Guinea; there were also half-guineas. The term guinea, for a twenty-shilling piece, continued down to the reign of George III. The English gold coins being still above the value of other nations, the nominal value, and the old unit of 20s., was raised to 228., and other coins in proportion. In 1670, the weight of the gold coins was again reduced, the pound of gold-22 carats fine-being coined into £44 10s. Copper was first issued in bulk in this reign. As early as the reign of Henry IV., V., and VI., the black or base money of the continent circulated in England. These pieces were known as "Abbey pieces." In the reign of Henry VIII., or even earlier, many traders, for want of small change, coined for themselves leaden tokens, to pass as halfpennies and farthings; but as these rested upon the personal liability of those issuing them, great loss was caused to the poor. In order to put a stop to this kind of coinage, it was proposed to Elizabeth to issue a small copper coinage. About this time1594- the city of Bristol struck copper farthings, by authority, and, afterwards, some other towns were allowed to do the same. In the reign of James I., in order to put a stop to these town and private tokens, it was determined to issue a small copper currency. The royal repugnance to it was so great, however, that it was not coined at the royal mints; but patents were granted to private persons, the first being to Lord Hamilton. These copper farthings bore, on the reverse, a harp, which shows they were intended chiefly for Ireland - the destination of all discreditable coin-though they were, by royal proclamation, current in England. They were, also, issued by Charles I. and II., and have become a permanent currency. After the Revolution, in 1688, a proclamation was issued by James, in Ireland, for coining sixpences and shillings of mixed metal. They were made from old pieces of ordnance, and known as the "gun-money." WILLIAM AND MARY, AND WILLIAM III., 1688 to 1702.-The same style of coinage was continued at the commencement of these reigns. The profiles of the king and queen are shown, one over the other, on the obverse of all the coins, surrounded with "Gulielmus et Maria Dei." The general coinage had fallen into a bad state, but, after the death of the queen, in 1695, the king, who continued to reign by the title of William III., determined to restore its general character. A tax was imposed upon dwelling-houses, to raise the sum of £1,200,000, to supply the deficiency of clipped money; and to prevent delay, and to carry into effect a complete new coinage, mints were established at York, Bristol, Norwich, Exeter, and Chester. The new coinage was completed in two years. The pride of the king upon this subject, and the determination that it should be ably managed, were exemplified by the appointment of the illustrious Newton to the position of Master of the Mint. Nearly £7,000,000 of silver money were coined during the years 1696 and 1697. But the silver coinage was still insufficient, and continued so for twenty years afterwards; for, in 1717, in the reign of George I., Sir Isaac Newton, who was still in office, stated, in his report, "If silver money became a little scarcer, people would, in a little time, refuse to make payments in silver, without a premium." In Scotland, in the reign of William and Mary, sixty, forty, twenty, ten, and five shilling pieces were coined. William III. duplicated this issue. The gold coins of William and Mary, and William III., consisted of £5 and £2 pieces, guineas, and halfguineas. The last Scottish gold was issued during the reign of William III., and consisted of a small issue of pistoles and half-pistoles. These pieces were about the size of guineas and half-guineas, resembling them in type, and were coined from gold sent over from the colony of Darien by the Scottish African company. Notwithstanding all the emissions, the precious metals were scarce, and guineas, at one time, rose to the value of 30s. An enactment reduced them, subsequently, to 268., and, afterwards, to 22s. ANNE, 1702 to 1714.-The coins of this reign were of the same denominations, weight, and fineness, as those of the last. After this reign, the English coins circulated in Scotland as in England. -no difference of type being made for the former. During the short reign of Anne, the coins marked another epoch in the improvement of English money. The gold coins of Anne were £5 and £2, guineas and half-guineas. No copper coin was issued in this reign, either for England, Scotland, or Ireland. GEORGE I, 1714 to 1727.The coinage of this reign remained the same in weight and value as the preceding; the bust of the king was executed in the conventional style of the times, with Roman mantle and armor. The legend on the obverse contains the titles as well as the name, with, for the first time, as a permanent addition, “Fidei Defensor," ," "Defender of the Faith," abbreviated, Georgius D. C. M. BR. FR. ET HIB. REX F. D. On the reverse, his German titles appear, as, "Brunsvicensis et Lunenbergensis Dux, Sacra Romani Imperii Archithesaurius et Elector," abbreviated, Brun. et L. Dux S. R. L. A. T. H. ET EL. His own arms not being placed in the centre, like those of William III., but occupying the fourth shield. The copper coinage was much extended in this reign, above £46,000 worth having been issued in 1717, when the pound avoirdupois was coined into twenty-eight pence. GEORGE II., 1729 to 1760.