Penny pieces of copper were first issued in England June 26, 1797.
N.B. This is a penny article, but it is hoped the reader will not object to pay twopence for it.
P.T.W.
ORIGIN OF BAIL.
(For the Mirror.)
"Worry'd with debts, and past all hopes of bail,
The unpity'd wretch lies rotting in a jail."
Roscommon.
The system of giving securities, or bail, to answer an accusation, is a custom (says Brewer) which appears to have been coeval with the Saxon nation. This system was, indeed, subsequently carried by the Saxons to a burthensome and degrading height—not being confined to those who were accused of crime, but extending to the whole community, who thus gave surety to answer anticipated criminality. This object was effected by the division of England into counties, hundreds, and tithings, and by the direction that every man should belong to some tithing or hundred; which divisions were pledged to the preservation of the public peace, and were answerable for the conduct of their inhabitants.