I.

THat all the currant Money, both of Gold and Silver, within this Kingdom of England, and Dominion of Wales, which is not clip'd or defac'd, he humbly proposeth, may be ordered to be brought into Their Majesties Mint, and other places to be ap­pointed through the Realm, to receive from thence their Majesties Royal Stamp to be struck upon all the said Money, denoting what each of the several Coyns are raised in value, to pass currant for in all Payments whatsoever, by the Authority of this present Parliament; viz. Two Pence to pass for Two Pence Half penny Four Mites, Three Pence to pass for Four Pence, a quarter of a Thirteen-pence-half-penny to pass for Four-pence-half-penny, Four Pence to pass for Five Pence Far­thing Two Mites, Four-pence-half-penny to pass for Six Pence, Six Pence to pass for Eight Pence, half a Thirteen-Pence-half-penny to pass for Nine Pence, Nine Pence to pass for Twelve Pence, Twelve Pence to pass for One Shilling and Four Pence, half a Crown to pass for Three Shillings and Four Pence, and a Crown to pass for Six Shillings and Eight Pence. In like manner all the Gold Coyn are to be raised, viz. A Guinea, which now goes for Twenty one Shillings and Six Pence, to pass for Twenty Eight Shillings and Eight Pence, a half Guinea to pass for Fourteen Shil­lings and Four Pence, an old broad Twenty Shilling piece, which now goes without Au­thority, for Twenty three Shillings and Six Pence, to pass for Thirty one Shillings and Four Pence, the Ten Shilling piece, which now goes for Eleven Shillings and nine Pence, to pass for Fifteen Shillings and Eight Pence, and the Five Shilling piece, which now goes for Five Shillings and Ten Pence half Penny, to pass for Seven Shillings; and the old broad Twenty two Shilling piece, which now goes, without Authority, for Twenty Five Shillings and Six Pence, to pass for One Pound Fourteen Shillings, and the Eleven Shil­ling piece to pass for Seventeen Shillings, and the Five Shillings and Six Penny piece to pass for Eight Shillings and Six Pence.

II.

That the Owners, or bringers in of any one kind of Coyn, be it Gold or Silver, is to deliver Four into the Mint, or other places appointed, and to receive out Three of the same kind of Coyn with Their Majesties Stamp struck thereon with their several weights; which will then by vertue thereof be made of equal Value to the said Four Pieces: More especially the Gold, Crown, and half Crown pieces, are to be weighed and gaged, which ways will discover the currant Mo­ney from the Counterfeited. As for Instance, let Four Ninepences be delivered into the Mint, &c. Which now goes for Three Shil­lings, the bringers in of them are to receive out Three of the same stamped Ninepences, which are then to pass at Twelve Pence a­piece; which said Three are of equal Value to the said Four.

Le [...] Four Guineas of Twenty one Shillings and Six Pence a piece, be delivered in like manner into any one of the said places, which comes to Four Pounds Six Shillings, they shall receive out from thence Three Guineas, which are so stamped at Twenty Eight Shil­lings and Eight Pence per piece, which exactly comes to Four Pound Six Shillings, which said Three Guineas stamped are of equal Va­lue and Worth to the said Four Guineas un­stamped. This Proportion holds good in all the rest of the said Coyns; as Eeight de­livered, Six to be taken out; and so is 16 to 12, 20 to 15, 32 to 24, 40 to 30, 400 to 300, 8000 to 6000, &c. The telling of this raised Money, is as easie as the Money now passable.

III.

That Their Majesties would be graciously pleased (for the preventing of the future clipping, &c. of the currant Coyn of this Realm) to cause their Royal Proclamation for the crying down of clip'd Money from being any longer Currant, and to be refused in all Payments whatsoever; and be from thence deemed no longer Money but Bullion. After all the weighty Money of Gold and Sil­ver is stamped, as aforesaid, then the said clip'd Coyn or Bullion (by another Procla­mation) is to be brought, or sent, in Specie, unto Their Majesties said Mint, to be melted down, and coyned into milled Money, with their new raised Value and Weight to be ex­pressed in their several Coyns, not deviating from the uniform Standard that now is, the Owners or bringers in of the said clip'd Mo­ney, shall deliver into the Office of the Mint Four Pieces of any one kind, and they shall receive out from thence Three weighty stamped pieces of the same Coyn in full lieu thereof, being of equal Value to what the Owners received and took them for at first; and so in proportion to greater Num­bers, as in the foregoing Paragraphs, the Owners will thereby be no Loosers for so profitable an Exchange.

