handful of gold, and tying it up in a handkerchief, he repaired to the dwelling of the poor man. He considered how he might bestow it without making himself known, and while he stood irresolute, the moon coming from behind. a cloud, showed him a window open; so he threw it in, and it fell at the feet of the father, who, when he found it, returned thanks, and with it he portioned his eldest daughter. The second time Nicholas provided a similar sum, and again he threw it in by night, and with it the nobleman married his second daughter. But he greatly desired to know who it was that came to his aid, therefore he determined to watch, and when the good saint came for the third time, and prepared to throw in the third purse, he was discovered, for the nobleman seized him by the skirt of his robe, and flung himself at his feet, saying, 'Oh, Nicholas ! servant of God, why seek to hide thyself?' and he kissed his feet and his hands. But Nicholas made him promise that he would tell no man." In the engraving which accompanies the story, the saint is represented standing on tip toe, and about to throw a ball-shaped purse into the window of the house. The nobleman is seen through an open doorway, sitting sorrowfully in the nearest room, while his three daughters are sleeping in a chamber beyond. The three purses of gold, or as they are more commonly figured, the three golden balls, disposed in exact Pawnbroker fashion, are to this day the recognized and special emblem of the charitable Nicholas. It is probable that a much more commonplace explanation of this sign may be given by supposing that the three balls are the representatives of the article in which the Pawnbroker deals-Money. In the case of most of the London Trading Companies, it will be found that their Armorial bearings are charged with three of those objects which are the staple of that Company's manufacture. Thus the Goldsmiths (in addition to the Leopard's heads), have three cups or chalices; the Saddlers three saddle-trees; the Stationers three books ; the Needle-makers three needles, &c. In all probability the Lombards merely adopted the emblems of their traffic, and selected three "Byzants," a gold coin of great purity, current during the middle ages. "Byzant" also is the herald's term for a circle of gold; and thus the device would really be three golden coins on a field azure; a form in which they are commonly presented to the eye even now, whenever the Pawnbroker has to depict his signs upon a flat surface, such as a window blind. As the use of flat sign boards passed out of fashion, the original idea was preserved by the of golden spheres, which had the advantage of being equally visible from whatever point of view the customer's eye might light upon them. We do not pretend to decide between these conflicting theories; our readers must make their election between piety and pelf, between alms-giving by a mediæval Bishop and money-lending by a modern broker. Still, with the liveliest appreciation of the excellence of the good saint's motives, we greatly doubt whether public interest or private morality would be served by a general imitation of his example. His memory, however, was use highly venerated, especially by the poor. Mrs. Jameson says of him :-" While knighthood had its St. George; serfhood had its St. Nicholas. He was emphatically the saint of the people; the bourgeois saint, invoked by the peaceful citizen, by the labourer who toiled for his daily bread, by the merchant who traded from shore to shore, by the mariner, struggling with the stormy ocean. He was the protector of the weak against the strong, of the poor against the rich, of the captive, the prisoner, the slave. No saint in the calendar has so many churches, chapels and altars dedicated to him. In England, I suppose, there is hardly a town without one church at least bearing his name." Besides the church bearing his name, we might add, that most towns in England contain at least one establishment bearing his arms. We do not think the holy man who founded the order has any reason to be ashamed of his successors. We may go further and say, that nothing can be said against Pawnbroking in our day, half so severe as might, with reason, be uttered against indiscriminate almsgiving in the manner which has made St. Nicholas immortal. A Pawnbroker of to-day may look very prosaic by the side of a medieval saint, but an honest member of the craft is a greater public benefactor than the bishop of Myra. He lives to supply a want continually felt in civilized societies. His calling will always exist, if not under legal recognition, then in spite of legal prohibition. If it is true that to some extent it encourages habits of improvidence, it is also true that it continually relieves distress. It enables a poor man, on a small scale, to do in an hour of difficulty, what the millionaire does at a commercial crisis-to raise the means of meeting a temporary pressure, by getting an advance on some portion of his property, with which he would not, under ordinary circumstances, be willing to part. As the business is, in England, left in the hands of individuals, the pawnee is naturally more anxious to make business by accommodating the pawnor, than he would be, if, as in France and elsewhere, the business were confined to a few establishments, conducted by government officials, with no special motive to please anybody but those above them. By placing the Trade under licence, and subjecting it to stringent regulations as to stolen goods, and other matters, the Legislature has endeavoured to withdraw undue facilities for getting rid of their booty, from the dishonest and fraudulent, without curtailing the advantages which the Trade may afford, both to pawnor and pawnee. As in other social relations, the parties acquire certain rights and incur certain liabilities, as soon as they assume these characters, and we suppose it is one result of the infirmities of our nature, that where rights and liabilities exist, they should occasionally become the subject of dispute. To define these rights, to indicate the extent of these liabilities, has been our object in the present work, and we trust that our endeavours may prove of some service, both to the parties to the contract, and to those from whom they have to seek professional assistance. THE SECTION I. CONTRACT OF PAWNING DEFINED. In the Roman Law, this contract is called Pignus, and is thus mentioned in the Digest:-Pignus, appellatum a pugno, quia res quæ pignori dantur, manu traduntur (a). And in that law the term was applied to mere personal property and moveables, as opposed to land, and things incorporeal. Unde etiam videri potest verum esse quod quidam putant, Pignus proprie rei mobilis constitui. Pothier says the Pawn or Pledge is a contract, by which a debtor gives his creditor a thing to detain as security for his debt (créance), which the creditor is bound to return, when the debt is paid (b). Sir Wm. Jones (c) defines it as "a bailment of goods by a debtor to his creditor, to be kept till the debt is discharged." To somewhat the same effect, Mr. Justice Blackstone, in his Commentaries, says, "If a Pawnbroker receives plate or jewels, as a pledge or security for the repayment of money lent thereon at a day certain, he has them upon an express contract or condition to restore them, if the pledgor performs his part by redeeming them in due time" (d). Or even, adds Dr. Stephen, "if he is ready to redeem (a) Dig. Lib. 50, tit. 16, 1. 238. |