Scotland for those of England on the shield, and the name and titles of the Scottish king in the legend; Robert III., James I. and II-1390 to 1460-issued similar coins to those of Robert II. The silver coins of James I., II., and III., were like those of preceding reigns, very closely copied from the English. Billon coins were issued, and attributed to Robert III. These base coins were pennies, and afterwards, when still baser coins were issued, they were termed "white pennies," to distinguish them from the baser, or "black pennies." In the reign of James IV., the types of the coinage were modified, he issued a groat of equal weight of the English, which was ordered to pass for 14 pennies Scotch, also a gold coin with a new type, of which there were two or three sizes the king armed on a galloping horse on the obverse. James V. issued coins of gold to pass for 20s., and also gold pennies of several kinds; but the finest coin of his reign is the gold "bonnet piece," so called from cap or beret, termed in Scotland a bonnet which the king wears. Of this piece there were twothird and one-third pieces issued at the same time.

MARY-1542 to 1587-issued the testoon, 38. Scotch, and also the half-testoon. During her union with Darnley, the fine large silver royal was struck, and the twenty and ten shilling pieces. The bawbees - half-penny-of Mary, as they were styled, were issued in the following reign. The gold coins issued were numerous, and among them was the royal, one of the best wrought coins of her reign.

JAMES VI., 1587 to 1625.-The first silver coins of this reign were issued by authority of the Lord Regent. They were of thirty, twenty, and ten shillings. Various other moneys of silver were coined, among which was the two-mark piece. Up to this time, the arms of Scotland crowned, &c., formed the type of the obverse of the silver coinage of this reign; but in 1582, forty, thirty, twenty, and ten shilling pieces were issued, bearing the king's portrait on the obverse; the balance-mark and half-mark were next coined. His gold coinage was large; among it, the "Sceptre" being a fine large coin of the size of a double English sovereign.

SCOTLAND HAD BEEN MERGED IN THE "UNITED KINGDOM," &c. - JAMES I. -1602 to 1625-issued crowns, half-crowns, shillings, half-shillings, pieces of two pennies, pennies, and half-pennies. Subsequently, the term Great Britain for the United Kingdom was adopted in the coinage. The shillings bore the king's bust instead of the figure on horseback; the two-penny pieces had a rose on one side, and a thistle crowned on the other; the pennies had the rose and the thistle without the crown, and the half-pennies the same, without mottoes. The first gold coins of this reign were the sovereigns and half-sovereigns, having the king in armor, holding the orb and sceptre. The pound weight of gold, 23 carats fine, and one-half carat alloy, was next coined into 27 rose-rials of 30s. each, or 54 spurrials of 15s. each. The first gold coinage of

James was of the same standard as that of the last of Elizabeth- the pound weight of gold, 22 carats fine and 2 of alloy, to make thirty-three sovereigns and a half of 208. each. Next, the pound weight of the same gold was coined into thirty-seven units of 20s. each, and a thistle crown of four shillings, because the English gold coin had long been of more value than those of other nations, and was exported for melting, from the true proportion of the relative value of gold and silver not having been properly understood in England. The Irish coinage received attention during this reign, and steps were taken to restore its intrinsic value and purity. Shillings and sixpences 9 oz. fine, to 3 oz. alloy, were issued; the base money of the previous reign being ordered to be received at one-third of its original value -the shilling for fourpence, &c. They were subsequently reduced to one-fourth. The Irish sixpences and shillings bore the portrait of James in armor, same as the English shillings, and on the reverse the Irish harp crowned. Copper farthings were issued for Ireland as well as England.

