Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 36.djvu/16

 (, p. 11). He was frequently consulted on mercantile affairs by the privy council during her reign and that of James I. In 1600 he was appointed one of the commissioners for establishing the true par of exchange, and he gave evidence before the committee of the House of Commons on the Merchants' Assurance Bill (November and December 1601). While the Act for the True Making of Woollen Cloth (4 Jac. I, c. 2) was passing through parliament he prepared for the privy council a report showing the weight, length, and breadth of all kinds of cloth.

During the reign of James I Malynes took part in many schemes for developing the natural resources of the country. Among them was an attempt to work lead mines in Yorkshire and silver mines in Durham in 1606, when at his own charge he brought workmen from Germany. He was joined by Lord Eure and some London merchants, but the undertaking failed, although 'his action was applauded by a great person then in authoritie, and now [1622] deceased, who promised all the favour he could do' (Lex Mercatoria, p. 262). The object of these schemes was probably to make England independent of a foreign supply of the precious metals. Monetary questions were indeed his chief care. He was an assay master of the mint (ib. p. 281). In 1609 he was a commissioner on mint affairs, along with Thomas, lord Knyvet, Sir Richard Martin [q. v.], John Williams, the king's goldsmith, and others. Shortly afterwards he engaged in a scheme for supplying a deficiency in the currency, of coins of small value, by the issue of farthing tokens. Private traders had for some years infringed the royal prerogative by striking farthing tokens in lead. A 'modest proposal,' which seems to have been inspired by Malynes, was put forth in 1612 to remedy this evil. The scheme was adopted, and John, second lord Harington [q. v.], obtained the patent for supplying the new coins (10 April 1613), which he assigned to Malynes and William Cockayne, in accordance with an agreement previously made with the former. Upon the withdrawal of Cockayne, who did not like the terms of the original grant, Malynes was joined by John Couchman. But from the first the contractors were unfortunate. The Duke of Lennox tried to obtain the patent from Lord Harington by offering better terms than Malynes. The new farthings, which were called 'Haringtons,' were unpopular. They were refused in Staffordshire, Derbyshire, Flint, and Denbigh; and even in counties where they were accepted the demand for them was so small that in six months the issue was less than 600l. The death of Lord Harington in 1614 gave rise to new difficulties, the patent was infringed, and private traders continued to issue illegal coins. Malynes spared no pains to make the scheme successful, but the loss resulting from its failure fell chiefly upon him. In a petition which he addressed to the king from the Fleet Prison (16 Feb. 1619) he complained that he had been ruined by his employers, who insisted on paying him in his own farthings. But he appears to have surmounted these difficulties. In 1622 he gave evidence on the state of the coinage before the standing commission on trade. Malynes was deeply impressed with the evils which the exactions of usurers inflicted on the poorer classes. 'The consideration hereof,' he writes, 'hath moved my soul with compassion and true commiseration, which implyeth a helping hand. For it is now above twentie years that I have moved continually those that are in authoritie, and others that have beene, to be pleased to take some course to prevent this enormitie' (ib. p. 339). Hopeless of success and 'stricken in years,' he had to content himself with publishing his last project. He proposed the adoption of a system of pawnbroking and a 'Mons Pietatis,' under government control. In this way he hoped to enable poor people to obtain loans at a moderate rate of interest. Malynes lived to a great age, for in 1622 he could appeal to his 'fiftie yeares' observation, knowledge, and experience,' and he addressed a petition to the House of Commons of 1641.

Malynes was one of the first English writers in whose works we find that conception of natural law the application of which by later economists led to the rapid growth of economic science. He doubtless borrowed it from Roman law, in which he appears to have been well read. But in his numerous works all other subjects are subordinate to the principles of foreign exchange, of which he was the chief exponent. Malynes recognised that certain elements, such as time, distance, and the state of credit, entered into the determination of the value of bills of exchange, but he overlooked the most important, namely, the mutual indebtedness of the trading countries. The condition of trade and the method of settling international transactions at that time also gave an appearance of truth to his contention that 'exchange dominates commodities.' In his view the cambists and goldsmiths, who succeeded to the functions of the king's exchanger and his subordinates, defrauded the revenue and amassed wealth at the expense of the king. Throughout his life he maintained the 'predominance of