PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY NICHOLS AND SONS, NORTHGATE ;

LONDON:

SOLD BY SIMPKIN, MARSHALL AND CO., STATIONERS HALL COURT ;

DARTON AND CO., 58, HOLBORN HILL.

(1846.)

THE

AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A FIVE POUND NOTE.

I well remember the first hour I saw the light. I was gently taken wet from the copper-plate by a sallow, hardfeatured man, who, as he raised me from the metal, looked wistfully in my face. An expression of triumph and pleasure arose on his countenance as he scanned the clearness and sharpness of the impression traced on my features, and with a smile of approbation laid me carefully down on my back, until the ink was dry. While in this position, I had the opportunity of seeing the birth of 999 twin-brothers and sisters, so like myself, that I began almost imperceptibly to doubt my own identity. I was somewhat more satisfied when I perceived that we had each of us blanks left upon our faces, where very probably numbers, dates, and other names, might in future assist my infantile capacity in distinguishing my relatives from myself. I had scarcely left off this kind of dreamy, speculative train of thought, when I was raised up by my natural parent, and committed with the whole of my brothers and sisters, packed back to face, as closely as possible, into a small deal box. I heard over-head the nailing up of this wood coffin, and I almost fancied I could faintly perceive the scratching of a pen, as the direction was written upon it.

B