Sir
I received sometime since a letter from you with an inclosed paper containing several Quæres relating to the buisines of your Mint. I have been slow to return an answer for fear that some of those things may be referred to the officers of our Mint with whom I find it sometimes difficult to agree & therefore what I now write to you is to be looked upon as coming not from an Officer of the Mint but from a private friend.
I am of opinion that the Officers of your Mint should sollicit the Barons of the Exchequer to get the Bullion in the hands of the Executors of Mr Stewar{t} & the under collectors to be paid into the Mint with all convenient speed & that as it comes in you should pay it in due course & order discharging those debts first which were first owing And when you have cleared all debts & accounts to any certain time (suppo{se} to Christmas or Lad{y} was a twelvemonth or Midsummer last, or to any later time,) you may then make up & pass your accounts to th{at} time if you think fit, & afterwards you may pass your accounts annually according to the course of the Mint in the Tower taking care to clear all the accounts of every year before you make oath to them & pass them, because by passing them you are d{is}charged of all accounts till that time.
As for the Moneyers, I am of opi{ni}on that the nine pence per pound weight should be paid them in course as money comes into your hands & that in your accounts the penny per pound weight above the 8d be set down in your accounts, & if the Auditor or Barons of the Exchequer scruple it, you may petition my Lord Treasurer. What else is due to the Moneyers on account of your coynage they must petition my Lord Treasurer to be allowed. I beleive my Lord will scarce pay any thing to them at London, because what is due to them can scarce come into any other account then yours
The Pix & Assay pieces you are to have & place them in your account as so much money received, & to bring in a bill of the loss of Assays. The Bill must be examined allowed & signed by the Warden & Counter-Warden.
You should also according to the best of your memory & knowledge bring in one or more Bills of charges for the Miln horses & their maintenance & servants, & for furnishing Rollers, upholding the files cutters & tumblers, & fire candles & allome & other necessaries for the moneyers. And this bill also should be examined & signed by the Warden & Counter Warden. And so should all the Bills of Carpenters Brick laye{rs} Masons Pairers Glasiers Smiths Plaisterers &c
I pay to the Smith of the Mint a farthing per pound weight of all the silver moneys coyned, for his making the Dyes, & wheth{er} the like allowance should be made by you towards {d}efraying the incident charges of the coynage I must leave to consideration
<44v>I conceive twelve pence per pound weight to the Refiner to be sufficient for all the silver refined to the degree of 17dwt & an half better & for every half penny weight which the refined silver want of this fineness, a farthing may be abated out of the shilling, unless you can think of any exacter estimate.
