THE LUNATIC.

CHAPTER I.

THE STOCK EXCHANGE.

Now they go up, up, uppy,

Now they go down, down, downy,

And now they go round-about, round-about, roundy."

Old Ballad.

"THREE three-eighths," said a voice of authority, on a certain day in the year of our Lord 1825, in a place which was crowded with anxious countenances and eager listeners.

That'sh a backwardation," said a Hebrew, "of three-eighthsh per shent. to-day. They musht go down. Fifty thoushandt for de account to sell," cried the Jew, with a loud voice.

"And I sell twenty thoushandt," exclaimed another of the tribe, as if waiting the beck of his more wealthy or daring brother.

"It's done" and "it's done,' were the speedy responses to these exciting offers. "And I'd buy one hundred thousand more," said a dapper, elderly-looking man, with his hands snugly fixed in his breeches' pockets, smiling at the same time with an air of superiority which inspired the most winning confidence in his immediate neighbourhood. Never did a portly personage with a blue coat, white waistcoat, and exquisite top-boots, appear to better advantage. "There's a balance of a thousand or so between us, Mr. Israel, I believe," continued he, as he struck the bargain of fifty thousand with the Jew. You can give me a draft for it at your leisure.”

"Not to-day," said Mr. Israel, with a shrug of dismay.

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"No, no," replied the other, "I know this is your Sunday I didn't mean to offend you.' "Oh! no, no; no offence," said the Jew; ve never pay money on the Shabbath-but there's no offence." "Three," said the authoritative voice.

"The Hebrews are selling. Those fellows are always right," said one of the bystanders. The purchaser of the fifty thousand was evidently disconcerted, but he stalked away with an indifferent air, declaring that the funds must rise as soon as the Jews had exhausted their Sabbath speculations.

"Two three-quarters!"

"What's the meaning of two three-quarters?" said a stripling of some eighteen years, who had wandered into this scene of active business.

"Ninety-two three-quarters," said a good-natured broker, with an obvious feeling of compassion for the ignorance of his inquirer.

"What is ninety-two three-quarters?" again asked the young man.

"Consols, to be sure," returned the broker, passing quickly forward to another place.

"What do you think of it?-what do you think of things now?" said a stout gentleman, evidently from the country, to a care-worn personage, whose opinion he seemed anxious to gain. The person whom he addressed was a slim, short, withered form, with a forehead as deeply furrowed as though he had been wont for years to poise the balance of empires. His eyes started strongly from their sockets; his lips seemed the eternal utterers of calculation; his long, wasted fingers moved to and fro with a precision which close thought alone could have dictated; whilst the jaundiced, sunken cheek betokened the ravages of incessant toils and straining accuracy.

"What do you think?" was the reply of this ghostlike counsellor, who scarcely deigned to cast a look upon his visiter when he spoke.

"I think they'll be lower," said the other.

"Do you?" was the answer of the broker, who ac companied the exclamation with a convulsive shudder, and a shrewdly-penetrating glance. "What makes you think so?" continued he.

"I think I shall sell ten thousand," said the countryman.

"Will you?" returned the other, with an air of affected compassion. "Have you made up your mind?” said he again, after a short pause.

"If you please, Sir," said a gay tripping young woman, "will you buy a hundred pounds for me into the funds?"

"Into what funds, my dear?" replied the broker.

"Into the Three per Cents., Sir, if you please, if it's worth your while to take so much trouble."

"That I will, and very much obliged to you, my dear, although it is but half-a-crown.'

And so saying, he sprang out with an alacrity peculiar to his craft, and jerking his hand to his hat, with a sudden bow was almost instantly out of sight.

A crowd had now collected at a corner of the Exchange whose eager looks bore evident witness that something of no common occurrence had happened, or was then at hand. These were the frequenters of the great gambling-house, where the changes of men and times are talked over with as much carelessness as the chances of a horse-race. These were the bulls and bears of that day, (according to the phraseology of the place,) whose characters were for ever shifting with the tides of fortune. He who was a bull a week since, when the Funds were at their height, might be an earnest bear a few days after, upon a decline of those securities. A victory or a peace would be wont to make a hundred bulls, or speculators for a rise; a defeat, a few riots, or an unfavourable report, would turn the whole hundred bears beyond redemption.

But now there seemed to be something quite rare; it could not be a battle, or a conquest, for profound peace reigned throughout the land; it could hardly be a mere disturbance, for an event of that sort would never stir up such a commotion as the present; it was an affair, to judge by the riveted gaze of the multitude, of most unpromising appearance. At this moment, when heads and shoulders were mixed up together in a most motley assembly, a youth, a stranger, who had long watched the party with curiosity, ventured amongst them. But his presence was instantly detected, and no sooner perceived than resented. A general clamour arose; one seized the unhappy intruder by the shoulders, another pulled him by the coat, a third knocked off his hat, and

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it cannot be ascertained to what extent the violence would have been carried on, had not the young man dexterously extricated himself from his tormentors. Gladly enough did he scamper down the court, into whose precincts he had so incautiously entered, and it is even said, that he felt his pockets as he issued forth from the inhospitable land, fearing that, instead of being punished for his curiosity, he had perchance fallen among thieves.

The mysterious conversation still went on, but its purport remained concealed from the public, who continued to stray about the Exchange, buying and selling as the fancy of each prompted. At length rumours of strange occurrences reached the barrier of that unapproachable spot; and truths, which would have been kept secret had it been possible, were no longer suppressed. It is customary when a failure takes place at the great mart of money, for an individual appointed to the office, to strike several times against the wall with his hand. This signal announces that bankruptcy has happened, the speculating mob rush together with eagerness to gain the name of the defaulter, and each begins to anticipate the accuracy of his own private surmises. Presently the name is mentioned, and the accounts are of course referred to the all-powerful committee; whilst, if the unfortunate insolvent be a man of note, a hundred tongues are let loose at once, and become profusely slanderous, as jealousy or interest may chance to dictate. "Bang-bang-bang," resounded at this time against • the wall more than once, or twice, or thrice; the assembly were aghast, no one knew precisely the cause of such united disasters, though whispers of a general bankruptcy were by no means silent. "Bang-bangbang."-Consols eighty-eight-seven-six-five-four -three-two-one. "Bang-bang-bang." Failures for ten, twenty, fifty-one hundred thousand. The public soon participated in the terror; confusion, panic, suspicion, despair succeeded, and in a very short interval as great an alarm prevailed as when the Pretender, of fading memory, was marching to London with his handful of Scots. In a quarter of an hour after the breaking out of the rumour, one thousand pounds were worth a diamond of double their cost; and in a short half hour after that, no ordinary man would advance five hundred pounds to his neighbour upon any pretence.