The charge of employing official information to speculate in the funds has often been brought against public men. These accusations have often been made with cause, but generally with caution. In August, 1805, however, a letter was received by the head of the government, signed by Ambrose Charles, a clerk in the employment of the directors of the Bank of England, in which Lord Moira, a cabinet minister, was accused of availing himself of his official information to speculate in the stocks. The name of the broker employed by his Lordship was given; and letters which implicated him were said to have been publicly exhibited on ’Change. The underlings of newspapers were declared to be in communication with the accused nobleman; and the document concluded with the offer of proving these assertions, should Lord Grenville require further information. The letter was too important to be overlooked; and the prime minister gave the required interview to the writer, who, persisting in his assertion, calmly and confidently declared its truth; and was proceeding with his story, when, with a dramatic effect rarely witnessed off the stage, the door of an adjoining apartment was opened, and the accused confronted his accuser. There appears to be no other evidence of what passed at this interview than that given by Ambrose Charles, which, being entirely favorable to himself, cannot be trusted. No proof was tendered of the assertion; but the morning on which the letter had been sent, the writer remarked to a fellow-clerk, “I have done a deed which will immortalize me.” The subject was made a matter of legal inquiry; affidavits from all who had been named as having inculpated his Lordship evinced his complete innocence, and the entire evidence proved the falsehood and folly of the criminator. The charge was eventually dismissed as untenable; and the whole affair can only be regarded as one of those morbid cravings after notoriety which arise equally from a diseased brain and an idle vanity. In 1807 and 1808, a general and feverish love of speculation was abroad. Joint-stock companies were the feature of the day; canals, bridges, and life assurance being the great favorites, which, if injurious to the speculator, were beneficial to the country. To this period London owes Waterloo and Vauxhall bridges, with many more of those public works forming to the foreigner objects of so much interest.