monies, and their civil; their difpofitions; their virtues; their foibles, and their prejudices and there is no doubt but by repetition and fome little attention, that most children, however extraordinary it may feem, would be capable of the fame. It is from neglects or deficiencies in the maternal character, that we find young women in general with fuch idle propenfities; drefs, public amufements, every fpecies of diffipation, that plays round the head, but comes not near the heart, is the univerfal paffion, for having no refources in themfelves, they fly all felf-acquaintance and have no idea of felf converfe, and unqualified to penetrate beyond the furface, take fuperficials for effentials, and chatter only to be defpifed. The Benevolent Society, in this one inftance, muft be allowed to boast of having formed a few female minds a-right-Mifs Briftow and Mifs Caroline Middleton, at the fame time that they have all the modefty, humility and gentlenefs of their own fex, have all the knowledge, refolution and fociality of the other; the ftudent, the naturalift, the traveller, nay the virtuofo, could not but receive pleasure from their converfation; good-fenfe, the foundatica of their cu Tiofity, good-fenfe, the bafis of their obfervations; not one of the abovementioned lordlings difdain the endeavour to fix an admirer, where they fo unexpectedly difcover a fufceptibi lity of admiration, nor, though it may not be poffible for them to derive an increafe of knowledge from this feminine intercourse, fail to be fenfible how little they knew of refinement until that period, as refinement is the undeniable characteristic of the cultivated female. If the Benevolent Society could be certain that fuch a procedure would be acceptable to their readers, they would prefent them with occafional letters, on various fciences and fubjects, as prepared for the amufement and inftruction of their pupils, but they would not feek occafions of difgufting, and they need not be told how foreign the reigning tafte to the moral, the philofophic page. If indeed they could defcend to fashionable difquifition, or proftitute their pen to purposes of scandal; they would enfure themselves the approba tion of the multitude: they, however, at the fame time that they declare themfelves utterly incapable of defpicable arts to rise, will never fall in the estimation of the public by steping out of the common track; they have, therefore, only intimated their readiness to comply with the wishes of their correfpondents, and fhall be determined as to their future subjects according to the letters they may hereafter receive. In order, however, to make amends for the want of variety in this paper, we can promife fome entertaining particulars the enfuing mouth; as Mrs. Milnham, accompa nied by three or four of her fair friends, intends going to court on her majesty's birth-day, attended by two of the young gentlemen who have obtained the countenance of the fociety. As courts and courtiers are nouvelle things to, at leaft, one third of the party; their furprise, their reflexions, their fentiments and the criticisms they will occafion, cannot but be worth the perufal. Whatever is genuine muft have fuperior merit with the rational and the contemplating members of the community, and there is fo little to be met with in this generation that is not a mere copy or actual repetition of the paft, that nature in her fpontaneous, her unornamented ftole, must have charms for most imaginations. [To be continued.] The Hiftory of the Public Funds. As there are few fubjects of conAS verfation more general than the value of ftocks, and hardly any thing fo little understood, nothing can be more ufeful than a fhort account of them, which we shall here give in as clear and concife a manner as poffible, prefenting our readers with the rationale of the ftocks, and a fhort history of the feveral companies, defcribing the nature of their feparate funds, the uses to which they are applied, and the various purposes they anfwer, both with refpect to the government, the companies themfelves, and the community in general. In order to give a clear idea of the money tranfactions of the feveral companies, it is proper we should say something of money in general, and parti-cularly of paper money, and the difference between that and the current fpecie. Money is the ftandard of the value of all the neceflaries and accommodations modations of life, and paper money is the reprefentative of that ftandard to fach a degree, as to fupply its place, and to answer all the purposes of gold and filver coin. Nothing is neceflary to make this reprefentative of money fupply the place of fpecie, but the credit of that office or company, who delivers it; which credit confifts in its always being ready to turn it into fpecie whenever required. This is exactly the cafe of the bank of England; the notes of this company are of the fame value as the current coin, as they may be turned into it, whenever the poffeffor pleafes. From hence, as notes are a kind of money, the counterfeiting them is punished with death as well as coining. The method of depofiting money in the bank, and exchanging it for notes (though they bear no intereft) is attended with many conveniences; as the cafh is not only fafer than in the hands of the owner himself; but as the notes are more portable and capable of a much more eafy conveyance; fince a bank note for