M 1 N 
Towards the end of the 16th century, this clafs of men 
had loft all credit, and were funk fo low in the public opi¬ 
nion, that in the 39th year of Elizabeth a ftatute was palled 
by which “ minftrels, wandering abroad, were included 
among rogues, vagabonds, and fturdy beggars,” and were 
adjudged to be punifhed as fuch. This all feems to have 
put an end to the profeflioft, for after this time they are 
no longer mentioned. 
One lingular circumftance remains to be noticed. In 
flat. 17 Geo. II. c. 5. commoniy called The Vagrant-Aft, 
a provilo is inlerted, in order to prevent the operation of 
that aft from extending “ to prejudice or afteft the heirs 
or aftigns of John Dutton ot Dutton, co. Chefter, eiiq. 
deceafed, touching any liberty, privilege, or authority, 
which they had or ought to ule within the county pala¬ 
tine of Chefter, and county of Chefter, by reafon of any 
ancient charters of any kings of this land, or of any pre- 
feription, ufage, or title, wliatfoever.” The reafon of this 
lingular provilo, we underftand to be this—That Randle 
earl of Chefter, being befieged in the caftle oi Rhudland by 
the Welfli, was relieved by an army of minftrels, and 
other vagrants, brought from Chefter-fair by Ralph Dut¬ 
ton ; for which fervice Randle conferred upon him and 
his defeendants the jurifdiftion of ail minftrels and va¬ 
grants in this county, a privilege fince frequently recog- 
nifed by parliament; and we are told that the family of 
the Duttons (who were the lords of the manor of that 
name) uled annually to hold a court at Chefter on Mid- 
fummer-day lor the purpofe oi granting licenles to min- 
Jirels to play in that county. Gent. Mag. Aug. and Dec. 
1816. 
MIN'STRELSY, / Mufic ; inftrumental harmony : 
Apollo’s felf will envy at his play. 
And all the world applaud his minjirclfy. Davies. 
A number of muftcians : 
Miniftring fpirits train’d up in feaft and fong ! 
Such haft thou arm’d the mivjirelfy of heav’n. Milton. 
MINT,/. [Saxon.] A plant. See Mentha, in this vo¬ 
lume. 
Then rubb’d it o’er with newly-gather’d mint, 
A wholefome herb, that breath’d a grateful feent. Dryden. 
Cat's Mint. See Nepeta. 
MINT, / [ moncta , Lat. myner, Sax. money; from 
cnyne'Cian, to coin.] The place where money is coined.— 
What is a perlon’s name or face, that receives all his re¬ 
putation from the mint, and would never have been known 
had there not been medals. Addifon on Medals. 
Coined money has been juftly regarded as one of the 
inoft eftential ornaments and iinews of a ftate. The Ro¬ 
man mint derived great importance from the extent of 
the empire through which its produce was to circulate. 
The quseftor feems at firft to have had the direftion of the 
mint, as well as of the treafury. About the time of the 
firft coinage of filver in Rome, 266 years B.C. the trium¬ 
viri monetales feem to have been created ; though Pompo- 
nius aferibes their firft creation to the year of Rome 463, 
or 289 B. C. Thele were at firft of the fenatorial rank, 
until Auguftus appointed them from the equeftrian, 
which alteration feems to have continued. The title tri¬ 
umviri, however, remained till after Caracalla, as appears 
from inferiptions given us by Gruter and Bouterouc. 
Under Aurelian, it is probable there was but one mailer 
of the Roman mint, called the rationalis-, a change fuf- 
pebted by Pinkerton to have taken place under Gallienus. 
Aurelian, having conquered the revolted provinces, and 
united the whole empire again, feems to have altered the 
form of .the mints in the capital provincial cities, and to 
have ordered them all to ftrike money with Latin legends, 
and of the fame forms ; for with him firft appear coins on 
this plan with mint-marks of cities and offices. He feems 
alfp to have permitted the provincial cities to ftrike gold 
and filver as at Rome; and we know from his coins that 
the aureus, which had diminiihed by degrees to about 80 
M 1 'N 517 
grains, was by him reftored to 100. From one or other of 
tliefe caufes, (fee Medal, vol. xiv. p. 815.) the money- 
ers, who loft their profits, and three-fourths of whom loft 
their work, caufed commotions, which terminated in a re¬ 
bellion, the fuppreffion of which was attended, on- the 
part of Aurelian, with the lofs of 7000 of his belt troops. 
