Newton and the Counterfeiter (38 page)

[>]
 "abot 10 of thes counterfeit Gineas": "The Information of Katherine Matthews [aka Carter] of Earles Cour in Cranborn ally in the p[ar]ish of St. Anns Westm[inste]r," Mint 17, document 116.
"either Ginea Dyes or half Crown Dyes": "The Depostion of Humphrey Hanwell of Lambeth p[a]rish in Southwark 22d Feb 1698/9," Mint 17, document 123.
a document he titled "Chaloner Case": "Chaloner's Case," Mint 19/1, ff. 501–4.

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 six hundred pounds of false half-crowns: "The Deposition of John Abbot of Water Lane in Fleet street Refiner 15th. day of February 1698/9," Mint 17, document 119.
"a Coyning Press at Chiswick": "The Information of Cecilia Labree 6
^th
Feby 1698/9," Mint 17, document 143.

22. "I
F
S
^R
B
E
P
LEASED...
"

[>]
 "joined they should save themselves": "The Examination of Thomas Carter Prisoner in Newgate 31 January 1698/9," Mint 17, document 118.
seven times in the pillory: "Chaloner's letter to Mr. Secretary Vernon," Mint 17, document 126.

[>]
 "an evidence agt. him": "Carter's Letter to Mr Secretary Vernon," undated, Mint 17, document 130. Carter's visits to the pillory included one for forging a Bank of England note in 1696, lending a powerful tinge of authority to Chaloner's hope of discrediting Carter before a jury. See
The Proceedings of the Old Bailey
for trials completed on 9 December 1696,
http://www.hrionline.ac.uk/oldbailey/html_units/1690s/t16961209-59.html
.
Newton's good graces: Thomas Carter in Mint 17, documents 83, 84, 118, 123, and 130.
"if ever King James came again": "The Deposition of Samuel Bond of Ashbourn in the parke in the Count of Derby Chyrugeon 16 October, 1698," Mint 17, document 27s.
"to come to the Dogg": "John Whitfield's Lettr to the Isaac Newton Esq
^r
Warden of His Maj
^tys
Mint Febry 9
^th
98/9," Mint 17, document 134.

[>]
 "such vacan[t] places": Ibid.
"Chaloner was a little suspicious": "Thomas Carter's Letter to the Warden of the Mint Sunday afternoon," undated, Mint 17, document 130.
"All his discourse to him": Ibid.
"I will get out of him": Ibid.

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 "20 such as the Warden": "The Information of William Johnson Farrier at the Barbers Pole near the Watchhouse in Radcliff highway taken this 8
^th
day of February 1698/9," Mint 17, document 145. See also document 146, "The Information of Ann Duncomb of Black cheek ally in East Smithfield Spinst[er] 8 Feb: 1698/9," and document 148, "The Examination of the Josiah Cook of Eagle Str[eet] of St Gyles in the fields in the County of Midd[lese]x Chyrurgeon 14 February 1698/9," for more of what Newton could hold over Lawson's head.
"I hope Charity will moe": "Letter sent to Is[aac] Newton Esqr. From John Ignatius Lawson Sunday night and Munday morning," undated, Mint 17, document 132, and "The Information of John Ignatius Lawson Vizt," 3 April 1699, Mint 17, document 199.
Lawson kept such tales coming: Each of the separate incidents in this paragraph are contained in "The Information of John Ignatius Lawson Vizt," 3 April 1699, Mint 17, document 199. (This document number contains a series of reports Lawson sent to Newton between January and April 1699.)

[>]
 "the case of a small Bible": Ibid.
so he slipped through: "The Information of Jno Ignatius Lawson now Prisoner in Newgate 3
^d
. Aprill 1699," Mint 17, document 165.

[>]
 "before she confess any thing": "John Ignatius Lawson's Letter to Is: Newton Esqr," undated, Mint 17, document 131.
Elizabeth Holloway: "Letter sent to Is[aac] Newton Esqr. From John Ignatius Lawson Sunday night and Munday morning," undated, Mint 17, document 132.
"hath seen him coyn": Ibid.
"no man in England could grave": "The Information of Jno Ignatius Law-son now Prisoner in Newgate 3
^d
. Aprill 1699," Mint 17, document 165. The date is almost certainly a reference to the day when Newton collated the information Lawson provided him (see the following note), as this testimony appears in sequence with depositions taken in February, and the information it contains implies a date before the March 1 start of the Old Bailey sessions for which Newton was preparing his case.

[>]
 "Tin plated over with Silver": John Ignatius Lawson, untitled report, 25 February 1698, countersigned by Newton on 3 April 1699, Mint 17, document 184.
deceit that had enraged Elizabeth Holloway: John Ignatius Lawson, un-titled and undated report, Mint 17, document 192.
"6 of one Jury and 8 of another": "Letter sent to Is[aac] Newton Esqr. From John Ignatius Lawson Sunday night and Munday morning," undated, Mint 17, document 132.

