"Whilft other nations have derived confiderable advantages from their mints, Great Britain has, for nearly a century and an half, coined at a great and regular expence; and has given, with illjudged, though doubtless well-intended, policy, that profit to indivi. duals, which might, with more propriety, have been applied to the public fervice, "The late appointment of a Committee of the Privy Council, to take into confideration the ftate of the coins, and the prefent eftablishment and conftitution of the Mint; together with the Act* which followed that appointment, fufpending, for a time, the coinage of filyer, afforded well-grounded expectations that the prefent mode of coinage will be abolished, fo far as may be poffible, without detriment to the public, and fome other adopted, which, inftead of being burthenfome, may be profitable to the ftate. But by what means this moft defirable end is propofed to be effected, whether by the re-impofition of a Seignorage, diminishing the weight of the pieces, or increafing the alloy, the public has not yet been informed. "In this ftate of uncertainty, refpecting the nature of the intended plan, the question is, no doubt, fairly open to public inveftiga. tion; and therefore the writer of this little tract has prefumed to offer his thoughts upon the fubject. As, from his ftation in life, he can be no farther interefted in the question than any other individual in the fame circumftances, he trufts that his fuggeftions will be received with indulgence and candour. His obfervations will be chiefly directed to the coinage of filver, though many of them will be equally applicable to gold and copper money likewife. They are the refult of investigations into the ancient history of the Mints of this kingdom, which have long formed the amusement of his leisure hours, and which he hopes, at no very diftant period, to be able to lay before the public,' From a concife and very fummary account of that department of the mint, which relates chiefly to the expence of coinage, and which occupies the first twelve pages of his work, the author feels himself authorized to draw the following interesting inferences : "Thus the public has received a two-fold injury; it has paid a great price for the coinage of gold, which was not abfolutely wanted, and has, at the fame time, fuffered inconvenience from a scarcity of filver, because its value was not fufficiently low to make it the interest of the poffeffors of bullion to bring it to the Mint.” "The conclufion to be drawn from the difadvantages which the public has already fuftained from the prefent inode of conducting the Mint, feems to be this, that the state ought no longer to depend for a fupply of bullion on perfons who may, at times, profit by with "38 Geo. III. cap. 59." holding holding it; but that, leaving the Mint open, according to its origi nal institution, to every one who will pay the expence of coinage, government should take upon itself to provide a fufficiency of coins, for the purposes of trade, and for neceffary change." "In the courfe of years the variations in the price of bullion will probably balance themfelves, or, at least, the lofs from the purchase of it will, if any, be but trifling. But, as the expence of coinage must be confiderable and certain, and as the wealth of the ftate will not be increafed by the change of its bullion into coin, it seems fitting that the charges attending the Mint should be deducted from the coin itself. For the fole intention of ftriking money being to render it of more eafy transfer than the mafs of metal, by a stamp which will at once exprefs its weight and fineness, it follows, that the labour which gives it that impreffion, and thereby makes it of readier circulation, and confequently more valuable for common purposes than bullion, fhould, in reafon, be paid by a diminution of actual weight. An increafe of alloy would answer the fame purpose, but that is, liable to objections which are not applicable to a decrease of weight." After various pertinent hiftorical details refpecting the prefent very exceptionable fyftem of coinage, the author frankly and fairly states, that, expedient as, on many accounts, it unquestionably is, that, in future coinages, a fair profit should be allowed to the mint, agreeably to the ancient ufage, there yet are but two ways by which this can be effected; these are, an alloy, or a reduction of the weight of the pieces to be coined. To the former of thefe plans he objects "Because the prefent ftandard is of a purity that has been known and refpected for ages; and becaufe, whenever any alteration is made in the money, it is expedient that it be done in fuch a manner as that the public in general may be able to judge whether it be fairly done. Now, a change of fineness can be examined by artists alone; but a difference of weight may be pronounced upon by every one who can ufe a balance." At any rate, it is, he fays, abfolutely neceffary, that the filver monies fhould be coined at a lefs weight For, they are now fo nearly equal to the value of bullion, that a very trifling variation in the price of filver gives a confiderable profit upon melting the gold into ingots. And fo long as this mean of gain is permitted to fubfift, fo long we must endure the mischiefs neceffarily confequent from a fcarcity of filver money. This overweight of our coin has long fince withdrawn all the heavy filver out of circulation, and will gain withdraw it whenever it fhall be iffued." At length he comes to the means of rendering the counterfeiting the current coins of the kingdom more difficult. This improvement, however defirable, we fear, is attended with infuperable difficulties. Every attempt to leffen these difficulties is highly meritorious; and we have seen none more deferving of attention than those of our author, as poffeffing that least equivocal proof of great merit, the being plain and practicable. Counterfeiting, he thinks, can be prevented only by "Reducing the poffibility of profit fo low as to take away