60 CERTIFICATE RELATING TO THE MINT. 



we thought it nevertheless the best fruit of our dili 

 gence to set them down in articles, that your lord 

 ships with more ease may discard or entertain the 

 particulars, beginning with those which your lord 

 ships do point at in your letters, and so descending 

 to the rest. 



The first proposition is, touching the dispropor 

 tion of the price between gold and silver, which is 

 now brought to bed, upon the point of fourteen to 

 one, being before but twelve to one. This we take 

 to be an evident cause of scarcity of silver at the 

 Mint, but such a cause as will hardly receive a re 

 medy ; for either your lordships must draw down 

 again the price of gold, or advance the price of 

 silver ; whereof the one is going back from that 

 which is so lately done, and whereof you have found 

 good effect, and the other is a thing of dangerous 

 consequence in respect of the loss to all moneyed 

 men in their debts, gentlemen in their rents, the 

 king in his customs, and the common subject in 

 raising the price of things vendible. And upon 

 this point it is fit we give your lordships understand 

 ing what the merchants intimated unto us, that the 

 very voicing or suspect of the raising of the price of 

 silver, if it be not cleared, would make such a dead- 

 ness and retention of money this vacation, as, to use 

 their own words, will be a misery to the merchants : 

 so that we were forced to use protestation, that 

 there was no such intent. 



The second proposition, is touching the charge 

 of coinage ; wherein it was confidently avouched by 



