are honorable in spite of the temptations which surround them; it is consulted by chancellors, and taken into the councils of ministers; peace or war hangs upon its fiat; and yet the Stock Exchange is seldom named, out of the city, but with contempt; and a Stock Exchange man is, like the moneyed man in the early reign of William, despised by the landed, and looked down upon by the mercantile, aristocracy. One reason, perhaps, for this is, that the great mass of their transactions are without the pale of the law. All their time-bargains—and the Stock Exchange might close to-morrow if these were abolished—are illegal. They are, strictly speaking, gambling dealings, which our judicature refuses to recognize; and the dealers are gamblers, whom the legislature will not acknowledge. The tricks which are resorted to are numerous. The penniless speculator can enter into transactions which may retrieve his fortunes, or consolidate his ruin. It is said to be a not uncommon trick for two persons to agree together in the following manner:—one buys and the other sells for the account to the largest amount for which each can procure credit. One must lose, and the other must gain. One becomes a millionnaire, the other a defaulter. The former receives a large amount, the latter is declared on the blackboard. A division of the spoils is afterwards privately effected; and the gainer pursues his avocation in the funds, while the loser becomes a prosperous gentleman. The public cannot be too decidedly warned against the dangers to which they may be exposed in legitimate transactions. On one occasion, a merchant having requested his broker to purchase a certain amount of stock, and having concluded the business, was surprised in the evening to hear his broker announced as a visitor. Some remark being made, the latter stated that a dispute had arisen with the jobber about the price which was in the receipt, and he should be glad to take it with him as an evidence of his correctness. Knowing that a stock receipt is in itself of no value, the buyer readily complied. His visitor thanked him, and from that moment was never heard of. The receipt was false, the names were forged; and, secure in the possession of all evidence against him, the broker sought a foreign land in which to enjoy his unrighteous gains. If the morals of the Stock Exchange be as described, its manners are as curious. It is not long since the papers reported a limb broken in sport. The writer has perused in the journals occasional duels which have arisen from the “fun” of the members; and the courtesies of life are wanting if a stranger ventures among them. When this is the case, instead of the bearing of gentlemen, the first discoverer of the intruder cries out, “Fourteen hundred fives!” and a hundred voices reëcho the cry. Youth or age is equally disregarded; and the following description of what occurred to an unhappy visitor will attest the truth of that which has been asserted:—