39
North-Britain should be recoined of the English standard.  At that epoch there
existed of specie, consisting of different coins of various nations in Scotland
near nine hundred thousand pounds which were now recoined with very little
addition of paper circulation.
§ XVIII. Of its Banks.] Connected with the coins are banks and paper
money. The original bankers were the money-getting monks (l). The first
establishment of this kind in North-Britain was the Bank of Scotland, which
was settled at Edinburgh in 1695. Thirty years elapsed however, before
the bank derived much profit from the country or the country much benefit
from the bank (m.) The people were not prepared to obtain much advantage,
from such an instrument of industry. During the reign of Anne, that well-
known projector, John Law proposed, by means of paper money, to melt
into coinage all the lands of Scotland; but neither the parliament nor the
people were disposed to receive his projects at a time when the benefits of
banks were not understood as great commercial means. Other banks, how-
ever, were at length established. The Royal Bank in 1727 ; the British Linen
Company in 1746; the Aberdeen bank in 1746 ; and the two banks at
Glasgow, in 1750 (n). This year may be deemed the epoch of improvements
in Scotland. The great want of every people during the infancy of their
industry, is commercial capital. Those banks, which spread out their several
branches to almost every hamlet in North-Britain, supplied that essential want
by David Moray of Gospatric, knight, comptroller, against William Barclay, burgess of Montrose.
In the which action the comptroller charged the said borough for payment of the feu-duty in
Sterling money at .€12 Scots for every pound Sterling, but tho Lords decerned at £10 Scots
as before expressed. Exchequer MS. Yet tho Scots money soon after settled at the ultimate
rate of tire/re for one of English Sterling, which was confirmed at the accession of King James
by his proclamation of tho 8th of April, 1603. The difficulties which occurred of old in convey-
ing money from one kingdom to another were very embarrassing; as we see in the Border History,
439. In 1560 the Duke of Norfolk was extremely distressed how to convey money to Leith,
for payment of tho English soldiers, owing to the weight of the specie and the want of carts
Ib., 601. When it was proposed in 1562 that Mary Stewart should visit Elizabeth, two modes
were proposed to facilitate the payment of the Scottish queen's expenses: (1). That £10,000
worth of the specie of Scotland should be paid to the governor of Berwick, who in return, was to
repay an equivalent sum in the specie of England : (2). It was proposed that Elizabeth should
make current the Scots coins at their proportional worth. Ib., 608. The two queens found other
objects to occupy them than such idle jaunts. In the rudest parts of Scotland the Scottish money
of account has at length given way to the English.
(l) Caledonia, i., 785.                        (m) Ib., 873.                       (n) Ib., 876.