Newton and the Counterfeiter (36 page)

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four in Birmingham and Sheffield: William Chaloner,
Proposals Humbly Offered, for Passing, an Act to Prevent Clipping and Counterfeiting of Money,
pp. 4–5.

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 "spight of the Law":
Guzman Redivivus,
p. 3.

13. "H
IS
O
LD
T
RICK
"

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 William Paterson: Sir John Clapham,
The Bank of England,
vol. i, p. 13, and Reginald Saw,
The Bank of England, 1694–1944,
p. 14.
under half the total needed: Reginald Saw,
The Bank of England, 1694–1944
p. 14.

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 only forty-two members: For a good capsule account of the founding of the Bank, see Sir John Clapham,
The Bank of England,
vol. I, pp. 13–20.
Though his is something of an official history, Clapham's summary of the state of banking and credit in England immediately before the Bank's founding is also a useful overview. See also John Giuseppi's
The Bank of England.
As a long-standing Bank archivist, Giuseppi is very close to the surviving documents.

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"marbled paper Indented": Bank of England directors' meeting minutes for August II, 1694.
Bank of England notes: There was one earlier attempt to create bank notes, in 1661, when the Bank of Sweden issued printed notes. The Swedish experiment with paper was an immediate success, with notes trading at a premium to metal money. The Swedes—or at least their spines—had good reason to welcome the invention. Their coinage was based on copper, with the result that material wealth was truly a burden. The ten-dollar coin was the heaviest piece of currency ever struck, weighing in at 19.7 kilos, or more than 43 pounds. As A. D. Mackenzie put it, "the payment of anything greater than the smallest of sums necessitated the use of heavy transport"
(The Bank of England Note,
p. 2). For all the ease that paper money brought the average Swede, though, the premium earned by paper over copper made it profitable to export Swedish coins to other markets, so that by 1664, the Bank of Sweden could not make good on its promise to exchange metal for paper on demand. With that, the notes were withdrawn, and Sweden returned to its traditional coinage as the basis for its monetary system.
August 14, 1695: Paul Hopkins and Stuart Handley, "Chaloner, William," in the
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.

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brush with the turnkeys: Ibid.

14. "A T
HING
I
MPOSSIBLE
"

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 Neale was thoroughly overmatched: C. E. Challis,
A New History of the Royal Mint,
pp. 392–93.

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 Neale was suddenly in charge: For Neale's background, see C. E. Challis,
A New History of the Royal Mint,
pp. 392–93. For the total mint production of silver from 1660 to 1695, see Ming-hsun Li,
The Great Recoinage of 1696 to 1699,
p. 48; figures are drawn from Hopton Haynes's records. Newton's accounting for the total amount of money struck in the Great Recoinage comes from his reckoning in Mint 19.2, f. 264. The total came to £6,859,144 8s. 4d.—remarkable exactitude, but completely in keeping with Newton's passion for calculation to the limit of precision.
Official revenues disappeared: Ming-hsun Li,
The Great Recoinage of 1696 to 1699,
pp. 135–36.

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 "The people are discontented": Edmund Bohun to Hohn Cary, 31 July 1696, quoted in C. E. Challis,
A New History of the Royal Mint,
p. 387. Bohun lost his lucrative post as licensor (censor) of books when he approved the publication of a tract claiming that William and Mary held their thrones by right of their conquest of James II's forces. Fearful of even the faintest of challenges to the legitimacy of a monarchy that had in fact been seized by force of arms, Parliament ordered Bohun's arrest, questioned him at the bar of the House of Commons, burned the offending pamphlet, and stripped him of his job. There is no reason to doubt this part of his letter to Cary, but Bohun was a former supporter of James's who submitted to William's conquest a little too swiftly for both his former allies and his new masters, and it may be wise to take the extreme of his rage at the recoinage expressed elsewhere in the letter with some caution. Bohun's fate as licensor is discussed, in the larger context of the debate over the legitimacy of William and Mary's claim to the monarchy, in Mark Goldie's "Edmund Bohun and
Ius Gentium
in the Revolution Debate, 1689–1693,"
Historical Journal
20, no. 3 (1977), pp. 569, 586.
the treasure of the nation was exhausted: Malcolm Gaskill,
Crime and Mentalities in Early Modern England,
p. 195.
"nobody paying or receiving": John Evelyn, diary entry for II June 1696, quoted in Ming-hsun Li,
The Great Recoinage of 1696 to 1699,
p. 135, and D. W. Jones,
War and Economy,
p. 137.
twenty people were arrested: Malcolm Gaskill,
Crime and Mentalities in Early Modern England,
p. 195.
"Our Coine alas it Will not Pass": The broadside most likely dates from 1697 and is quoted in full in ibid., p. 193.