a very large fum, may be fent by the pofts, and to prevent the defigns of robbers, may, without damage, be cut in two and fent at two feveral times. Or bills, called bank poft bills, may be had by application at the bank, which are particiarly calculated to prevent loffes by robberies, they being made payable to the order of the perfon who takes them out at a certain number of days after fight, which gives an opportunity to stop fuch bills at the bank, if they thould be loft, and prevents their being fo eafily negotiated by strangers as common bank notes are; and whoever confiders the hazard, the expence and trouble there would be in fending large fums of gold and filver to and from diftant places, muft alfo confider this as a very fingular advantage. Befides which another benefit attends them; for if they are deftroyed by time, or other accidents, the bank will, on oath being made of fuch accident, and fecurity being given, pay the money to the perfon who was in poffeffion of them. Bank notes differ from all kinds of tock in these three particulars, 1. They are always of the fame value. 2. They are paid off without being transferred, and 3. They bear no intereft; while #ocks area thare in a company's funds, bought without any condition of haveing the principal returned. India bonds indeed (by fome perfons, though erro neously, denominated stock) are to be excepted, they being made payable at fix months notice, either on the fide of the company or of the poffeffor. Before we proceed, it may not be improper to obferve, that it is not neceffary the bank fhould always have a fund futficient to discharge all its notes at one time, it being enough if it is capable of anfwering any demand, and of paying all notes as foon as prefented; nor is it neceffary that the feveral companies funds or ftocks fhould ever be large enough to pay off the proprietors of the feveral thares; for as thefe fhares of the general stock are transferable, they may be turned into specie whenever the proprietor pleases. By the word Stock was originally meant, a particular fum of money contributed to the establishing a fund to enable a company to carry on a certain trade, by means of which the perfon became a partner in that trade, and received a thare of the profit made thereby in proportion to the money employed. But this term has been extended farther, though improperly, to fignify any fum of money which has been lent to the government, on condition of receiving a certain intereft till the money is repaid, and which makes a part of the national debt. As the fecurity both of the government and of the public companies is esteemed preferable to that of any private perfon, as the ftock is negotiable and may be fold at any time, and as the interest is always punctually paid when due, so they are thereby enabled to borrow money on a lower intereft than what might be obtained from lending it to private perfons, where there must be always fome danger of lofing both principal and interest. But as every capital ftock or fund of a company is raifed for a particular purpofe, and limited by parliament to a certain fum, it neceffarily follows, that when that fund is completed, no ftock can be bought of the company; though fhares already purchased, may be transferred from one perfon to another. This being the cafe, there is frequently a great difpropertion between the original value of the fhares, and what is given for them when trans D 2 ferred; ferred; for if there are more buyers than fellers, a perfon who is indifferent about felling will not part with his thare without a confiderable profit to himself; and on the contrary, if many are difpofed to fell, and few inclined to buy, the value of fuch fhares will naturally fall, in proportion to the impatience of those who want to turn their ftock into fpecie; for as when there are more buyers than fellers, the buyers will endeavour to out-bid each other, fo when there are more fellers than buyers the fellers will ftruggle who fhall dif pofe of his stock firit, by each offering it at a lefs price than the other. Thefe obfervations may ferve to give our readers fome idea of the nature of that unjuftifiable and difhoneft practice called Stock-jobbing, the mystery of which confifts in nothing more than this: The perfons concerned in that practice, who are denominated Stockjobbers, make contracts to buy or fell, at a certain diftant time, a certain quantity of fome particular stock, against which time they endeavour, according as their contract is, either to aife or lower fuch stock, by raifing rumours and fpreading fictitious ftories in order to induce people either to fell out in a hurry, and confequently cheap, if they are to deliver ftock, or to become unwilling to fell, and confequently to make it dearer, if they are to receive ftock. The perfons who make thefe contracts are not in general poffelled of any real ftock, and when the time comes that they are to receive or deliver the quantity they have contracted for, they only pay fuch a fum of money as makes the difference between the price the ftock was at when they made the contract, and the price it happens to be at when the contract is fulfilled, and it is no uncommon thing for perfons not worth rool. to make contracts for the buying or felling 100,cool. ftock. In the language of Exchange alley, the buyer in this cafe is called the ball, and the feller the bear. Befides