Others were more fortunate. The fine mansion of Sir Gregory Page, at Blackheath, was made out of the profit made by his guardians; and two maiden sisters, who sold the stock at 970, reinvested their money in navy-bills, at a discount of 25 per cent., which in a very short time were paid off at par. The wags of the day were not idle. A pretended office was opened in ’Change Alley to receive subscriptions for raising one million. The people flocked in, paid five shillings for every thousand they subscribed, fully believing they would make their fortunes. After a large sum had been subscribed, an advertisement was published, that the people might have their money without any deduction, as it was only a trial to see how many fools might be caught in one day. Similar anecdotes to these are scattered over the private and the public histories of the period; but they have been rendered too familiar by recent works to narrate them in the present volume. CHAPTER V. _Life of Thomas Guy.—Imposition in Sailors’ Tickets.—Foreign Loan attempted.—Sir John Barnard.—Expresses of the Jobbers.—Foreign Commissions.—Origin of Time-Bargains.—Attempt to stop them.—Its Inadequacy.—Proposal to reduce the Interest on the National Debt.—Opposition of Sir Robert Walpole.—New Mode of raising Loans.—Comparative Interest in Land and Funds.—Punishment of Manasseh Lopez.—The first Reduction of Interest.—Life of Sir John Barnard._ In 1724 died the founder of Guy’s Hospital, and a sketch of this remarkable man’s career is a curious picture of the period. The son of a lighterman and member of the senate,—one year the penurious diner on a shop-counter, with a newspaper for a table-cloth, and the next the founder of the finest hospital in England,—at one time a usurious speculator, and at another the dispenser of princely charities,—the wearer of patched garments, but the largest dealer in the Alley,—beginning life with hundreds, and ending it with hundreds of thousands,—Thomas Guy was one of the many remarkable men who, tempted from their legitimate pursuit, entered into competition with the jobbers of the Stock Exchange, and one of the few who devoted their profits to the benefit of a future generation.