16 
A complete fet of troy and averdupois 
‘weights, dated 1588, were delivered to 
the churchwafdens of the parifh of St. 
Margaret, Weftminftcr. purfuant to the 
proclamation of that year, and were feen, 
December 1749, in fine prefervation, in 
the veftry-room of that church, where 
they probably ftill remain. ‘Thefe are 
ymagined to he the moft perfeét models of 
thofe fandards that are extant™. 
In the year 2696, an experiment was 
~ made at the Exchequer, to afcertain the 
proportion between the troy and aver- 
dupois ftandards, when rslbs. of the lat- 
ter were found equal to i8lbs. 2°0zs. 
55 dwts. troy, which fixes the pound 
averdupols, at 7000 grs. troy, and the 
troy pound at 5760; and upon three 
feveral trials made by the gentlemen of 
the council of the Royal Society, at the 
fame place, upon a medium, the pound 
averdupois, was found equzl to 7000.25 
grains troy. Bifhop Hooper fays, the 
pound averdupois, is to the troy as 175 to 
144, and is equal to 7000 grains troy; but 
3ts ounce, which is the fixteenth part of it, 
is equal to 437.5 fuch grains, whereof the 
, Gunce troy is 480+. 
Wine meafure has generally been con- 
fidered as equal to troy weight; and the 
ale gallon is faid to tear the {ame propor- 
tien to the wine gallon, as the averdupois 
pound does to the troy. 
‘There is another pound weight which 
may deferve fome notice before we guit the 
fubjeét, and that is, the lower, or money- 
ers’ pound. Mr. Forxes thinks that 
this was the pound is common ufe befcre 
the Conqueit ; to which I beg leave to add, 
that it may be the Huftings weight al- 
ready mentioned. ‘The tower weights 
_ eontinved to be ufed there until Henry 
VIII, by an order of council only ; and, 
without the fanétion of parliament, efta- 
biithed the troy weight in its ftead, and 
erdained that the other fhould, be no 
more ufed. It was found, upon this 
eccafion, that the gravity of twelve 
ounces, or the tower pound, was in pro- 
portion to twelve ounces troy, as 5400 to 
tO 5760, Or as 150 to 160. 
Pam tik, cc. 
Déc. 2% 1797. D. 

Zo the Editor of the Montbly Magazine. 
Si Be i ! 
(PRE fubjeét of your Lincolnfhire cor- 
refpondent’s letter, p, 344, is a pleaf- 

* Maitland’s Hittory of London, ard private 
MS. memorand. . 
ft Hooper’s Enquiry, p. 1. 
Reading Societies. 
[ Jaa. 
ing proef ef the general circulation and 
utility of your moft valuable Magazize, 
and, at the fame time, of the importanee 
of what has already appeared in it re- 
{peéting Bock Societies. 
Every candid liberal perfon among ~ 
your readers muft join in wifhing this 
gentleman and his public-{pirited friends 
all poffible fuccefs. Their good fenfe 
will of courfe fugge& the propriety of 
obtaining copies of the rules of as many 
other Reading Societies as they can meet 
with, in order to feleét the beft from 
each, and toform a perfc€t whole. Per- 
mit me in this view refpeétfully to fug- 
geft to them, the careful perufal of your 
correfpondent Mercator’s letter, vol. 1v. p. 
264.—T he evil he complains of is indeed 
real, increafing, and therefore fhould be 
carefully guarded againft. Perhaps the 
following eafy plan would be effeétual for 
this purpofe :Let the committee be 
changed every three months; and let the 
new one be compofed of fuch members 
as fhall be drawn by the librarian out of 
an urn, containing the names of all the 
fociety exeept the laft committee. By 
this means all underhand combinations, 
clerical bigorry, or party fpirit, will be 
prevented as much as poffible; each 
member wiil have the epportunity of 
gratifying his own tafte, fubjeét to proper 
regulations, in the choice of books, and 
free difcuffion, fo effential to the {pread of 
literary knowledge, be greatly promoted. 
Perhaps too, it would be’uteful if at 
certam fixed periods, fuppofe every fix 
years, the books in the library were to 
be infpeéted by the whole fociety at their 
annual meetings, and fuch of them as 
“were reje€ted by the vote or ballot of 
three-fourths of the members whe have 
previcufly perufed juch books, were fold, and 
the money arifing from the fale of them 
applied to the purchafe of new books. 
In the hafty, unpremeditated manner in 
which great numbers of books are in- 
troduced into fuch, libraries as thefe in 
queittion, there muft, of courfe, be many 
which are of but little value in the efti- 
mation of the majority of the fubferibers, 
and which difappoint the expeétation 
even of the propofer himfelf. Now, in 
fuch cafes, there feemsto be a great im- 
propriety, as well as lofs, in permitting 
books of this defcription to remain as 
part of the ftock of the fub{cribers, feeing 
they are in reality no better than mere 
ufelefs lumber. ‘The only cafe which is 
requifite on fuch occafions, is to guard 
againft the effe€ts of biyotry and party 
fpirit; for which purpofe a very little 
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