The superannuation, death, and burial of a Bank of England Note is a story soon told. The returned Notes, or promises performed, are kept in “The Library” for ten years, and then burnt in an iron cage in one of the Bank yards. A few words on the history and general appearance of the Bank of England Note will conclude our criticism. The strong principle to insure the detection of forgery is uniformity; hence, from the very first Note issued by the Bank, to that, the merits of which we are now discussing, the same general design has been preserved,—only that the execution has been from time to time improved; except, we are bound to add, that of the signatures, some of which are still as illegible as ever. Originally, Notes were granted more in the form of Bank post-bills,—that is, not nominally to a member of the establishment, but really to the party applying for them, and for any sum he might require. If it suited his convenience, he presented his Note several times, drawing such lesser sums as he might require; precisely as if it were a letter of credit, after the manner of the Sailor mentioned in the latest edition of Joe Miller. Jack, somehow or other, got possession of a fifty pound Note; the sum was so dazzlingly enormous that he had not the heart, on presenting it for payment, to demand the whole sum at once, for fear of breaking the Bank. So, leaning confidentially over the counter, he whispered to the cashier, that he wouldn’t be hard upon ’em. He knew times were bad,—so, as it was all the same to him, he would take five sovereigns now, and the rest at so much a week. In like manner, the fac-simile on the opposite page, while it presents a specimen of one of the earliest Bank Notes in existence, shows that the holder took the amount as Jack proposed;—by instalments. It was granted to Mr. Thomas Powell, on the 19th of December, 1699, for five hundred and fifty-five pounds. His first draft was one hundred and thirty-one pounds, ten shillings, and one penny; the second “in gould,” three hundred and sixty; the third, sixty-three pounds, nine shillings, and elevenpence, when the note was retained by the Bank as having been fully honoured. With this curious specimen of the ancient Bank of England Note, we take leave of the modern ones—only, however, for a short time. In a week or two, we shall change the topic (as we have previously intimated) to one closely bearing upon it. Circumstances, however, demand that we should change the subject of it at a much earlier date. INNOCENCE AND CRIME. AN ANECDOTE.