1809.] Icans of preventing the Forgery of Bank-Notes. 365 
Garret: advanced 1760, to the titles of 
Viscount Wellesley, and Earl of Mor- 
nington, who by Anne [lill, a daughter 
of the first Viscount Dungannon, was fa- 
ther of Richard Colley, the present Mar. 
quis; of William, M.P. who, 1788, as- 
sumed the name of Pole; of Sir Arthur, 
K.B. born 1769, now Viscount, Welling- 
ton ; of Gerald, in holy orders; of Henry, 
a Lord of the Treasury, &c. 
The present Marquis, was 1797, crea- 
ted Baron Wellesley of England, and in 
1799, Marquis Wellesley of Ireland. 
Your's, ce.» WW... We 
Wellington, Somersetshire, 
September 12, 1809. 
—— Ee 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, 
OBSERVE that, in your last Maga- 
zine, a ‘* Gentleman of Bristol,” an- 
nounces for publication ‘* a Selection 
from the Hesperides. of Robert. Her- 
\rick.” He is doubtless not. aware that, 
as long ago as the ist of February last, 
Tannounced, in the second number of the 
new series of the ‘‘ Cabinet,” a similar 
selection. Atthe same time, as my wish 
to see Herrick in the hands.of the mo- 
dern reader is greater than my desire to 
place it there myself, I shall perhaps be 
inclined to wave my claim to the selec- 
tion, in favour of the ** Gentleman of 
Bristol,”. if-bhe will do me the favour -to 
communicate his plan to me, and to ac- 
cept of my humble assistance to push so 
exquisite a poet into general notice, I 
beg him to address to me at Messrs. Gale 
and Curtis’s, Paternoster-row,: London. 
.Your’s, &c. 
Tue Epiror oF THE Capinet, N.S. 
October. 5, 1809. 
Lo the Editor of the Monthly Magazines, 
SIR, ies: 
T is now several years since the pub- 
lic attention was considerably excited 
py the great number of. forged bank- 
notes, then in circulation, and_ the fre- 
quent executions which were the conse- 
quence of various prosecutions on the 
part of the Bank of England, in different 
parts of the kingdom. A new description 
of water-mark was then invented, and 
the public were led to. beli¢ve that it 
would obviate forgery for the future, 
being not only of very difficult execution, 
but an Act of Parliament was likewise 
obtained, by which any invitation thereof 
was made felony ; a considerable number 
however of ‘artists, and others well capa- 
ble of judging wpon the subject, were 
, Montitty Mac, No. 191, 
of a very different opinion, and the sen- 
timents of several of the most eminent 
engravers were published in this Maga- 
zine, and in various other periodical 
works, in which they unanimously agreed, 
that the only way to ‘prevent forgery in 
future, would. be to have the plates so 
well executed, as to defy the imitation, 
of bunglers in the art of engraving, and 
to combine the abiliies of different ar- 
tists in the same plate, so as to make 
the total difficulty amount nearly to im- 
possibility. i 
This subject is now reviving with ad-. 
ditional force, in consequence of the 
great number of bad notes now in circu 
lation, and the alarming consideration 
that no fewer than ten persons were con= 
victed at the late Lancaster assizes, of 
either forging or issuing these nutes; the 
majority of whom are left for execution, 
and the remainder for fourteen. years’ 
transportation: these persons may be 
said to suffer from the ebstinacy ef the 
directors of the Bank and their advisers,. * 
who opposed the opinion of the most 
competent judges. Surely it is high 
time that a stop should. be put to this. 
alarming evil, especially when it can be 
proved to any disinterested person, that 
nothing is more practicable; but perhaps’ 
the emolument of the Solicitors, and 
Bank Engravers, is deemed of more cone 
sequence than the lives and morals of 
thosé unfortunate wretches, wio are’ 
tempted to the commission of crime, by 
the facility of the operation. I do not: 
fear contradiction when I assert, that 
- any engraver’s apprentice who has served” 
two years, is fully competent to the exe- 
cution of any plate issued by the Bank; 
and. with regard to the water-mark, the 
mutilated state of. the notes, frequently 
renders a.critical or minute examination - 
impracticable. 
The unparalleled mode of ruling in- 
vented by Mr. Landseer, and some dif- 
ferent specimens preduced by a Mr. 
Haldane, will defy the imitation of the 
most skilful ; a proper application there- 
fore of their machinery, would form an 
excellent basis to build upon, in conjunc. 
tion with the water-mark. © The hess 
writers and. engravers of writing should 
then be employed in that deparunent of 
the business, and the lovely figure of Bri- 
tannia or Commerce (which has so long 
done credit to the taste and execution of 
Mr. Terry, the Bank Engraver,) might 
with goud effect be superseded by a me- 
dallion, executed by Heath, Sharpe, 
Landsecr, Fitler, or any other of our 
a a respectable 
| 
