78 Dr. Smith on the Irish Coins of Henri/ the Seventh. 



" very wretched," for the earliest groats minted in Ireland, of which we have 

 any authentic records, were as well executed as the English coins of the same 

 period ; nor can I perceive that the coins in question are more like " the cur- 

 rent English groat" than the Irish coins of Edward the Fourtli ; for on all the 

 London groats of Richard the Second, and Edward the Third, which I have seen, 

 the Roman n is used in the name of the city, while on these Irish coins of Henry 

 it never occurs. The form of the letter i is also different ; on Henry's coins it 

 is always more or less forked, and never square at the ends, as is invariably the 

 case on the supposed models. The objection of the plain circle roimd the head, 

 has been already answered, and the striking resemblance in almost every respect 

 (except the tressure and crosses at each side of neck), between fig. 45, and the 

 untressured groats, induces me to believe that the artist " abandoned the tres- 

 sure," rather from choice than inability to execute such a trifling ornament. 



It also strikes me as very extraordinary, that an artist so ignorant as has been 

 supposed, should invent a cross fourchee for the reverse of his rude coin ; and how 

 did the illiterate artist (who it is conjectured *' could not spell") learn that the 

 GRA on the supposed models, was only an abbreviation for gracia, which is found 

 without exception on the untressured groats, as well as on some others of which 

 little, if any doubt can exist, that they belong to Henry the Seventh, as the half- 

 groat, fig. 35, and the tressured gi-oats figs. 40 and 45 ; and why did not the 

 copyist adopt the usual motto, but instead of it engrave on his die, posvi devm 



ADIVTORIVM. ? 



Several authorities are cited to show " that rex agl mai/ have been also used 

 in Ireland before the reign of Henry VII. ;" but the Act of 10 Edward IV., 

 which ordered that rex anglie should form part of the legend on the coins, has 

 not been noticed, and there is not any Irish coin known with this title, which can 

 be referred to an earlier date. The penny of Henry the Sixth has the legend 



HENRICVS DNS HIBNIE.* 



In bringing these observations to a conclusion, I feel bound to acknowledge, 

 that, if I have been at all successful in establishing opinions different from those 

 of preceding writers, it has been chiefly owing to the advantage I enjoyed of 

 having so large a number of coins of the different types before me at one view. 

 It now only remains for me to assign such reasons as appear to warrant the 

 appropriation of the coins in the last plate to Henry the Seventh. 



* See p. 56. 