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 "the new Invention of Rounding": Oath taken by Newton, 2 May 1696,
Correspondence 4,
document 548, p. 201.
No Warden had done much real work: Sir John Craig, "Isaac Newton—Crime Investigator,"
Nature
182 (1958), pp. 136, 149. For Newton's account of the organization of the Mint and the problems its antique arrangements created, see his memorandum of June 1696,
Correspondence 4,
document 552, pp. 207–9.
the post would not be too demanding:
Correspondence 4,
document 545, p. 195.
"of a prodigal temper": Mint records, cited in Richard Westfall,
Never at Rest,
p. 564.
a raise in his basic pay: Isaac Newton to the Treasury, June 1696,
Correspondence 4,
document 551, pp. 205–6.
the quality of the work of carpenters: Isaac Newton, Thomas Neale, and Thomas Hall to "the Right Honble the Lords Commissrs of his Majties Treasury," 6 May 1696,
Correspondence 4,
document 549, p. 202. (Hall was Neale's assistant.) It is reassuring to recognize that some human experiences are truly universal. Doubting one's contractor has to be one of them.

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 several needed employees: Isaac Newton and Thomas Hall to "the Right Honble the Lords Commrs. Of his Majties Treasury," 8 June 1696,
Correspondence 4,
document 550, pp. 204–5.
the grand sum of two pence: Isaac Newton to the Treasury, 1696,
Correspondence 4,
document 559, p. 218. While two pennies counted for a lot more then than now, it still amounts to more or less the cost of a large cappuccino on the streets of London today. Not much, in other words. mastering the details of every operation: Richard Westfall describes Newton's campaign to master all the available material about the Mint in
Never at Rest,
pp. 564–66, from which this account is drawn.
"nor any other eyes than your own": Isaac Newton to All Country Mints, 16 April 1698,
Correspondence 4,
document 586, p. 271.
His holograph Mint papers: Newton's Mint papers fill Mint 19/1–5 and are held at the U.K.'s Public Record Office (Mint 19.6 is a calendar of the other five volumes). Most of his papers as Warden are in Mint 19/1, which has multiple drafts of a variety of documents associated with the recoinage, the organization of the Mint, and William Chaloner. See, for example, the nearly identical summaries of Chaloner's crimes in 19/1, f. 496, and 19/1, ff. 497–98 (the latter reproduced in
Correspondence 4,
document 581, pp. 261–62). Richard Westfall lists several other examples of Newton's need to rewrite in
Never at Rest,
p. 566, n. 47.

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 "a thing impossible": Hopton Haynes quoted in C. E. Challis,
A New History of the Royal Mint,
p. 394.
fee of twelve and three-eighths pence: Isaac Newton and Thomas Hall to the Treasury, on or after 22 February 1696/7,
Correspondence 4,
p. 236.
ten thousand pounds of refined liquid silver: C. E. Challis,
A New History of the Royal Mint,
p. 394.

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 "will hold but 700 or 650 lb wt": Isaac Newton, "Observations concerning the Mint," 1697,
Correspondence4,
document 579, p. 256.
five hundred men and fifty horses: C. E. Challis,
A New History of the Royal Mint,
p. 394. The figure of five hundred men working at the Mint comes from Sir John Craig,
Newton at the Mint,
p. 14.
the striking chamber: Isaac Newton, "Observations concerning the Mint," 1697,
Correspondence 4,
document 579, p. 258.
"judge of the workmen's diligence": Hopton Haynes,
Brief Memoires Relating to the Silver and Gold Coins of England,
cited in Richard Westfall,
Never at Rest,
p. 561.
fifty to fifty-five times a minute: C. E. Challis,
A New History of the Royal Mint,
p. 394. He cites Haynes for Newton's calculations. The figure of fourteen men working each press comes from Isaac Newton, "Observations concerning the Mint," 1697,
Correspondence 4,
document 579, p. 258.

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 Only one man died: Richard Westfall,
Never at Rest,
p. 561.
a record output: C. E. Challis,
A New History of the Royal Mint,
p. 394.
about 2,700,000 pounds: Mint 9/60, cited in C. E. Challis,
A New History of the Royal Mint,
pp. 394, 397. See also, Ming-hsun Li,
The Great Recoinage of 1696 to 1699,
pp. 138–40. Richard Westfall dates the achievement of the 100,000-pounds-per-week output to the summer of 1696 in his
Never at Rest,
p. 561.
a peace with Louis XIV: In response to the King's complaint about a lack of cash for war and trade, in October 1696, the directors of the Bank of England were asked what could be done. Among their suggestions: "increase the species of money and expedite ye coyning thereof." See Ming-hsun Li,
The Great Recoinage of 1696 to 1699,
p. 138.

