412 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2'>'» S. VII. May 21. '59. 



was carried out. I send you three documents, 

 which may serve as a slight illustration of Ma- 

 caulay's text. They tell their own story ; there- 

 fore I will not add any observations of my own, 

 except to call attention to the curious method in 

 which Katherine Williams (hereafter mentioned) 

 was accustomed to pass oflF her bad coin while 

 travelling along the River Thames, a trick not 

 unworthy of a "smasher" of the present day. 



William Henby Haet. 

 Folkeston House, Roupell Park, 

 Streatham. S. 



" Maj' it please your Ma'tie, 

 " In obedience to your Ma'ties order of refFerence, sig- 

 nified to mee the 24''' of February last by the Earle of 

 Sunderland, j-our Ma'ties principall Secretary of State, 

 upon the Peticon of John and Henry Portlocke, wherein 

 thej' sett forth that ab* fifteene yeares past they were in 

 company w*'' one Henry Elliot, who then in theire pre- 

 sence did clip your Ma'ties lawfull Coine, And since the 

 discovery of many of those great Offenders, the Peti- 

 coners beeing sensible of theire great crimes by the con- 

 cealement of the fact, therein humbly praying (That they 

 beeing by Ignorance and seducem' drawne in, and never 

 beeing but once in the fact w^*" hath beene so long 

 comitted) your Ma'ties indulgence and pardon for theire 

 releife, I have considered the said Peticon, And doe hum- 

 bly report to your Ma'tie, That for my better InformacOn 

 therein I referred the same to the Com" for executing 

 the Office of Master and Worker of j'our Ma'ties Mint, 

 who have certified mee that they are informed. That the 

 Pet" were impeached before Abjohn Stoakes, one of your 

 Ma'ties Justices of the Peace for the County of Wilts' (by 

 one Elliot, who they heare is since dead), for not disco- 

 vering the said Elliot, who in theire sight did clip your 

 Ma'ties lawfull Coyne ab* fifteene yeares past, as is sett 

 forth in the Peticon ; but thej- cannot bee informed that 

 the Pet" have beene privy to any such act since that 

 time. That the Pef' are old men, as they are given to 

 understand, and by a Letter they have lately scene 

 written by the said M' Stoakes, the" Pet" are very much 

 disturbed for w' they have done, Which, if the Pet" 

 themselves had discovered, they had beene more fitt for 

 your Ma'ties mercy. All w«h I humbly submitt to your 

 Ma'ties great wisdome. Whitehall, Trea'ry* Chambers, 



6° March, 168<. 



" ROCHESTEK." ' 



" May it Please your Majestie, 

 " In obedience to your Ma'ties Order of referrence to mee 

 of the 24 of February last, signified by the Earle of Sun- 

 derland, one of your Ma"" Principall Secretaries of State, 

 upon the Petition of Eleanor Bonnett, who was indicted 

 the last Sessions for Clipping, and praying to bee inserted 

 in the next Generall Pardon for Convicts in Newgate, I 

 have considered the same and referred it to S"' Thomas 

 Jenner, K', Recorder of the Citty of London, to informe 

 mee of the matter of Fact, who hath reported to me, 

 That the Pet"^ was this last Sessions condemned for Clip- 

 ping and diminishing your Ma'ties Coyne: That bee 

 hath examined the matters of Fact relating to the Pet^ 

 and finds, as well by the Evidence as by her owne Con- 

 fession, that shee was guilty of the Crime of W^ shee 

 Stood convicted, as to her being privy to the said Fact 

 and concealing thereof, and buying some of the Instrum*' 

 used for Clipping. But it did 'not appeare that she dipt 

 herselfe, but was much under the Power of Richard Ca- 

 bourne, lately executed for the same Fact, shee intending 



* Treasury Warrant Book, not relating to money: 



to make him her Husband. Nor did it appeare that shee 

 had beene accquainted w"* him or any of his Gange above 

 a yeare. Or that shee saw any Clipping by him or any 

 other till she came to the House in Moorefeilds, were she 

 lived w* the said Cabourn about three weekes before 

 they were taken; but by some discourses shee heard be- 

 tweene the said Cabourne and other his acquaintance 

 (whose names she hath discovered), she did very much 

 suspect the same : So that upon the whole matter, if your 

 Ma'tie shall so thinke fitt, he doth, humbly conceive she 

 may bee a fitt object of your Royall mercy. 



" All which is humbly submitted to your 

 Ma'ties great wisdome. 



"Rochester."* 



" May it Please your Ma'y, 

 " In obedience to your Ma'» Commands, signified to me 

 the 24th of Octob'' last by the Earle of Sunderland, your 

 Ma*' Principall Sec'ry of State, upon the Pet" of Kathe- 

 rine Williams to your Ma«y, setting forth. That the Pef 

 in the month of March last, at the Sessions held at Croy- 

 don for the County of Surry, was fined 100. li., and ever 

 since, for nonpaj'mt of the said fine, she hath remained 

 Prisoner in the Marshalsea : That she is very poore and 

 not able to pay the least part thereof, and alleadging 

 that it is the first crime she was ever convicted of, w'^ 

 she is truly sorry for, and will never more comitt the like 

 offence : Therefore the Pef most humbly Implores your 

 Ma*y, from your Princely Clemency and goodness, to 

 grant the Pef, by reason of her inability, your Ma'» most 

 gratious Warr' of Pardon to remitt the said Fine, I have 

 considered of the said Pet", and doe humbly report to 

 your Ma'y that for my InformacOn in this matter I re- 

 ferred the same to the Warden of your Ma*' Mint and to 

 the Com" for executing the Office of Master and Worker 

 of the Mint, who have by their Report, dated the 24 of 

 Xber last, certifyed me that they have considered of the 

 said Pet", and doe find the Pef to be a notorius Offender 

 deserving little favour from your Ma*J, she having made 

 it her practise to utter false Guinneys at Foxhall and 

 severall other landing places between that and Greene- 

 wich, by stopping at such places and sending her Water- 

 man a Shoare to change her bad Guinneys : And they 

 doe humbly conceive that the meeke proceedings, as they 

 stile it, ag" Clippers and Coyners, and their instruments, 

 and much more there being pardoned, and perhaps after- 

 wards restoring their estates, is in a great measure the 

 reason why your Ma" subjects are so much infested with 

 Criminalls of y' kind, All ■w<^^ is most humblj' submitted 

 to your Ma'» great wisdome. Rochester, 13 Feb'^, 1685." t 



ANDKESON PAPEES. — NO. 4. 



Below is a verbatim et literatim copy of a 

 letter from T. Martine, schoolmaster at Inverary, 

 to Rev. John Anderson, of Dumbarton ; it might 

 properly be termed two letters rolled into one, as 

 the P. S. is a letter itself, and bears date a week 

 later than the epistle. The original is so closely 

 and minutely written as almost to defy decipher- ^ 

 ment ; and the paper is so frail and the ink so ■ 

 wan that it presented a caligraphical puzzle of a 

 the toughest kind to my inexperienced eyes. I 

 have at length unravelled it, and I venture to 



* Treasury Warrant Book, not relating to money: 

 No. 4. p. 5. 



t Treasury Warrant Book, not relating to money: 

 No. 4. p. 201. 



