neighbourhood. I commission him to buy me a certain number of shares in
such and such a company. My broker rushes into the Exchange, goes to the
particular spot where the dealer in such shares is to be met with, and
buys them for me, to be delivered on such a day. I pay him a commission
for brokerage, and my business is done. Suppose I want to buy government
stock. What is stock? says one, unhappily, in consequence of his own
laziness and ill-luck, or of the laziness and ill-luck of his fathers
before him, not a holder of such. Stock, O benighted individual, is a
term applied to the various funds which constitute the National Debt, the
interest on which is paid half-yearly. Few persons buy or sell stock
except through a broker, and this is the original business of the
stockbroker, and it was for this the Stock Exchange was erected in 1803.
It is only since the peace that the present immense traffic has sprung up
in miscellaneous and railway shares. Let me suppose I have a thousand
pounds to invest in the Three per Cents., which are now quoted at about
96. I wait on a stockbroker; he goes over to the Exchange and purchases
them for me, and then sees to their transfer in the Bank of England,
receiving as his commission one eighth per cent., or 2s. 6d. in the 100
pounds upon the amount of stock transferred. But I am of a speculative
turn, and wish to make a fortune rapidly by means of the Stock Exchange.
I again have recourse to a broker. As I assume that I am a mere
gambler--a man of straw--I stand to lose or gain a large sum of money on
a certain contingency. I draw a blank, and leave my broker in the lurch,
who has to settle his accounts as best he can. If he cannot pay by
half-past two on the day of settlement, which in shares is once a
fortnight, and in consols monthly, he despatches a short communication to
the committee of the Stock Exchange; an official then suddenly gives
three loud knocks with a mallet, and announces the unpleasant fact that
my broker is unable to meet his engagements. He is termed a lame duck,
and cannot again figure on the Exchange till he pays a composition of 6s.
8d. in the pound. The readmission of defaulters is in three classes.
The first class to be for cases of failure arising from the defection of
principals, or from other unfortunate vicissitudes, where no bad faith or
breach of the regulations of the house has been practised; where the
operations have been in reasonable pr
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