Evening star., 1901-08-10
OLD ENGLISH TALLIES.
A Box of the Ancient banking Sticks
Found I'm London.
From the London Graphic

Found I'm London.
From the London Graphic.
Charles Dickens, speaking once at Drury
Lane Theater upon the question OF an Ad-
ministratfve Reform Association. said;
Ages ago savage mode OF keeping ac-
counts on notched sticks was introduced
into the court Of exchequer, and the ac-
counts were kept much as Robinson Crusoe
kept his calendar on the desert island. In
the course Of considerable revolutions Of
time the celebrated Cocker was born and
died; Walkinghame Of the Tutors Assist
ant and well versed in figures was also
born and died. and multitude Of account
ants, bookkeepers and actuaries were born
and died Still official routine inclined to
these notched sticks. as If they were the
pillars of the constitution. and still the
exchequer accounts continued to be kept
on certain splints Of elm wood. called ''Tal-
lies. In the reign of George III an inquiry
was made by some revolutionary spirit
whether-pens, ink and paper. states and
pencils being in eXistence-this obstinate
adherence to an obsolete custom ought to
be continued, and whether change ought
not to be effected. All the red tape in the
country grew redder at the bare mention
Of this bold and original conception, and
1t took until 1925 to get these sticks abel
ished. In 1884 it was found that there was
considerable accumulation Of them. and
the question then arose, what was to be
done with such WORKOUT, worm-eaten, ret
ten old bits of wood? The sticks were
housed at Westminster, and 1t would nat
urally occur to any intelligent person that
nothing could be easier than to allow them
to be carried away for firewood by the
miserable people who live in that neighbor-
hood. However, they never have been USE
full, and official routine required that they
never should be. and so the order went
forth that they were to be privately and
confidentially burned. It came to pass that
they were burned in stove in the house
Of lords. The stove, overgorged with these
preposterous sticks. set fire to the PANEL
ing; the paneling set fire to the house OF
lords; the house Of lords set fire to the
house Of commons; the two houses were
reduced to ashes; architects were called in
second million OF the cost thereof
Humorous as his speech Is, It Is not
strictly accurate Dickens was no anti
quarry, and his denunciation of the !nno-
cent excheQuer tallies is rather too severe.
Far. from never having been useful, they
were. as a matter Of fact, Indispensable to
the times In which they swere used. and
were ready and handy way Of reckon
as accurate as reckoning with pens and
Ink, states and pencils.
Not long ago. in one OF the vaults Of Q
Lombard street banking house. an old box
was found which had been in the bank
since 1856. When opened 1t was found to
contain bundles Of exchequer tallies with
accompanying documents. and dating from
17O6
These tallies from taller. to cut were
part Of system which carries us back to
some Of the oldest records Of our country.
for the Normans claim that they gave us
the name and thing called the exchequer.
and an ancient building at Rouen bears the
inscription: LIE pere de pExchiquier q
Londres." In Norman times the court Of
exchequer was divided into the upper ard
the lower. or the court of account and the
court Of the exchequer and II was in the
latter that tallies were used as checks
In those days-and. as has been said.
down to the past century-the mode Of
keeping accounts was for the buyer and
the seller to be provided each with q
tally having q series OF notches corre-
spending to the number or quantity Of
goods delivered, or to what was due be-
tween debtor and creditor. the seller or
creditor keeping one stick, and the pur-
chaser or debtor the other. The tally used
low, and was notched on one side, the size
of the indentations corresponding with the
amount Of the sum denoted. On two other
sides, opposite to one another were in
scribed the sum paid Qn Roman flgures).
the name of the payer and the date of the
transaction. The rod, so marked. was then
split down the middle, producing two ex-
actly similar pieces, one OF which, the stock
or tally (hence our term ''stocks'D was
stock or counter tally, remaining in the
exchequer When the debt was discharged
stock and counter stock were tied up to-
gether. The particular interest Of many Of
the Lombard street bankers tallies, which
we illustrate land which are still In pos
session Of the bank) Is that the sets are
in many cases quite complete and the old
box and its contents is thus an interesting
relic Of the ready reckoning Of our ances-