Note 530 — COMUS.

529. unmoulding reason’s mintage charactered, i.e. defacing those signs of a rational soul that are stamped on the human face. The figure is taken from the process of melting down coins in order to restamp them. ‘Charactered’: here used in its primary sense (Gk. χαρακτήρ, an engraven or stamped mark), as in the phrase ‘printed characters.’ The word is here accented on the second syllable; in modern English on the first.