Oldal 172 [172]
150 COMMERCE
Suez Canal go from or come to the dis¬
trict superintended by that ancient body,
the Thames Conservancy.
Of the older trades few are now active
in the city, the suburbs having absorbed
some of them, and others, like that of
the founders, having migrated to distant
parts of the country. But the gold¬
smiths still have their headquarters in
Aldersgate; their lineal descendants, the
bankers, occupy the foremost place in
modern London, of whose streets many
palatial places of business form the chief
ornaments. The banks of London
began with the goldsmiths. We
read of one Teodric, that he was a
London goldsmith with country
estates, in the reign of Edward the
Confessor, and Otto, another of the
trade, is also named in Domesday¬
book. Very little later, about 1115,
we find a monetarius named Brich¬
mar in a list of aldermen. Otto’s ‘
descendants were of the same pro¬
fession, and engraved dies for the
Mint. As late as the reign of