Lombard-street, in the metropolis, took its name from being the residence of the Lombards, the great money-changers and usurers of early times. They came out of Italy into this kingdom before the year 1274; at length their extortions became so great, that Edward the third seized on their estates; perhaps the necessity of furnishing himself with money for his Flemish expedition, might have urged him to this step. They seem quickly to have repaired their loss; for complaint was soon after made against them, for persisting in their practices. They were so opulent in the days of Henry the fourth, as to be able to furnish him with money, but they took care to get the customs mortgaged to them, by way of security. They continued in Lombard-street till the reign of queen Elizabeth, and to this day it is filled with the shops of eminent bankers. The shop of the great Sir Thomas Gresham stood in Lombard-street; it is now occupied by Messrs. Martin and Stone, bankers, who are still in possession of the original sign of that illustrious person, the _Grasshopper_. The business of goldsmiths was confined to the buying and selling of plate, and foreign coins of gold and silver, melting them, and coining others at the mint. The banking was accidental and foreign to their institution. Regular banking by private persons resulted in 1643 from the calamity of the times, when a seditious spirit was incited by the acts of the parliamentary leaders. The merchants and tradesmen who before trusted their cash to their servants and apprentices found that mode no longer safe; neither did they dare to leave it in the mint at the tower, by reason of the distresses of majesty itself, which before was a place of public deposit. In the year 1645, they first placed their cash in the hands of goldsmiths, who then began publicly to exercise the two professions of goldsmiths and bankers. Even of late years there were several very eminent bankers who kept the goldsmith’s shop; but they were more frequently separated. The first regular banker was Mr. Francis Child, goldsmith, who began business after the restoration. He was the father of the profession, a person of large fortune, of most respectable character, and he was knighted by the king. He lived in Fleet-street, in the house adjoining Temple-bar, where the banking business is still carried on in the same firm, though by different persons. Granger, in his Biographical History, mentions that Mr. Child succeeded Mr. Backwell,[51] a banker in the time of Charles the second, noted for his integrity, abilities, and industry; who was ruined by the shutting up of the Exchequer in 1672.[52] His books were placed in the hands of Mr. Child, and still remain in the family.