presented at the Bank. On
another occasion, when Mathison was there, a forged note of his own was
presented, and the teller, half in jest and half in earnest, charged
Maxwell, the name by which he was known, with some knowledge of the
forgeries. Further suspicion was excited, and directions were given to
detain him at some future period. The following day the teller was
informed that "his friend Maxwell," as he was styled ironically, was in
Cornhill. The clerk instantly went, and under pretence of having paid
Mathison a guinea too much on a previous occasion, and of losing his
situation if the mistake were not rectified in the books, induced him to
return with him to the hall; from which place he was taken before the
directors, and afterwards to Sir John Fielding. To all the inquiries he
replied, "He had a reason for declining to answer. He was a citizen of
the world, and knew not how he had come into it, or how he should go out
of it." Being detained during a consultation with the Bank solicitor, he
suddenly lifted up the sash and jumped out of the window. On being taken
and asked his motive, if innocent, he said, "It was his humour."

In the progress of the inquiry, the Darlington paper, containing his
description, was read to him, when he turned pale, burst into tears, and
saying he was a dead man, added, "Now I will confess all." He was,
indeed, found guilty only on his own acknowledgment, which stated he
could accomplish the whole of a note in one day. It was asserted at the
time, that, had it not been for his confession, he could not have been
convicted. He offered to explain the secret of his discovery of the
method of imitating the water-mark, on the condition that the
corporation would spare his life; but his proposal was rejected, and he
subsequently paid the full penalty of his crime.

The conviction that some check was necessary grew more and more
peremptory as the evils of the system were exposed. In fourteen years
from the first issue of small notes, the number of convictions had been
centupled. In the first ten years of the present century, L101,061 were
refused payment, on the plea of forgery. In the two years preceding the
appointment of the commission directed by Government to inquire into the
facts connected with forging notes, nearly L60,000 were presented, being
an increase of 300 per cent. In 1797, the entire cost of prosecutions
for forgeries was L1,500, and in the last three months of 1818 it was