Stranica 183 [183]
OCR
COMMERCE 1601 good reasons to urge for the views he put before Cecil. English merchandise, he said, should be carried in English ships, and no more privileges should be conceded to the foreigners of the Steelyard. The struggle was precipitated when a tax was imposed on their exports and imports. The Hanse towns imposed a similar tax on English traders, and Cecil took the oppor tunity of withdrawing all the special privileges of the Steelyard, which was finally suppressed in 1598. GRESHAM CLUB, KING WILLIAM STREET Gresham's house, "at the sign of the Grasshopper,” his family crest, stood in Lombard Street, where is now No. 68, the bank of Messrs. Martin and Co. It isstated to have been the house of Matthew Shore, whose wife, Jane, figures unpleasantly in the annals of Edward IV and Richard III. Duncombe and Kent conducted the business of the Grasshopper in 1677, and the name of the firm varied. The first Martin entered it at the beginning of the 4 . Y '
