon as the interest of the redeemed
debt shall be equal to that of the debt of 1786, that debt shall
be declared discharged; and the sums hitherto appropriated for the
interest and sinking fund shall be appropriated to bear the charge
of future wars; and that no new taxes shall be imposed for new loans
till the same amount to a sum equal to the interest of that released.
2d. That, as loans to the extent of £86,796,375 were charged on the
consolidated fund in 1802, without any sinking fund attached to them,
it is proposed, in order to place the public creditors in a position
equal to that they held in 1792, that the one per cent. sinking fund
on the above sums be replaced to it.
3d. That, as the amount of exchequer-bills has much increased, a
sinking fund of one per cent. shall be annually provided for any
addition to the exchequer-bills in circulation, for the discharge of
which no funds are provided.
4th. That, instead of allotting the sinking fund of one per cent.
to discharge each separate loan, the whole funds shall be united,
and applied to discharge the first contracted loan; and that each
successive loan shall be redeemed, and its charge released, in the
order of its contraction, by the united produce of the sinking
funds appropriated for the redemption of the loans contracted since
1792; but the whole sinking fund created by the act of 1786 to be
continued, and applied until the total redemption of the debt.
During the latter part of Bonaparte’s career, the price of the funds
varied enormously. In the course of an hour, a difference of eight
and ten per cent. was not unknown. The loans were as eagerly sought
as they were frequently made; nor is this surprising, when it is
remembered that eighteen and twenty per cent. occasionally rewarded
the scrip-holder.
The pulse of the people was feverish, and easily excited; and the
papers of the day display the intense anxiety which hung over the
public mind during the eventful years of 1814 and 1815. The prices
of the funds dropped and rose like a barometer. It is scarcely an
exaggeration to say, that they were regarded as an oracle; and, while
the public professed to disbelieve all Stock Exchange rumors, simply
because they were so, they continued to inquire the variations in the
price, and almost regarded them as a cause rather than a consequence.
The annals of the world contain no more exciting period. For years,
the English had seen battle after battle won by the great conqueror.
They had seen disciplined armies vanquished by raw levies; veteran
troops cut to pieces by young conscripts; and the prestige of his
name had haunted them for the fourth part of a century. To destroy
his power, they had submitted to painful privations; they had borne
with taxation which almost amounted to tyranny; they had levied loans
which enriched the few and impoverished the many.
The national debt had increased to 800 millions; and now the reward
had come, and the people read with undisguised and unlimited
pleasure, of field after field yielding to British prowess; of towns
stormed; of achievements which made them proud of the name they bore;
until that prophecy, which had been derided for years, became a
lasting fact; British troops paraded in triumph through the streets
of Paris; and men felt that their sufferings and their sorrows had
not been vain, but that the treasure they had lavished had reaped its
reward.
So important to our financial department was the close of this
war, that the decrease of the expenditure was at once declared to
be two millions per month; and, accustomed as the money power of
England had been to loan succeeding loan, the Stock Exchange could
scarcely understand the declaration of the Chancellor, that he
neither intended to ask for money, nor to touch the sinking fund.
The immediate effect of the battle of Waterloo on the funds was only
three per cent., nor was it until the capture of Napoleon became
positively known, that they rose to their previous price.
It is not unworthy of remark, that, from 1688 to 1814, sixty-three
years witnessed bloody and expensive wars, while only sixty-one years
were employed in recovering from the effects of so demoralizing a
system.
The well-known attempt to defraud the Stock Exchange occurred in
1814; but the features of the hoax were so like that of 1806, and
its effects so similar on the members, that a brief notice is deemed
sufficient. Prior to February, 1814, various brokers were employed
by persons, some of whom were not accustomed to speculate in Capel
Court, to purchase government securities to the amount of £826,000.
Among other and less important individuals, were Lord Cochrane
and Mr. Cochrane Johnstone, M. P., who, when information arrived
that some French officers had landed at Dover, with the news of
Bonaparte’s death, took advantage of the consequent rise, to sell the
stock they had previously purchased. In a short time, however, it was
discovered that the “French officers” were fictitious, and that the
news was false. Every endeavour was made to discover the inventors
of the plot; suspicion was pointed at persons who had bought so
largely and sold so well; and Lord Cochrane, Mr. Johnstone, M. P.,
with several more, were tried for conspiracy, and found guilty. The
committee of the Stock Exchange did not, as in the previous case,
cancel the bargains made, but left the parties to the remedy which
the law provided. Mr. Johnstone fled from the country, and Lord
Cochrane was dismissed from the navy. But public opinion has reversed
the decree, and reinstated his Lordship in that service of which he
was the pride and the ornament.
