280 
pennies. Having experienced the beneficial effects of this 
expedient, he soon afterwards coined 270 pennies out of the 
same pound of silver. By this imposition not only the creditors 
of the crown, but all other creditors were defrauded of about 
one-tenth of their property, being compelled to receive in 
payment, money of less value than they had lent. The effect, 
however, was to produce a general rise in the price of commod- 
ities, and the poor were greatly distressed by the enhancement 
of the necessaries of life. Edward, nevertheless, continued to 
depreciate the value of the coin, and endeavoured to conceal 
the fraud by the introduction of a new coin, the groat, 
nominally worth 4d, but in reality only worth 33d; and in 1358 
he made 75 groats or 300 pennies out of one pound of silver. 
Henry VIII adulterated his coin in the most scandalous 
manner. Before his time the mixed mint puund consisted of 
11 oz. 2 dwts. of silver, and 18 dwts. of alloy, In 1548, Henry 
altered it to 100z. of silver and 2 oz. of alloy. In 1545 he 
made money with equal quantities of silver and of alloy, and 
not content with that, in 1546 he put 8 oz. of alloy to 4+ oz. of 
silver, and even out of this base mixture he proceeded to coin 
576 pennies instead of 540, which had been the number since 
the reign of Henry IV. The Ministers of Edward VI, 
however, out harried Harry, by mixing 9 oz. of alloy with 3 oz. 
of silver, and out of a pound of this stuff coining 864 pennies. 
At the end of his reign, however, Edward restored the coinage 
to its proper fineness, which was continued through the reign 
of Mary. 
In the Great Rebellion, the coin, which was struck in 
various places, and made of various materials, became much 
debased. 
James II was, perhaps, the worst depreciator of all, 
though his exploits in that point were confined to Ireland. He 
melted down brass cannon in Dublin, and made them into money 
which he stamped with the value of silver coins; thus a piece 
of brass about the size of a half-penny stamped with XXXD 
served His Majesty for half-a-crown. 
