CHAP. XI. 



AS ORNAMENTS. 307 



small quantities. We should be justified in con- 

 cluding, that whatever existed in other forms 

 than that of money, was, with the money, held 

 to be at the disposition of the government 

 whenever the necessities of the public required 

 it to be put in requisition. Thus, when Richard 

 king of England was a prisoner in Austria, Louis 

 of France in Egypt, and John of France in 

 England, their redemption was effected by 

 placing in requisition, as has been already no- 

 ticed, the plate of noble individuals and of reli- 

 gious houses in all parts of their dominions. 

 The gold and silver articles, of whatever kind, 

 so collected, would be converted into coin 

 either by those who delivered or those who re- 

 ceived them, and become a part of the general 

 mass of current money. In more tranquil sea- 

 sons, when peace gave a breathing time for the 

 indulgence of luxuries, the coin might and 

 probably would be reconverted into objects of 

 gratification. These changes might increase the 

 waste of both metals. As far as relates to silver, 

 there is a small portion of waste at every melt- 

 ing; and though gold suffers no loss by that 

 operation, yet, in its application to objects of 

 personal decoration, it is divided into such small 

 particles that some of them, from their very mi- 

 nuteness, become insensibly mixed up in other 

 substances, from which they are only separated 



x 2 