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 the enterprise would have failed: John Conduitt, notes for his biography of Newton, Keynes Ms. 130.7, 3r.

15. "T
HE
W
ARDEN OF THE
M
INT
I
S A
R
OGUE
"

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forty pounds for each conviction: John Craig, "Isaac Newton and the Counterfeiters,"
Notes and Records of the Royal Society of London
18, no. 2 (December 1963), p. 136.
"prosecuting and swearing for money": Isaac Newton to the Treasury, July/ August 1696,
Correspondence 4,
document 553, pp. 209–10.
"Office of the Warden of his Majts. Mint": Ibid. The sentence in which Newton asked to be relieved of the duty was crossed out and rewritten in slightly different form beneath his signature: "And therefore I humbly pray that it may not be imposed upon me any longer."

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 the coining pseudonym: Paul Hopkins and Stuart Handley, "Chaloner, William," in the
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.

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 beyond the reach of English writs: Cooke also implicated Chaloner, without mentioning Hunter. See John Craig, "Isaac Newton—Crime Investigator,"
Nature
182, no. 4629 ( July 19, 1958), p. 150.

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 Christopher Wren: As Peter Whitfield notes in his
London: A Life in Maps,
both Newgate and Bethlehem Hospital—better known as Bedlam—were rebuilt to new standards of external elegance after the Great Fire. Neither building remains; Newgate was rebuilt twice more at the same location before being demolished to provide a site for the Old Bailey law courts. Bedlam's site, in an almost too obvious irony, now boasts the Imperial War Museum.
"a kind of entrance to it": Daniel Defoe,
Moll Flanders,
p. 215.
"this abode of misery and despair": Giacomo Casanova,
The Memoirs of Jacques Casanova de Seingalt,
chapter 13,
http://etext.library.adelaide.edu.au/c/casanova/c33m/chapterIII.html
(unabridged London edition of 1894).

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 Typhus was so widespread: The description of Newgate is drawn from Stephen Halliday's marvelous history
Newgate: London's Prototype of Hell,
pp. 30–35. I can't recommend this book too highly; it offers delightfully gruesome anecdotes in the framework of a significant case study in the evolution of prisons.

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 the Fever Islands: John Craig told the story of Newton's involvement with White and Cooke in "Isaac Newton and the Counterfeiters,"
Notes and Records of the Royal Society of London
18, no. 2 (December 1963), pp. 137—(8. After his release from Newgate:
Guzman Redivivus,
p. 8.

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 Chaloner's old coining partner: Isaac Newton, "Chaloner's Case," Mint 19/1, sheet 501.

16. "B
OXEFULLS OF
I
NFORMATIONS IN
H
IS
O
WN
H
ANDWRITING
"

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the case of the missing dies: According to John Craig's calculations, Newton appeared before the Lords Justices ten times in August and September 1696, and during that period interviewed at least six suspects, either at Newgate or at the Mint. That works out to about two days a week he devoted to the investigation, and it probably underestimates both the number of suspects questioned and the number of times each suspect was interrogated. See John Craig, "Isaac Newton and the Counterfeiters,"
Notes and Records of the Royal Society of London
18, no. 2 (December 1963), p. 137.

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 "paid Humphrey Hall to buy him a suit": Mint 19/1, sheet 467, cited in John Craig, "Isaac Newton—Crime Investigator,"
Nature
182, no. 4629 (July 19, 1958), p. 150.

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 Both men benefited: The Cambridgeshire undercover operation and George Macy's work are described in Malcolm Gaskill,
Crime and Mentalities in Early Modern England,
p. 170. The adventures of the brothers Maris and Rewse are documented in John Craig, "Isaac Newton and the Counterfeiters,"
Notes and Records of the Royal Society of London
18, no. 2 (December 1963), pp. 138–39. J. M. Beattie's
Policing and Punishment in London, 1660–1750,
pp. 228–47, details the experience of hired thief-takers in the 1690s and discusses Rewse's career in some detail.
total of £626 5s. 9d.: "An Acoumpt of monies expended by Isaac Newton of his Maj
^ts
Mint in the apprehension and prosecuting of Clippers and coyners between the third day of August 1696 and the...," Mint 19/1, leaf 477.
"scandalously mercenary": Hopton Haynes,
Brief Memoires,
f. 36v, quoted in Malcolm Gaskill,
Crime and Mentalities in Early Modern England,
p. 171.