must therefore be obvious to the meanest
capacity that the mere existence of that book,
with its arbitrary date and series of numbers,
corresponding to the like series of Notes, is a
sufficient record of the existence and issue of
the latter. The return of each Note after its
public travels, is recorded in the square
opposite to its number. Each page of the book
contains two hundred squares and numbers;
consequently, whatever number a Note may
bear, the Clerk who has to register its safe
return from a long round of public circulation,
knows at once on which page of the book to
pounce for its own proper and particular
square. In that he inserts the date of its
return—not at full length, but in cypher.
"S" in red ink means 1850, and the months
are indicated by one of the letters of the word
AMBIDEXTROUS, with the date in numerals.
Our only, and therefore favourite, five is
numbered 31177. Should it chance to finish
its travels in the Accountant's Office on the
6th of August next, it will be narrowly
inspected (for fear of forgery) and defaced—a
Clerk will then turn at once to the book
lettered "Fives, Feb. 2," and so exactly will
he know which page to open, and where the
square numbered 31177 is situated, that he
could point to it blindfold. He will write
in it "6 t," which means 6th August; that
being the eighth month in the year, and "t"
the eighth letter in the chosen word.

The intermediate history of a Bank Note is
soon told. Nineteen-twentieths are issued to
Bankers or known houses of business. If
Glynn's, or Smith's, or any other banking firm,
require a hundred ten-pound Notes, the Clerk
who issues them makes a memorandum showing
the number of the Notes so issued, and the
name of the party to whom they have been
handed—an easy process, because Notes being
new,* are always given out in regular series,
and the first and last Note that makes the sum
required need only be recorded. Most Bankers
make similar memoranda when notes pass out
of their hands; and the public, as each Note
circulates among them, frequently sign the
name of the last holder. When an unknown
person presents a Note for gold at the Bank of
England, he is required to write his name and
address on it, and if the sum be very large, it
is not paid without inquiry. By these expedients,
a stolen, lost, or forged note can often
be traced from hand to hand up to its advent.

*The Bank ceased to re-issue its Notes since 1835.

The average periods which each denomination
of London Notes remain in circulation has
been calculated, and is shown by the following

ACCOUNT OF THE NUMBER OF DAYS A BANK NOTE
ISSUED IN LONDON REMAINS IN CIRCULATION:—

Mr. Francis, in his "History of the Bank
of England," tells a curious story about
a bank-post bill, which was detained during
thirty years from presentation and
payment. It happened in the year 1740:—"One
of the Directors, a very rich man, had
occasion for £30,000, which he was to pay as
the price of an estate he had just bought; to
facilitate the matter, he carried the sum with
him to the Bank and obtained for it a Bank
bill. On his return home, he was suddenly
called out upon particular business; he threw
the Note carelessly on the chimney, but when
he came back a few minutes afterwards to
lock it up, it was not to be found. No one
had entered the room; he could not therefore
suspect any person. At last, after much
ineffectual search, he was persuaded that it had
fallen from the chimney into the fire. The
Director went to acquaint his colleagues with
the misfortune that had happened to him;
and as he was known to be a perfectly honourable
man he was readily believed. It was
only about four-and-twenty hours from the
time that he had deposited his money; they
thought, therefore, that it would be hard to
refuse his request for a second bill. He
received it upon giving an obligation to restore
the first bill, if it should ever be found, or to
pay the money himself, if it should be
presented by any stranger. About thirty years
afterwards (the Director having been long
dead, and his heirs in possession of his
fortune), an unknown person presented the lost
bill at the Bank, and demanded payment. It
was in vain that they mentioned to this person
the transaction by which that bill was
annulled; he would not listen to it; he
maintained that it had come to him from abroad,
and insisted upon immediate payment. The
Note was payable to bearer; and the thirty
thousand pounds were paid him. The heirs
of the Director would not listen to any