236 



know."^ On the 27th of that month the royal proclamation 

 was published by which the base coins were at once reduced to 

 as near their real value as might be, viz. the base penny to |d., 

 the 2d. to l^d., and the testoon or sixpence to 4:^d., " except 

 certain testoons marked in the uppermost part in the border 

 thereof with one of the following four marks viz., a lion, a rose, 

 a harp, or a flower-de-luce, which were so base and full of 

 copper that they could not bear any convenient or like value as 

 the others did ; and therefore it was commanded that the 

 testoons with such marks should from that time be taken as 

 current at 2^d. each, and no more, being as much as they were 

 proved to contain in value, and so to continue as current money 

 only during the space of four months." 



Much trouble having arisen from the difficulty of distinguish- 

 ing the testoons of 2^d., from those of 4|d., a further proclamation 

 was issued upon the 9th of the ensuing month of October,^ or- 

 dering that certain persons should be appointed by the Mayor 

 of London to inspect the coins brought to them, and they were 

 authorised to strike those of 4|^d., with the mark of a portcullis 

 before the face of the King, and those of 2^d., with the print of 

 a greyhound behind the head of the King, that the same might 

 be better known ; And should this order prove to be useful, her 

 Majesty would cause the like to be observed in other cities and 

 towns. 



Soon after the issuing of the latter proclamation, the necessity 

 of extending the order to the chief provincial towns became 

 obvious, and stamping irons with the devices of the portcullis 

 and the greyhound were transmitted to York, with directions 

 to use them according to the tenor of the proclamation.^ 



1 Letter from Francis Alen to the Eaxl of Shrewsbury dated at "Westminster 

 3rd Sept. 1560. Lodge's Illustrations, Vol. I., p. 423. 



2 Ruding, Vol. I., p. 337. 



3 The cabinet of the Yorkshire Philosophical Society contains a coin of Edward 

 VI. of very base silver, countcrmarked with a greyhoimd stamped behind the head 

 of the king. MM. a lion, date 1551. See MS. Catalogue, p. 25, No. 3. Euding 

 has engraved the obverse of two coins which he denominates shillings (PI. 9, 

 Nob. 14, 15) : — 



1. EDWAEB VI. D. G. AGL. GRA. Z HIBER. KEX. MM. a SWan. CoUflter- 



markcd with a portcullis in the field. 



