briefly noticed:-First, a mass of dough was made ready with all the usual ingredients of gingerbread except butter. This was allowed to stand the usual time, then baked; and when taken from the oven it proved to be a well-raised gingerbread loaf. It was plain, therefore, that butter had no influence in making it light and porous. Next, several pieces of dough were prepared, having all the usual ingredients except the carbonate of potash. One of these pieces was baked immediately, others stood over for intervals of different duration; but in whatever way it was managed, it always came from the oven in a heavy solid mass. The next experiment was made by leaving the treacle itself out, and substituting dissolved loaf sugar while the carbonate of potash and all the other ingredients were present. Here again the bread returned from the oven in a heavy mass, without being in the least degree porous or vesicular. From these experiments it seemed clear that the simultaneous presence of the treacle and the carbonate of potash, and their mutual action, must be quite essential to the formation of good elastic gingerbread. The nature of the action of the treacle and alkaline carbonate, is not very easy to discover; but it is probably due to a certain portion of uncombined acid in treacle, which unites with the alkali of the carbonate, and releases a quantity of carbonic acid gas, thereby rendering the gingerbread light and elastic. Dr. Colquhoun found. that carbonate of magnesia and tartaric acid might replace the potashes and alum with great advantage. The quantity of potash which it is necessary to use in the ordinary process, gives a distinct disagreeable alkaline flavour to the bread unless it be well disguised with some aromatic ingredient, and is likely also to prove injurious to persons of delicate constitution. The inconveniences attending the lengthened nature of the process have likewise to be considered, and it will be seen that the saving of time, and other advantages gained by employing the magnesia and tartaric acid, more than counterbalance the trifling additional cost. The recipe as given by Dr. Colquhoun is as follows:-Take a pound of flour, a quarter of an ounce of carbonate of magnesia, and one eighth of an ounce of tartaric acid; mix the flour and magnesia thoroughly first, then dissolve and add the acid: let the butter, treacle, and spices, be added in the usual manner, melting the butter and pouring it with the treacle and acid among the flour and magnesia. The whole must be then incorporated into a mass of dough by kneading, and then set aside for a period varying from half an hour to an hour. It will be then ready for the oven, and should not be delayed on any occasion longer than two or three hours before it is baked. When taken from the oven it will prove a light, pleasant, spongy bread, with no ingredient in it that can prove injurious to the most delicate eonstitution. The plainest kind of thin gingerbread for children may be thus made. Fine flour, two pounds and a quarter; treacle, ten ounces; finely sifted ginger, an ounce and a half; carraway seeds, half an ounce; sesqui-carbonate of ammonia, half an ounce. The whole to be wellmixed and kneaded, then placed in a pan near the fire and covered over during an hour. It is then rolled out into thin cakes with straight lines drawn across them in the direction they are afterwards to be separated. Before they are baked a little white of egg is brushed over the surface, which glazes it and improves the appearance of the gingerbread. Various recipes might be given, but as these differ little from the above except in the addition of butter, spices, candied orange-peel, eggs, &c., which any one may add, according to taste. We conclude our notice with directions for making French spice-cakes. A pint of treacle is set over the fire and to it are added the following ingredients;-half a pound of good fresh butter; an ounce of powdered ginger; the same of powdered cinna mon; powdered allspice, coriander seeds, and small car. damum seeds, each a quarter of an ounce; candied lemonpeel finely chopped, two ounces; tincture of Vanilla, six drops; when well mixed, let these ingredients boil up once, stirring all the while, then set them aside to cool. When cold, mix in as much flour as will convert them into a stiff paste. Butter a tin baking dish, and lay on it with a spoon portions of the paste of the size required for the nuts or cakes. For these small forms of gingerbread, the sesqui-carbonate of ammonia is seldom used; but if it be preferred, a small proportion may be added to the above ingredients. EVENING. "TWAS eve: the sultry heat of noon was gone, And a soft breeze stole through the murmuring woods; The moon was rising in her lofty throne, Undimmed by vapour, unobscured by clouds; The Pilgrim. the vegetable kingdom? WHAT is that principle of reproduction