234 



the youthful monarch in his journal of the events of his life, 

 which he kept with characteristic industry and regularity. On 

 the 24tli of September 1551, the king notices the order of 

 council made on that day for a general coinage of fine silver, 

 and adds, " In the city of York and Canterbury should the 

 small money be wrought of a baser state." ^ This nefarious 

 order, which was duly acted upon at the York mint, was 

 revoked a few months afterwards, but in the mean time a large 

 amount of base coin had been issued to the public, and much 

 mischief and inconvenience had been occasioned. Notice of the 

 revocation was transmitted to York by the Lords of the Privy 

 Council in the month of March 1552, and the officers of the 

 York mint replied in a letter dated the 9th of the following 

 month, in which they state that they had stayed the base 

 standard of all small moneys ; " Notwithstanding " the mint- 

 master adds, " I am charged at this present to the king's sub- 

 ejects for money received into the office to the sum of vi^ pounds 

 •* and better ; and how or what order shall be taken for the 

 " discharge of the same, I most humbly beseech your good lord- 

 " ships to know your further pleasures : and there lyeth in the 

 " base standard aforesaid in ingot, plate, and cicell, a certain 

 " quantity ; and we have coined of the said standard of small 

 *' moneys viiil pounds,^ whereof it is almost dispatched unto 

 *' the subjects according to the order taken by an indenture for the 

 ** same, so that the rest that remaineth of the small moneys will 

 " not be able to bring forth the other fine moneys according to 

 " the order taken, which ought to be given to the king's 

 " majesty's subjects, wherefore we most humbly beseech you to 

 "consider the same."^ 



The following specimens are extant of York money of the 

 proper standard : — 



1 Euding, Vol. I., p. 323. 



2 Ruding misreads this £8. Vol. I., p. 324. 



•' The original of this letter is preserved among the manuscripts in the British 

 Museum. Harleian MS., No. 38, Fol. 236. It is signed George Gale, John Winde, 

 Bichard Lee. The two latter were most probably officers of the mint next in rank 

 to the mint-master. 



