The following amusing anecdote is related, bearing on the lighter side of banking, of an interview between a certain banker in Lombard Street and one of his customers who was a baker:—The baker having one day paid in £500 to his account, left the bank and stood on the doorstep debating in his mind which way he should turn, when the banker came up, and as there was no room for him to pass in without soiling his clothes against the baker’s working ones, he haughtily said, “Move away, fellow!” The baker, feeling of some importance, was naturally nettled, and replied somewhat rudely, which led to high words, and finally the banker was sent spinning into the gutter. Rising up full of wrath, he loudly called for someone to fetch a constable and arrest the fellow, when the cashier who had just received the baker’s money came forward and, to the banker’s surprise, whispered in his ear that the baker was one of his own customers. Retiring into his private room to recover himself, he soon sent for the baker. Apologies were exchanged, and it is said that the banker and baker were thereafter good friends. Of the early history of country banks we have no very definite records, but we know that after the passing of the Act in 1708, prohibiting the foundation of banks having more than six partners,[1] a large number of private banks having fewer partners than the prescribed number came into existence to meet the necessities of the time; and after the passing of the Bank Restriction Act in 1797 their number was largely increased. At the time of the passing of this latter Act, it is calculated that there were somewhat under three hundred country banks in existence, but by 1813 we find that the number had increased to nearly one thousand. [Footnote 1: Under the Companies Act, 1862 (25 & 26 Vict. cap. 89), private banks may now have as many as ten partners. Section 4 provides that “no company, association, or partnership consisting of more than ten persons shall be formed, after the commencement of this Act, for the purpose of carrying on the business of Banking unless it is registered as a company under this Act or is formed in pursuance of some other Act of Parliament or of Letters Patent.” Re-enacted by Companies (Consolidation) Act, 1908, sec. 1 (1).] In the eighteenth century banking was essentially _free_, in the fullest sense of the word, except for the one prohibition as to the number of partners constituting a bank. Anyone was at liberty to put up the magic word “Bank” over his door and commence business. We cannot say very much as to the solvency of these banks; some were doubtless sound and ably managed, but every wave of distress which swept over the country unfailingly overthrew large numbers of these so-called banks, and occasioned much local suffering.