Oldfashioned merchants complained bitterly that a class of men who, thirty years before, had confined themselves to their proper functions, and had made a fair profit by embossing silver bowls and chargers, by setting jewels for fine ladies, and by selling pistoles and dollars to gentlemen setting out for the Continent, had become the treasurers, and were fast becoming the masters, of the whole City.

These usurers, it was said, played at hazard with what had been earned by the industry and hoarded by the thrift of other men.

If the dice turned up well, the knave who kept the cash became an alderman; if they turned up ill, the dupe who furnished the cash became a bankrupt.

On the other side the conveniences of the modern practice were set forth in animated language.

The new system, it was said, saved both labour and money.