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keni pé va ~ > fi. me zs * ™ ú a a _ - 4 a, S24ERNESS i a 8 ——— a a NO. 5 FENCHURCH AVENUE—MESSRS, ANDERSON, ANDERSON, AND CO,'S OFFICES (ORIENT LINE OF ROYAL MAIL STEAMERS) CHAPTER IV COMMERCE The Thames—The Conservancy—The New Weir—The Wantsum and the Stour—Lundenwic—The Easterlings—Wool and Gold—The Guilds—The Companies—The Jews in London—Trading Companies—The Goldsmiths—Banks—Lombards—The Greshams—The Bank of England— Architecture of the chief Banks. THE early importance of London as a commercial centre can hardly be accounted for by any one fact, but it would seem as if a number of different causes acted together to bring it about. Ata time when ships are of five and six thousand tons burden we can understand the advantages of such a port as we have in the estuary of the Thames. Buta thousand years ago the ships that anchored at London Bridge might have sailed on to Teddington, many of them to Oxford. The Thames
