Page:The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift, Volume 9.djvu/77

Rh coinage. And as for the weight and goodness of the metal, I have several halfpence now by me, many of which weigh a ninth part more than those coined by Wood, and bear the fire and hammer a great deal better, and, which is no trifle, the impression is fairer and deeper. I grant indeed that many of the latter coinage, yield in weight to some of Wood's, by a fraud natural to such patentees; but not so immediately after the grant, and before the coin grew current: for this circumstance Mr. Wood must serve for a precedent in future times.

Let us now examine this new patent granted to William Wood. It passed upon very small suggestions of his own, and of a few confederates: it passed in England without the least reference hither; it passed unknown to the very lord lieutenant, then in England. Wood is empowered to coin one hundred and eight thousand pounds, and all the officers in the kingdom (civil and military) are commanded in the report to countenance and assist him. Knox had only power to utter what we would take, and was obliged to receive his coin back again at our demand, and to enter into security for so doing. Wood's halfpence are not milled, and therefore more easily counterfeited by himself, as well as by others. Wood pays a thousand pounds per annum for fourteen years; Knox paid only sixteen pounds thirteen shillings and four pence per annum for twenty-one years.

It was the report, that set me the example of making a comparison between those two patents, wherein the committee was grossly misled by the false representation of William Wood; as it was, Rh