| Description | "Mr. Alston's letter to me, 12 March 1796, on Button Act." (The letters below, which are not docketed, appear to have been formerly enclosed in this one, having been transmitted to Boulton with it.)
Dear Sir
I inclose a Letter of Mr. Simpsons with rough Draft of the Bill which came to me by to days post. I have only read it once over, but it appears in several places to want Corrrection.
Mr J Aspinal did not attend the Meeting last Night-and was from home. Nothing therefore was done. I cannot shew Mr. Simpsons Letter to him or any one else so that all must lie dormant until his public Letter comes. Intend to wait upon You on Monday Morng. and hope in the meantime you will have leisure to give yr thoughts to the Subject.
I sent likewise the Letters you gave me from Mr Simpson & Copy of my Letter to him.
I am Dear Sir
Your Obedt. Servt.
James Alston
Letter. Edward Simpson [London] to Matthew Boulton (Soho). 7 Mar. 1796. (Directed "To be delivered immediately." Parts of the letter have been struck through in pencil.)
Dr. Sir
Your oblig d Lres of the third & sixth were safely delivered.
The Bill will be read a first time on Thursday a 2nd. time on Monday and committed for that day week if no opposition when your attendce & Mr. Aspinall will in all probability be required as soon as it is committed you shall be sure to hear from me.
I have been down to the house to insert a Clause for Plated Buttons which may be amended before the Comtee the bill was going to the press. No Symptoms of opposition appear at present.
I cod wish you to adjourn to Friday next on which day Mr. Aspinall will receive a printed Copy of the Bill.
Quey. Can Mr. Aspinall prove that the words strong gilt & extra strong gilt have been marked upon Buttons of an inferior quality or slightly gilt.
I must if possible have some of Mr. Darn's Buttons marked Silverd.
It may be as prudent not to mention in the Comtee at Birmingham when the Bill is to be read a first & 2nd time &c conversations in that room are too apt to transpire.
Mr. Dickenson if he is comg to town this week will very likely undertake the care of the Petition now in the possession of Mr Aspinall.
It is not necessary that it shod be known in Birmm. that you are going to Town upon this business.
The Clauses respectg strong gilt & Extra strong gilt are also inserted.
If Mr. Smith Mr. Hughes or any other Gent: will be so obligd to give me Lres to their friends in Parlt [I] can deliver them if necessary.
I am Dr. Sir
Yr most sincere & faithful Servt
Edwd Simpson
Monday Eveng
Pray excuse bad writing & errors.
I hope my friends will be able to procure the different kind of Buttons-of which a Memorm was made at the last Meetg.
Copy letter. Matthew Boulton (Soho) to Edward Simpson [London]. 9 Mar. 1796. (4 pcs.)
Soho 9th March-1796
Dear Sir
I recvd yours of the 7th & communicated such parts of it as was proper to the Comtee. last night & likewise layd before them a Copy of ye letter I wrote to you on Sunday last all which was approved.
Mr Aspinal ye Elder made some objections against restraining the marks Strong Gilt & Extra Strong to any number of Grains but upon putting it to the Vote there was 9 to 1 against his opineon & it was finaly decided to draw the line at 4 grains for the Gilt, Eight grains for ye Strong Gilt, & 12 Grains for the Extra Strong Gilt. It was also decided to let the plated stand as I wrote you in my last except what related to the soddering of the Shanks with Silver Sodder & that part was agreed to be totaly omitted in the Bill. It afterwards appeard (when Mr Aspinal was gone) that Mr As: is in the habit of Strikeing Strong Gilt or London Gilt on all his Buttons although they are not stronger or so strong, as quality Four, but I & every Gentn. present were clear of opineon that unless the act obliges the makers to put on so much Gold upon the Strong Gilt as to leave 8 Grains when finished upon them & so much on the Extra Strong as to leave 12 Grains to be found by the assayer-I say unless the act enforces that quantity, I am confident that Extra Strong will be struck on all those which contain only 4 Grains.
I am just setting out for Stafford being summonsed on the Grand Jury, & likewise on the Special Jury, in the Cause of Doxy v. Pantin. I therefore desired Mr Alston to write to you which I suppose he will do.
But I thought it necessary to urge your attention to the wording of the Standard Clause presuming that you clearly understand that the 3 qualities aforementiond relate not to the quantity of Gold put upon the Buttons but to the quantity remaining on when finished, for there will be a small quantity taken of in the Burnishing & lost in the Gilding perhaps one or 2 Grains in each quality. That when we talk of the 4th Quality of Gilding or of 4 Grains it means that, that quality must (when the Buttons are finished) be equaly spread & equal in thickness to that Strength of Gilding which is equal to 4 Grains of pure Gold being Spread equaly upon a Flat surface that is circumscribed by a Circle of 12 Inches in Diamr. or in other words is equal in Area to 1 Gross or 144 Circles of one Inch in Diamr. on a Flat Surface.
