992 
than 13,000 copper pieces for 17,000 of 
paper; and in 1448, no more than three 
pieces of copper were given for a Tshhao 
of 1000; and this paper must, at last, 
have entirely disappeared, since history 
mentions it no more, after the year 1455. 
The Mandshoos, who have succeeded 
the Shing, being still ignorant of the 
golden rule, that the more a country is 
in debt, the richer and happier it is, 
have never attempted to introduce paper 
money. 
In Japan, paper-money seems to have 
been introduced between 1319 and 1331, 
and is called Kamee-zenee. It has, how- 
ever, never supplanted there the metal 
currency, and always represented a high 
value. It was yet in use fifty or sixty 
years ago ; but, it is not certain, that it 
ts so still. Vee das 
—— 
For the Monthly Magazine. 
Apvantaces of Curar Corrrg-Suoprs. 
HATEVER tends to increase 
the stock of knowledge amongst 
the great body of the people, I consider, 
ought to be encouraged. The Mecha- 
nics’ Institute has been much applauded 
and much condemned; but I cannot 
help considering, that whatever may be 
its defects, information must, at any rate, 
be afforded to some, and few can be the 
worse for it. With this impression, I 
became a subscriber, although no mecha- 
nic, and, at present, I see no cause to 
regret my subscription. 
But looking, generally, at the causes, 
which have led to the increasing inclina- 
tion for obtaining information among 
mechanics in general, I cannot but con- 
sider the establishment of coffee-houses, 
I mean economical tea and coffee-houses, 
as having made a great change in the 
moral habits of the working classes. 
Residing myself a short distance from 
town, while my business calls me, daily, 
to yarious parts. of London, I find these 
houses highly serviceable. Some months 
since, for the first time, I entered one 
of them, in St. Martin’s-le-Grand, and 
found two rooms quite full of various 
descriptions of persons, taking coffee, 
and reading books and papers of every. 
description, without any charge but 13d. 
or 2d. for a cup of coffee. : 
Another, called the Surry, in Union- 
street, Borough, with a very superior 
room, has a library of five or six hun- 
dred volumes, of the best works, at the 
service of any one, who. calls for a cup 
of coffee, for‘ which he is charged 13d. 
On the tables, I found seven or eight 
daily papers, besides pamphlets sufficient 
Advantages of Cheap Coffee Shops. 
[ Dec. 1, 
to amuse forty or fifty persons, who 
were so engaged when I first called. J 
also attended a discussion on some 
question of machinery, and felt highly 
pleased at the arguments used. 
Another house in Clerkenwell is 
opened on the same plan, also one in 
St. Clement’s Church-yard, in the Strand; 
and it is proper to observe, that the re- 
freshments, in each, are excellent. 
Now,Sir, these houses are, every night, 
filled, chiefly with mechanics and the 
middling classes, who here gain informa- 
tion at a cheap rate, instead of attending 
public-houses, formerly the only resort 
for young men. These facilities, which 
are daily increasing, in unison with the 
Mechanics’ Institute, must at any rate 
give a taste for knowledge, which, I 
doubt not, in time, will establish a supe- 
rior character for sobriety and talent 
amongst our mechanics.—Your’s, &c. 
A Town TRAVELLER. 
Peckham, 16th August 1824. 
[Our correspondent encloses the prospec- 
tus of one of these coffee-houses (in Union- 
street), where coffee is furnished at 13d. a- 
cup, or 3d. a-pint; and all other breakfast 
items in the same reasonable proportion ; 
while four daily and eight weekly news- 
papers, and thirty-eight weekly and monthly 
publications, are furnished, gratis, for the 
amusement of the customers, together with 
a library of 500 volumes, including even 
such works as Rees’s Cyclopedia, in forty- 
five volumes ; Annual Registers from 1758, 
&c. &e. We regret that we cannot afford 
the space for inserting it entire. But we 
have since learnt that other of these cheap 
coffee-houses carry their intellectual accom- 
modations to an equal extent.—ED. ] 
——<———— 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
Sir: 
elt Oy me to request of any of 
your numerous. correspondents, 
such information as they may be able 
to afford, relative to the origin and 
life of Edward Latymer, who founded 
schools at Edmonton and Hammer- » 
smith, for the education and clothing of 
boys belonging to those. towns. 
In the deed of gift, by which he en. 
dowed the Edmonton School, which 
bears date the 20th of March, 1624, he 
is described as late of London, gentle- 
man, and Sir Hugh Mydelton, Bart., is 
one of the trustees named therein ; 
Edward Latymer may, therefore, be 
presuned to have been well known in 
his day’ (noscitur e sociis) ; a communi- 
cation through the medium of your very 
excellent magazine will oblige 
A Trustee or LatyMER’s SCHOOL. 
Edmonton, 30th Oct. 1824. 
