Elizabetha, Regina Anglia, To England a lamb, to Spain a lioness. Her resistance to Spain was praiseworthy, but her lamb-like qualities to England the statute book strongly refutes ; and to Ireland she acted like a tigress. There is the following on King James: Charles James Stewart The following is good on Waller, the poet : "His brow need not with laurel to be bound, On William Noy, attorney general to Charles I.; he was a very laborious man. I moyl in Law; it was owing to this indefatigable moyller in law, that this unfortunate king was induced to strain the prerogative in the enforcing of ship money, which the equally indefatigable John Hambden so successfully and nobly opposed. AN ANAGRAM VERSUS ACROSTIC AND TELESTICK.-General Phipps, undertook to find two words of opposite meanings, yet spelled with exactly the same letters, which was to form a Telestick; that is, the letters beginning the lines-when united -were to give one of his words, and the letters at the end were to produce the other; both these novelties were accomplished as follows: "Five letters, rightly placed, will give A word to lovers dear, When they in wedlock's bands would live, For many a happy year. But when their quarrels bitter grow, If otherwise combined, The self same letters serve to show Thus: "U-nite and untie are the same-so say yo-U In the year 1702, there was published, "The Ancient Cold Bathing, an Essay to prove its being both Safe and Useful," by Sir John Floyer, Knt., M. D., of Litchfield; he states: "Im mersion was practised for 1000 years, till James I.'s reign, when the people grew peevish with all ancient ceremonies, and through love of novelty and niceness of parents, under pretences of modesty, they laid aside immersion, which was never abrogated by any of the canons. The English people do not bathe enough, they are not aware how necessary it is for health, by keeping up a due insensible perspiration through the pores of the skin. The writer, a few years past, was cured of a troublesome herpes by warm bathing in the depth of winter, without taking any medicine at the recommendation of Dr. James Campbell, of Warren street, in this city. Wherever there are steam engines, how easily there may be added conveniences for either warm or cold bathing, at a very cheap rate, all the year round, and without shocking the most fastidious delicacy. wwwww VALUE OF MONEY. "Above all things, good policie is to be used, that the treasures and moneyes in a state be not gathered into few hands."-BACON. On several pages of these vols., I have given the prices of wages, rent of lands, prices of provisions, and amount of lawfines, &c. &c.-See App. p. 347. But these statements will be of little avail to the reader, without he has a scale to know the value of money at those periods, compared with the value at the present time: "For what is worth in any thing But so much money as 't will bring?"-HUDIBRAS. Yes, thou witty abstracter, but on what the comparative value may be, thy jocose muse is silent. This all-important subject I will endeavour to lay before the reader; for if "history is philosophy teaching by example," of what use are good examples, except we follow them; or bad ones, unless we avoid them? My own impression, founded on many years' close observation, much reading, and reflection, was, that it now, (1843,) takes three pounds to purchase as much of any useful thing, as one pound did in 1603. But as I did not choose to rely upon my own opinion on so weighty a subject, I wrote to a gentleman at Liverpool, whom I knew was competent from his longer studies and deeper researches, to furnish me with his opinion; and he has very kindly sent me the following statements: "MY DEAR SIR 66 'Liverpool, March 16, 1843. "1st; I have your letter of the 13th of last month. Taking your inquiries in the order in which you put them "2d; You would know the value of money (in England of course,) at the beginning of the 17th century, as compared with its value in the present year. "3d; You are aware that there are two grounds on which to estimate the value of money. One being the intrinsic value of the material of which it may be composed; and the other, its value, or power of purchase. I have said, but it would be more strictly correct to say, in the purchase of articles that are, or were, in general request at the time of making the estimate of value. These articles, however, are so numerous, and, owing to changes in the mode of living, and of fashion, that it is customary, as you know, in inquiries of this nature, to take a small number of articles of the most general or of universal necessity; articles as little as possible affected in their nature or general estimation by time or modes. "4th; The articles commonly referred to for the purpose in question, in this country, have, I think, usually been grain, and especially wheat, wool, leather, or hides, and iron; and there is no disputing the judiciousness of the choice of those substantial and useful articles. "5th; Had our historians recorded the market prices of these valuable articles, at different epochs of our history, and, with those prices, the money wages of farming labourers at corresponding periods; had they done this accurately, and yet more, if with this they had given us the money wages of weavers, builders, and other artisans; had they done this, and maintained silence on all other matters that they have treated of, we should now know more of the history of our country than we can now pretend to know. "6th; Our forefathers and chroniclers, however, it is but fair to bear in mind, laboured under difficulties as to matters of this kind, which we cannot but call to mind on serious reflection. Few people, comparatively, used the pen; travelling was difficult, tedious, and ofttimes dangerous; and then the transit of heavy or bulky articles, such as I have named, from places where they abounded, to others where they might be wanted, this transit was so much more tedious and expensive than in our time, that the prices of such articles would be very different indeed in one part of the kingdom, from the prices in the others. "Now we know all that is going on everywhere, and the markets are equalised and adjusted. 