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arrange that the firm of Peel should make their consignments direct to Frankfort, so saving the commission. He prospered at Manchester, but in 1806 he settled in London, where he continued his successful career, and was already called 'a pillar of the Exchange' before the Battle of Waterloo.

It has become a matter of history that Nathaniel received the news of the victory of Waterloo before it came to the knowledge of the public, or even of the Government. It has never been exactly ascertained in what manner the intelligence reached him; nor whether, as has been alleged, that he took advantage of the information to lay in a good stock of Consols - which were then at a low figure - before he called, late at night, on Lord Liverpool, the then Prime Minister, and woke him up to impart to him the welcome tidings. The news was probably brought to my Grandfather by one of his many confidential messengers, and not, as generally supposed, by a carrier pigeon. I am confirmed in this opinion by the fact that he obtained from one of these messengers Napoleon's dressing-case, which was taken from the Emperor's travelling carriage on the field of battle. This he gave to my Mother, who afterwards made a present of it to my Brother Nathaniel. It is a small wooden case of the most highly finished workmanship, inlaid with the imperial arms and containing an infinite variety of gold instruments, as well as a secret drawer intended for poison.

The short but remarkable career of my Grandfather Nathaniel, who died in 1836, furnished his contemporaries with material for many anecdotes, but I have preserved the recollection of the best authenticated of them only. Gold was a rare commodity during the Napoleonic wars, and the [English] Government had to purchase the precious metal at a high premium in order to pay the troops on foreign service. Suddenly the premium rose much higher, for the Government had found an unexpected competitor in my Grandfather who bought up all the gold he could secure, declining the very profitable offers he received for his stock from the Government brokers. Gold grew scarcer and dearer, the bullion brokers increased their offers, but to their intense dismay and the wonderment of the entire City, where the financiers could not fathom what his motive might be, he persisted in declining them. At last the Government became so embarrassed that they decided to send for my Grandfather, and in a personal interview he was invited to name his own price for his gold. He replied by at once handing over his stock to them at cost price, refusing to take any profit on the transaction. For this service to the State he was rewarded by being appointed financial agent to the Government, and eventually profited far more in business and position than if he had originally accepted the tempting offer of the Government brokers - who never forgave him. So, much foresight, judgement and self-control in one who was not yet 'a pillar of the Exchange', amounted to genius.

In the 'forties' Frankfort was a bright and busy little town of considerable financial and political importance. Its financial importance was due to the fact of it being situated in the centre of several small principalities, which in 1866 were swept under the banner of Imperial Germany, but which, at the