which belongs to all How is it that the acorn, buried in the cold ground, comes forth in a form which bears no resemblance to what was buried, and rises with recurring seasons, by the joint ministry of its mother earth, the refreshing rains, the nursing air, and the far-coming light and heat, till its roots, searching out their own fastenings, and its limbs gradually rising and expanding, can resist for ages the ordinary violence of the storm? And has not every mag-vegetable product in some form the germ of reproduction! And by whose care is it that all are preserved, and continued, and fitted for duration each one in its own line of succession, through thousands of years? The recipe for an extremely agreeable gingerbread, to be made in the form of thin" parliament cakes," is as follows:-Of flour take one pound, of treacle half a pound, of raw sugar a quarter of a pound, of butter two ounces, of nutmeg one ounce, of carbonate of nesia a quarter of an ounce, of tartaric acid, of cinnamon, and of ginger, each one eighth of an ounce. To produce very light gingerbread is a desirable thing, and this result is now easily obtained by the gingerbreadbakers, by secretly using sesqui-carbonate of ammonia, or common smelling salts, instead of the magnesia and tartaric acid, or the potashes abovementioned. This salt is entirely dissipated by the heat in baking, and leaves no taste. The carbonic acid gas, and the ammoniacal gas of which the salt is composed, in forcing their way out, expand and perforate the most tenacious dough, and give lightness to the richest and heaviest materials. The proportion of sesqui-carbonate of ammonia to be used in making gingerbread, is half an ounce to every three pounds of materials, including flour, treacle, spices, butter, &c. Can he, who sees no divinity in the flower which he crushes beneath his foot, make, by his own power, the simplest product of the vegetable race? Can he, unaided by the opera tion of the natural world, furnish himself with supplies for Deity, given in the very creation itself, could be disobeyed his craving wants for a single day? If the commands of the by the teeming earth, how long would the mortal frame of ungrateful and thoughtless man be saved from mingling with its kindred dust?—S. KNOWLEDGE IT IS NOT Magazine. PRICE ONE PENNY. SOME ACCOUNT OF COINS, ANCIENT AND MODERN, (Concluded.) A MAGNIFIED COPY OF THE CROWN, OR TRIAL-PIECE, OF THOMAS SIMON, PRESENTED TO CHARLES II. SECTION III. MODERN COINS-FOREIGN COINS-ANGLO-GALLIC COINS. MODERN Coins and medals are, as we before remarked, those which reckon from about the ninth century. In these later ages of the world the distinction between coins and medals becomes more clear and definite. We must, therefore, consider the subject, first, under the head of modern coins, and then under that of modern medals. Until the beginning of the 16th century, when literature began to revive from the mental lethargy of the middle ages, modern coins are so very rude, that curiosity suggests the chief inducement to examine them. Without dates or epochs they scarcely serve one purpose of utility. The portraits on them are likewise very uncouth. But yet, when they furnish monuments, relating to persons or actions, in the glory of which the national vanity is engaged, they become very interesting. Thus, the noble of Edward III., who began to reign A.D. 1327, on which he is represented in a ship asserting the British dominion of the Ocean, would naturally engage our regard and attention, beyond the finest productions of Greece or Rome. Whatever we may hereafter say respecting the coins of our own or of other countries, will relate to them as disposed in a cabinet: for their commercial value we must refer our readers to other sources. Before entering upon the subject of modern British coins, we shall take a brief survey or the coinage of the other chief countries of the world. Beginning with the most eastern part of Asia, the coins of Japan first attract notice, as thin plates of gold and silver, large and oval, and stamped with little ornaments and characters. In this country, as in any other where the art of coining is in a rude state, the practice is, to stamp first the obverse, then a reverse; whereas, with us, both obverse and reverse are achieved at once, and with a single blow. The only coins of China are in copper, about the size of a farthing, with a square hole through the middle, in order to their being strung for the convenience of counting or carrying. They are called "cash," and bear an inscription in Chinese characters, expressing the year of the prince's reign, without his name, distinguished as the "Happy year," the "Illustrious year," and the like. It is said that the emperor Canghi, who died in 1722, had formed a complete cabinet VOL. XVIII. of Chinese coins. The coins of Tartary are rude and generally present only