"We have before us a most interesting work from the pen of Mr. Gilbart, entitled "The History and Principles of Banking." This subject, which is generally considered abstruse and recondite, has been, by the pen of Mr. Gilbart, rendered so plain, that the most ordinary capacity may easily comprehend it. It requires such a man as the manager of the London and Westminster Bank to produce this work. A speculative theorist, no matter how acute his intellect, must have failed in presenting us with those forcible details which belong only to the practical man, whilst to the mere man of business, that power of combination and mastery of language must have been wanting, which the literary abilities of Mr. Gilbart have enabled him to bring to bear upon the subject. The peculiar interest which it possesses, is owing, as the author truly states in his preface, to the circumstance of its being a scientific work, written by a practical man. The subject of banking, at all times of such importance to a mercantile nation, possesses paramount claims to attention at the present moment, when two fresh bodies of Argentarii have come into the field to bear away whatever spoil may have escaped the hands of veteran campaigners. The History and Principles of Banking" should be in the hands of every man, who wishes to be acquainted with the manner in which the money transactions of this great country are carried on."-Waterford Chronicle, June 9, 1835. 2. THE HISTORY OF BANKING IN IRELAND, Price 5s. "It affords a succinct view of the acts of parliament, through which the banking operations of Ireland were affected from the time of Henry VI. to the present day, shewing briefly the main features of the monetary system in that country."-Atlas, June 19, 1836. A "It is a valuable statistical work, and a desirable appendix to his "History and Principles of Banking."- Gentleman's Magazine, July, 1836. "It gives a very clever and succinct account of the History of Banking in Ireland."-Monthly Review, July, 1836. "It is a useful book for those who are anxious for practical information, touching the money matters of the sister kingdom; or who wish, by investigating her banking system, to track her slow and late progress in commerce and civilization."-Spectator, July 30, 1836. SECTION I. THE NATURE OF BANKING. "WHAT is it that we call a Banker? There is in this city a company or corporation, called goldsmiths, and most of those called bankers are of that corporation; but so far as I know, there is not a company or corporation in England called bankers, nor has the business any definition or description either by common law or by statute. By custom we call a man a banker who has an open shop, with proper counters, servants, and books, for receiving other people's money, in order to keep it safe, and return it upon demand; and when any man has opened such a shop, we call him a banker, without inquiring whether any man has given him money to keep or no; for this is a trade where no apprenticeship is required, it having never yet been supposed that a man who sets up the trade of banking, could be sued upon the statute of Queen Elizabeth, which enacts, that none shall use any art or mystery then used, but such as have served an apprenticeship in the same."* The term bank is derived from banco, the Italian word for bench, as the Lombard Jews in Italy kept benches in the market place, where they exchanged money and bills. When a banker failed, his bench was broken by the populace; and from this circumstance we have our term bank-rupt. A banker is a dealer in capital, or more properly a dealer in money. He is an intermediate party between * Speech, delivered in the House of Commons in 1746.-See the London Magazine for that year, page 120. B |