1876.] ■^"' [Anthon. 



issued, on the 18tli of November of the year 1672, a decree by which it 

 was ordered that the money aforesaid, and all other specie, being current 

 in France, should also be current, not only in the French Islands but also 

 on the terra-firma of America subject to the crown, with an augmentation 

 of one-fourth superadded ; that is to say, the pieces of fifteen sous for 

 twenty, and the others in proportion. " 



"The same decree ordered that all contracts, bills, accounts, purchases 

 and payments should be made between all descriptions of persons, in 

 money, without privilege of barter or accounting in sugar, under pen- 

 alty of nullity as to transaction. And in regard to the past, it was 

 ordained that all stipulations relating to contracts, or bills, or debts, or 

 obligations, or rents in sugar and other provisions should be reduced into 

 and made payable in money, at the valuation of the aforesaid coins. In 

 execution of this decree, coin increased one-fourth in value in New France, " 

 &c., &c. Here we leave the amiable Jesuit to relate the financial mischief 

 which ensued, and we quit the historic aspect of our theme for the aesthetic 

 and literary. 



As a work of art tliis coin is beautiful. It will, from that point of view, 

 compare advantageously with any now produced in the home mints of this 

 country, where it was once intended to circulate. The portrait of Louis 

 presents him as a handsome man of thirty -two, his age in 1670; the mint- 

 mark of the sun in splendor recalls his famous motto: "Nee pluribus im- 

 par" — which, by the way, has a structural similarity to our own national 

 one; — the manner of marking with a • subscript the final I in XIIII is very 

 uncommon; I know no other instance of it on a coin. The reverse offers 

 us, as a subject of remark, first, the legend: "Oloriam Regni tut Dicent." 

 It is taken from the vulgate of the fine Psalm CXLV., entitled "David's 

 Psalm of praise." Verses 10-13 of our translation read as follows: 



10. All thy works shall praise thee, O Lord ; and thy saints shall bless 



thee. 



11. TJiey shall speak of the glory of thy Kingdom, and talk of thy power ; 



12. To make known to the sons of men his mighty acts, and the glorious 



majesty of his Kingdom. 



13. Thy Kingdom is an everlasting Kingdom, and thy dominion endureth 



throughout all generations. 



In tlie application of the beginning of verse 11 to the purpose of a 

 numismatic legend, particularly if it be considered in connection with its 

 context, two covert references seem to me to be intended; the first, to the 

 highly ecclesiastical character of French colonization in America, in which 

 exploration and conversion ever proceeded hand in hand; the second, to 

 the "mighty acts " and "glorious majesty " of the " grand Mouarque." 

 It is true that he had not, at this comparatively early epoch in his reign, 

 put forth the exaggerated pretensions which he afterwards advanced; but 

 the adulation and irreverence which offend us in the use made of these 

 words, were already in the taste and fashion of that day. 



Our second subject of remark is the crowned A (such we take it to be) 

 which appears above the royal crown which forms the armorial crest. In 