inscriptions; the like may be said of the coins of Thibet, Pegu, and Siam, and of other smaller states in Eastern Asia. It is doubtful whether any Indian coins exist before the time of the Moguls, or the thirteenth century. Old coins have been found near Calcutta, of gold, silver, copper, and tin, all mingled in one base metal. On one side they bear a warrior with a sword, and on the other an Indian female idol. The later coins of India are thick, like the old Egyptian, and in obedience to the Mohammedan precept, bear no representation of a living creature. The English, French, Portuguese, and Dutch, sometimes struck coins in their eastern settlements, with Persian inscriptions on one side and Latin on the other. The portcullis coins of Elizabeth were issued in rivalship of the Spanish king, for the service of the East India Company in their settlements abroad. They are of different sizes from the crown downwards, and are readily distinguished by the portcullis on the reverse. The modern coins of Persia continue on the model which the Arabian caliphs once imposed on them, and bear on both sides inscriptions from the Koran. The Persian copper has, however, the sun and lion, the arms of Persia, on one side. Of the Arabian coins, the older sort are on the obverse mere copies of some Roman coins, while the reverse contains some Arabic inscription: the later coins bear the name and titles of the prince on one side, and a sentence from the Koran on the other. The coins of Turkey are similar, having merely inscriptions on both sides; and the coins of the northern kingdoms of Africa are likewise upon the Mohammedan plan of mere inscriptions. Passing over the other kingdoms of Africa as little known, and the original empires of America, Mexico, and Peru, where coinage was not practised, we will proceed to the coins of Europe, after having called the reader's attention to the curious fact, that, in many places in Asia, Africa, and America, where metal money has been wanting, the natives use shells, and different sorts of permanent fruits, as a circulating medium. The shell thus used as money, and esteemed to be valuable, may be reckoned at about the 130th part of an English penny. After the downfal of the Western Roman Empire in the fifth and sixth centuries, the viceroys of the Byzantine emperors coined copper at Ravenna in Italy, where they held 566 the vice-regal court; but for gold and silver money, that of the Greek emperors sufficed for Italy. The Bezant was a gold coin struck at Constantinople, by the emperors of that city, which was anciently called Byzantium. From the ninth to the fourteenth century, it was the chief gold coin in currency throughout Europe. It seems to have passed in England till the time of Edward III., in the first half of the fourteenth century, when the coinage of the English noble drove it out of use. The Constantinopolitan bezant is the coin which we still see in our cabinets in gold, in the form of a dish, and frequently bearing the portrait of our Saviour. Its value was about nine shillings. Camden tells us that, at the court of England, the piece of gold valued at 157., which the king was anciently accustomed to offer on high festival days, was called a Bizantine. After Charlemagne, about the year 780, had made a great revolution in Italy, there were coins of him struck in Rome and Milan. In the next century the modern coins of Italy begin with the silver pennies of various states. The papal coins begin A. D. 772. In the middle ages the chief bishops of England, France, and Italy struck coins as well as the Pope. The coins of Milan begin with Charlemagne; those of Naples in the ninth century. The coinage of Venice begins in the tenth century with silver pennies. Florence surpasses all the cities of Italy in coinage: some silver pieces occur before the twelfth century; but in 1252 the famous gold coins appeared, called Florins, from the flower of the lily upon them: they were imitated by the popes, and by France and England; for during the five centuries preceding no gold had been struck in Europe. The florins coined by other states have the same types as the original florins, but different legends. They were said to weigh a dram, to be 24 carats fine, and to be worth 128., though now their intrinsic value would be much greater, on account of the difference in the value of gold. The coins of Genoa and Savoy begin in the twelfth century. France had a gold coinage from Clovis in 490 to the year 751 A. D. which belongs properly to the class of ancient coins. The coins of the second race, beginning with King Pepin in 750, and extending to Hugh Capet in 987, commence the modern class: the latter are barbarous; the former are elegant. The third race begins A.D. 987, and extends to the Revolution. Spain vies with France in the elegance of her early series of coins; but the influence of the Mohammedan