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of nuns of the order of St. Clare, called
the Minoresses; whence the street obtain-
ed the name of the Minories. See the
article TRINITY in the Minories.
MINT, an office kept in the Tower for
coining money. Before the Norman con-
quest the Kings of England set apart
certain monasteries for mints; presuming
that the coinage would in those places
be best secured from frauds and corrup-
tion. Edward I. however ordered a
mint of thirty furnaces to be erected in
the Tower of London, and others in
Canterbury, Kingston upon Hull, New-
castle upon Tyne, Bristol and Exeter.
From that time the mint was kept some-
times in one place, and sometimes in an-
other, according to the will and plea-
sure of the Prince, who, for a sum of
money, was frequently prevailed upon to
grant the privilege of coining to some
Nobleman, Bishop, or Corporation;
which being attended with many incon-
veniencies to the public, Queen Eliza-
beth, in the beginning of her reign,
endeavoured to rectify those abuses, by
confining the mint to the Tower of Lon-
don, which has ever since been appro-
priated to the coinage of money, except
when King Charles I. by the confusion of
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the times, was obliged to erect new mints
at Oxford, York, and Newark upon
Trent, where being with his army, he
was reduced to the necessity of coining
money to supply his present wants: and
when King William III. having called in
all the base and clipped money, for the
sake of expedition, and for the service of
distant parts of the nation, was obliged to
erect mints at Bristol, Exeter, York and
Winchester.
The mint office is on the left hand on
entering into the Tower, and at a small
distance from the gate. There is no
possibility of describing the particular pro-
cesses that the different metals undergo
before they receive the impression.
The manner of stamping is all you are
permitted to see, and this is done with
surprizing expedition, by means of an
engine, worked sometimes by three, and
sometimes by four men. The manner of
making the impression on gold, silver,
and copper, is exactly the same, only a
little more care is necessary in the one,
than in the other, to prevent waste.
This engine, which makes the im-
pression on both sides of a piece of money,
in the same moment, works by a worm-
screw terminating in a spindle; just in
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