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 "the best acc
^t
I cann remember": "William Chaloner Letter to the Warden of the Mint," Mint 17, document 133.

23. "I
F
I D
IE
I A
M
M
URTHERED
"

[>]
 "Some p[e]rsons ag
^t
my desire": "William Chaloner Letter to the Warden of the Mint," Mint 17, document 133, first letter.

[>]
 "I am murthered": "William Chaloner Letter to the Warden of the Mint," Mint 17, document 133, second letter.
"suggestions of such evill persons": "A Copy of a Letter directed from Will Chaloner to Justice Railton," Mint 17, document 133, fourth letter.

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 "in flatt stitch": "William Chaloner Letter to the Warden of the Mint," Mint 17, document 133, third letter.
"Coyn or paper": John Ignatius Lawson, untitled and undated report, Mint 17, document 192.

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 "wasted and spoiled": "William Chaloner's Letter to Isaac Newton Esq," Mint 17, document 174.

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 "5 times before": "John Ignatius Lawson's Letter to Is: Newton Esqr," undated, Mint 17, document 131.
"such frightful Whimseys":
Guzman Redivivus,
p. 7.
"pretend himself sick": John Ignatius Lawson, untitled report, 25 February 1698, countersigned by Newton on 3 April 1699, Mint 17, document 184.
"counterfeiting the Madman":
Guzman Redivivus,
p. 7.

24. "A P
LAIN AND
H
ONEST
D
EFENCE
"

[>]
 indiscriminately silver and gold: I take this point from, and first found the details of the indictment in, John Craig, "Isaac Newton—Crime Investigator,"
Nature
182 (1958), p. 151. Craig led me to the Middlesex Sessions Roll for 1699, now in the London Metropolitan Archive, from which he drew the account I repeat here.

[>]
 an admission of guilt: J. M. Beattie,
Crime and the Courts in England, 1660–1800,
p. 337.
"a plain and honest Defence": William Hawkins,
A Treatise of the Pleas of the Crown,
vol. 2, quoted in J. M. Beattie,
Policing and Punishment in London, 1660–1750,
p. 264.

[>]
 criminals yet uncaught: See "History of the Old Bailey Courthouse,"
The Proceedings of the Old Bailey,
http://www.oldbaileyonline.org/history/the-old-bailey/
.
judges "should be the advocat": newspaper commentary from 1783, quoted in J. M. Beattie,
Crime and the Courts in England, 1660–1800,
p. 345.

[>]
 worse judge: This account of Lovell's career and character has been drawn from Tim Wales's entry "Lovell, Sir Salathiel" in the
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.
The history of Lovell's role in recommending pardons is slightly more complicated than the gloss above. As Wales writes, Lovell's arbitrary (and under suspicion of corruption) use of power to tip the balance toward or away from clemency embroiled him in disputes with London's aldermen at least twice, and he did not maintain a completely free hand. In 1699, however, he was between battles and retained significant power in this area.
calling the defendant notorious: See John Craig, "Isaac Newton and the Counterfeiters,"
Notes and Records of the Royal Society of London
18 (1963), p. 142. Unfortunately, no more vivid account of Lovell's invective exists; the surviving documents detail only the indictments, the witness list, and some of the evidence presented at trial. The records for the March 1699 quarter sessions of the witnesses' statements and other direct records of what was said at trials have been lost.

[>]
 "Gineas which were reputed Chaloners": "The Information of Katherine Coffee wife of Patrick Coffee Goldsmith late of Aldermanbury by Woodstr[eet] 18 day of February 1698/9," Mint 17, document 124.
the prisoner's hammer: Taylor's role in producing both pistole and guinea dies survives in several hearsay depositions; see, for example, Katherine Carter's testimony before Isaac Newton on 21 February 1698/9, Mint 17, document 122. Newton amassed enough testimony to state with apparent certainty in his summary document "Chaloner's Case" that Taylor had produced two sets of French dies in 1690 and 1691, and one for guineas in 1692. See Mint 19/1.
Both were almost certainly lying: John Craig, "Isaac Newton and the Counterfeiters," p. 143.

[>]
 "a Treat at the 3 Tuns": "The Deposition of John Abbot of Water Lane in Fleet street Refiner 15th. day of February 1698/9," Mint 17, document 119.

[>]
 "affronting Mr. Recorder":
Guzman Redivivus,
p. 10.
by the midday meal break: This data comes from the December 1678 session of the Old Bailey, reported in J. M. Beattie,
Policing and Punishment in London, 1660–1750,
p. 262.

