Response to the criticisms made by Jones and Essington of the new copper issue

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To the Rt Honble the Lords Commers of his Mats Treasury the Memorial of Sr Isaac Newton most humbly sheweth

That Cours copper when made read hot will not spread under the hammer when made red but flyes in pieces. And that in refining it, so soon as it begins to spread under the hammer when made {illeg}red hot. {illeg}, it get begins to be called fine copper, & then it is worth about 13d per lwt, & when it is fine enough to beare the hammers great hammers of the battering mills, it is reputed very fine copper & equal in finenes free from all mixtures & is then valued at about 14d$\frac{\mathrm{1}}{\mathrm{2}}$ per lwt. And of about this degree of fineness is the was the copper money coined in the reign of King Charles II, [And the complaint made the last winter by Mr Iones & Mr Essington & their partners was only the copper money then coined were was not so fine by two pence in the pound weight.] wch wasit being of Swedish copper manufactured into blanks in Sweden. And of the about the same degree of fineness was is all such copper as withbeing made red hot will then spread very thin under the hammer hand hammer upon an anvill without cracking The fir[To beate it as thin as a leafe under an hand hand hammer is a Trial as great as to beat it as thin as a shilling under the great hammer of the battering mills.] And this {illeg} assay byAnd this essay by [The hand hammer is established by his Mats warrant to {illeg} And the money hither coined by Rule bey wch bye the Rule by wch all the copper received into the Mint & all the money coined out of it was to be assayed, & has been assayed & by which the Copper Pix is to be tried.]And by his Maties Warrant the money ought to be of this degree of fineness Copper may be refined to a much higher degree so as to be worth 2s or 2s 6d per lwt or above. But such copper is of little use except for the wire drawers trademaking wire or leafe copper/ & there is no certain assay or rule yet known by wch the fineness of it may be {illeg}ted ascertained & the highest degre to wch it may be refined is not yet known {illeg} And as tThere have been blanks made of much fined copper then the money by people not imployed by me & stamped in the Mint without my knowledge & then polished to give them a more beautifull gloss & shewn about to deceive people & bring the money into discredit, & brockage hath also been picked out of the money & shewn about a parcel of money received from the Mint, or& there may have been blanks of very coarse copper carried to the Mint & there stamped without my knowledge, or otherwise counterfeited, & mixed with the brockage. The goodnes of copper cannot be known by the looks alone. It must be assayed. The redress of the colour By the colour & grain in breakingof the copper when it is newly broken some judgment may be made by a skilful person: but the surest trial is by the malleability of the copper hot & cold. And therefore this was made the assay of standard copper by his Mats Warrant, & by this assay the Pix is want to be tried of what has been coined is to be tried. by the same warrant