“Then, list, ingenuous youth.... And once forego your joy, For your instruction I display The life of Fauntleroy.” _The Dirge of Fauntleroy_, JAMES USHER, 1824. In the year 1792--not one of the least disastrous in our annals of commerce--a small party of capitalists established a private bank under the name of Marsh, Sibbald & Company of Berners Street. The chief promoters--William Marsh, a naval agent, and James Sibbald of Sittwood Park, Berkshire, a retired official of Company John--were gentlemen of substance and position; while their managing partner, William Fauntleroy (previously employed at the famous house of Barclay), was a man of ability and business experience. Four years later, a younger son of Sir Edward Stracey, a Norfolk baronet, who married eventually the niece of Sir James Sibbald, was admitted into the firm. [Illustration: _HENRY FAUNTLEROY._] Although never a bank of great resources, it appears to have made a fair return to its proprietors, and because of its connection with two baronets--one of whom became Sheriff of his county--it was regarded as a house of repute. In the spring of 1807 the firm received a severe blow through the death, when only in his fifty-eighth year, of the active partner, William Fauntleroy, in whom his colleagues placed implicit trust. Luckily, however, it was possible to fill his place, for his second son Henry, who had been employed as a clerk for seven years, although only twenty-two, was fit and eager for the post. None of the members of the firm were able to devote much attention to their bank, and thus, by a strange chance, the sole control was left in the hands of young Fauntleroy. A remarkable man in every respect, this youthful manager, who carried with ease the burden of a great business on his shoulders. During the second decade of last century no figure was better known to those familiar with the west end of Oxford Street. Neat and elegant as Brummell, grave and industrious as Henry Addington, he seemed a model for all young men of commerce. Each morning at the same hour, the front door of No. 7 Berners Street, where he lived with his mother and sister, was thrown open, and the banker would step briskly into the adjoining premises--the counting-house of Messrs Marsh, Stracey, Fauntleroy & Graham. For he was a partner, also, as well as absolute manager, this solemn young gentleman whose air of ponderous respectability won the confidence of all.