fe into England to compound for his sequestered estates.

"Chevalier, although he admits that Colonel Smyth, 'etant a Jersey, fit
de la monnoie de quoi je ne dis rien,' is a firm believer in the actual
existence of a mint from whence were issued coins of gold and silver of
legal tender. Misled by his assertions--on all other subjects rigidly
accurate--we confidently bestowed considerable time and industry in
seeking to obtain specimens of the St. Georges, jacobuses, half-crowns,
and shillings, so minutely described, and alleged to have been struck in
Jersey. The perusal, however, of the subjoined letter dissipated the
illusion--proved that the mint was a Mississippi Scheme, a South Sea
Bubble on a small scale, and that the master thereof was little better
than a swindling adventurer--thus accounting for the non-existence of
the coinage in any numismatic collection:--

"SIR EDWARD HYDE TO SIR EDWARD NICHOLAS.

"I will tell you a tale, of which it may be you may know somewhat; if
you do not, take no notice of it from me. When we were in Cornwall,
Colonel Smyth (who was Sir Alexander Denton's son-in-law, and taken in
that house), having obtained his liberty by J. Ashburnham's friendship
upon such an exchange (one of the councillors of Ireland) as would have
redeemed the best man, came to us from the king at Hereford. To me he
brought a short perfunctory letter from my lord Digby, but from J. A. to
my lord Culpeper his dispatch was of weight; his business, to erect a
mint at Truro, which should yield the king a vast profit; Mr. Browne, J.
A.'s man (who was long a prisoner with him) (_sic_); the king's dues, by
a special warrant (which I saw), to be paid to Mr. Ashburnham.

"What he did in Cornwall I know not, for you perceive he was to have no
relation or reference to me, which, if you had been Chancellor of the
Exchequer, you would have taken unkindly. Shortly after the Prince came
hither he came to us, having left Cornwall a fortnight before we did.
You may imagine my lord Culpeper was forward to help him, and how he
promised to set up his mint, and assured us that he had contracted with
merchants at St. Malloe to bring in such a quantity of bullion as would
make the revenue very considerable to the Prince. We wondered why the
merchants of St. Malloe should desire to have English money coined. He
gave us an answer that appeared very reasonable: that all the trade they
drove with the west country for tin, fish, or wool