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[In tone and content, this document is strikingly similar to those complaining about the pyx trial of 21 August 1710 (MINT00173 - MINT00180 below), but repeated reference to 'the King' rules out its having been produced during Anne's reign. Westfall (p. 609) suggests that it relates to a dispute with the goldsmiths at the trial of 6 August 1701.]
A long account of pyx trial procedure, stressing that Mint officers should always be present, that the jury, furnished by the Goldsmiths' Company, is one 'of Enquiry not of Iudgement', and that in the event of disputes the Mint officers have a right to demand a renewal of the trial.
A Memoriall concerning the Trial of the monies in e
by a Iury before the King or Lords of e
Officers of the Mint.
There are in the business of the Mint three trialls
of Gold & Silver directed by the Indenture of the Mint to be made
each of them in presence of the Warden Master & Comptroller
by sworn Artificers & being made in their presence they are all
conclusive and binding against the Master, otherwise not
The first of these trialls is of Bullion upon any
disagreement between the Master and Importer about the price.
in such cases the Kings Assaymaster tries the Bullion in the
presence of the Warden Master and Comptroller and the Master is
then bound to receive it according to such assay altho his own Assay
master should tell him it is to his loss.
The other two trialls are of two
out of every Iourney of new coyned monies, the one triall of one
piece before deliverance of the monies, the other triall of the other
piece reserved in a Pix till the time of the triall.
These two Trialls are in all respects alike excepting
that the one is made in the Mint by the Kings Assaymaster
and weigher and Teller sworn at their Admission to their Office the
other out of the Mint by a number of Assaymasters Weighers & Tellers
Chosen out of the Company of Goldsmiths and sworn before e
of the Councill upon every new Occasion. for ch
is removed from the Mint to the place where the Council sits
Both these trialls (as well that without as that within the Mint)
are to be made before the Warden Master and Comptroller and if
the monies prove uncovinable the Master is punished in them both,
in the first by Recoyning them at his own charge in the latter by
making satisfaction to the King so that the Officers of the Mint have
the same station in both trialls tho the last trial be much more
solemn then the other.
The last Triall is made not at the suite of
the King in any of his usual Courts of Iustice but by vertue of
and according to a Contract between the King and the Master set down in
the said Indenture and therefore like all the rest of the Indenture is to
be looked upon as a part of the business of the Mint. In this contract the
Master Consents on his part that the Pix shall be opened & Assays
be made before his Majesty or such of his Councill as his Majesty
shall appoint & his Majesty consents on his part that the Assays shall be
made in presence of the Master and both parties agree that e
made in presence of eetheth
and Keys of the moneys untill the Triall be made
What Artificers and how many shall make the Assays
is not said in the Indenture but the Custome has been (for the solemnity
and credit of the Triall
of others chosen out of the Goldsmiths Company to the number of 24
and sworn in manner of a Iury This is a Iury of enquiry not of
Iudgment Their business is not to hear witnesses & debate and Iudge
but onely to survey the Workmanship of the Coyn and try or Examine it
by Experiment according to art in the presence of both parties and
report the bare matter of fact for makeing up an Accompt between
them about the Coynage unto that day. If upon triall the monies prove
worse in weight & fineness then standard and yet within the remedy
the lack thereof is entered of record by the Warden and Comptroller and
thereupon the Master becomes proportiol
then standard the King remitts of the debt to the Master if of just
weight and Allay the recconing is eaven and at the foot of this recconing
the Master has his Acquittance and Quietus under the broad seal whereby
he is quit Excused and discharged to that day against his ty
from further Examination of the matter or molestation about it but if
the money prove without the remedy he makes fine and ransome at the
Kings will
In this Triall therefore the King & the Master are e
concerned who have referred themselves to this way of Tryall by consent and
contract, so that the Master cannot be said to be under prosecution. There
is no accusation charge or action against him no reflexion upon him
before the triall be made
Much less do the Warden and Comptroller appear at
the Barr of a Court of Iustice, neither are they present as idle and
insignificant persons spectators, but as the Kings Officers necessarily upon
duty in their severall stations in this Court under e
Councill then present it being their business in behalf of his ty
and people to keep the Keys of the Pix till the day of e
to see that the triall be rightly made and to enter it of record & make
a true accompt thereof to e
to his Majesty.
As for the Gentlemen of the Iury whatever be
their Character in other respects they are in this Triall the Kings sworn
Assaymasters Weighers and
ordinary
are bound to act by the same rules set down in the above mentioned
Indenture Whereby it is plain that the Iury are not to Exclude the said
officers of the Mint from any part of the Triall nor to propose to
th
veredict be given in, the Officers of the Mint being considered under the
Office in the Mint
For the business of this Iury being not a Iudgment
made by hearing witnesses and debating thereupon but a bare report of
precise matter of fact: tis not in the power of the Officers of the Mint
to influence the Iury by their presence, unless in giveing them notice
as they ought, where the Trialls are not duely made. If the Iury be at
liberty to repeat the Assays of weight and fineness till they themselves are
satisfied they can have no reason to Complain; and if they are bound to do
till the Officers of the Mint are also satisfied this makes the Tryall
of greater force to Conclude both parties & satisfy the whole nation
then if it depended upon the Oaths and Skill of the Iury alone on a
triall made in private. such a private Triall would not bind the
Master because not made a according to his Contract with the
King nor perhaps would it be advisable for the King to let the
Mint by such private Trialls come into the hands of the company
of Goldsmiths and by being at their mercy be secretly swayd and
Governed by their interest. And therefore a Publick solemn Tryall
is appointed by the Indenture ch
rule by ch