A Discourse on the Late Funds of the Million-Act, Lottery-Act..

1696. London: Printed by J.D. for Andrew Bell, 1696. London: Printed by J.D. for Andrew Bell, 1696. An Ambitious Seventeenth-Century Banking Project Briscoe, John [d.1697]. A Discourse on the Late Funds of the Million-Act, Lottery-Act, And Bank of England. Shewing, That They are Injurious to the Nobility and Gentry, And Ruinous to the Trade of the Nation. Together with Proposals for the Supplying Their Majesties with Money on Easy Terms, Exempting the Nobility, Gentry, &c. From Taxes, Enlarging Their Yearly Estates, And Enriching All the Subjects in the Kingdom, By a National Land-Bank. Humbly Offered and Submitted to the Consideration of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, And Commons in Parliament Assembled. London: Printed by J.D. for Andrew Bell, 1696. iv, 187, [1] pp. With a folding table. Octavo (6-1/2" x 4-1/4"). Later quarter sheep over paper-covered boards, blind fillets and gilt title to spine, endleaves renewed, edges of text block speckled red. Light fading to boards, light rubbing to joints. Light toning to interior, trimming to top-edge of text block touching page numbers in places without loss to legibility, negligible light soiling to a few leaves, internally clean. $2,500. * Third and final edition. First published in 1694, with the Appendix appearing here for the first time. This work "criticized existing funds and set forth the details of his proposed land bank to be founded upon the subscriptions of land by copyholders and freeholders. [Briscoe] proposed the issuing of bills of credit 'being a new Species of Money, and to all Intents and Purposes as useful as Money.' Despite having his plans rejected by a Commons committee in 1695 Briscoe opened the books for subscription to the National Land Bank on 11 June 1695. With the initial target of ?100,000 in land subscriptions met, a meeting was held on 10 September to establish a committee for the bank. Many failed to pay their initial installments, and consequently the bank did very little business in the early months... Subscription books were opened at the end of May 1696 but very little was subscribed, and on 11 June one contemporary observed that the 'land bank makes but little progress.' The failure of this scheme has been attributed not only to the shortage of coin in this year, and the financial climate more generally, but also to 'public opinion' which appeared 'to have been against the venture.' Both banks, however, continued separately, with Brisc. (Inventory #: 82071)