Vanderbrœck tells of a negro of Congo who was
nine feet high; and Martin del Rio says that he
saw a Piedmontese at Rouen, in fifteen hundred
and seventy-two, who was nine feet high.

Beyond nine feet we decline to go. Higher
numbers are rather suspicious, and cannot
be relied upon. If tall people be half as tall
again as ordinary people, which would make
them about eight feet and a half in their stockings,
this is surely a temple lofty enough for
any well-constituted mind to dwell on.

A NAME.

      SUCH a lovable face!
      Over which not a trace
Of her thoughts as they rise need be missed;
      Eyes, whence kindness beams out,
      And lips, when they pout,
Seem to meet you half way to be kissed:

      Smiles so radiant, that down
      (She never could frown)
Her whole form they appear to expand;
       Grace and tact so combined
      ln her touch, that though blind,
You would feel 'twas her fairy-like hand.

      Her voice is so ringing,
      So melodious, that singing
Is discord compared with her words;
      When she laughs 'tis elation,
      And you feel a sensation
Of sunshine and music and birds.

      Her name! O when sad
      If I think it, I'm glad;
But when spoken, or written in rhyme, a
      Strong word flies in haste
      At her sponsors' bad taste,
For why did they call her JEMIMA?

HOW WE "FLOATED" THE BANK.

"GIVE me a look in, if you are passing my
way," wrote Mr. Hardy* one day to me, "for
I think I have the very thing that would suit
you."
*See "Promoters of Companies," p. 110, vol. xi.
of All the Year Round.

Mr. Hardy was a most prosperous "Promoter"
of companies, in the days—little more
than a year ago—when the getting up of
joint-stock concerns was by far the most lucrative
business in the City, and I was a poor place
hunter—a man trying to obtain a situation with
a salary, that I could count upon as a monthly
or quarterly certainty, even if the amount was
small. Therefore, on the receipt of this note,
I lost no time in proceeding to that gentleman's
office, where I at once sent in my name
to the great man himself. Unlike my first
interview with this "Promoter of Companies," I
was not kept waiting more than five minutes,
and was then ushered into his private sanctum.

"I am glad you are come," said he, "for
there is a new Joint-Stock Bank coming out,
and although I have not much, if anything, to
do with it myself, I have helped the promoters
a little, and can give you a line to the solicitors
of the concern. If you can bring them a
director or two, and play your cards well, it is
very probable that you may get the secretaryship,
which has not yet been given away." Saying
this—writing and talking at the same time
—Mr. Hardy sat down and scrawled a few lines
of introduction to a legal firm near Lincoln's Inn,
and gave me the note, accompanied with the
following verbal advice: "When you see these and
other gentlemen—any one, in short—connected
with this or any other company, be bumptious,
talk big, as if you could bring Rothschild,
Baring, and Peabody as directors upon any
company that you are connected with; do this, and
you will prosper. Good-by. I shall be glad to
hear how you get on." In another moment
Mr. Hardy was, according to his old custom,
rushing down stairs and across the street, holding
a bundle of papers in his hand, one of which,
I believe, was, as of old, a crossed cheque.

If I had not delayed in repairing to Mr.
Hardy's office, how much quicker did I hasten to
that of the solicitors in Lincoln's Inn! Where,
on sending in Mr. Hardy's note and my own
card, I at once obtained an interview with an
elderly gentlemanly individual, clad in a new and
shining suit of black, white twice-round-the-throat
neckcloth, and high stand-up shirt-collar.
Our conversation was short and to
the point. Mr. May, the solicitor, knew me
by name. "Was I not the nephew of Mr.
Dant?" "Yes." "Would Mr. Dant join the
board of the bank which Mr. May was projecting,
provided I obtained the secretaryship?" I
could not reply for certain, but I would ask
my relative. "Could I give an answer
tomorrow?" I believed I could. I would see
my uncle and ask him. "Very well; if Mr.
Dant joined the board, I should have the
secretaryship of the bank: that was to be a
bargain."

But what was the bank? Its magnificent
title was:

THE GRAND FINANCIAL AND CREDIT
BANK OF EUROPE, ASIA, AFRICA,
AMERICA, AND AUSTRALIA (LIMITED).
Capital,
ONE MILLION STERLING,

divided into one hundred thousand shares of
one hundred pounds each, but that it was only
contemplated to issue twenty-five thousand at
present, and that not more than twenty-five
pounds would be called up on each share;
that one pound per share was to be paid
on application for shares, and three pounds
per share on allotment—in short, the usual
formula with which all readers of the
advertisements in newspapers have been made
so well acquainted during the past eighteen
months. After these announcements upon the
prospectus, came the word "DIRECTORS," in
very large letters, but of directors there was no
list whatever—not one single name following
the heading. The reason for this—so Mr. May
told me, but whether I believed him is another