and dissolute stragglers. His camps he designed himself; the firths he sounded, and the thickets he tried the first in his own person. Nor did he suffer the enemy to rest till they were completely quelled, when he immediately forbore from any further injury, conciliating them by every means, so that states the most violent submitted themselves, and receiving garrisons remained in quiet. Then were they induced and assisted to build temples, houses, and places of public resort; and their emulation was excited by encouragement proportioned to their exertions. The youth of the principal families were instructed in the liberal sciences, and found more apt than those of Gaul, and more ready in acquiring the Roman language. Even the attire of the conquerors soon came into use, and at length their galleries, baths, exquisite banquets, and all the luxuries of Rome; and, what is still more, the natives became induced to enlist themselves under the Roman banners in cohorts (corps) distinguished by their name, in such numbers as to form at length a considerable part of the strength of the Roman armies; 14 and this not only in their own country, but in France, Spain, Germany, Armenia, and Egypt.15 The locality in which Frontinus had spread the Roman influence continued to be distinguished in after times. Camden mentions from Elsebiensis "a rare author," that a little before the assumption of the Saxons, there was here a school of two hundred philosophers, skilful in astronomy and all other arts. And when Catholicism had assumed the place and emulated the attractions of Ethnic grandeur, Caerleon became the second of the three archiepiscopal sees into which England was then divided, and so long remained.16. 14 In Vit. Agric.-Annales, &c. 15 Of the high consideration in which the Britons and their useful arts were held at Rome, there are many proofs. Antoninus exempted them from disgraceful punishments, and granted several the jus Latii, Roman rights. 16 St. Julian's, a residence of the celebrated Lord Herbert of Cherbury, was, it is believed, within the circumference of the Roman station. GENT. MAG. July, 1832 Of the great man who originated this scene of splendour in Britain, and which yet contains a wide field for the antiquary, surely some anxiety may be indulged to briefly follow him through the remainder of his brilliant and interesting career. In the summer of 831 (A.D. 78), Frontinus being relieved by Agricola, returned to Rome. He was not of a character likely to seek a triumph, but he had the negative honour of being without accusation, even notwithstanding his command extended beyond the triennial period of proconsular power, at a time when corruption and the love of oratory rendered it hardly possible even for his more prominent successor to escape. Rome was, however, occupied in a delightful triumph; it was one of beneficence, that for the celebrated siege of Jerusalem by Titus, the favourite son of Vespasian, the friend and patron of Frontinus. This Emperor died in the following year. The benevolent reign of Titus existed little more than two years; and his brother Domitian, notwithstanding he possessed dissimulation in an equal degree to all his other vices, soon evinced his implacable enmity towards those whom he either feared, hated, or was compelled to esteem. This would altogether account naturally for Frontinus being no further employed at the moment as a General; but as regards his honour, it is unnecessary, as there is evidence of his having been appointed to an office of the highest importance and influence in the state, that of member of the Sacred College of Augurs, to which the younger Pliny and others so long aspired in vain. During the leisure of this period, he composed his Treatise on the Art of War, for he describes it as partly resulting from his own experience, which then could only relate to his service in Britain. He also says that this was the first attempt to reduce the art of war to a science, and there is no reason to doubt him, since, from this treatise, the reports of his British command, with the memoirs of Cato the censor, of Celsus, Trajan, and Adrian, all now lost, Vegetius formed his Treatise of Military Affairs (de re Militari). Domitian quickly threw off the mask which he had used on his accession to the throne by an expulsion of the philosophers, on which followed a decline of literature. His court, from which Agricola was afterwards cautioned to retire, notwithstanding the semblance of imperial favour, and the mild Nerva was banished to Sarentum, became no scene for Frontinus, who withdrew to retirement. Here, from a perusal of the Greek as well as the Latin authors, it appears that in 837 (A. D. 84) the year in which Domitian returned from Germany, he completed his military addenda with a Greek name, Strategematicon (Erparnynμatikwv); for he mentions Domitian five times, and gives him the title of Germanicus, which he had received from the army, and was confirmed by the Senate; while no mention is made of the subsequent Dacian war, when Domitian appeared in person. It is supposed by commentators that he dedicated this work originally to Trajan, then in “a private station." The scene of his retirement exhibits Frontinus in a new and amiable character: his taste chose for it the then