CIRCULAR NOTES are bank-notes specially adapted for the use of travelers in foreign countries; and being, in fact, bills personal to the bearer, they are believed to be more safe as traveling money than ordinary notes or coin. C. N. are furnished by the chief London banking-houses. Those who wish to obtain them, determine beforehand what sum of money they will require on their journey, and that they pay to the banker, who, in exchange, gives C. N. to the amount, each of the value of and upwards. Along with these notes is given a "letter of indication." This letter (a lithographed form in French) is addressed to foreign bankers, requesting them to pay the notes pre sented by the hearer, whom they name, and to aid him in any way in their power. By way of verification, the hearer appends his signature, and the letter is complete. On the back of the letter there is a long list of foreign bankers, extending all over Europe, any of whom will cash one or more of the C. N.. on being presented and indorsed by the bearer; the indorsement being of course compared with the signature on the letter of indication, which is at the same Ono exhibited, In paying these notes, the money of the country is given, according to the course of exchange, and free of any charge for commission. For security, the letter and the notes should not be carried together, in case of being stolen or lost. These C. N. are doubtless a safe and convenient species of
money, exchangeable in almost every town visited; and if any remain over on coming home, they will be taken back at their value by the bunker who issued them. There are, however, certain drawbacks connected with these notes, which every traveler less or more experiences. In many, almost in all, instances, there is a difficulty in finding out where the banker named is to be found; for foreign bankers generally occupy obscure apartments several stories high, and not unusually in dingy out-of the-way alleys. To discover them, a commissionaire may be necessary, Then, in some instances (in Paris invariably), the banker jealously scrutinizes the bearer, asks to see his passport, and takes a note of the hotel at which lie lodges; all which may be proper as a precaution against roguery, but it is not pleasant. Further, the C. N. are ordinarily of a thick stiff kind of paper, which does not well fit into a purse or pocket-book. On these sev eral accounts, the careful class of travelers who keep to the main thoroughfares of France, Germany, and Belgium, will find £5 or £10 bank of England notes, and sover eigns or napoleons, a preferable kind of money to take on their journey. w. c.