faith in Spain for several centuries of Moorish domination, presents us with insipid Arabic inscriptions on both sides of the coins. The coinage of Germany begins with Charlemagne; and that of Denmark with Canute the Great, A.D. 1014. The Swedish coinage is said to have begun early in the ninth century, and that of Norway in the middle of the tenth. Of Denmark, Sweden, and Norway, there are also ecclesiastical coins struck by the chief bishops. The coinage of Bohemia and Poland begins with the tenth century, and follows the model of the German. The coins of Russia are none of them more ancient than the thirteenth century. The first Russian coins have rude figures of animals on one side, and a man standing with a bow or spear on the other. Some have St. George and the dragon, and various other types such are the Kopeks, or silver pennies. The Rouble, or dollar, and its half, began under Ivan, or John, in 1547. In 1230, the knights of the Teutonic order having conquered the pagan inhabitants of Prussia, coined silver pennies on the German plan at Culm. The coins of Brandenburg and Poland are the later coins of Prussia. ANGLO-SAXON COINS-ECCLESIASTICAL COINS-NORMAN COINS- We shall now give a brief notice of the coins of Britain. The Heptarchic coins are of two sorts; the silver skeatta, or penny, and the copper or billon styca, the latter being known E only in Northumbria, and being a very small piece worth about a mite: the word "billon" implies copper washed with silver. The silver penny may be regarded as the general Heptarchic coin. The skeattas were struck in Kent and the other states of the Heptarchy, from A. D. 500 to 700. No Heptarchic pennies of universal current occur, however, till after the year 700; but skeattas are found with the name of Ethelbert I., king of Kent, Styca of Ethelred of Northum Canute-1017. HAR Harold-1035. ED 1 A. D. 560-616; and of other kings of Kent. The regular Heptarchic pennies are, therefore, almost all of the eighth century, or from 700 till 832, when Egbert terminated the seven kingdoms. The coins of the chief monarchs then present almost a complete series from Egbert, A.D. 832 to Edgar, A. D. 959. Most of them bear rude portraits and sometimes curious There was also money struck in France by English princes, while that country was wholly, or partially, under English domination. Of Anglo-Gallic silver coins we have deniers of Eleanor, wife of Henry II., as duchess of Aquitaine, with deniers and half-deniers of Henry II., and pennies and half-pennies of Aquitaine, and pence of Poitou and Rouen of Richard I. Of John and Henry III. there is no Anglo-French money; but there is a lion of billon of Edward I., coined during the lifetime of his father, after he had received Gascony; and abundant series of silver and billon coins of Edward III., of Edward the Black Prince, of Richard II., Henry IV., V., and VI. The denominations of the silver were the hardi, the double hardi, groat, halfgroat, penny, and half-penny. To this class also belong the Calais groats and half-groats of the sovereigns of England from Edward III. to Henry VI., and the Tournay groats of Henry VIII. Edward III. was the first of the English princes who struck gold money in France: the denominations were guiennois, leopard, chaise, and mouton; to these Edward the Black Prince added the hardi of gold and the pavilion, and Henry V. salutes and half-salutes. Henry VI. Henry VIII.; for it was one of the charges against Wolsey, soined salutes, angelots, and francs in gold. The doubtful that he had put the cardinal's hat upon the groats and half VE RD Edward the Confessor-1042. inscriptions. Of Ethelbald, A. D. 857, and Edmund Ironside, A. D. 1016, there are no coins. Belonging to those times, appear coins of the archbishops of Canterbury; and afterwards we find pennies bearing the private mark of the bishops of Durham, and coins issuing from the archiepiscopal mint at York. The archbishops seem to have retained this privilege until the reign of SUPPLEMENT FOR APRIL, 1841. groats, issued from the mint at York, of which place he was prelate. On the reverse of all these coins, which has frequently the name of the city where they were coined, there is sometimes a cross so deeply impressed, that the coin might be easily parted, and broken into halves, which, so broken, were half-pence; or into four parts, or farthings. In regard to the money struck by Cardinal Wolsey, Akerman observes that, "In the year 1529, among other articles exhibited against Cardinal Wolsey, was one charging him with having enterprised to join and imprint the Cardinal's hat upon his coin of groats.' Ruding considers that the fault here laid to the Cardinal's charge was not merely the placing of the hat upon his money, but the striking of coins of a larger denomination and value than "he being the only prelate who struck groats penny, and half-groats; but