ancient Anxur, whose ruins still mark its site, near the modern Terracina; it was a villa in the vicinity of Baiæ, to which, like Seneca, he had no objection to be near, though he would not involve himself in its exquisite luxuries. That taste has been confirmed by many Roman poets; but the poet of human nature, Martial, is more to the present purpose,*-the unhappy Martial, who knew how to trace every character of the mind from the elegant ambition of Pliny to the grovelling sensuality of Sabellus or Elephantis; “whose lays (as he says) even Britain sang, though his purse felt it not; "t who, besides beautifully describing the scene, has shown that he was entertained here, and had cause to affectionately remember the conqueror of South Wales. "Anruris æquorei placidos FRONTINE," &c. "O my Frontinus, when with sweet delight On the cool shore, near Baia's gentle seats, I lay retir'd in Anxur's soft retreats, With thee what bliss to court the learned muse! Proud Rome shall every joy like these refuse; No day of charming indolence to boast, This is no place for supporting the abased character of Martial; besides, the accomplished Pliny has done that already in such a manner as would console a man of talent borne down by distress and calumny, if he could hope to obtain even such small patronage in life, such kind eulogy after death. Though in retirement, another talent of Frontinus was not without its due exercise; it was that which acquired a knowledge of jurisprudence (a further proof of his liberal education), to the utmost acceptation of the Romans; and it was exercised in a time of great danger-the capricious tyranny of Domitian. The curious case is in Pliny, Epist. 1. v. c. 1, ix. 13. He also appears to have employed himself when in the country, on his treatise de Re Agraria, a subject from its innoxiousness comporting with the temper of the times. It was dedicated to his military contemporary Celsus as his first fruits on that subject; and confessed, what probably his leisure taught him, that his studies in war had superseded those of composition. Domitian, however, at length fell by the hands of his own creatures, A. U. C. 849 (A.D. 96), and the mild Nerva, who was elected in Gaul, was shortly after recognized at Rome. The reign of justice succeeded that of terror; and Frontinus was appointed Curator of the Aqueducts, a charge which, as he observes in his work on the subject, had always been confided to the first persons, as the aqueducts were the clearest token of the grandeur of the empire. In the following year the Emperor made him his colleague in the Consulate, which Martial seems to have celebrated in honour of his patron by a jovial invitation to Lupus to partake of a full flagon of wine without dregs: "De Nomentana vinum sine face lagena, Quæ, bis FRONTINO Consule, plena fuit." + Nerva having restored the plunder of Domitian, and given a large sum of money to be laid out in lands for the support of decayed families, and his * De Aqued. art. 67. + Lib. 10, Ep. 48. friend Corellius, with the celebrated Claudius Pollio, being employed in purchasing and dividing them, probably gave birth to the treatise de Limitibus. Of this work two MSS. bear the names Julii Frontini Siculi, and are among the authorities of the learned for the birth-place of Frontinus. The short reign of Nerva, which was, however, long enough to obtain for him the title of Friend of Mankind (so much good may be performed in a short time), concluded at the commencement of 851 (A.D. 98), and "the admirable Trajan" entered upon the functions of government in a manner for which history has sufficiently honoured him. He had not reigned much above a year, when Italy became alarmed by the inroads of the Dacians, a warlike people of Transylvania, Moldavia, and Wallachia, under Decembalis, a king whom no treaties could bind to peace, no misfortunes subdue. Trajan promptly put himself at the head of a numerous and well-appointed army, and called Frontinus to a chief command, according to Vegetius, from his being considered the greatest tactician of the age, and greatly esteemed by the Emperor for his writings on the art of war. The campaign was severe, but rapid and successful. There is reason to believe that Frontinus was attached to the personal staff of the Emperor, and that the history of their services was intermingled. Having penetrated to the capital, and driven the enemy to their mountains, after the manner of the Silurian campaign, Trajan granted peace with humanity, and both in a few months returned to Rome. On the commencement of 853 (A.D. 100), Trajan appointed Frontinus as his own colleague, Consul in ordinary; which, completing his third consulate, raised him, according to Pliny, to the highest rank of a subject. But it appears also that he had been named to this office in the field, which confers spendour on his services there. Elevated in rank, and occupied in employments as he was, Frontinus appears to have returned impatiently to his studies; for in the same year appeared his treatise De Aquæductibus Urbis Roma, which he had begun on his appointment as Curator by Nerva. In this work he is considered by the learned as evincing great skill in the application of mathemati cal principles to water; and the modern Rafael Fabretti, in his treatise