1

of that class which you assert profess a religion without morality.

I have now, Sir, completed my strictures on

your Letters. What effect they may have upon your mind, I know not; but it is my earnest desire that it may be a beneficial one. I am persuaded that you cannot read the letters I have addressed to you, without being convinced that you have most egregiously libelled the inhabitants of Reading in general, but more especially those who make á credible profession of Christianity.

On reading my pages, Sir, you may at first sight imagine that I have occasionally treated you with too great severity; if, however, you reflect on the subject, there can be no doubt that your own conscience will bear testimony to the propriety of the general sentiment maintained by those who have read the Letters from the Stranger in Reading that the writer of these Letters, whether he be a Stranger or an Inhabitant, merits the most severe reprehension. Still, I beg to assure you, Sir, that, whoever you are, I owe you no personal malevolence-I should rejoice in your welfare; and to see you under the influence of that Christian benevolence to which the readers o your book must infer you are at present a Stranger" indeed, would afford your opponent the most cordial pleasure.-I cannot conclude without reminding you that your anonymous at

tack on the professors of religion in Reading is a most contemptible and feeble attack on Christianity itself. But, Sir, your weapons will recoil upon yourself. Every persevering opposer to the religion of Jesus of Nazareth must sooner or later perish. Whosoever shall fall on this stone, shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder." The cause of the Son of God must prosper; and "peace on earth, and good-will towards men," will follow in exact proportion to its success. May the whole earth soon be filled with his glory! Amen.

I am, Sir,

Your cordial well-wisher,

DETECTOR

APPENDIX.

No. I.

A PHILOSOPHICAL dissertation on the comparative value of money, with the causes that have produced it, in relation to its use in procuring the necessaries of life, would be a very difficult and complicate work. Some of the principal causes of such a variation as the worth of specie has undergone, must be sought in the augmented difficulty of procuring the necessaries of life in consequence of increased population, in the heavy expenses of the state, in the real depreciation of the precious metals from the constant addition made to them, and in the artificial depreciation of the coins by the operation of paper-currency, But fully to understand the effects of these combined causes, with all the circumstances connected with them, would probably exceed the comprehension of human intellect. Perhaps the best mode of obtaining the most exact view of the comparative value of money, in relation to its general and practical uses, would be to examine

for how much a quarter of wheat might be

purchased in those years which were not remarkable either for their scarcity or fertility. But it is not my intention here to offer any remarks on the value of the precious metals, or of our national currency, in comparison of what has been their worth in past ages.

The present depreciated state of our currency is a subject much more easily comprehended, though but little understood by the bulk of the people of England; but as it is a topic of great national importance, which undoubtedly ought to be understood, I shall take the liberty of offering a few thoughts on it, in connexion with the national debt, and the means of discharging that debt by a sum devoted for the purpose at compound interest.

I do not purpose to make any observations here on the depreciation of gold in comparison with other articles of necessity and commerce; but to compare gold as a metal, with gold as the current coin of the state; for in these two senses this highly-esteemed mineral now bears a very different value.

An ounce of gold in coin is worth 37. 17s. 10žd. that is, it is actually coined into that sum; but an ounce of gold as a precious metal, is worth 4/. 10s. of our depreciated currency, and will actually yield that sum either in the English or Foreign market. But how is it possible that gold in coin