this conjecture is groundless, as there are half-groats of the other prelates with their initials. It was clearly the hat which gave the offence." the With the Anglo-Saxons gold seems to have passed current by weight; at least, no gold coin of their monarchs has been discovered. They computed by pounds, shillings, pence, and farthings; twelve pence making one shilling, and twenty shillings one pound, as at the present day. But there were two kinds of penny, the greater and the less: of 00;bs the former five made a shilling, and of the latter, the skeatta, twenty were required. The greater penny always went by the name of penning. The Anglo-Saxons derived their knowledge of the art of coining from the Roman ecclesiasties, who had the privilege of coining money equally with the king. It is some sort of proof that the Anglo-Saxons were not so civilized, or accustomed to trade, as the ancient British, who used both gold and silver coins, while the Saxons had silver only. The Norman conquest in 1066 made no alteration in the English penny, or anglicus, which was a coin celebrated all over Europe in the middle ages, and was almost the only money known in the northern kingdoms. In neatness of fabric, and in purity of metal, it is superior even to the Italian and French coins of that period. The series of English pennies extends almost without any failure from Egbert to Victoria. The kings wanting are John and Richard I. The coins of William Rufus and of Henry I. T + have some similarity; but of Henry the First's pennies the types are as various as upon those of any monarch of the English series: the reverses bear the name of the mint and the coiner. This, which was the Saxon practice, continued till the reign of Edward I. Henry II. is said to have had but one type for his coins; but it seems probable that the pennies which are usually thought to belong to the first coinage of King Henry III. are in reality the last coinage of Henry II. at the time he reformed the national money, IREXT A. D. 1180. gative. There are, however, many coins of English bishops, and of St. Peter's pence, bearing STPETR on them. These pence originated with Offa, king of Mercia, engaging to pay the sovereign pontiff a yearly sum for the support of an English college at Rome; and to raise the money, he imposed the tax of one penny on each house possessed of thirty pence. This imposition, afterwards levied on all England, was denominated "Peter's pence." Half-pennies and farthings, regularly made of silver, were first struck by Edward I., about 1280, for general circulation. After these came the groat, so called from the French gros, a large piece, which was introduced by Edward III. in 1354, and continues in use to this day, under the name of the fourpenny piece: that which was issued for circulation in 1836 is of a different type from the ordinary groat. There was formerly a half-groat in circulation. The testoon, or shilling, was first coined by Henry VII. in 1503. The appellation of "testoon" originated in the teste, téte, or head of the king upon it. The shilling was first, as it would seem, a German appellation, schelling; coins of which name had been struck at Hamburgh in 1407. Henry VIII. first made the crowns of silver, which had formerly appeared in gold. In France, they were for a long time the largest gold coins, and were worth 10s. They were so called from the crown being once stamped on one side. Edward VI. coined halfcrowns, sixpences, and threepences; and Elizabeth put out three-halfpenny and three-farthing pieces. When coins are found which have more than one head on the obverse, they are most usually joined, thais, looking the same way, as on the money of William and Mary; but the coins of Philip and Mary, which were probably struck from treasure brought here by that king, are remarkable for bearing their portraits, except in one instance, facing each other, which circumstance called forth the following couplet of Hudibras, Still am'rous, and fond, and billing, Like Philip and Mary on a shilling. Though our space will not allow us to describe fully the coinage, with its changes, in all the different reigns of English history; yet we must not omit to particularise some of the more important coins which, from their value or long use, were well known and esteemed until the seventeenth century. The reader should remember that, from an early period, the circulation of foreign money, of various countries, was not only adopted, but even legalised, in England. This was the case with the bezant, already spoken of; and we proceed to notice a few others. The crown of the sun was a French coin, first struck by Louis XI. of France in 1475. Henry VIII., in the fourteenth year of his reign, by proclamation ordered that crowns of the sun, ducats, and crowns of gold not of the sun, be received in currency; the crowns of the sun not Under