CHARLES I., 1625 to 1649.-A coinage was soon issued in this reign, of the same weight and purity as that of the last — 7 grains to the silver penny, which had been eight grains in the beginning of the reign of Elizabeth, but which was reduced to the above weight by her. Notwithstanding the waste of resources in the civil wars during this reign, no debasement in the coinage took place; the very rudest of the coins of Charles, and even his siege-pieces, being of the proper purity and weight. The first silver coins of this reign were of the same denomination and value as those of James, viz. crowns, half-crowns, shillings, half-shillings, two-pences, pennies, and half-pennies. The shillings and sixpences represent the king in the dress of the day. First, the stiff ruff like that of the reigns of Elizabeth and James, then in a limber or falling one, and, lastly, in a simple falling collar edged with lace, as he is seen in most portraits by Van Dyke. On some of his pieces he appears in his parliamentary robes. The crowns and half-crowns have the king pretty generally on horseback, in armor. None of the pieces coined in the Tower were dated, but the mint-marks afford sure indications of the dates. To January, 1625, they are marked with the trefoil; to January, 1626, with the fleur de lis, and so on. This refers to the London coinage; but in his reign there were extensive coinages of silver in various parts of the kingdom. The coins of the York Mint are beautifully executed, and have a lion passant guardant for mint-mark, also the word "Ebor," York. It is supposed the York Mint was established when Stafford was President of the North, and some money was probably coined when the king was there, during his magnificent progress to Scotland. There was also a permanent mint at Aberystwith, for refining and coining the silver produced from the Welsh lead mines. The coins of this mint bear the Welsh feathers. The coins of this reign, milled at the edge, were produced by the mill and screw, under the

direction of Nicholas Briot, who had been chief engraver of French moneys. He also coined money for Charles I., for Scotland. He subsequently returned to France, but left in disgust, in consequence of some regulations that displeased him. His return to France at the time prevented the permanent establishment of the mill and screw.

The king, 1642, removed to Shrewsbury, when the Master of the Mint, Mr. Bushell, was ordered to join him, and money was coined there. After the defeat of Edgehill, the king removed the mint of Aberystwith to Oxford, to coin there, in the New-Inn Hall, under the direction of Mr. Bushell and Sir William Parkhurst, all the remaining plate of the colleges-a large loan having been previously made to him in 1642, while he was at Nottingham, by the Universities. In this mint a large quantity was coined of both gold and silver. The silver, twenty and ten shilling pieces, are peculiar to this mint, and to this period, for no other such pieces occur in the annals of the English coinage. The best executed of these pieces have the king on horseback, crowned and in armor, the horse trampling upon arms and trophies, surrounded by the usual titles; the reverse has the motto "Exurgat Deus," &c., with "Relig. prot. leg. aug. liber. par.," dated 1644; alluding to his declaration at the breaking out of the war, that he would protect "the Protestant religion, the laws and liberties of his subjects, and the privileges of Parliament.”

This coining down the plate of the colleges, caused the barbarous destruction of many rare and interesting relics of the highest antiquity; but such are the inevitable consequences of civil war; for in 1644, the Commons, House of Parliament, with equal recklessness, ordered all the king's plate in the Tower to be melted down and coined, notwithstanding a remonstrance from the Lords, alleging that the curious workmanship of the ancient pieces was worth more than the metal.

On many occasions, during the disastrous fortunes of the king, his partizans were under the necessity of striking off money in a rude manner, by coining down their own plate for the relief of the soldiers. By which course, as many magnificent family, as national, monuments of arts, perished. The first examples of this kind of money were coined at Dublin; they were merely weighed pieces of plate, simply stamped with numerals to denote their value-some having on the obverse, G. R. under a crown. In 1645, when Carlisle was defended by Sir Thomas Glenham for the king, he coined down plate into shillings, &c., with the king's head very rudely executed. Some of these siege pieces are stamped with a castle, and numerals to denote their value; for instance, those struck during the siege of the Castle of Scarborough. During the defence of Pontefract Castle, coin were stamped there with the motto, "Dum spiro spero." This place was defended seven weeks after the execution of the king, by Colonel John Morris; and after that event, this staunch royalist struck the coin he

issued in the name of Charles II. The shillings so struck are of an octagonal shape, with "Carlos Secundus, 1648," round the figure of the castle, and the reverse had, "Mortem patris pro filio." Of these irregular coins there was a great variety, both of gold and silver.

The first Scottish coinage in this reign consisted of crowns and half-crowns. But the pieces coined by Briot, who was sent there for that purpose, were surpassingly well executed; they consisted of crowns, half-crowns, shillings, and sixpences. Some coins were also issued of a more specially Scottish character-small silver pieces, size of an English penny, but of the value of twenty Scottish pence, having the king's head and XX. on the obverse, and the crowned thistle on the reverse; also two-shilling pieces, Scotch, and the noble or half-mark, with the head and title as usual on the obverse, and the arms of Scotland, legend, &c., on the reverse, with . to denote the value68. Sd. Scottish money. All these coins were the work of Briot.