But as it is necessary to Gilt buttons on the Edges as well as the tops & as small Buttons do not gild so advantageously as large ones & as some of them are made out of as thick metal as the large ones it is agreed by the Committee, that what ever may be the diamtr. of a flat Button there shall be added to such Diamr one tenth of an Inch as a proper allowance for the Edges in calculating the quantity of Gold to be put upon a Gross of such Buttons & this tenth of an Inch shall be added to Buttons whether their Diamrs. are 4/10 or 5/10 or 10/10 or 12/10 or any other Diamr.
Exampl. suppose a Buttn. to be 9/10 Diamr. add to it 1/10 will be = to 10/10 or 1 Inch Diamr. & if it is to be simple Gilt as much Gold must be put on (perhaps 5 or 6 Grains) as will leave when finished 4 Grains upon one Gross of such Buttons, & as the areas of circles are to each other as the Squares of their Diamrs. so if a Buttn. be 4/10 of an Inch Diamr plus 1/10 for the Edges = to 5/10 It will require exactly one quarter of the quantity to gild that size as it took to gild those of 1 Inch & such Buttons are required to yield one Grain of Gold when they come to be assayd which I will undertake to perform to the 1/100 of one Grain.
I am aware I have said more than necessary but I thought it better to be guilty of Tautology than to leave the matter unexplaind or in doubt.
I wish you would explain this part of the business to Sr. George Shuckburgh Evelyn as I know he will understand it (being a Mathamatician).
all the aforsd. Clauses must relate to tops & Edges of Buttons & not to the bottoms for we can take the Gold off the tops & Edges to assay much better than from the Bottoms & Shanks besides which the bottoms & Shanks are most commonly orderd ungilt. I will again repeat that I beg you will remember that it is not the Diamtr. of the Button which the Gold is to be calculation upon (unless it be a Flat Button) but it is the Surface of the top & Edge.
Exampl. Suppose a Button to be in the form of a Semi Globe that is 1 Inch in Diam and as the line of a Circle is a little more than 3 Diamtrs. long it follows that such a Button will be equal in surface to one that is 1½ Inch Diamr. or 2¼ times the quantity of Surface of a Flat Button that is 1 Inch in Diamr. [Here appear two small diagrams, marked "Flat Butt" and "Circular top."] Or if the tops are of any other form there are easy methods of measuring their quantity of surface.
The post Bell rings.
God bless you & give you sufficient Spirits, Fortitude, & Philosophy to support you in this trying hour. I think you have judged very proper to stay in London rather than to add to the already too much Melancholy of your Family at Litchfield.
I am
Dear Sir
Your faithfull friend
M: Boulton
Copy letter. James Alston [Birmingham] to Edward Simpson [London]. 9 Mar. 1796. (A transcript, or draft, in Alston's hand.)
Mr Boulton being to set out early this Morning for Stafford Assize desired me to a acknowledge yr Letter of the 7th & to acquaint you that he had laid before the Committee last Night the Contents of his Letter of the 6th and after canvassing every clause it was determined unanimously that the lowest Quantity of Gold to be found on Buttons marked Gilt should be 4 Grains as expressed in Mr B's second Clause the two Clauses respecting the Quantity proper for Strong Gilt & Extra Strong Gilt were also adopted by a Great Majority, some hesistation was however expressed on the propriety of making restrictions in that respect, as increasing the Risk of the Manufacturer of imposition from his Gilder.
The definition of a plated Buttons was approved except as it respects the Solder to be used which was thought would make it too complex-it may be altered when the rough Draft of the Bill comes down on Friday.
Mr Boulton is particularly anxious that the distinction between the Surface and diameter of the Button should be clearly expressed in the Act because the difference between a round & a flat Button of the same diameter is very material & increases in proportion to its Convexity-thus a Button One Inch in diameter of a true Semicircular form, will contain a quantity of Surface equal to 225, whereas a flat Button of the same diameter contains only 100-or as 1 is to 274. [There follows a diagram-namely a semi-circle, with the words "Arch 225" and "flat diameter 100" inside.]
The quantity of Gold to be found upon the Surface is calculated therefore according to the quantity of Surface contained in a flat Circular plate 12 Inches in diameter or equal to the Surface of 1 Gro of flat round Buttons that are one Inch in diameter and all other Shapes are to be reduced to that Standard & the Gilt edges to be included in the admeasurement.
I believe Mr Dickenson takes with him to day the Petition. Some Buttons are already procured & the rest I fancy will be got in the Course of this Week.
Letter. Edward Simpson (London) to James Alston (Birmingham). 11 Mar. 1796. (Directed to Church Street.)
Letter. Edward Simpson (London) to Matthew Boulton (Soho). 12 Mar. 1796. |