The Address of Sir J. Duncan, and Co.
Of the Scale de Cross Bank, to the Ladies, Gentlemen, and Merchants, of Newcastle Upon Tyne, and Its Environs
Sir James Duncan and Co. their kind compliments send
To the public in general, who so befriend
Their laudable endeavour, your gold to exchange,
Yet reluctantly confess, they think it most strange
Their opening a Bank, shou’d be impudent thought,
By those who are strangers to their KERECTER33, and note,
And flatter themselves, the following reasons will prove
Their right to be Bankers, and objections remove.
The title, they presume, will command the esteem
Of those who at a distance, from hence, may have seen
Their elegant Notes; their clothes—they vow, and declare,
In London were made, as you may see by their air;
The skin on Sir James, is not so fit as his coat,
And fine Bristol beer washes his throat.
No Newcastle furniture their office degrades,
Sir James Duncan employs no such bungling, vile blades,
As the paltry workmen, in this smokey town,
Whose finery often—has made us Bankers frown.
They are not worth an hundred thousand it’s true,
But supposing they were, cou’d the public, and you
Their friends be assured they wou’d not exceed
Their capital twice, when their paper you need,
And wisely prefer it, to hard silver and gold,
Because you don’t weigh it, and it’s much sooner told.
The notes of their brethern they will not refuse,
Let other bankers less wise, do that if they chuse;
The public they’ll serve, their cash take, and bills discount,
Except at Change hours, to any amount;
And when profusion and taxes, and of America the loss,
Old England has ruin’d—firm will stand the Scale Cross.
The critics our doggrels will sneer at, we suppose,
But Strap, who’s a GENIUS, has measur’d them, and knows,
Like a shoe on a last they are fit, and convey
Our intention completely, and it’s needless to say,
Newcastle, Exchange, Tyne, or Commercial Bank,34
Must yield to us in writing, as well as in rank,
No knight can they boast—and we his majesty thank.
Sir J. Duncan, Hide, Strap, Last, Awl, & Jacob End.
SIR JAMES DUNCAN’s NOTES WERE AS FOLLOWS:—
Notes
33 We have observed, at a Coffee-house, that one of our brethren pronounces this word thus.
34 Out of these four banks, only two now remain, (1812) i.e., the Newcastle, and the Tyne.