I am not going to deny that they introduced into our midst many of the arts and skill of trade with which we in England were previously unacquainted; and it is to these Lombards or goldsmiths we owe the introduction of bills of exchange, a wonderful invention, and one which has served to connect the whole world into one, as you will see when the proper place arrives for their explanation.
These Lombards, immediately after their arrival in London, may have been seen regularly twice a day parading Lombard-street with their wares, exposing for sale the most attractive articles; and in a short time became so successful that they were able to take shops in which to carry on their business as goldsmiths.
These shops were not confined to the one street which bears their name, but were continued along the south row of Cheapside, extending from the street called Old Change into Bucklersbury, where they remained until after the Great Fire, when they removed to Lombard-street. There seems to be no street in the world where a business of one special character has been carried on so continuously as in Lombard-street. In the time of Queen Elizabeth it was the handsomest street in London. In addition to the art of the goldsmith, they added the business of money-changing, the importance of which occupation you will be able to estimate when we come to the subject of the coins of the realm.
From money-changers they became money-lenders and money-borrowers—money was the commodity in which they dealt, and 20 per cent. the modest interest they asked and obtained for their money.
Of course they gave receipts for the money lodged with them, and these circulated and were known by the name of “goldsmiths’ notes,” and were, in fact, the first kind of bank-notes issued in England.
The Lombards were a most industrious class of people, and left no stone unturned by which they could obtain wealth; and in an incredibly short time we find them not only wealthy, but powerful, and occupying a very prominent position; and you may be quite sure that under these circumstances they did not escape persecution.
Under the pretext that the goldsmiths were extortioners, Edward III. seized their property and estates. Even this seemed but slightly to affect them; for in the fifteenth century we find them advancing large sums of money for the service of the State on the security of the Customs.
In the latter days, and, indeed, up to the time of my birth, the banking was entirely in the hands of the goldsmiths, but carried on in a very rapacious spirit, as is frequently the case when unrestrained by rivals.
I dare say you have all noticed the three golden balls on the outside of pawnbrokers’ shops. Originally these were three pills, the emblem of the Medici (physician) family; but in some way they became associated with St. Dunstan, the patron saint of the goldsmiths, under the name of the three golden balls—an emblem which the Lombards have retained.
Are you curious to know how the sign has so degenerated as to be the inseparable companion of the pawnbrokers of the land? Well, listen.