[>]
 Lawson walked out of court:
Proceedings of the Old Bailey,
11 October 1699, p. 3. Online at
http://www.oldbaileyonline.org/images.jsp?doc16991011003
.
"The Evidence was plain": Ibid.
"Guilty of High-Treason":
Guzman Redivivus,
p. 11.

25. "O I H
OPE
G
OD
W
ILL
M
OVE
Y
O
^R
H
EART
"

[>]
 "a Harping Ruin":
Guzman Redivivus,
p. 12.
"in[no]sent he was": "Carter's Letter to Is: Newton Esq," Mint 17, document 130.

[>]
 "Yo[u]r near murdered humble Servt": "William Chaloner's Letter to Isaac Newton Esq.," Mint 17, document 205.

[>]
 a list of complaints:
Guzman Redivivus,
p. 12.
the condemned men's pew: David Kerr Cameron,
London's Pleasures,
p. 144.
"Charity and Forgiveness":
Guzman Redivivus,
p. 12.

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 "hanged by the neck": See V.A.C. Gatrell,
The Hanging Tree,
pp. 315–16.

[>]
 "a rotten Member":
Guzman Redivivus,
p. 13.

E
PILOGUE

[>]
 under "this gentleman's care": Hopton Haynes,
Brief Memoirs,
quoted in G. Findlay Shirras and J. H. Craig, "Sir Isaac Newton and the Currency,"
Economic Journal
55, no. 218/219, p. 229.

[>]
 £1,650 a year: Richard Westfall,
Never at Rest,
pp. 606–7. Westfall notes that early in Newton's mastership, the resumption of war with France bit into the supply of gold and silver to the Mint, and hence Newton's profit on coining operations. It was a feast-or-famine job, but Newton was able to hold on to it long enough to grow legitimately wealthy and to live precisely as he pleased.
"To explain all nature": Cambridge Add. Ms. 3790.3, f. 479, quoted in Robert Westfall,
Never at Rest,
p. 643.

[>]
 "Nature is very constant":
Opticks,
from query 31, added in the Latin edition and republished in every subsequent version. Quoted in Robert Westfall,
Never at Rest,
p. 644.
"Is not infinite Space": From the Latin
Optice
and the second edition
Opticks,
query 28, with edits to the original translation from the Latin by Robert Westfall,
Never at Rest,
p. 647.

[>]
 true nature of Christ's body: For a discussion of Newton's speculation about the body of Christ, see Betty Jo Teeter Dobbs,
The Janus Faces of Genius,
pp. 214–15. The question of angelic prospects after the Apocalypse is discussed on p. 32 of "Newtonian Angels," a draft chapter of an upcoming book by Simon Schaffer. Newton worked on prophetic chronology for the better part of two decades, coming up with several different possible dates for the second coming. See Robert Westfall,
Never at Rest,
pp. 815–17.
"strong meats for men": The phrase occurs in Newton's draft of a massive project on the history of the church from its origins in the early centuries of the Christian era, cited by Simon Schaffer on p. 33 of "Newtonian Angels."
most of the new silver: G. Findlay Shirras and J. H. Craig, "Sir Isaac Newton and the Currency,"
Economic Journal
55, no. 218/219, p. 229.
That imbalance sucked silver: G. Findlay Shirras and J. H. Craig, "Sir Isaac Newton and the Currency,"
Economic Journal
55, no. 218/219, pp. 228–36.

[>]
 even his old currency ally: For Newton's argument and Lowndes's reply, see ibid., pp. 230–31.

[>]
 some historians have credited: See, for example, Fernand Braudel,
The Wheels of Commerce,
pp. 525–28.

[>]
 He bought more: The sequence of Newton's involvement in the South Sea Company is detailed in Richard Westfall,
Never at Rest,
pp. 861–62.

[>]
 the value of his estate: Ibid., pp. 862, 870.
"that he could not calculate": Reported in Joseph Spence,
Anecdotes, Observations, and Characters, of Books and Men,
p. 368, cited in Robert Westfall,
Never at Rest,
p. 862. The classic account of the South Sea Bubble remains Charles Mackay's
Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds,
pp. 55–104. Harvard Business School houses a major collection of material on the bubble, and its website offers a good brief introduction to that remarkable year:
http://www.library.hbs.edu/hc/ssb/index.html
. he lived moderately: Robert Westfall,
Never at Rest,
p. 850.
"He generally made a present": William Stukeley,
Memoirs of Sir Isaac Newton's Life,
pp. 68–69, cited in Richard Westfall,
Never at Rest,
p. 856. The original recollection comes in a letter Stukeley wrote to Richard Mead shortly after Newton's death, on 15 July 1727, in Keynes Ms. 136, part 3, p. 11, and online at the Newton Project,
http://www.newtonproject
.sussex.ac.uk/texts/viewtext.php?id=THEM00158&mode=normalized.
active interest in the Royal Society: See Richard Westfall, Never at Rest, pp. 863–64.