204 
HISTORY OF ENGLAND 1702 
206. Financial reforms.—The heavy cost of the wars 
during the reign of William made it necessary, in order to 
lighten the burden of taxation, to borrow money from the 
wealthy people of the kingdom for the purposes of the 
government. In 1694, William Paterson, a Scotsman, 
3uggested that a bank be established, which would receive 
deposits from the people and lend the money to the govern- 
ment, "The plan was adopted, and in this way the Bank of 
England, probably the strongest financial institution in the 
world, had its beginning. A further financial reform was 
the recoinage of all the money in the kingdom. Much of 
it was worn out and mutilated h- Clipping. The coin 
COSTUMES, TiıME or WILLIAM AND MARY 
had been made with smooth edges, so that with a sharp 
knife one could cut a strip of metal from a coin and it 
would not be noticed. But the new coins were made 
with milled edges, in order that no metal could be cut 
off without showing. The public sent in their old money 
to the government, and received in exchange fresh, new 
coins of full weight, the government bearing the loss of the 
difference in value.