About this time, the procurator moncta feems to have fuc- 
ceeded the rationalis. In the Roman colonies, the direc¬ 
tion of the mint appears to have been committed to the 
duumviri, or two annual magiftrates, elefted in imitation 
of the confuls at Rome. The engraving of the dye was a 
work of labour and of genius ; and, at Rome, Greek ar- 
tifts were ufually employed in it. The engravers of the 
dye were called ccelatores -. other officers employed in the 
mint were the afiayers of the metal, fpcclatores, e.vpefla- 
tores, or. nummularii. The refiners were denominated ce¬ 
llar ii ■, the melters, enfarii,jlatvarii,Jlaturarii. The cqun¬ 
to res monetarum adjufted the weight. The J’uppbJlores put 
the pieces in the dye; and the malleatores ftruck it. A 
pritnicerius was at the head of each office ; and there was a 
foreman, called optio et exaflor. Pinkerton’s Efiay on Me¬ 
dals,vol. i. See farther under the article MedaL, vol. xiv. 
and for the hiftory of the Britifn mint, lee London, vol. 
xiii. p. 443. 
Mint is alfo ufed for anyplace of invention.—As the 
mints of calumny are at work, a great number of curious 
inventions are iifued out, which grow current among the 
party. Addifon's Freeholder. 
A man in'all the world’s new faffiion planted. 
That hath a mint of phrafes in his brain. Shakcfpeare „ 
Mint, in Southwark, once a privileged place. See Lon¬ 
don, vol. xiv. p. 312. 
To MINT, v. a. [mynetuan, Sax.] To coin ; to (lamp 
money.—Another law was, to bring in the filver of the 
realm to the mint, in making all clipped coins of fiver 
not to be current in payments, without giving any reme¬ 
dy of weight; and fo to fet the mint on work, and to give 
way to new coins of filver which fiiould be then minted. 
Bacon's Hen. VII.—To invent; to forge.—Look into the 
titles whereby they hold thefe new portions of the crown, 
and you will find them of fuch natures as may be eafily 
minted. Bacon's War with Spain. 
MINT'-MAN, J'. One ikilled in coinage.—He that 
thinketh Spain to be fome great over-match for this eftate, 
is no good mint-may.-, but takes greatnefs of kingdoms ac¬ 
cording to their bulk and currency, and not after their 
intrinfc value. Bacon's War with Spain. > 
MINT'-MARK. It has been ufual, from old time, to 
oblige the mailers and workers of the mint, in the inden¬ 
tures made with them, “ to make a privy mark in all the 
money that they made, as well of gold as of filver, fo that 
another time they might know, if need were, and witte, 
which moneys of gold and filver, among other of the fame 
moneys, were of their own making, and which not.” And 
whereas, after every trial of the pix at Weftminfter, the 
mailers and workers of the mint, having there proved 
their moneys to be lawful and good, w'ere immediately 
entitled to receive their quietus under the great feal, and 
to be difeharged from all fuits oraftions concerning thofe 
moneys, it was then ufual for the faid mailers and workers 
to change the privy mark before ufed for another, that lo 
the moneys from which they were not yet difeharged might 
be dillinguilhed from thofe for which they had already 
received their quietus ; which new mark they then con¬ 
tinued tc ftamp upon all their moneys, until another trial 
of the pix gave them alfo their quietus concerning thofe. 
When Mr. Weiiefley Pole, the prefent mafter of the mint, 
was reproached in the houfe of commons, by one of the 
oppofition-members, for putting his initials on the reverie 
or the new filver coin ilfued on the 13th of February, 
1817, as if it had been an aft without precedent, Mr. Pole 
replied, “ that his indentures authorifed him to put any 
private mark he pleafed on the edge or flat part of the 
coin ; and that it had been done by almoft ev^ry mafter of 
the mint fince the days of Charles I,” 
MINT'- 
