420 
to William Wood a patent for coining 
farthings and half-pence to the amount of 
zoo, coal, fterling, on certain terms, which 
the patentee was bound to abide by. 
Wood, who, in the language of Swilt, is 
ridiculed under the denomination of a 
Ecrdwareman and a law mechanic, was 2 
great proprietor and renter of iron-works 
an England. 
mines on the crawn-lands in thirty-nine 
counties, was proprietor of feveral iron and 
eopper-works, and carried: on, to a very 
confiderable ammount, manufaiures for the 
preparation of thofe metals. Among 
ether propofals fubmitted to Government, 
while the Earl of Sunderland was at the 
Belm, Woed’s had the preference, and was 
accepted : to incur the odium which re- 
falted from it, was the lot of Sir Robert 
Waipole, who fuceeeded the Ear! in office. 
By unbiaffed perfons, it was confidered 
as beneficial to Ireland; but the natives 
did not fee it in fo favourable a light, and 
tefore the money was-circulated, a genera! 
ferment was excited., The oftenfible caufes 
ef the complaint. were derived from the 
eonfideration, that Ireland was treated as a 
dependent kingdom; that the patent was 
granted to a perfon who was nota native ; 
that the coin was flamped in England 5 
and that, as a great profit was to be de- 
rived, the benefit fhould have principally 
accrued to the public. All! the attempts 
ef the Duke of Grafton, then Lord-licu- 
tenant, to fubdue the public averfion, were 
weffeGiual. The fpirit of oppofition 
&ized all orders of men, and even many of 
thefe who held the chief places under the 
Duke’s adminifiration. 
Inflamed by. national zeal, the two 
houfes pafled addrefles to the crown, ac- 
cuing the patentee of fraud and deceit ; 
aflerting, that the terms of the patent 
were infringed both i the quantity and 
quality of the coin; that the circulation of 
the halfpence would be highly prejudicial 
to the revenue, deftruétive to the com. 
merce, and of moft dangerous confequence 
to the rights and properties of the fubject ; 
and declared, that, if even the terms had 
been complied with, the nation would have 
fafiained a bfs of one hundred and fifty per 
cent.’ Et was not at that time expected, 
or dwelt on asa matter of f{peculative pro- 
priety, that the weight of the copper- 
coin fhould be adequate to its cifculating 
value ; and the affertion, that Wood had 
carried on notorious frauds and deceits in 
the coinage, as advanced by Swift, and 
that the intrinfic was not equal to one- 
eighth of the nominal value, was proved 
| From the Port Falta of a Man of Letters. 
He had a leafe of all the. 
- [June 35 
to be falfe, by an affay made at the mint,. 
by Sir Tfaac Newton and his two affo- 
ciates, men of honour and capacity; the 
refult was, that, m weight, goodnefs, and 
finenefs, it rather exceeded, than fell thort, 
of the conditions fpecified ia the patent. _ 
But the clamour, however. unjuft, was’ 
raifed, and became general, and it was a 
neceflary act of prudence not to increafe 
the ferment, by forcing upon a nation 
what was confidered as Unjuft and fraudu- 
lent. Lord Carteret, who fucceeded the 
Duke of Grafton ‘in the office cf Lord- 
lieutenant, failed no lefs than his prede- 
ceffor in all his endeavonrs to obtain the 
introduction of the copper-coin. The pa- 
tent was furrendered, and tranquillity re- 
ftored. Wood, as an indemnity for the 
lofs he had fuftained, received penfions to 
the amount of three thoufand a year, for. 
eight years; notwithftanding which, he 
was probably a lofer; for the emoluments 
ariing from the patent for fupplying Tre- 
land with copper-coin were given by San- 
derland to the Duchefs of Kendal, who 
fold it to Wood—for what fum, it would 
now be vain to inquire, 
PUBLIC LIBRARY. 
Of this inftitution Pliny fays (xxxv. 2.): 
Afinit Poltionis hoc Rome inventum, uz 
PRIMUS bibliothecam dicando ingenia homi- 
num ren publicam fect. Afterwards he 
qualifies the pofition. Am priores ceperint 
Alexaxzdria et Pergami reges, qui bibliothe- 
cas magna certamiae inftituére, non facile 
aixerim. 
Elfewhere he fays (vil. 30), MM. Parro- 
is i2 bibliotheca que PRIMA IN ORBE ab 
Afsnio Pollicue de manubiis publicaia Rome, 
&c. 
From thefe paflages, it is commonly in- 
ferred, that Afinius Pollio introduced pub- 
lic libraries mto the Roman world ; and that 
he borrowed the idea of the inftitution 
either from the Alexandrian Library, or 
from that of Pergamus. May it not be 
fufpe&ied, that Ptolemy and Eumenes were 
not fo much the founders of public libra. © 
ries, as of book-manufa&ories? For we 
find Ptolemy prohibiting the. exportation 
of paper from Egvpt, becaufe Eumenes 
was {fo enormous a confumer of it; and 
Eumenes introducing parchment, in order 
to go on with his bibliography. 
PORTRAIT OF SOCINUS. 
Saxius, in his Onomaiticon, after flating 
that Fauftus Socinus was born in 15395 
and died in 1604, adds : Ejus icoz eeruitur 
anie G. L. Ocederi Catechefin Racowienfomt 
Mr. Toulmin fhould have caufed the por= 
: Tait 
_ 