7th; When to the causes of variations in prices, in different places, to which I have just referred, are added the effects of seasons, of peace and war, and of the influx or efflux of money or its material-we shall be obliged to content ourselves with somewhat vague and general estimates of the mar ket-value of the power of purchase which money possessed. I have sought in vain to satisfy myself as to this matter, and as to its equally important point, the wages of labour. Incidental statements we find, but then they are so little accordant with other matters as to excite great caution or dis trust. "8th; There are men, however, of more leisure, and more extensive means of information, who have compiled tables of the value of money, at different periods; and though I am persuaded that much of their statements is guess-work, yet, being the best things of the kind that we have, I propose here to give you a transcript. "9th; The first table here inserted was compiled by Sir George Shuckburgh Evelyn, M. P. for Warwickshire, (I suppose in and about 1800, down to which period the table was brought.) I have this table from Sir John Sinclair's History of the Public Revenue,' 1803.Sir John tells us that he has it from the Philosophical Transactions.' You will observe that it comes down, for a time, by steps of fifty years each; and further, it may be as well to state, that which neither Sir George nor Sir John have stated--to wit: That the current money depreciated at the rate at which the several numbers increase; thus, that in the year 1100, it would require 34 shillings, or pounds, or marks, to purchase as much as would 26 in 1050, and so on. A table, showing how many shillings and pence a pound weight (12 ounces) of silver hath been coined into in England at various periods, with the several quantities of alloy infused into such pound, at the respective periods:"t Prior to the 28th Edward I., or 1299, the pound, Troy, of silver (containing only 18 dwts. of alloy, as at the outset of this table,) was coined into 20s. ; hence. 20s, was one pound sterling. †This table I have from the 6th vol. of Dr. James Anderson's "Recreations in Natural History, Arts, and Miscellaneous Literature," which was taken from some work of Lowndes and Fleetwood, 1549 Edward VI. 66 66 60 6 0 72 0 46 19 60 0 Mary. 11 0 1 0 18 11 2 18 62 0 "You know, I belleve, that when I set about a piece of work of any kind, I like to make it complete. So elaborate and tedious as I may already be deemed, in my introduction of, and explanatory notes on, the foregoing tables, I have yet some very material observations to make. "The first and second tables, exhibit a gradual and regular depreciation in the value of our money; a depreciation commencing after the earlier date in each table, and proceeding with considerable uniformity down to 1800. Not so is it in the third table for in this, although down to 1542 our money is shown to have been deteriorated, or debased in fact; and this, too, with tolerable uniformity. After this period, and down to 1600, its quality and value are represented as having very irregularly fluctuated. It now hecomes our business to mark the different views or purposes of the compilers of these tables, respectively; and, likewise, duly to estimate the respective value of the tables. "With regard to this last point, viz. the value of these tables, respectively. The last table, I make no question, has been made out from materials of indisputable authority-namely, from the actual coins of the several periods; specimens of all of which are doubtless in many cabinets. The other tables, and especially the first, consists of little else than conjecture; it consists of a series of estimates, and must not, save as to its general features, be relied on with any confidence. On consulting the first table, especially, we ought to call to mind the considerations noted down in the 7th and 8th paragraphs. Furthermore, be it observed with regard to these tables, that, while it is the market value of money that the two first tables propose to give us, the third table offers to us nothing of the kind. It professes to give, and it doubtless does give, accurately, the intrinsic value of the legal coin of the realm, that is to say, of the silver pound sterling, at the several periods stated. 46 Again, although the second table, which relates only to the state of things during the last century, may be referred to without much distrust, the first must evidently be regarded as little better than conjectural all through, seeing that it takes no notice of, that it makes no provision for, the effects which must necessarily have resulted from, and which actually did result from the flagitious tampering with the coin, by repeated and increasing adulterations during the reigns of Henry VIII., and his son, Edward VI. To this tampering with, and deterioration, may we not ascribe much of the disorganisation, turbulence, and poverty, which has been ascribed almost solely to the breaking up and pillaging of the Catholic church? "One other observation, and I have done with these tables. At the close of paragraph 9, I have spoken of the manner in which we are to understand the figures or numbers in the first table. I have said that we are to understand that, in the year 1100, it would require 34 shillings, or pounds, or marks. Now, I presume it would be more correct, had I said that 34 ounces or pounds of silver, in 1100, were equal only to 26, in 1050. The constructor of the table ought to have explained this." So anxious was my zealous and kind friend to guard against any mishap arising from Neptune's boisterous billows, that he wrote again on the 22d, by another vessel, recapitulating what he had written, and further informing me that "The value of money in England—that is to say, its power of purchasing articles and hiring services-its value or power this year, is, or will become, in my opinion, about equal to what it was before the breaking-out of the French Revolution, say in 1785. According to the first table, which I hope you will receive, in the year 1600, 144 would purchase as much as would |