IV.

That the raising of the Currant Coyn of England thus, will not only bring in all the Money both of Gold and Silver, as well the [Page 3]hoarded, as the running Money, to Their Majesties Mint, and other places appointed, to be Stamped, as aforesaid, for no Money which has not the said Stamps are to go for no more then they now pass for, till they have received the said Stamps; and if any of the said Money so Stamped should after­wards be Clipped, Filed, Drilled, or Wash­ed, and fall short of their said Weight, they are not then to pass as Currant Money, but to be refused by all Persons who are to re­ceive the same.

V.

That if all the Currant Money in Eng­land were brought into the Mint to be melt­ed down, to have a greater Allay added to the New Coyn, and the said New Coyn raised to a higher Value then the present Coyn now goes for, as some Person has proposed in Print so to do, purposely to raise Their Majesties great Sums of Money thereby; now if this Project were to take effect, it would draw a greater Evil upon the Kingdom then the Clip'd, Light and False, Money does; and the reason thereof is, such Money will be easily Counterfeited with the same fineness, because the Gold and Silver is not as yet raised to a higher Va­lue, which will incourage, increase, and in­rich, Numbers of Unlawful Coyners, to the Impoverishing of this Kingdom. But the raising of the Currant Money to a high­er Value above the Intrinsick, is both Ho­nourable, Safe, and very Profitable, to Their Majesties, and likewise Beneficial to Their Subjects.

VI.

That if all the Currant Coyn of Gold and Silver were promiscuously brouht into the Mint to be melted down, and new Coyned to the new raised Value, it would in all probability take up above Two Years time to have the same performed, which Their Majesties most Urgent Occasions can­not permit of, though it is the Pro­poser's chief Aim to have the Currant Mo­ney to be Milled, which is a work of time, but the broad and weighty Money first to be Stamped, together with all the Plate here­after mentioned, which will bring in speedi­ly, as he doubts not of, several Millions of Money over and above all Charges, in re­gard there is an extraordinary Necessity, that a Bountiful Supply should be given to Their Majesties, in carrying Vigorously on their Chargeable Wars, which will not on­ly be a Safeguard unto this Nation, but the Preservation of the Protestant Religion both at home and abroad, and the Established Laws of the Kingdom from being Invaded, which will give great Incouragement unto Trade and Manufacture.

VII.

That if the Clipping, Fileing, Drilling, and Washing, of the Currant Money of England be not timely stopped, in some few Years there will not be found amongst all the running Money one broad Piece but what will be Clip'd, the Guineas Filed, Dril­led, and Washed, and all the rest of the Money made light, he humbly Conceives, there is no better way to prevent these grand Abuses, but by raising the said Money to a higher Value, as is humbly Proposed.

VIII.

That all the Plate in this Kingdom be brought or sent to convenient places appoint­ed, in all the Cities and great Towns, where­by every piece of Plate, great or small, may receive Their Majesties Royal Stamp to be struck upon each Plate of them, and the Owners of the said Plate to pay unto Their Majesties for the said Stamp Fiveteen Pence per Ounce, being one Penny less to the said new raised Value upon Money, which Plate so stamped, at any time shall be exchanged at Their Majesties Mint, for ready Money, to the full new raised Value, according to the weight of the said Plate; and the Gold­smiths, and others, which Sell Plate, the Buyers are to allow again to the Goldsmiths the said Fiveteen Pence per Ounce for the said Stamp, till the said bought Plate are brought to the Mint to be Sold as aforesaid; so the Owners of any Plate thus, can be no loosers thereby, therefore the Money and Plate ought to be raised to the said Value, for the Supplying the great Necessities of the Kingdom.

IX.

That in regard the Goldsmiths having stocks of Plate by them, should have a Twelve Months time, or more, given them to pay Quarterly into Their Majesties for all their Plate so Stamped.

X.

