counterfeit his halfpence, and send casks of them over hither, which may easily be vended before the fraud be discovered. If these new halfpence and farthings should ever be suffered to become current, the factors for them would make no difficulty of giving large allowance to all who would give gold, silver, or valuable commodities for them. Of this I say they would make no difficulty, partly because it would be the only way speedily and easily to bring a very great quantity of them into the kingdom; and partly because it would be in their own power, by coining more and more of them, (wherein I see not how we could restrain or controul them) to repair to themselves whatever seeming loss they may be supposed to sus tain by the discount; and the present gain by this allowance would make many here so greedy of them, as to strive who should first get and vend them before their value should fall; so that in a short time the nation would probably be glutted with them, and they would unavoidably become a very great burden and clog upon all sorts of trade and business, as shall presently be shewn. If one twentieth part of circulating cash of a country be in halfpence and farthings, it will be very sufficient for exchange in all the retailing trade; and if the retailing value of so much small money be somewhat below what it passes for, the inconvenience will not be great, because, being in no great quantity, it keeps in constant motion, and quickly passes from hand to hand, so that no man will be supposed to have more of it at a time than what he has almost present occasion to pass away, or may easily put into the hands of another who may have such occasion for it. But if a tenth, or much more if a fifth or fourth part, of the nation's cash be in such sort of money, and the real value thereof not above one third (or thereabout) of what it is made to be current for, the damage to the people must thereby be very great. A fifth part is four twentieths; one of those twentieths is abundantly sufficient, in very small sums, to answer all the necessities of the retailing trade, which is the proper and only profitable use of such sort of small money: and where greater sums are to be paid, every man, as much as he can, will avoid taking such coin as is far short of the real value for which it is made to go; so that the other three twentieths must either lie dead upon the hands of those who have taken them, or, at least, circulate at great disadvan

tage, as we shall see by and bye. Since then the whole circulating cash of Ireland has never been computed at more than L. 500,000, (and by many is reckoned to be much short of that), and we have already in the kingdom at least L. 20,000 in halfpence, (which was the sum allowed by the last patent to be coined; nor is it improbable that the patentee exceeds rather than came short of what he was allowed to do ;) and since this stock of halfpence which we thus have, is by expe rience found to be abundantly sufficient for all the uses of such sort of money, so that we want no more of it, except perhaps a few farthings for the sake of the most minute part of the retailing trade, and the poorest of the people, I may well leave it to the consideration of every sober man, what a sad condition this poor kingdom will soon be reduced to, in case that not only Mr Wood's halfpence to the quantity (for I cannot say the value) of L. 90,000 should be made current amongst us, but also he should happen to pour in double that sum upon us, from the doing of which we have no way to hinder him, in case that for the sake of gain he should be tempted to do so; it being notorious, that the very best of his halfpence are not in real value above two-fifths, and the bulk of them not above one-third at most of what they are intended to pass for.

When a base sort of coin, in a much greater quantity than what is necessary for exchange in the retailing trade, is made current in a country, it in a little time naturally sinks from its current value, which it only retains in name, to its real and intrinsic value. Thus the late King James's brass money sunk every day more and more in its value, though the name of each piece was still the same, until at last one of his shillings, though still called a shilling, would not purchase above the worth of an halfpenny, even in that part of the kingdom which was under his power; and if so great an inundation of Mr Wood's halfpence, as I have but now mentioned, should break in upon us, the consequence, in as little a time, would be, that for three shillings in those halfpence, more could not be bought than for one shilling in silver. I do not indeed find, by Mr Wood's patent, that a man would be bound to receive his debts, or a landlord his rents, in these halfpence, in case they should become current, but yet from their currency these evil effects must unavoidably arise:

First, The poor labourer would always be paid his wages, and the alewife for her drink, in these halfpence. Secondly, From hence it must follow, that almost all the King's hearthmoney and excise would be paid in the same coin; and if the halfpence are allowed to become current by royal authority, I see not how they can be refused by the officers of his Majesty's revenue, especially when those who pay the greatest part of these two branches of it, have no other money wherewith to make their payments. Thirdly, It is most probable that a great part of his Majesty's customs, quit-rents, &c. and the postages of all letters, would also be paid in this sort of money; and that, for that very purpose, men would buy it up at a low rate, as they used to do the late King James's brass coin. Fourthly, That all the private men in the army (to say nothing of officers civil and military) would be forced to receive their pay in the same; for what other way would the King have to dispose of the vast quantity of halfpence, which unavoidably must come into his Treasury; and if the poor soldier can get no more for his shillings in halfpence than what he might for a groat in silver (which unavoidably must be the consequence), how will it be possible for him to subsist? Fifthly, If landlords will not receive their rents, or any considerable part of them, in this sort of money (as we may be sure they will not, except some law, not now in being, be made to compel them), this must unavoidably break a multitude of tenants, especially of the poorer sort, who will sell their goods in small quantities, for which they will generally receive no other money but halfpence; and if the poor under-tenants are broke, it will not be easy for the head-tenants, or even the landlords themselves, who depend upon their rents, long to subsist. Lastly, If more than L. 500,000 has not room to circulate in Ireland, (as is generally computed), and one-fifth part of this, or probably much more, be thus debased, the consequence will be, that at least one fifth part of our good coin, or perhaps a much greater proportion of it, being not to be employed here, will soon be carried away (and so toties quoties) to some other country, which, being added to the other evils already mentioned, will be a greater diminution to our stock and trade, if not the destruction of both, and, consequently, a very great lessening of his Majesty's revenue.

I will not, upon this occasion, pretend to insist upon it, that the Protestants of Ireland may be entitled to some favour from his Majesty. It is a satisfaction to us, that we have all along been faithful to and zealous for his interest and that of his illustrious house, together with the succession of the crown, as by law established. But what we therein did was our duty, and therefore I shall not plead it as our merit. All I desire is, that we may stand in the common rank of good subjects, to which I hope we have an undoubted title; and when all that I have here said is duly weighed, I may well leave it to the consideration of every sober man, whether it can be for his Majesty's service, or our benefit, that these same halfpence of William Wood should be even connived at be ing made current amongst us in Ireland. P. S.-One thing will be worth remarking, I had like to have forgot. When the last patent was granted for coining of halfpence here, the sum was confined to L. 20,000, and, by the care of the government, I believe was not much exceeded; and yet, in a short time, the collectors everywhere throughout the king dom, received so great a part of the hearth money and ex cise in these halfpence, that being not able otherwise to dispose of them, they were forced to pay a great quantity of them in specie into the commissioners of the revenue, who often complained of them as a burden. And if this was the case when all the copper money in the kingdom made up little more than L. 20,000, what must it be when an addition is made not only of L. 90,000, which is the express allowance of Mr Wood's patent, but also of as much more as he shall think fit to send us? For the coinage being at such a distance from us, it is impossible that the government here can have any effectual check upon him.

A Letter to William Woods, Esq. from his only Friend in Ireland.

To William Woods, Esq. at his Copper-Works at Bristol, or elsewhere.

Sir, I can't tell why it should be so, but I have made it my constant observation, that men of the most profound learning and greatest genius, who, by their elaborate study,

have found out secrets and mysteries, that have proved of the greatest advantage to mankind, have thereby gained more enemies than others with the grossest ignorance and vile qualification; which observation I have found summed up in you, who (except one) has not a friend in this whole kingdom; nay, what is worse, they are one and all your enemies. Know then, Sir, I am that one who dare own myself your friend, and glory in being your admirer,-Miserable! That such an adept should not be adored among men, as the sun, for its glorious rays, is above all the planets. How have our witlings and little snarling scribblers been busy in setting the press at work? But go on Sir,-They blacken their paper, and not you. That which many men have destroyed, great estates, and cracked their brains to find out, (I mean the grand secret) and have burnt mountains of charcoal in making menstrua and tinctures, to transmute metals into gold, and are still as far from it as the longitude,-you have, without all this cost and trouble, brought to perfection, that out of copper, nay, the basest of copper, can extract pure gold and silver, at above cent. per cent. profit. Monstrous gain! Prodigious art! and all this without the art of chemistry, only by greasing and daubing in a proper place. You shall be stiled the High German Artist.

I think, like lower artists on any new invention, you have got a patent only for fourteen years, but then I consider you are loaded with honour, as intrinsically valuable and weighty as your coin; Ay! and you are the phoenix of your order, for I dare swear you are the only tinker esquire in Great Britain. Had you consulted me or any friend, we would have told you, that you might have been a peer at a cheaper rate; but no matter for that, as the world goes, he that has money enough has birth, and parts, and every qualification; so when you wallow in one, the other will come of course. And then for your preamble, your personal endowment and merits, as well as those of your ancestors, although you was never heard of till now, unless when the parish cess was gathered for nursing of your name perhaps was read in the list, and you know sirnames have occasionally been given, some from colour, as White, Brown, &c. others from place, as having been left in a street, lane, field, or wood. But I think you did well to get the honour of an esquire