of the army in Flanders.  At length the question was put to the vote; and every hand in the Hall was held up for sending the money.  The letters from the Dutch Embassy informed the States General that the events of that day had bound the Bank and the government together in close alliance, and that several of the ministers had, immediately after the meeting, purchased stock merely in order to give a pledge of their attachment to the body which had rendered so great a service to the State.711

Meanwhile strenuous exertions were making to hasten the recoinage.  Since the Restoration the Mint had, like every other public establishment in the kingdom, been a nest of idlers and jobbers.  The important office of Warden, worth between six and seven hundred a year, had become a mere sinecure, and had been filled by a succession of fine gentlemen, who were well known at the hazard table of Whitehall, but who never condescended to come near the Tower.  This office had just become vacant, and Montague had obtained it for Newton.712 The ability, the industry and the strict uprightness of the great philosopher speedily produced a complete revolution throughout the department which was under his direction.713 He devoted himself to his task with an activity which left him no time to spare for those pursuits in which he had surpassed Archimedes and Galileo.  Till the great work was completely done, he resisted firmly, and almost angrily, every attempt that was made by men of science, here or on the Continent, to draw him away from his official duties.714 The old officers of the Mint had thought it a great feat to coin silver to the amount of fifteen thousand pounds in a week.  When Montague talked of thirty or forty thousand, these men of form and precedent pronounced the thing impracticable.  But the energy of the young Chancellor of the Exchequer and of his friend the Warden accomplished far greater wonders.  Soon nineteen mills were going at once in the Tower.  As fast as men could be trained to the work in London, bands of them were sent off to other parts of the kingdom.  Mints were established at Bristol, York, Exeter, Norwich and Chester.  This arrangement was in the highest degree popular.  The machinery and the workmen were welcomed to the new stations with the ringing of bells and the firing of guns.  The weekly issue increased to sixty thousand pounds, to eighty thousand, to a hundred thousand, and at length to a hundred and twenty thousand.715 Yet even this issue, though great, not only beyond precedent, but beyond hope, was scanty when compared with the demands of the nation.  Nor did all the newly stamped silver pass into circulation; for during the summer and autumn those politicians who were for raising the denomination of the coin were active and clamorous; and it was generally expected that, as soon as the Parliament should reassemble, the standard would be lowered.  Of course no person who thought it probable that he should, at a day not far distant, be able to pay a debt of a pound with three crown pieces instead of four, was willing to part with a crown piece, till that day arrived.  Most of the milled pieces were therefore hoarded.716 May, June and July passed away without any perceptible increase in the quantity of good money.  It was not till August that the keenest observer could discern the first faint signs of returning prosperity.717