thefe, there are another fet of men, who, though of a higher rank, may properly enough come under the fame denomination. Thefe are your great monied men, who are dealers in stock, and contractors with the government whenever any new money is to be borrowed. Thefe in deed are not fictitious, but real buyers and fellers of stock; but by railing falfe hopes, or creating groundles fears, by pretending to buy or fell large quantities of stock on a fudden, by using the fore mentioned fet of men as their inftruments, and other like practices, are enabled to raise or fall the ftocks one or two per cent. at pleafure. However, the real value of one stock above another, on account of its being more profitable to the proprietors, or any thing that will really, or only in imagination, affect the credit of a company, or endanger the government by which that credit is fecured, must naturally have a confiderable effect on the stocks. Thus, with refpect to the intereft of the proprietors, a fhare in the stock of a trading company which produces 51. or 61. per cent. per annum must be more valuable than an annuity with government fecurity, that produces no more than 3. or 41. per cent. per annum; and confequently fuch ftock muft fell at a higher price than fuch an annuity. Though it must be obferved, that a fhare in the stock of a trading company producing 5 or 6. per cent, per annum, will not fetch fo much money at market as a government annuity producing the faine fum, because the fecurity of the company is not reckoned equal to that of the government, and the continuance of their paying fo much per annum, is more precarious, as their dividend is, or ought to be, always in proportion to the profits of their trade. Thus, for inftance, the Eaft-India company divides at prefent 61. for every 100l. hare, the current price of which is 134 The purchafer therefore will here make 4 per cent. for his money advanced, Whereas the government annuities of 31. per cent. fell for 837. Confequently the purchafer makes no more than 37. 105. 3d. per cent. of his money advanced; whence it will appear, that the India ftock fells confiderably cheaper than the government annuities, owing to the fecurities not being quite fo good, nor the continuance of their paying fo much per hare quite fo certain. As the ftocks of the Eaft-India, the bank, and South-Sea companies, are diftinguished by different denominations, and are of a very different na ture ture, we shall give a short history of The Origin of the Eaft-India Company. THERE is no trading company in Europe, the Dutch Eaft - India company excepted, which can be put in competition with this. It was first eftablified in the latter end of the reign of Queen Elizabeth; and its privileges have been enlarged, or confirmed, by almoft every monarch fince. Its shares, or fubfcriptions, were originally only 50l. fterling; and its capital only 369,8911. 5 s. but the directors having a confiderable dividend to make in 1676, it was agreed to join the profits to the capital, by which the fhares were doubled, and confequently each became of 1ool. value, and the capital 739,7821. 10s. to which capital, if 963,6391. the profits of the company to the year 1685, be added, the whole ftock will be found to be 1,703,4021. However, this company having fuftained feveral loffes by the Dutch, and the fubjects of the Great Mogul, was in a declining way at the Revolution, when the war with France reduced it fo low, that it appearing fcarcely poffible to be fupported, a new one was erected. The merchants forming the new East-India company received their charterin 1698, having, in confideration of the grant thereof, lent to the government two millions at 8 per cent. per annum, and pushing their trade with vigour, they foon carried on twice the bulinefs that was ever done by the old company. But after the two comP nies had fubfifted a few years in a leparate ftate, means were contrived to unite them, which was effected in 1702, when a new charter was granted them under the title of the United Company of Merchants trading to the Eaft-Indies. To the two millions advanced by the new company, the united company in the 6th of Queen Anne lent the government 1,200,cool. which made their whole loan amount to 3,200,000l. a further fum was alfo lent by the Company in 1730, on a renewal of their charter, the intereft of which is redused to 3 per cent. and called the India three per cent, annuities. As to India ftock, it is of a quite different nature; for as that is not money put out to intereft, but the trading stock of the company, and the proprietors of the fhares, instead of revidend of the profits arifing from the ceiving a regular annuity, have a dicompany's trade; which, as it is more valuable, thefe thares generally fell at a price much above the original value. As to the management of this united company, all perfons without exception, natives, and foreigners, men and women, are admitted members of it, and 500l. in the ftock of the company, gives the owner a vote in the general courts, and 2000l. qualifies him to be chofen a director. The directors are 24 in number, including the chairman, and deputy-chairman, who may be re-elected for four years fucceflively. The chairman has a falary of 200l. a year, and each of the directors 150l. The meetings or courts of directors, are to be held at least once a week; but are commonly oftener, being fummoned as occafion