[Copyist’s hand: part of a booklet, comprising folios 341 to 357]

nd [wm 1798]

21

§.4. Of Forgery in the way of Alteration. –

[marginal heading:] 4.

Classes of Notes exposed to falsification, setting aside the above safeguards.

According to this view of the matter, a One pound Note (supposing the appearance

as between class and class to be in other respects the same) will be capable of

being altered into a Two pound Note, or into a Ten pound Note, but not into any

other. A Five pound Note will not be capable of being altered any other. A Forty

pound Note will be capable of being altered into a Fifty Pound Note, or into a

Sixty pound Note: A Twenty pound Note, into a Thirty pound Note: and so on. What

may be the number of such different classes at present in circulation, and what

the respective sums, I do not pretend to know: nor would it be as much as worth

enquiring; since fresh classes (that is notes for sums not at present extant)

may come to be issued at any time.

[marginal heading:] 5.

In the existing plan the security derived from diversity of appearance is

supposed to be employ’d

Forgery in the way of alteration having been practised (if I may speak from a

loose recollection derived from Newspapers) and that with a degree of temporary

success, in more instances than one, the idea of making a difference in point of

general appearance in this view, has already (I am inclined to think) not only

suggested itself, but been carried into practise: in some instances at least:

whether throughout is more than I am informed of

[marginal heading:] 6

- but not those which depend on indication of the diversity.

What I am apprehensive of is – that if, in this view or any other any such

differences have been studiously made, they are not of such a nature as to be

(according to the second of the rules above given) expressible in words. What is

certain is – that, whatever may be the differences, no such notification of

them, as is proposed in the third rule, is to be found in any instance. But, so

long as no such notification is given, the differences, expressible is not

expressible in words, will

be