all temptation to the commiffion of this crime. Superiority of execu tion alone can protect our money from being counterfeited and debased. That will immediately place it far out of the reach of many who have fufficient skill to copy the wretched workmanship of our prefent coins; and thus, by confining the poffibility of execution to a few, diminish at once the number of those who are now exposed to the temptation; whilft the expence of time required for finishing the work fo highly, will abate fo much from the profit, that a greater number must be forced into circulation, before the forger can be repaid; fo that, by increafing the danger, and taking from the gain, the temptation to the crime will be counteracted and weakened." P. 37. It will be obvious to our attentive readers, even from the very imperfect account which we have been able to give of this well connected and argumentative work, that, however unoftentatiously it has been introduced to the world, it is of no vulgar character, but has a fair claim to very confiderable and general attention; which, no doubt, it will receive, at leaft from those to whom the important business on which it treats has been committed. We are happy to learn, that "the ancient Hiftory of the Mints of this Kingdom" has fallen into the hands of a perfon who has proved himself fo capable of doing it justice; we look for it with impatience, and if any encouragement of ours could ftimulate the author to extraordinary exertions it certainly fhould not be withheld. ART. XIV. POETRY. The Old English Gentleman: a Poem. By Mr. Polwhele. 8vo. Pp. 146. Price 6s. Cadell and Davies, London. 1797. MR. [R. Polwhele's defign, in this poem, is to "exhibit the manners of the last century in a country gentleman of family, as contradiftinguished from those of borough-mongers, merchants, and miners." Sir Humphrey de Andarton is the hero of the piece, whose character, as the old English gentleman, is well drawn-We fear, however, Mr. Polwhele, like the painters of the Dutch fchool, fometimes deltroys the general effect, by too curious a detail, an over-minuteefs of circumftances. Character is certainly beft pourtrayed by cir cumftances, but they ought, like apparently accidental lights on a picture, to give at once a peculiar expreffion and effect; fo the minute traits which fo admirably mark the honeft Knight in the Spectator, fet the character, as it were, immediately before our eyes; but, if thefe circumstances are too multiplied and crouded, they take off from the general effect, and, instead of illuftrating, by a master. touch, disfeature the refemblance. The Knight of Andarton's attachment to his old roan horse is natural and characteristic, and the circumftances are just and well, defcribed : "If in the mead or park he mifs'd his roan, The Knight, with fears confefs'd by love alone, And to his prattling mafter fondly neigh'd.”—P. 51. This is delightful painting; we cannot but fay-Ofi fie omnia;” but Mr. Polewhele pursues the fubject till the mind is distracted by the minutenefs of detail, and the attention to the ftory becomes jaded. Harriet, the fecond wife of the Knight, is reprefented as very amiable and very beautiful. Mifs Prue, the daughter by his former wife, Bridget, is a town-bred fantaftical Mifs, fond of her monkey, and having a proper CONTEMPT for honeft PAPA! Upon this daughter the estate is entailed in failure of iffue male, as it is fung er faid : "If the Knight begat no issue male, His whole inheritance was her's in tail!”—P. 22. Her character is not ill-drawn; the accomplishments learnt at a modifh boarding-fchool are well-defcribed : "Tutor'd amidst a modish school, whose past Such as informs the mind, or mends the heart, And term'd cach RURAL 'SQUIRE a BOOBY CLOWN! Whilft with Bologna's lap-dog foft fupplied, * From tafte in reading still she wander'd wide; * * Turn'd o'er à page and talk'd of Heloife, from GENIAL FRANCE!" The other characters are Rachel, a maiden fister of Sir Humphrey, who 66 "To thriftiness preferr'd the proudest claim;" And Avice,' an aged maid-fervant, who "Bending beneath fourfcore, Had dandled oft the Knight upon her knee !” We are alfo introduced to the pompous Rector, and his Curate, Herbert; but, we think, in the delineation of the Rector's character, (as in fome other parts of the work before us, which we forbear to point out, Mr. Polwhele indulges rather too much in a severity that is not natural to him. Thefe are the chief CHARACTERS of the poem :-As only two books are before us, the story is, of courfe, incomplete; the fecond book terminates with the birth of a fon and heir.-As yet, we cannot say that we have met with any incident particularly attractive; Neither have we found, in hor can we guess what will come next. the whole, that difplay of genius which ought to mark all the productions of fuch a bard. The minutenefs obferved, we apprehend, will appear tirefome to many readers, though, fays Mr. P.-" Ir fhould be confidered, that many trivialities, (if I may fo exprefs myfelf,) which, from our familiar acquaintance with them, feem too contemptible for notice, will wear a very different afpect hereafter, whilst they no longer exift in common life. If this poem fhould defcend to pofterity, they will then excite attention as curious minutiæ.”. Some of the paffages ftrike us as too "familiar;" but, on this point, the bard fays-" Tranfitions from the grave to the GAY, from the folemn to the FAMILIAR, are of GREAT ADVANTAGE to a poem. One uniform elevation, through a piece of any length, EXHAUSTS ATTENTION." This may be very juft; but we fubmit to the refpectable author, whether attention is likely to be much excited by fuch tranfitions to the FAMILIAR-as "A wench that should be whipt at the cart's tail- One word of the machinery.The fuperftitions of Cornwall may be propitious to the introduction of the Genii of antient Houfes," but we do not think they are here introduced with much effect. are delighted with the aerial attendants of a beautiful female, the We guardian |