In consequence of the above fraud, it became necessary to serve
certain law processes on many of the members; and an attorney’s
clerk, ignorant of the custom of the Stock Exchange, or confident in
the sanctity of his mission, ventured boldly in. The solemn character
of the law was no defence, and scarcely was his errand known, when
he felt as willing to retire as he had been anxious to enter. The
disgraceful mode in which a stranger is usually treated by the
jobbers and brokers was carried out in its fullest extent, and it
was not until he had received his initiation into the manners of the
members that he was allowed to leave the mart dedicated to Mammon.
In 1815, the first French loan was negotiated in London. The fall of
Napoleon, the return of Louis le Gros, the personal expenses of the
monarch, and the pecuniary concessions of the government, demanded
a supply to which French capitalists were unequal; and a successful
attempt was made to borrow in the English market.
In the following year an act was passed, authorizing the transfer of
stock upon which no dividend had been claimed for ten years, to the
commissioners for the reduction of the national debt.
It has been the writer’s duty in another work to advocate the cause
of the holders of unclaimed dividends. The unfairness with which they
are treated is neither to be palliated nor justified. The eagerness
and anxiety of government to obtain money is too often gratified at
the expense of morality; and it is thus with the unclaimed dividends.
Every difficulty is thrown in the way of the public; and, though the
above act distinctly ordains that, _immediately after the transfer,
the names, residences, descriptions, and amount shall be kept open
for inspection at the Bank_, it is useless for the public to apply,
as they are politely, but peremptorily, refused all information. It
is only fair to conclude that this is at the instance of government,
as the Bank receive no benefit from their violation of the act of
Parliament.
It is not often that the repudiation of a dividend causes a rise in
the price of the stock; such, however, was the case in a loan of five
millions to Austria, the interest of which was to be remitted by the
Emperor. Shortly before it became due, intelligence arrived that
Austria was unable to meet the claim. The stock at once rose two per
cent., as it was known that the faith of England was pledged to the
fundholder, and that henceforth the interest must be provided by the
English government.
A laudable endeavour was made in 1821 to abolish the system of
gambling known as options; and, after a serious consideration, the
committee of the Stock Exchange resolved, that any member guilty of
the practice should be expelled the house. It was soon found that
rules are more easily made than followed; and a powerful opposition
was organized, in which the Hebrew party took the lead. Large sums
were subscribed towards the erection of a new building; and the
schism grew so serious, and numbered such important parties in
its ranks, that the committee deemed it wise to make an amicable
arrangement, and abandon the resolution they had so hastily made.
Up to 1822, the Royal Exchange was the theatre in which business in
the foreign funds was transacted. When, however, this business became
a feature of sufficient importance, a foreign Stock Exchange was
formed in connection with Capel Court.
A very important question became mooted concerning these loans. On
several occasions, when bargains for time were made, and the loser
refused to pay his differences, the broker made them good, believing
his principal was not liable under the act of Sir John Barnard. At
last the question was legally argued; and it was ascertained from the
decision of several judges, that the provisions of the above act did
not extend to loans for foreign countries.
Francis Baily—a name as well known in the scientific as in the
monetary world—retired from the Stock Exchange in 1825, and the man
who, in the midst of the most exciting pursuit in the world, was
worthily chosen president of the Royal Astronomical Society, sheds
an honor on the class to which he belonged, and should have been an
exemplar to the men with whom he associated.
As a boy, studious beyond his years, he was called—half jestingly,
half seriously—the philosopher of Newbury; and, having left school at
fourteen, remained in a mercantile situation until he was twenty-two,
when, for the mere love of adventure, he embarked for the New World,
travelled through a great part of the far West, and passed eleven
months among the aborigines, without once meeting the shelter of a
civilized roof.
In 1800, he went on the money market, where he soon became
conspicuous, publishing, within a few years, many works which were
justly regarded with great favor; and, in 1806, defended, though
unsuccessfully, the rights of the brokers. In 1814, he drew up the
report of the committee on the great fraud of that year, arranged the
evidence against the perpetrators completely and conclusively, and
was one of those men of whom the Stock Exchange—from which he retired
with a fortune won by uprightness and intelligence—was not worthy.
The triumphs of Mr. Baily in his favorite pursuit are recorded in the
minds of all who prize the science which he so dearly loved. A list
of his labors would be misplaced in the present volume; but Sir John
Herschel has recorded them in his memoir of the scientific member of
that place which is too much open to the reproach, that it narrows
men’s minds as much as it enlarges their purses.