Edward VI., in 1549, they were ordered by proclamaclipped to go at four shillings and four pence sterling. for six shillings and four pence, by a subsequent proclamation to pass for seven shillings, but were reduced to pass tion. They were also at this value in the reign of Queen Mary. The coin called the Angel was not struck in England till the middle of the fifteenth century, it being originally a gold coin of France, where it was first coined, at least by that name, in 1340. In France, where the half and quarter angel were soon used, it was always of fine gold, but not always of the same weight. Angels and half-angels (angelets) are the only gold coins known of Richard III. When first introduced, the angel was valued at 6s. 8d., and, thus angel. In the course of the reign of Henry VIII. and his agreeing with the noble, was sometimes called the noblesuccessor, the value of the angel was raised to 88. In Queen Mary's time it went for 10s., which value it kept till the end of the reign of Charles I. who was the last monarch who coined the angel. The usual device upon the obverse ELIZABETHDG TADNOF Gold Angel of Queen Elizabeth 5662 of cross. of this coin was the figure of the angel St. Michael standing upon the dragon, and piercing him through the mouth with a spear, the upper end of which terminated in a kind The reverse of the earlier ones had a ship, with a large cross for a mast, with the royal arms in front. The angels of James I. and Charles I. have the mast of the ship with a maintop and no cross. The obverse had the king's titles surrounding the device. There were different legends and inscriptions used in different reigns. The mark, and its half, the noble, (the latter so called from its material being the finest gold used in coinage,) seem to have been the most general ideal form of money in former ages; the former rating at 13s. 4d., and the latter at 6s. 8d. The noble was published as a substitute for the florins, on The account of the inconvenient value of the latter,-6s. obverse of the noble represents the king, Edward III., standThis ing in a vessel, asserting the dominion of the sea. coin, sometimes called the rose noble, together with its divisions, continued the only gold coin till the issue of the angels before described. In Henry the Sixth's time, it was made to pass for 10s., under the new name of ryal. Henry VII. issued the double ryal, or sovereign, of 20s., accompanied by the double sovereign. Henry VIII. coined gold crowns and half-crowns of the present value; but his gold was much debased. The rose noble was so termed in consequence of both sides being impaled in an undulating circle resembling the outline of an expanded rose. The sovereigns, called at the accession of James I. unites, and sometimes sceptre-pieces, were valued at 20s.; they were nearly two inches in diameter, being proportionably thin. They were called sceptre-pieces from the figure of the king on the obverse sitting on his throne with his sceptre in his hand. The sovereigns were considered to be double ryals, when the ryal was reckoned at 10s. Spur-ryals, a gold coin of Elizabeth, form a very handsome sort of money: on raise or sink his charge above or below the particular item In the days of our forefathers, the labours of in question. the legal functionary were remunerated by the payment of particular coins, according as the service, or the nature of the case, might be. When the lawyer had to receive 3s. 4d., his client paid him, in the reign of Henry VI., at the beginning of the fifteenth century, an angelet, or half an angel; the angel being then valued at 6s. 8d., though it afterwards rose to 10s. and the noble took the place of the angel. It is true that the pieces of money just referred to have no existence at the present day; but, as the foregoing specific charges still exist in, and are authorised by, the practice o. our courts of law, lawyers cannot help making them, and we cannot help hearing about them. It is also a rule or custom to pay a fee of 6s. 8d. (the angel or noble) to the minister of a parish, on account of an extra-parochial funeral, the origin of which fee we may trace to a similar the obverse is the queen with her sceptre, sitting in a ship in the sea, and in the centre of the reverse is the star-pointed figure of a spur, whence the name of the coin: these pieces went at 15s. There was also a gold coin in use in the fourteenth century called the chaise (this is the French word for a chair or seat); but this was an Anglo-Gallic piece of Edward the Black Prince, and does not strictly belong to the English series. It received the name of the "chaise" from the prince's appearing on the obverse seated in a chair of state. source. To particularise further the coins of all these different reigns would not perhaps be very interesting to the general reader. We may, therefore, content ourselves with