De Aquis et Aquæductibus Veteris Romæ, claims as its chief merit the power of usefully illustrating the work of Frontinus. In this work it is pleasant to find him taking this honourable opportunity of evincing gratitude to his friends, with discriminative justice; for, after duly pronouncing the praise of Nerva, from whom he received the appointment, he takes every proper occasion to speak of Trajan, but of Domitian nothing; he does not even indicate his Consulships; he consigns him, no longer dangerous, to a deserved oblivion. In whatever office he was employed, Frontinus seems, like Lord Bacon, to have considered himself a debtor to his profession; no object of his employment did he leave unexplored; nor was there any which he examined without useful illustration. Indeed, it was the same with regard to the objects that surrounded him in his very retirement, as is evinced in his Treatise of Rural Affairs. His mind could not be inactive, and its activity was always directed to usefulness. His corporeal as well as mental activity was, however, again called upon in the year of Rome 854 (A.D. 101), -it was to attend the Emperor against the Dacians, who, making an ill use of the clemency of Trajan, had recovered themselves sufficiently not only to appear in arms, but to commit outrages in the Roman territory. They were now entirely subjugated; and Dacia, where Liberty was said to have made her last stand, became a Roman pro vince. Frontinus then returned to enjoy the result of his labours in that dignified retirement which was suitable to his age and character. He had been actively employed in the military service of his country, at an age much beyond that at which the laws permitted even senators to retire; and exercised the highest offices both civil and military with the greatest distinction and success. Still, however, the love of letters, and of being useful to his country, prevailed, and he was found occupied in a treatise on the colonies of Italy (de Coloniis Italie), which he did not finish; for in the 859th year of the Roman æra, A.D. 106, and the 74th of his age, he died, as he had lived, full of noble sentiments,-forbidding succeed so illustrious a person as Juhis friends to erect any memorial to lius Frontinus." As to the latter, comhim. "The expense of a monument," bining them, he says, in one instance, said he, "is superfluous; our me- "I loved them both;" in the other, mory will endure if our actions de- "they were both animated by the serve it," thus even in his death insame ardent passion for glory." structing posterity! Consonantly with this character, and contrary to the Roman custom, we have on record no other eulogium on the deceased than the incidental mentions of Pliny: the first arising from his succession to Frontinus in the sacred office; the other in a parallel concerning his testimentary direction and that of Virginius Rufus, who refused the imperial dignity, after a great victory in Gaul, yet desired to have little more inscribed on his tomb than "Non sibi, sed Patriæ," which, by the way, was never done! After describing the dignity of the office to which he succeeded, Pliny says, "What recommends this dignity to me still more is that I have the honour to *Pliny, Epist. l. ix. 19. Is not this a man, so great in his own country, so great in Britain,who in that and all stations, as far as our scanty materials have shown, conquered to civilize, and employed his very leisure for utility,-is not he worthy of more notice than he has received? The French have consulted. the learned commentators in some researches about sixty years ago, to which the present notes have to acknowledge some obligations; but ought we not to do much more, if only as regards the City of the Second Legion, whether Caer Leon ar Uske, or Newport? and to whom can we look but to the Correspondents of Sylvanus Urban, for legitimate inquiry and illustration? Yours, &c. R. B. S. HISTORICAL RESEARCHES CONCERNING THE BANK CHARTER, AND THE INTRODUCTION OF PAPER CURRENCY. THE legal difficulties opposed to the introduction of Paper Currency are thus stated in the preamble of the Act passed in the year 1704 for the removal of them. "Whereas it hath been held that notes in writing signed by the party who makes the same, whereby such party promises to pay anto any other person, or his order, any sum of money therein-mentioned, are not assignable or indorsable over within the custom of merchants to any other person; and that any person to whom the sum of money in such notes is payable cannot maintain an action by the custom of merchants upon such note against the person who first made and signed the same, and that any person to whom such note should be assigned, indorsed, or made payable, could not within the said custom of merchants maintain any action upon note against the person who first drew and signed the drawn on foreign countries was made a royal prerogative, to guard against the exportation of coin. In 1406 Hen. IV. granted leave to Philip de Albertis, a Lombard residing in London, to give a bill of exchange to the Bishop of Bath and Wells, to remit to Rome for the first fruits of the See of Lincoln. In 1414 Henry V. granted to Henry Johan, or his deputy, the sole privilege of taking money in exchange of persons going abroad, for