David Ricardo (18 April 1772 - 11 September 1823) was an English political economist and stock trader."The precious metals employed for circulating the commodities of the world, previously to the establishment of banks, have been supposed by the most approved writers on political economy to have been divided into certain proportions among the different civilized nations of the earth, according to the state of their commerce and wealth, and therefore according to the number and frequency of the payments which they had to perform. While so divided they preserved every where the same value, and as each country had an equal necessity for the quantity actually in use, there could be no temptation offered to either for their importation or exportation."...

This is a highly technical explanation of how the value of a gold sovereign was fixed relative to a specific quantity of pure gold. The author is keen to dismiss incorrect reports as to why the price of gold on the open market was rising and how this might affect the value of the Pound Sterling.