40 ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



T kemurarius. In English it reads — Archtreasurer of the Holy Koman 

 Empi-re. The other cabalistic letters refer to the various other German 

 and foreign offices which were held by the Elector of Hanover, and which 

 were insinuated into the " style and title " of the ûrst English monarch 

 of the House of Brunswick. Though not immediately relevant to our 

 present subject, a few words in explanation of them may not be without 

 interest. This Coin, as will be seen by the date (1729), belongs to the 

 reign of George II. We can see of course only one side in this engraving. 

 It is called the reverse side. The obverse side (which we do not here see) 

 bear? a bust of the King, with the inscription Georgius II., Dei Gratia 

 (Geo)-ge II. by the Grace of God). On the reverse side we have the 

 following letters :— M. B. F. ET. H. EEX. F. D. B. ET. L. D. S. E. I. 

 A. T. ET. E., 1729. The reading in full is as follows : Magnge Britannise, 

 Francia\, Et Hiberniœ, Eex : Fidei Defensor, Brunsvicensis Et Lunen- 

 bergensis Dux, Sancti Eomani Imperii Archi-Thesaurarius et Elector." 

 In English — " King of Great Britain, France and Ireland, Defender of 

 the Faith, Duke of Brunswick and Lunenberg, Arch-Treasurer of the 

 Holy Eoman Empire, and Elector." 



The other numerous titles mentioned above are not shown. Probably 

 lie did not think them worth recording, or, perhaps, there was no room 

 for them. 



The first part of this Inscription relating to the claim of the King 

 of England to the Crown of France and Ireland has already been fully 

 explained; also that relating to the Holy Eoman Empire. 



The title of " Fidei Defensor," Defender of the Faith, adopted by 

 the Sovereigns of Great Britain, was originally conferred on Henry 

 y III. by Pope Leo X. in the year 1521. It was granted to Henry for 

 his celebrated work, a treatise on " The Seven Sacraments," written by 

 the King (or, at least, accredited to him) in reply to Luther's " Baby- 

 lonish Captivity of the Church." A copy of this work bound in cloth 

 of gold, and bearing the King's autograph, was presented to the Pope, 

 who read it with delight and eagerness, and published a Bull conferring 

 the above mentioned title on the Eoyal Author. In this work Henry 

 defended the doctrine of Transubstantiation, the Mass, Seven Sacra- 

 ments, etc., doctrines which were afterwards repudiated, and which up 

 to the present day the Sovereign of England is obliged, on his accession 

 to the throne, to declare that he believes to be idolatrous and blasphemous, 

 whiles, by a strange inconsistency, he retains the title conferred by tlie 

 Pope. Whether it was owing to a sense of this incongruity or not, I 

 cannot say, but in the year 1849 (12th A^ictoria) a Florin was struck 

 on which these letters (F. D.) as well as the others (D. G.) did not 

 appear. The inscription being simply Victoria Regina. The omission 



