During that period, which, now a romantic, was then a terrible reality, when it was known, in 1715, that the best families in the North of England had assembled in arms to change the dynasty, no pains were spared by the jobbers to procure correct and to disseminate false intelligence: and it was with mingled feelings of alarm and pity that the inhabitants of a small town between Perth and the seaport of Montrose—where James embarked after his unhappy expedition—saw a carriage and six, travelling with all the rapidity which the road would allow. It was known that the rebel army was dispersed; that its chiefs were scattered; and that the unfortunate Stuart was wandering through the country, with life and liberty alike endangered. It excited, therefore, no surprise in the village when the carriage was surrounded, and the apparent prize conveyed with great ostentation towards London. Letters soon reached the city that the fugitive Stuart was taken, and the letters were confirmed by the story related, which quickly reached London. The funds of course rose, and the inventors of the trick laughed in their sleeves as they divided the profit. By this time the jobbers must have reached a somewhat high position, as, the same year, one Quare, a Quaker and a celebrated watchmaker in ’Change Alley, having successfully speculated in the shares and funds with which it abounded, was of sufficient importance to invite to the marriage-feast of his daughter, Sarah Jennings, Duchess of Marlborough, and the Princess of Wales, who, with three hundred guests of distinction, graced the wedding entertainment. But ’Change Alley was notorious for other dealings than those in the funds. When that desperate struggle for power occurred between the old and new East India Company; when their varying claims were on every man’s tongue, and their bribes in every man’s hand; the election of a member of Parliament was an affair of moment. The partisans of each Company sided with their friends; bought boroughs; shed their money lavishly and largely; used every art that self-interest could devise; and so extensive was the interference of the brokers, that the only question heard in ’Change Alley was, “Is he for the New or the Old Company?” It was the touchstone of a principle more sacred than the Hanoverian succession, and more important than England and Hanover united. It was probably found profitable; and it was said in 1720, that elections for members of Parliament came to market in ’Change Alley as currently as lottery-tickets.