amount of a person's fortune, we seldom mention the number of guineas, but
the number of pounds sterling which we suppose would be given for it.

Originally, in all countries, I believe, a legal tender of payment could be
made only in the coin of that metal which was peculiarly considered as the
standard or measure of value. In England, gold was not considered as a legal
tender for a long time after it was coined into money. The proportion
between the values of gold and silver money was not fixed by any public law
or proclamation, but was left to be settled by the market. If a debtor
offered payment in gold, the creditor might either reject such payment
altogether, or accept of it at such a valuation of the gold as he and his
debtor could agree upon. Copper is not at present a legal tender, except in
the change of the smaller silver coins.

In this state of things, the distinction between the metal which was the
standard, and that which was not the standard, was something more than a
nominal distinction.

In process of time, and as people became gradually more familiar with the
use of the different metals in coin, and consequently better acquainted with
the proportion between their respective values, it has, in most countries, I
believe, been found convenient to ascertain this proportion, and to declare
by a public law, that a guinea, for example, of such a weight and fineness,
should exchange for one-and-twenty shillings, or be a legal tender for a debt
of that amount. In this state of things, and during the continuance of any
one regulated proportion of this kind, the distinction between the metal,
which is the standard, and that which is not the standard, becomes little
more than a nominal distinction.

In consequence of any change, however, in this regulated proportion, this