observing that the coinage was of gold and silver; for, excepting the Saxon stycas mentioned before, copper coin continued to be wanting in the English authorised money till the year 1672. Groats, testoons (shillings), crowns, florins, nobles, and marks, were the principal pieces of money in different reigns. Gold, though first coined by Henry III., about 1257, who struck a gold penny, value 20d., was not made current until the reign of Edward III., in 1344, when that prince first coined florins, which were soon succeeded by the nobles, and other coins already spoken of. farthing was coined in the reign of Edward VI., and the last silver halfpenny in the days of the Commonwealth. We pass on, therefore, to the state of the coinage under Charles II. We must not omit to speak of the Louis, or Louis d'or, which was a gold coin in the old system of France, and first struck under Louis XIII., in 1641. It has been considered as a current coin in most parts of the continent, though in England it has been only sold as merchandise, where, at different periods, according to the demand, its price has fluctuated from 18s. 6d. to 218. sterling. About half a century ago, among other changes brought about by the Revolution, the old reckoning by deniers, sous, livres, écus (crowns), and louis-was abandoned, and the decimal reckoning was resorted to,-centimes, décimes, francs, twenty franc pieces. Upon the return of the Bourbon family into France, the twenty-franc pieces, struck by Louis XVIII. in imitation of the Napoleons, received the name of Louis, or Louis d'or, a designation which is likewise given occasionally to the like coin struck by King Louis Philippe, but which are more ordinarily called "twenty-franc pieces.' It may now perhaps occur to the reader to perceive whence originated the definite amount of certain legal and other public fees and payments. Every one has heard, for instance, of the attorney's charge of 3s. 4d., 6s. 8d., 138. 4d., for certain services rendered to the party consulting him; but it requires a little acquaintance with the state of the ancient coinage, to satisfy one's self that he could not well The last silver In some reigns prior to that of Charles II., the value or silver was to that of gold as 1 to 4: hence, the noble of Edward III., spoken of before, and published at 6s. Ed., might be now worth a guinea, on account of the present higher price of gold. The ancient relative value of gold to silver was as 11 to 1: but in the reign of James I. the proportional value of silver had sunk down as 1 to 13. Standard silver is now to standard gold, as 1 to 14. The coins which were in use before the present coinage was adopted, soon after the war which terminated in 1815, were, generally speaking, such as were established by Charles II. The thi hammered money of former reigns was, in his time, discarded. The gold and silver money had all along been made thin, because it was necessary to make the inferior pieces, at least, of a certain size, in order that they might be conveniently tangible for use. Thus, the gold penny, before spoken of, was three-fourths of an inch in diameter. The "sovereign," or "broad piece," in use in the reign of James I., and called in the republican condition of the country, the "twenty-shilling piece," gave way in the reign of Charles II., to the guinea, so called from the Guinea gold, out of which it was first struck. This gold was brought from Guinea by the African company. In order to encou rage this company to import gold, they were permitted by charter to have the figure of an elephant stamped on these pieces. The guinea was proclaimed in 1663 to pass for 20s.; but from its intrinsic superiority over the former gold money, it always fetched 21s., and was styled the "guinea." This popular decision was accordingly afterwards ratified by government. Five guinea pieces, double guineas, hali and quarter guineas, were struck at different times; but for obvious reasons, none but the guinea and half-guinea obtained general circulation; as likewise the gold seven-shilling piece. At the time of the Revolution, in 1688, the silver coin of the country was in a very bad state; so that by the year 1696, the value of the guinea had risen to 30s. currency, "Clipping and false coining had for some time been carried on to an alarming extent, and at length roused the attention of Parliament, who appointed a committee to enquire into the abuse. The committee recommended a general re-coinage as a remedy for the evil; when the recommendation was debated in the house and finally adopted. The great recoinage occupied nearly four years, and was completed in 1699. The total amount of silver coined, was "In the Tower Mint £5,091,121 7 7 In the Country Mints 1,791,787 12 0 Total 6,882,908 19 7 "The Mint charges amounted to £179,431 6s., and the charges and consequent losses are supposed to have been |