requires. Out of the body of directors are chofen feveral committees, who have the peculiar infpection of certain branches of the company's bufinets; as the committee of correfpondence, a committee of buying, a committee of treasury, a houfe-committee, a committee of warehoufes, a committee of fhipping, a committee of accompts, a committee of law-fuits, and a committee to prevent the growth of private trade, &c. who have under them a fecretary, cashier, clerks, warehoufe-keepers, &c. Other officers of the company are governors and factors abroad, fome of whom have guards of foldiers, and live in all the ftate of fovereign princes. Of the Bank of England. THE company of the Bank was incorporated by parliament, in the 5th and 6th years of King William and Queen Mary, by the name of The Governor and Company of the Bank of England, in confideration of the loan of 1,200,000l. granted to the government; for which the fubfcribers received almost 8 per cent. By this charter, the company are not to borrow under their common feal, unless by act of parliament; they are not to trade trade, or suffer any perfon in truft for them, to trade in any goods, or mer chandize; but they may deal in bills of exchange, in buying or felling bulfion, and foreign gold and filver coin, &c. By an act of parliament paffed in the 8th and 9th year of King William III. they were impowered to enlarge their capital fock to 2,201,1711. 108. It was then alfo enacted, that bank ftock fhould be a perfonal, and not a real estate; that no contract either in word or writing, for buying or felling bank ftock, fhould be good in law, unlefs registered in the books of the bank within feven days; and the stock transferred in 14 days, and that it should be felony, without benefit of clergy, to counterfeit the common feal of the bank, or any fealed bank bill, or any bank note, or to alter or erafe fuch bills or notes. By another act paffed in the 7th of Queen Anne, the company were impowered to augment their capital to 4,402,3431. and they then advanced 400,000l. more to the government, and in 1714, they advanced another loan of 1,500,000l. In the third year of the reign of King George the First, the intereft of their capital ftock was reduced to 5 per cent. when the bank agreed to deliver up as many exchequer bills as amounted to 2,000,000l. and to accept an annuity of 100,000l. and it was declared lawful for the bank to call from their members, in proportion to their interefts in the capital ftock, fuch füms of money as in a general court fhould be found neceffary; but if any member fhould neglect to pay his fhare of the monies fo called for, at the time appointed by notice in the London Gazette, and fixed upon the Royal Exchange, it fhould be lawful for the bank, not only to stop the dividend of fuch member, and to apply it towards payment of the money in queftion; but alfo to ftop the transfers of the fhare of fuch defaulter, and to charge him with an intereft of 51. per cent. per annum, for the money fo omitted to be paid; and if the principal and intereft thould be three months unpaid, the bank fhould then have power to fell fo much of the ftock belonging to the defaulter as would fatisfy the fame. After this, the bank reduced the in tereft of the 2,000,000l. lent to the government, from 5 to 4 per cent. and purchafed feveral other annuities, which were afterwards redeemed by government, and the national debt due to the bank reduced to 1,600,000l. But in 1742, the company engaged to fupply the government with 1,600,000l. at 3 per cent. which is now called the 3 per cent. Annuities, fo that the government was now indebted to the company 3,200,000l. the one half carrying 4, and the other 3 per cent. In the year 1746, the company agreed that the fum of 986,800l. due to them in exchequer bills unfatisfied, on the duties for licences to fell spirituous liquors by retail, fhould be cancelled; and in lieu thereof to accept of an annuity of 39,4421. the interest of that fum at 4 per cent. The company alfo agreed to advance the further fum of 1,000,000l. into the exchequer, upon the credit of the duties arifing by the malt and land-tax, at 4 per cent. for exchequer bills to be iffued for that purpose; in confideration of which the company were enabled to augment their capital with 986, 800l. the interest of which, as well as that of the other annuities, was reduced to 31. 10s. per cent. till the 25th of December 1757, and from that time to carry only 3 per cent. And in order to enable them to circulate the faid exchequer bills, they eftablished what is now called the Bank Circulation. The nature of which not being well understood, we shall take the liberty to be a little more particular in its explanation than we have been with regard to the other ftocks. The company of the Bank are obliged to keep cafh fufficient to answer not only the common, but also any extraordinary demand that may be made upon them; and whatever money they have by them, over and above the fum fuppofed neceffary for these purposes, they employ in what may be called the Trade of the Company; that is to fay, in difcounting bills of exchange, in buying of gold and filver, and in government fecurities, &c. But when the Bank entered into the above-mentioned contract, as they did not keep unemployed a larger fum of money than what they deemed neceffary to answer their ordinary and extraordinary demands, they could not |