THE BANK OF ENGLAND.
The building thus entitled is an immense and very extensive stone edifice, situated a little to the north-west of Cornhill. Until 1825, this edifice exhibited a great variety of incongruous styles of architecture; but endeavors have since been made, and with success, to produce more uniformity of appearance. On the east side of the principal entrance, is a passage leading to a spacious apartment called the rotunda, fifty-seven feet in diameter, in which business in the public funds is transacted; and, branching out of this apartment, are various offices appropriated to the management of each particular stock. In each of these, under the several letters of the alphabet, are arrayed the books in which the amount of every individual’s interest in such a fund is registered.
The bank of England covers an extent of more than eight acres, and is completely insulated. Its shape is that of an irregular parallelogram, the longest side of which measures four hundred and forty feet. Its exterior is not unsuitable to the nature of the establishment, conveying the idea of great strength and security. In the interior, a variety of alterations and improvements have been made to accommodate the vast increase of business and of the paper money and discounting systems. This has required considerable enlargements of the offices in every department, and has led, in the space of thirty or forty years, to the increase of the clerks from two hundred to about eleven hundred. The capital, or stock, also, of this grand national establishment, has been considerably and progressively augmented, until, from twelve hundred thousand pounds, it has risen to eleven million, six hundred and forty-seven thousand, seven hundred and fifty pounds, or nearly sixty million dollars. The direction is vested in a governor, deputy-governor, and twenty-four directors, all elected annually; and thirteen of the directors, with the governor, form a court for the management of the business of the institution.