ECR 
Condud? of the Bank Diredtors. 
wo doubt; engaged, at firft, only for a jected by a committee of Bank Dire&ors, 
few years; when thefe were elapfed the 
engagement was renewed, perhaps tor 
the lat time in 1412, and he was bound, 
befides teaching the Roman eloquence, 
to read publicly, and explain in the ca- 
thedral, on feftivals, the poems of 
Pante*.. John de Ravenna did not long 
furvive the above renewal of his engage- 
anent; for an anonymous writer, who, 
in 1420, finifhed “* 4 Guide to Letter- 
avriting, according to the Principles of Fohn 
ée Ravennat,” {peaks of his preceptor 
as of aman not then in exiftence. 
ce? ake 

To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, 
“HE article I fent to your Magazine 
4 ia December laf, I am happy to 
fee, has excited fome attention. It isa 
matter that very much concerns the pub- 
lic, and, I hope, the anfwers that have 
already appeared, will tend to call forth 
further information on the fubject. 
A Private Banker has, in your lait, 
doubted the poflibility of the Bank Di- 
rectors’ refufing a plan to prevent forgery, 
recommended in the manner I formerly 
fated; while at the fame time he allows, 
that, if it fhould turn out that they had, 
he knows no language that can do juftice 
to their demerits. FI am not furprized 
that he fhould hefitate in crediting {uch a 
fa&t; for the arguments advanced by 
him to fhew the improbability of their 
afting a part fo unaccountable---fo cul- 
pable---are fuch as would have deterred 
any fet of men of common underftanding 
from adopting the conduct that has been 
manifefted, on this occafion, by the Bank 
Direétors. But, whatever may have been 
his doubts on this point when he laft 
wrote to you, they muft have been com- 
pletely removed by the letter that ap- 
peared in your lait from Mr. Lanp- 
SEER, That artift anfwers the queftion 
Thad put-to him, by ftating, in pofitive 
terms, that a plan had been offered to the 
Bank by a Mr. Titio0ck, which was re- 
* Mehus quotes from a Florentine docw- 
ment of the year 1412, the following paflage. 
<Quum vir doctifimus D. Johannes de Mal- 
paghiais de Rayenna hattenus in civitate Flo- 
sentiz pluribus annis legerit, et diligentiflime 
gocuerit rhetoricam, et auctores majores, et 
aliquando librum Dantis, et multos inftruxerit, 
dc. 5; 
+Seguendo la dottrina dell’ eloguente ed 
snorevule maeftro Gioanni Battifta nel fuo 
tempo principe della rettorica facultades &c. 
though it savas the unanimous opinion of 
himfelf and Mefrs. BYRNE, FITTLER; 
Lowry, SHARP, and BARTOLOZZI, 
that the fpecimen prefented by Mr. Tiu- 
LOCK was not copyable by any known art 
of engraving. — ; 
it appears too, from Mr. LANDSEER’S 
communication, that, notwithftanding the 
infamous {tile in which the notes of the 
bank are executed, the engraver to the 
bank reckons himfelf an artift fuperior te 
any of the above gentlemen; for he at- 
tempted to copy Mr. TiLLock’s {peci- 
men, though fuch artifts had declared it 
beyond their power to do it. Whether is 
the modefty of the Direftors in fetting 
up their opinion in dire&t oppofition te 
that of the artifts, or that of their En- 
graver in attenapting what they declared 
beyond their power, moft te be admired, 
on the prefent occation ? 
Is fuch confummate folly, not to fay 
criminality, to receive no check? Are 
thefe men to have the power of determin- 
ing nally on a matter of fiuch import- 
ance, and to the decilion of which they 
are fo combletely incompetent? Are the 
members of the community ftill to be fub- 
jected to lofles and frauds, and the igno- 
rant and vicious to be tempted to the 
commiflion of a crime which the Bank 
had the power of preventing? 
The Bank Direétors havea facred truft 
committed to their care; and they ought 
to recollect that, independent of the tri- 
bunal of public opinion, there is a tri- 
bunal in this country that has a power 
to call them to-account for the negle& of 
a duty fo importantas that of preventing 
forgery. Uf they continue to leave the - 
public. at the mercy of every bungling — 
engraver’s apprentice, when they have the 
power of fecuring them againft forgers, 
it is to be hoped that fome public-{pi- 
rited men, who have power and influence 
fuficient, will ftep forward, and get this 
bufinefs properly inveftigated. 
That a plan which, by increafing the 
difficulty, would diminith the number of 
forgeries, has actually been offered to the 
bank, the public has already been in- 
formed, by Mr. LANDSEER, an artift of 
the firft eminence, and engraver to his 
Majeity. In a matter of fo much mo- 
ment, it is to be hoped every one who has. 
the means will give what further infor- 
mation he may have inhis power, through 
the medium of your Magazine: The 
other artifts, and the author of the plan, 
owe it as a duty to inform the public 
what kas. been done in this affair, and, I 
perfuade 