- No change took place in the weight, value, &c., of the coinage during this reign. The coins bore the titles, " GEORGIUS II. DEI GRATIA,” as in the reign of his father; on the reverse a change took place in the arrangement of the titles, which stands thus: M. B. F. ET H. REX F. D. B. ET L. D. S. R. I. A. T. ET E., being merely a new abbreviation of the English titles, followed by a still more close abbreviation of the German ones. Of the gold coins, the quarter-guineas were omitted in this reign. The principal gold coins minted were guineas and halfguineas, only a few £5 and £2 pieces being struck. The guinea was, by proclamation in 1737, raised to 22s, 9d. The reverse of the gold coins was changed in this reign, and the old garnished shield, somewhat varied, was adopted in place of the four shields disposed in a cross. This change of arms did not extend to silver coins, which were continued as before. The first coinage of copper half-pence and farthings in this reign was under warrant of Queen Caroline in 1738, for the time guardian of the realm. There were forty-six half-pence coined out of the pound avoirdupois. There was also a great quantity of false copper money now put into circulation. Birmingham was the chief seat of these illegal mints, though destined afterwards to become the legitimate seat of the whole copper coinage of the country, in the great works at Soho. The copper coinage of George II. presents no remarkable features. GEORGE III., 1760 to 1820.- This prince, in succeeding to the throne, did not attempt to issue a silver coinage, although the currency was limited in amount, and of diminished value from wear and tear. In 1762 and 1763, £5791 only were issued, but of what denomination is not stated. In this coinage, and until 1787, one pound of silver, of 11 oz. 2 dwt. fine to 18 dwt. alloy, was coined into sixty-two shillings. In 1780, a proposal was made, but without success, to take the coinage out of the hands of the sovereign, abolishing the mint establishment, and vesting the power of coining in the Bank of England. After such a proposition, it seems almost incredible that no serious issue of silver money took place till 1787, twenty-seven years after the accession of the king, and more than the average length of a long reign. 1787 was marked by an issue of £55,459 in shillings and sixpences. Some years afterwards, the bad condition of the silver coinage was somewhat alleviated by the sanction of bank tokens of 58., &c., which were well executed. They had on the obverse, the king's head, and on the reverse, the words BANK TOKEN in a wreath of oak and bay, with the value. The tokens of the Bank of Ireland were similarly gotten up, and they consisted of three-shilling pieces and ten-pences, resembling an English shilling. The wretched condition of the national coinage was permitted to go on, getting to be gradually worse till 1803, when the attempt was made to patch up the grievance by stamping Spanish dollars for circulation, with such a mark as is used at Goldsmith's Hall for stamping silver plate. In the following year, the stamp was changed for a small octagon containing the king's head; and about the same time, an arrangement was made with Mr. Boulton, of Soho, to stamp the entire face of the dollar with a device by means of machinery, the result of the great inventions in the application of steam-power by Watt. In 1798, Messrs. Dorrien & Co. endeavored to remedy the scarcity of silver money to some extent, by sending bullion to the Tower to be coined on their own account, according to the act of Charles II., "upon payment of certain dues." But after it was coined, the Government of this unfortunate period-destined ever to be obstructive — caused it to be melted down, on the plea that a coinage could not be lawful without a proclamation; so that this attempt of private enterprise to remove the grievance, was rendered futile through the obstinacy or stupidity of the Government. These coins were dated 1787, and only a few specimens escaped the crucible. The gold coinage was not quite so flagrantly neglected as the silver; but, nevertheless, the issues were small and insufficient. In the year of the king's accession a gold coinage occurred, and there are guineas of every year from 1760 to 1774. In 1770, there was a coinage, when forty-four guineas and a half were coined out of every pound of gold, twenty-two carats fine to two carats of alloy. In 1787, a new gold coinage took place, and the guineas, known as the "spade guineas," appeared. They were so called, from the shield on the reverse, which is in the form of a pointed spade. Having been relieved, by our own act, of all dependence upon George III., in 1776, having had our capabilities for self-government acknowledged in 1783, and having adopted the Federal Constitution in 1787, we happily avoided the balance of a reign, that terminated in 1820. PART I. MEASURE, WEIGHT, STANDARD, STERLING, COINS, AND COINING. We have deemed it important to present the following data, under its proper heads, viz.: MEASURE, WEIGHT, STANDARD, STERLING, COINS, and COINING, as being relevant, in a work of this kind, because bearing, either directly or indirectly, upon the subjectmatter of the origin and details of a metallic currency. MEASURE. Measure, in a commercial sense, signifies the dimensions of anything bought, sold, or estimated. It is of three kinds, viz.: linear, or long measure; square, or superficial measure; and solid, or cubic measure. 1. Linear Measure is applied to lines; as roads and distances of all kinds. 2. Square Measure is applied to superfices, having both length and breadth; as land, flooring, &c. 3. Solid Measure determines the contents of bodies that have length, breadth, thickness or depth; as marble, timber, &c. Linear measure is the element of all other measures. Square measure is determined by multiplying length and breadth together; and solid measure, by multiplying length, |