Guzman Redivivus: A Short View of the Life of Will. Chaloner

William Chaloner (1650–1659) was a nailer, quack,japanner, author, counterfeit coiner, and forger. It was this latter activity that brought him into the cross hairs of Sir Isaac Newton, then Warden of the Mint in London, who eventually managed to have him convicted of treason and hanged 22 March 1699.

“Guzman Redivivus” invokes Guzman, the rogue-hero of Mateo Alemán's Spanish picaresque novel Guzmán de Alfarache, whose name had entered English usage as shorthand for a notorious trickster or thief since James Mabbe's 1622 translation, The Rogue: Or The Life of Guzman de Alfarache. In addition to subsequent translations and re-issues of the work in London, several new works had appeared, apparently capitalizing on the popularity of the character:

Guzman, Hinde and Hannam Outstript: Being a Discovery of the Whole Art, Mistery and Antiquity of Theeves and Theeving (1657)

The English Guzman: Or, Captain Hiltons Memoirs. The Grand Informer. (1683)

Guzman. A Comedy. Acted at the Theatre-Royal. Written by the Right Honorable the Earl of Orrery. (1693)

Chaloner's anonymous biographer details the events of his life starting with his humble beginnings in Warwickshire and Birmingham and his impoverished appearance in London where he starting out by selling pornographic novelty watches in the streets. Chaloner turned to quackery and working for a japanner for a short time before he hit his stride in forging coins. From this activity he grew so wealthy that he was able to cultivate the appearance of a gentleman, buying a house in the trendy suburb of Knightsbridge, collecting silver plate, hiring a carriage, and dressing in gentleman’s clothes. To aid in the crisis of English money being lost to coining, Chaloner tried to insinuate himself into the Royal Mint as an expert and published pamphlets accusing the Mint of incompetence: The Defects in the Present Constitution of the Mint around 1693, Proposals Humbly Offered, for Passing an Act to Prevent Clipping and Counterfeiting of Mony around 1695, and Reasons Humbly Offered against Passing an Act for Raising Ten Hundred Thousand Pounds, to Make Good the Deficiency of the Clipt-Money, 1695. Newton was appointed Warden of the Mint to oversee the process of recoinage to prevent counterfeiting in 1696, and in his capacity as Warden soon began carefully establishing a case against Chaloner. Chaloner was finally caught by forging lottery tickets.

The copy text used here is from the pamphlet held by the British Library (518.b.49), possibly the only extant copy remaining. The pamphlet is torn and cropped at the foot, which has resulted in cutting off part of the imprint and catchwords, and rendering some of the text illegible. Where possible, the missing letters have been supplied by the editor.

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