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If the pension of such a person was paid to him, not in gold, but

in a weekly bill for a guinea, his revenue surely would not so

properly consist in the piece of paper, as in what he could get

for it. A guinea may be considered as a bill for a certain

quantity of necessaries and conveniencies upon all the tradesmen

in the neighbourhood. The revenue of the person to whom it is

paid, does not so properly consist in the piece of gold, as in

what he can get for it, or in what he can exchange it for. If it

could be exchanged for nothing, it would, like a bill upon a

bankrupt, be of no more value than the most useless piece of

paper.