"The Bank of England and Matches" by John Leighton

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The Bank of England and Matches

John Leighton

1847

The Cries of London & Public Edifices, Plate 3

See below for Leighton's text.

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Image capture and formatting by George P. Landow.

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Matches! — Buy a box of matches from a poor girl!

Of all the poor itinerants of London the Match-sellers are the poorest, and subsist as much by donations as by the sale of their wares. The old match, a splinter of wood, with ends dipped in brimstone, is fast disappearing before the modern lucifer or congreve. The poor creature here represented is appealing to a lady and gentleman, (whose shadows are seen in the picture,) on their way to the

The Bank of England

This great national establishment [Victorian photograph] was erected in 1788 by Sir John Soane: it covers about eight acres of ground, and consists of nine open courts, almost all the rooms being on the ground-floor, lighted from above, beneath which are very extensive cellars, used for the deposit of bullion. This building is raised on the course of the ancient stream of Wall-Brook. In the Pay-Hall, where the notes are issued and exchanged, is a marble statue of William III, founder of the Bank, by Cheere. The Court-Room windows overlook a piece of ground, laid out as a garden : this was formerly the churchyard of St. Christopher's; nearly the whole of this parish is within the walls of the Bank, the church having been removed in 1780, after the riots. The Bank of England is isolated from all other buildings, and fire-proof.

Bibliography

Limner, Luke [John Leighton]. The Cries of London & Public Edifices from Sketches on the Spot. London: Grant & Griffith successors to Newberry and Harris. Corner of St Paul's Church Yard, [1847]. Internet Archive version of a copy in the University of Toronto Library. Web. 17 September 2013.

Last modified 18 September 2013