VI

It was ordered in this reign that the name, Irish money, should be abolished, and that thereafter all accounts should be kept in Sterling or English money. No silver money was issued in regular form for Ireland by Charles I.; but his troubles induced the irregular coinage struck in Dublin.

The gold coinage of this reign was not various. The fine old sovereigns or ryals, and the nobles, were abandoned soon after the beginning of the reign, and a small coinage of angels was issued. The principal coins in the early part of the reign were the units or broad pieces of 20s. each, with halves and quarters; the gold pieces struck at Oxford were £3, £1, and 108. There was an issue of sceptres in Scotland, coined for £12 pieces, Scotch, but passed on account of their weight at £13. 13s.; also crowns, half-crowns, &c.

THE COMMONWEALTH-1648 to 1660- with Cromwell at its head, proceeded at once to make great changes in the coinage. The royal arms were thrown aside, and the simple cross of St. George, as a suitable badge for Puritanical England, was adopted. It was placed within a palm and an olive branch, and had for legend, in good plain English, "The Commonwealth of England." On the reverse were two joined shields, one having the cross of St. George, the other the harp of Ireland, and the motto also in English, "God with us," and the date; that of the first issued being 1649. The issue consisted of crowns, half-crowns, shillings, half-shillings, and pieces of two-pence, a penny, and half-penny. The smaller pieces had no mottoes.

Pierre Blondeau, a Frenchman, who had carried to perfection the stamping of coin by the mill and screw, was invited to England. His first pattern half-crown bore on the edge, "Truth and Peace," 1651, Petrus Blondeus; another, "In the third year of freedom, by God's blessing restored." The established rival workers in the mint

sent in rival patterns; one with the double shield, supported by winged figures, with the motto, "Guarded by Angels." The opposition finally frustrated the plans of Blondeau. The screw process was, however, adopted without Blondeau's immediate aid, who was thus shabbily treated by the new saints. In the latter part of the protectorate, Cromwell issued coins bearing his bust, which were laureated, with "OLIVAR. D. G. R. P. Ang. Sco. ET HIB. ETC. PRO." Oliver, protector of the Republic of England, Ireland, and Scotland, and substituting "Ect." for France. The gold coins bore the same devices and mottoes as the silver coins, and were simply 20s., 10s., and 58. pieces. The silver standard adopted by the Commonwealth was 11 oz. 2 dwt. fine, and 18 dwt. alloy. No coins were struck in Scotland. In Ireland, as in England, great numbers of town tokens were struck off and circulated.

CHARLES II., 1660 to 1684.-On his accession to the throne, silver coins, from halfcrowns downwards, except groats and quarter-shillings, which soon followed, were issued. They were struck like the earliest of his father's coins, with the view of restoring the ancient monarchical feeling, with the old shield, traversed by the cross, fleurie, and the same mottoes. The new improvement of the mill and screw, also, being abandoned, the coins were again produced by the old process of the hammer. This prejudice against an important improvement was of short duration; for, in 1662, Peter Blondeau was again employed to direct the mint, upon the new principle of the mill and screw.

Great competition arose, at this time, between the celebrated Simon, who had engraved the dies for the Protector's last coins, and John Roeter, of Antwerp, which was unfairly decided in favor of the latter. Simon afterwards produced a patterncrown, exquisitely engraved. On the edge of this famous coin is inscribed his petition to the king, against the previous unjust decision in favor of his opponent, which was unheeded. The petition is, "Thomas Simon most humbly prays your Majesty to compare this, his tryal piece, with the Dutch, and if more truly drawn and embossed, more gracefully ordered, and more accurately engraven, to relieve him." After this, it is said, he was discharged from the mint; and, we may add, that he had been probably a very ardent supporter of Cromwell.

In 1663, the first milled coinage took place, consisting of crowns, half-crowns, and shillings. In Ireland, no silver money was issued in this reign, except crowns and half-crowns, irregularly formed, which came under the head of money of necessity, rather than of that of regular coinage.

The gold coins were not various in this reign. In 1664, a gold coinage by the new process was issued. This coinage consisted of £5 pieces, and forty and twenty shilling pieces; the latter called "guineas," from being made of gold brought from