which money he or his deputy was to deliver bills of exchange payable in foreign parts, and that none other persons, merchants excepted, for the sole purpose of their commerce, shall make or give bills of exchange. It appears that Parliament gave to the Bank a species of monopoly at its first establishment by making its notes transferable in exception to the rule of common law recited above, which, however, was not strictly enforced, since goldsmiths' notes did pass from one tradesman to another long before they were made legal by the Act of 1704. Inland bills of exchange were made legal in 1697; this had been found necessary to enable the Bank to discompt them. Payments by transfer must have taken place occasionally during the time the merchants kept their money at the Mint, which was a most convenient place for a national bank; but the seizure of 200,000l. by Charles I. in 1638, put an end to this practice; soon afterwards the merchants began to lodge their money with the Goldsmiths, and this gave rise to the trade of banking. A politician may amuse himself with speculating on the causes which thwarted the attempts to establish a national bank during the suspension of royal authority; the notion that banks were republican institutions, dangerous to a monarchy, contributed afterwards to retard their introduction in this country, and it may be owing to similar apprehensions that attempts to establish them, independent of the Government, have been discountenanced in England up to the present time. It is unlikely that jealousy prevented Cromwell from conceding his patronage when it was solicited; but it is doubtful whether the nature of his government was calculated to remove the distrust of public depositaries occasioned by the seizure at the Mint in 1638. The projectors of this period fixed on land as the most eligible permanent security, as most capable of deriving benefit as well as conferring support, and as the best means of inducing our titled and untitled aristocracy to promote their schemes. Their favourite model, the bank of St. George at Genoa, for more than two centuries the most prosperous that ever existed, was a Land Bank, inasmuch as its original capital was invested in mortgages of real property; therefore a short sketch of its history may be properly introduced when we are reviewing the abortive attempts of Dr. Chamberlayne to create a Land Bank before the Bank of England was firmly established. The bank of Amsterdam, established at the beginning of that century, was intended solely to save the trouble of counting specie, and prevent disputes about it, not to economise the use of it by enabling it to effect a greater number of payments; on the contrary, if a second transfer was made of any payments on the same day, a charge was made of a half per cent. These transfers, on the books of this Bank, were considered as payments in bullion, because the stock, called Bank Money, was originally created on deposits of bullion, and the money of the country was received only at its value as bullion; but as neither bullion, nor the specie deposited as bullion, could be drawn out by the holders of bank money, or more properly, bank credit, unless they were also holders of the recepissen, or pledge tickets given to the original depositors; and as these recepissen became forfeited, if the charge upon them was not regularly paid up, in course of time the Bank had the entire control over a considerable part of the bullion and specie; and being exempt from any liability to produce it, was able to substitute for it pledges of another nature, therefore it received in pawn the Brazil diamonds sent for sale by the Portuguese government, and it made advances to the East India Company to be redeemed by the sale of its spices, the payments for which were made at the Bank. Being exempt from making payment in specie, the situation of the Bank of Amsterdam was similar to that of the Bank of England during the restriction; and wanting no income, except to defray the expenses of management, it was able to make advances upon merchandise for short periods at 1 per cent. interest; but its power of doing so was limited by the necessity of sustaining its credit, which it did in the manner described by Adam Smith. By this steadiness of price the usefulness of Bank Money was maintained, in such a manner that up to the period of the French invasion bills drawn from Spain upon Hamburgh were made payable at the bank of Amsterdam. Bills payable at this bank constituted the principal circulating medium for the international commerce of Europe; and to supply their place after the capture of Amsterdam in 1795, required ten or twenty times the amount of the treasure which had been deposited there; this, in the most flourishing times, did not exceed 24 million sterling, according to the information I received from Mr. Louis Hovy, who had been one of the Commissioners of the Bank in 1786. The transfer and circulation of foreign bills of exchange appears to have become legal in England by the custom of merchants, without the intervention of Parliament; the distinctions made between the validity of foreign bills and inland bills, between inland bills and promissory notes, between promissory notes for large sums and those for smaller ones, are mere |