338 
forgery, but which, on- examination, 
were found to be only dreams. 
circumftance, on the firft bluth of the 
"_bofinefs, allowing it the utmoft latitude, 
only juftifies them for not having adopted 
an infallible remedy; but ftill- they 
will not ftand exculpated. No-man 
will deny that our prefent bank-notes 
are executed in a moft wretched and 
contemptible ftyle ; and that, in,-pro- 
portion tothe merit of the execution, fo 
-muft be the difficulty or facility of coun- 
terfeiting them. Why then has the bank 
pot avatied itfelf of the pretent advanced 
and improved ftate of the arts, to fecure 
the public againft, at leaft, nine-tenths 
ef the prefent forgeries? Nay, in the 
-prefent ftate of the arts, were they pro- 
petly employed, there could not be one 
forgery for a thoufamd that is at pre- 
fent committed ; and the black roll of 
human depravity would be confiderably 
abridged in the numbers it records, as 
-making their exit at the gaHows. 
_ Inthus taking care of the morals and 
perfonal fafety of many, who would con- 
tinue induftrious and ufeful members 
of the community, but for the tempta- 
tion to which they are at prefent ex- 
pofed ; we fhouid alfo be fecured againft 
the attempts of thofe who, if we may 
credit the ftatements in the daily new{- 
papers, and which appear to have but 
too much truth, being beyond the ju- 
rifdi€tion ‘of our laws, have éftablithed 
regular manufattories for forging bank-notes. 
A new/fpaper, now before me, fiates, that 
‘hardly apacket arrives from Ham- 
burgh, or a veffel from Calais, which does 
not bring large parcels of fuch banknotes.” 
Tt is true that a fimilar trade was firit 
_begun'and carried on England, and that 
“individuals in this country were -in the 
habit of fending over to the continent 
“whole fhip-loads of forged affignats.— 
~"Dhis may, in fome meafure, juflify to our 
__enemies their prefent condu@, on the 
principle of retaliation: but how are we 
to juftify ourfelves, as a community, if we 
do net adopt. proper plans to counteract 
the mifchiet? 
_ Are thofe whofe more immediate bu- 
‘finefs it is toattend tothis, aware of what 
the confequence mutt be if the enemy 
oace fucceed in introducing into this 
country forged bank-notes in as great 
quantities as we did forged affignats into 
France? The iffue is too dreadful even 
to be contempiated ! 
If there be any degree’of culpability 
on the part of thofe in whofe department 
it lies, in not having adopted fuch cdwious 
improvements in the fabrication of bank- 
notes, as the prefent advanced ftate of 
This’ 
“Bank Direétors culpable... Toads in Stones. ° Nove 
the arts puts within their reach,wiil it no 
be aggravated if it fhall be found that 
they vave refuled a plan which would not 
ony have rendered forgery much moré diffi- 
cult than at prefent, but almofi, if not altoze- 
ther impoffitle—a plan to the excellency of 
which ail the principal artif{ts in London 
have borne teftimony ? 
[ with any of your correfpondents, 
who have the means of afcertaining the 
truth or falfehood of this faét, would ftate 
the refult to the public through-the me- 
dium of your Magazine. - If it fhall turn 
out to be a truth, have not the public a 
right to call upon the bank to adopt the 
plan, or. to ftate fatisfaétory reafons’ for 
rejecting it = ; as, 
A SUFFERER By FORGERY. 
rE 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, Frantingham, Nov. 19. ~- 
ARTHER to fubfiantiate the fact, that 
teats are found alive inclofed in the 
body of ftones, accept the following re- 
lation, which, in company “with other 
fiudents, I had from’ Mr, H—, our claf- 
-fical tutor at Daventry Academy, about 
the year 17705 a very ingenious’ gentle- 
man, and obfervant of the curious in art 
and nature, and now living imthe neigh-. 
bourhood of Sheffield. . 
One day pafling. near a quarry in Da- 
ventry-field, while fome men “were raif- 
ing flag-ftone, ufed for building, mend- 
ing the roads, &c. he faw them fuddenly 
intent upon fomething on the ground, 
which induced him to goto make enquiry 
what it was that fo fixed’ their attention. 
He found it was a toad of a very uncom— 
mon fize, which they informed him had, 
to their great furprife,crawled out of a hol- 
low place in the ftone, or layer of ftones, 
which they had juft raifed froma con- 
fiderable depth below the furface of the 
field. The citcumftance excited his cu- 
riofity fo much that he minutely exa- 
mined the cavity, which was fut of fuf- 
ficient fize to contain it. “There was a 
quantity of fine ftone-duft at the bottom, 
which. feemed, he faid, to have been 
formed by the motion of the toad as it 
increafed in. bulk. The ftone was quite 
clofe and folid ; but, on careful fearch, he 
difcovered a feam, which, he thoughr, 
indicated that there had formerly been a 
fiffure through which it'was probable the 
{pawn had been carried by water, and 
lodged in the cavity, where the toad had 
its bed; or poffibly the toad itfelf, when 
young, might have paffed through the 
fiffure to its then inclofed lodgement. The 
creature, when releafed, evidently la- 
boured under the preflure of the external 
air, and foon expired, 5.5, Toms, 