That the Wyer-drawers are to pay Their Majesties for every Ounce of fine Silver they work into Wyer, Eighteen Pence per Ounce, and for every Ounce of Guilded Wyer to pay Twenty One Pence, and for every Ounce of right Gold Wyer Twenty Two Shillings. The Gold-beaters are to pay in like manner unto Their Majesties, Eighteen Pence per Ounce for fine Silver, and Twenty Two Shillings per Ounce of [Page 4]fine Gold which they work into Leaves, in regard their Work is not Stampable.

XI.

That Their Majesties would be gracious­ly pleased to Order the Buying up of all Bullion, Foreign Coyn both of Gold and Silver, together with the Ingots, grained Sand, and Dust-Gold, (at the Currant Price,) which shall be brought into this Realm, by reason the Currant Coyn and Plate are raised to so high a Value, which will be a means that great plenty of Gold and Silver will be Imported, about Two Thirds thereof to be Coyned according to the new raised Value, and the other Third to be Sold in the Mint Office to the several Artificers that work therein, after their own Stock is wrought off, and disposed of, at the usual Price, saving the Wyer-drawers, and Gold-beaters, whose Work cannot be stamp­ed, whereby these said Artificers may main­tain themselves and Families, as formerly.

XII.

That the raising of the Plate and Money of this Realm thus, will, (being forthwith put into practice,) speedily raise Their Ma­jesties a vast Fund of Money without any damage to the Owners, by reason the said Plate and Money is not taken from them, but remains with them at a higher Value, for all Silver and Gold, Coyned, or not Coyned, are here raised to their Values, so that the unlawful Coyners cannot Counter­feit the Currant Coyn of this Kingdom with the Royal Mettals, for they will be loosers and no gainers by it, for should they add any greater Allay to debase, (any man­ner of way,) the Money they make, which by Weighing and Gaging before mentioned, will presently discover the Counterfeited Money from the Currant, therefore the rai­sing of Money and Plate to the said Value ought to be allowed of.

XIII.

For if the Currant Money and Plate be not raised thus, Their Majesties would be insufferable loosers, to change all the Clip'd and Light Money in England and Wales, and give out in lieu thereof Weighty Money, purposely to the Benefit of Their Majesties Subjects, whereby this Pestilential Evil, which has so long over-spread the Land, may be healed, and the Lives of Hundreds saved that would else follow that abominable Trade of Clipping, Fileing, Drilling, Wash­ing, and Counterfeiting, of the Currant Money of this Kingdom, who being disco­vered, and taken, are by the Law put to Death for the same, for there is hardly a Sessions at the Old-Baily, or Assizes in the Countrey, but there do more or less of these Notorious Offenders suffer. Now for all these warnings they still go on, and wonderfully multiply in their Numbers, their Charge so little to set up, their Profit great, and their Trade being presently learned, which can­not be prevented but by the raising the Price thus upon Money and Plate, which un­doubtedly will prove an easement to Their Majesties Subjects in Their Publick Taxes.

XIV.

For had an Act of Parliament been made in the Reign of King Charles the First, that no Clip'd Money should pass Currant in Buying and Selling, nor to be received in Payments of Money, there would have been little loss to the Crown, for then there was scarce Ten Clip'd Pieces to Three Thousand now, besides in all the former Kings Reigns, till King Charles the Second, all the Gold was Weighed, and not other­wise taken, purposely to prevent the Wash­ing of them light; and ever since the last Civil Wars in England Gold passeth with­out Weighing, insomuch, that there is hardly to be found one old Piece of Gold but what is extreamly diminished in Weight by Washing, unless hoarded up, and the Guineas begin to fall into the like Distemper by Fileing, Drilling, and Washing, of them light; and for preventing of the like Evil Practices, there is a Necessity, that all Pie­ces of Gold after they are Stamped, as a­foresaid, all Receivers, or Changers of Gold, should Weigh and Gage their Pieces to see that they agree to the said Stamp, and this way will hinder the making of Gold light; and likewise the Crown and Half Crown Pieces of Silver to be also Weighed and Gaged, will also prevent the Counter­feiting of Money for the future. Now for all these Weighty Reasons given, the Cur­rant Money and Plate ought to be raised to the said Value.

These Proposals and Reasons for Regulating the Currant Coyn, and for the raising the Value of Money and Plate of this Kingdom, is humbly Offered to the Considerati­on of this Honourable Assembly, to do therein as their great Wisdoms shall think fit, for so Publick a Service to Their Majesties, and Kingdom, as it will be, without Damage or Charge to any.