114

CHAPTER than los. per cent.; but the gain of the Bank in purchasing
^^ * gold at £^, i6s. 6d. and publishing it at ^3.1 ys. loid. an
ounce, would be ^1. igs. iiid. per cent. The expense
of coining an j^ioo. worth of silver would be about £q. ;
and i f 15^. or 205. be allowed for interest, the whole
expense would not exceed £g.^ though the profit of the
Bank in purchasing silver at 55. and uttering it at 55. 2d.
an ounce would be £;^. 6^.per cent.

But previously to the execution of a new coinage, it is
materially worthy of the consideration of the public whe¬
ther the size and substance of our coins should not
be augmented. The existing shilling and sixpence,
W'hen correspondent with their mint standard, contain
so small a quantity of silver, that they are easily sus¬
ceptible of mutilation, and are incapable of admitting
a bold embossment: but if the real value of the coin
were raised one half, by adding to each a half more of the
metal of which it is composed, by allowing to a guinea as
much gold as is now contained in a guinea and a half,
to a shilhng as much silver as is now contained in 1^. 6d.
to a sixpence as much silver as is now contained in gd.y and
to a halfpenny as much copper as is now contained in -i,
the size and beauty of our coins would be much improved.

Upon this alteration it would be necessary to proclaim
that the new shilling should be a legal tender in all con¬
tracts where it would have been previously requisite to
have given 1^. 6d.; and as it would in all instances com¬
mand the same value which is 6d. antecedently command¬
ed,  no dissatisfaction would be hkely to arise from the