a few shillings, at the utmost. However, Mr. Thomas Guy was so enraged by being put to an unnecessary expense, that he broke off the match with the too hasty kitchen lass, and, to spite her, resolved to give the whole of his fortune for the foundation of an hospital on the largest scale. Thus arose that magnificent charity, on the Surrey side of London Bridge, still known as Guy's Hospital. The charge of erecting this vast pile amounted to about £20,000; and Mr. Guy left in addition £220,000 as an endowment. The founder likewise erected almshouses at Tamworth, in Staffordshire, his mother's birthplace, a borough which had paid honour to his golden guineas by electing him to a seat among the representatives of the nation. Thomas Guy died in December, 1724, in the eighty-first year of his age, after having dedicated to charitable purposes more money than any other man upon record. It appears a singular relation of cause and consequence that the most gigantic swindling speculation of the eighteenth century gave rise to the most munificently endowed hospital in Great Britain.

V. PRIVATE BANKERS.

THERE is much of the romance of history in the origin of some of the great private banking houses still existing in our days-though all more or less threatened with destruction by the giant of joint-stock enterprise. The origin, among others, of the house of Jones, Loyd, and Co., was very curious. Mr. Lewis Loyd, the founder of the house, father of the present Lord Overstone, began his career as a Welsh dissenting minister in a small chapel at Manchester, the congregation of which included a Mr. Jones, a sort of half-banker, half-manufacturer. addition to Mr. Jones, there was a young Miss Jones who attended the sermons of the Rev. Mr. Loyd; and, as often happens, the maiden found the orations so eloquent that she fell in love with the preacher. The affection was responded to by the minister, and the couple, fearing the purse-proud merchant would never consent to the mésalliance, were privately

In

married.

Of course, when the affair became known to Mr. Jones, as it could not fail to do, he was exceedingly angry; but, seeing that things went on pretty comfortably with his daughter, he became reconciled in the end to his reverend son-in-law. However, though fond of attending sermons, he did not think preaching a good business, and therefore proposed that Mr. Loyd should give up the Welsh dissenting chapel and enter his counting-house as a partner, under the firm of Jones, Loyd, and Co. Mr. Loyd consented; and, to extend the business, it was subsequently agreed that he should go to London, and establish a bank under the name of the Manchester firm. Henceforth, Jones, Loyd, and Co., of Manchester, drew bills upon Jones, Loyd, and Co., of London, or, as it was facetiously called at the time, " pig upon bacon." It soon turned out that Mr. Lewis Loyd was eminently fitted to be a banker; for his clearness of head, untiring industry, and perfect honesty proved the foundation of success for the new establishment. After a very long and honourable career, Mr. Loyd retired from business, being succeeded as head of the London firm by his son, Mr. Samuel Jones Loyd, who was subsequently created Lord Overstone. Thus, the

falling in love of a young Manchester girl with a Welsh dissenting minister was the cause of the establishment of an important bank, besides leading to the creation of a new peer of the realm.

The great banking-house of Coutts and Co. arose under circumstances not less striking than those connected with the history of Jones, Loyd, and Co. The father of Mr. Coutts was a merchant at Edinburgh who had four sons, the two youngest of whom, James and Thomas, were brought up in the paternal counting-house. James, at the age of twenty-five, came to London, and first settled in St. Mary Axe as a Scotch merchant, from which business, however, he subsequently retired to become a banker. He took a house in the Strand, the same in which the firm still exists; and he was joined here, some years after, by his brother Thomas as a partner-the business being carried on under the name of James and Thomas Coutts. James Coutts died early, and Thomas was then left sole proprietor of the bank. His high integrity, joined to a very enterprising spirit soon gained him many friends, and made him remarkably successful in his business. A characteristic instance, both of his shrewdness and

worthy ridicule, which, however, had no other effect than that of strengthening the confidence of the husband in his wife. This confidence was displayed in a remarkable manner in the will made by Mr. Coutts before his death. By this will he left the whole of his fortune, amounting to above £900,000, to his widow, for her sole use and benefit, and at her absolute disposal, without the deduction of a single legacy to any other person. Mrs. Coutts subsequently married the Duke of St. Albans; but under her marriage settlement wisely reserved to herself the whole control of the immense fortune left to her by her first husband. On her death she bequeathed the vast property to the favourite grand-daughter of Mr. Coutts, Miss Angela Burdett-the estimable and beneficent lady, founder of so many churches and schools, who is now well known as Miss Angela Burdett Coutts. Miss A. B. Coutts continues to be the principal proprietor of the old bank in the Strand; the business being conducted for her by trustees, under the old style of Coutts and Co.

The banking-house of Messrs. Barclay and Co. sprang into existence about the same time as that of Coutts, and there are some interesting anecdotes connected with the history of its