at the helm, ready for all emergencies; but whence is suggested the legend, "Jesus autem transiens, per medium "eorum ibat?" Those who favour the first suggestion say it is to commemorate the battle above mentioned. Edward's ships, after going through the midst of the enemy, passed on victorious.

Edward III, it is believed, also first issued groats and their halves, in 1851, to pass for four pennies and two pennies. (See Plate III.)

In 1844 the noble was reduced nearly ten grains in weight, a pound of gold making forty-two nobles; and, at the same time, the penny was reduced to twenty grains, a pound of silver producing 22s. 6d. by tale.

False coins, called lusshebournes, began to be imported by merchants and others, who carried the good coin out of the realm, replacing it by these. Parliament was petitioned. Three years afterwards this base coin was still found to be coming into the country, and several merchants were hanged and drawn for importing it. So plentiful indeed were these base coins that Chaucer alludes to them in his Monkes Prologue, (Canterbury Tales,) line 13,965.

In consequence of the lineal relationship of Edward to the late king of France, he struck, in 1839, coins with "King of "France" added to his dignities; and this title, except for a short period during the life of the same king, was used by every succeeding English sovereign till the great issue in 1817. It is said by Froissart that this was first done to satisfy the Flemings, who wished to be on Edward's side in the contest between England and France; but, having taken oath not to fight against the king of France, Edward adopted the claim and title to enable them to assist him and still be free from the charge of perjury.

It would be tedious, and beyond the purpose of this paper, to enumerate in detail the uninteresting events in connec

tion with our coinage which immediately follow the reign of Edward III; suffice it to say, that the wars of the Roses saw base coin and clipping; and to such a state had the want of bullion come, that Henry VI " had recourse to alchemy "for the supply of his mints with bullion." In a patent which he granted to certain persons for practising that art, he speaks with the utmost confidence of being able to pay all his debts with real gold and silver "by the stone."

In 1470 angels (see Plate II) were struck of the same value as the noble of Edward III. Edward IV, in 1465, in an indenture, ordered 45 nobles to be made from the pound of gold, each noble being current at ten shillings, so that a pound of gold was coined into £22 10s. Silver was also diminished in weight. The new nobles were called rials, from the French, who gave that name to the coin on account of its bearing the figure of the king in his royal robes. Angels were afterwards called noble-angels, because they were of the same value as the former nobles and bore the impression of St. Michael and the Dragon, which design is supposed to have been the origin of St. George and the Dragon.

In the fifth year of Henry VII, says Ruding, "Gyles, "Lord Daubenay, and Bartholomew Rede, of London, gold"smith masters and workers of the Mint, in the Tower of "London, were ordered to make a new money of gold according "to the print and form of a piece of lead annexed to the letters "patent. The coin to be of the fineness of the standard of "the gold monies of the realm, according to the indenture "between the king and them, and to be double the weight of "the royal. Twenty-two and a half of such pieces to be "coined out of the pound weight tower, and to be called the "sovereign (see Plate II), and to have course in receipts and payments for twenty shillings sterling."

This is the first introduction of our gold medium now in

circulation. First called a "sovereign" from the monarch or sovereign, in full length, on the obverse; it was changed in name to "double rial" by Mary, in accordance with her Spanish fancies and tendencies; again styled "sovereign" by Elizabeth, "unit" by James I, "guinea" by Charles II, and recoined as "sovereign" in 1817; rising and falling in relation to the shilling, as gold was scarce in relation to silver, more than once passing current for thirty shillings. Such was the last new coin issued within the date of my first section.

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In this period we find the shilling of twelve pence, introduced by William I, from Normandy, but the penny, a pennyweight," or 24 grs., being the weight of 24 grains of flour from the middle of the ear of wheat, was the only coin now known to have been issued in his reign of which we have a specimen. At a comparatively early date the first introduction of gold as a coin was opposed by the citizens of London, and only just at the close of this first or rude era do we see the sovereign appear: what we may term the two extremes of our present currency were coined at its two extremes; the shilling was not known as a coin, but was merely a money of value, and copper had not yet appeared as a circulating medium. The lawyer's fee had been settled in the shape of a noble, "six and eight pence," but our modern subscription of "a guinea," was not yet invented.

Though a penny varied in weight from twenty to twentyfour grains in the time of William I, such was the increase in the value of metal, that in the time of Henry III it had been reduced to twelve grains, or about one-half.

We have thus been brought to the end of the first and commencement of the second section of this paper; and on arriving at this point, I find I have made it so much more lengthy than I at first intended, that I think it would be well to pause and reserve the second and third divisions for another time.

* Varies between 224 and 24, but 24 was the authorised weight.

+ The weight of the Sovereign now in circulation is 123-274 grains.

It is believed that the half-sovereign and the ryal were the same coin.

§ All the nobles coined during and since the reign of Edward IV were termed Rials, and the old coins in circulation Rose-nobles, or Rials, and current at 8s. 4d. The noble, first coined at 6s. 8d., thus rose to 8s. 4d., and as shown above under the head of Rial, was worth 10s. in 1504.