Dr. Smith on the Irish Coins of Edward the Fourth. 



37> 



the Pope's triple crown ; and these groats were either sent hither of old by the 

 Popes, or for the honour of them, had their stamp set upon them."* 



Sir James Ware considered the three crowns "as denoting the three king- 

 doms of England, France, and Ireland," an opinion in which Simon concurred. 



Neither of these opinions is correct ; and it is a very remarkable circum- 

 stance, that this device, the meaning of which the learned research of Sir James 

 Ware failed to discover, has, after the lapse of nearly four centuries since its 

 introduction on the coins, been proved to be the arras of Ireland. 



This highly interesting discovery was made by the Rev. Mr. Butler, of Trim ; 

 and I am much indebted to that learned gentleman for the following summary 

 of the evidence which he has collected. 



" Mr. Butler is of opinion, that the three crowns were the arms of Ireland, 

 from the time of Richard the Second to the time of Henry the Seventh, for the 

 following reasons. 



" 1. Richard the Second granted to Robert de Vere, permission to bear as 

 his arms, so long as he should be Lord of Ireland, three crowns within a 

 bordure.f 



groats of Henry, in my possession, present a good illustration of the difference between the crosses, 

 and tend to support my conjecture. 



CALAIS. 



LONDON. 



* Moryson's Itinerary, Part i. Book iii. p. 284, folio : London, 1617. ' 



■)■ Among the minor correspondence in the Gentleman's Magazine for June, 1840, the following 

 note occurs : 



" I take this opportunity of appropriating the arms on a pavement tile, engraved in the Gentle- 

 man's Magazine for October, 1818, which appears to have been found in Essex. The arms are 

 described as three crowns quartering mullets. They are the arms of Robert de Vere, Earl of 

 Oxford, who was the favourite of Richard II., and by him created Marquis of Dublin, and Duke of 

 Ireland, on which occasion the king gave him for his arms, ' Azure, three crowns or, within a border 



