CHAP, xxvin. TO OTHER PRECIOUS METALS. 355 



money, and therefore naturally exceeds that in 

 England, where, from the state of credit and 

 confidence in the bank and in private bankers, so 

 great a proportion of coin can be dispensed with. 

 In France, great pains have been taken to ascer- 

 tain the amount of the coined money, which forms 

 nine-tenths of the currency. The estimates vary for 

 different years, and according to various inquirers, 

 from two thousand million to two thousand five 

 hundred million francs, or from eighty to one 

 hundred million pounds sterling ; or to state it 

 more explicitly, the average quantity of coined 

 money to each person in France is at a rate 

 between two pounds fourteen shillings and three 

 pounds two shillings per head. 



The plate in use in France is commonly much 

 lighter than that used in England. The jewellery 

 that is worn is more ornamented. Neither one 

 nor the other extends to such numerous bodies of 

 the inferior classes ; and we should conclude, as 

 far as the observations of a traveller can allow a 

 judgment to be formed, that the value of the coin 

 in France, supposing it to be as great as the 

 authors of the inquiries affirm, cannot be less 

 than that of the other precious metals if the 

 latter be sold by weight. 



In every other country of Europe, except 

 Russia, Sweden, and Portugal, the metallic 

 money very much exceeds the paper, and ge- 

 nerally in a proportion equal to that of France. 



