2"* S. VI. 153., Dec. 4. '58.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



463 



a dry place, and under three lock?, the vicar and 

 the churchwardens each keeping a key ? I in- 

 cline to this from the fact that documents are 

 more interesting in the places to which they refer 

 than anywhere else. But the i-egister of mar- 

 riages, &c., is only a small portion of the records 

 of a parish. The chest generally contains old title- 

 deeds, conveyances of land, memorandums relating 

 to rates and other local matters, and church- 

 wardens' accounts. All these are highly interest- 

 ing, and highly valuable. The oldest deed in my 

 own parish bears date 1328. I skimmed over every 

 document ; noted down the heads of the contents 

 of each, and then arranged them chronologically. 

 I then wrote all these particulars on the right- 

 hand pages of a book, leaving the left-hand pages 

 for notes and observations ; and this book I have 

 given to the use of the vicar and churchwardens, 

 and the public. Such a catalogue ought to be 

 made in every parish : and if there is not to be 

 found a gentleman who will do it for his amuse- 

 ment, it should be done and paid for. Perhaps if 

 a rate were proposed in vestry, to defray the ex- 

 penses of such a work, it would be resisted by the 

 ignorant portion of the community. The vicar 

 and the churchwardens have given me their 

 warmest thanks for the trouble I took in the com- 

 pilation of this catalogue. Though there are many 

 honourable exceptions to the cases of neglect 

 above alluded to, still, as a rule, it must be de- 

 clared that in every part of the kingdom they are 

 very badly looked after. I have frequently asked 

 myself in whom the power would be that should 

 enforce a greater care being taken of them. In 

 the first place. To whom do they belong ? for the 

 ownership must be somewhere. Do they belong 

 to the incumbents ? Scarcely. To the church- 

 wardens ? Surely not. I know nothing of the law 

 in the case (I wish some of the legal correspon- 

 dents of " N. & Q." would tell us), but why may 

 we not consider them either as national property, 

 like the MSS. in the Kecord Offices in London, 

 or else that they belong to the public, and that the 

 incumbents of the diflerent parishes merely hold 

 them in trust ? In case of any damage befalling 

 them through neglect, unfortunately there does 

 not appear to be any recognised authority which 

 should call them to account, or of which they live 

 in fear. Have not the bishops of the various dio- 

 ceses any power in the matter ? I trust that these 

 discussions will bring out all these points more 

 forcibly, and finally effect what is now so much to 

 be desired. P. Hutchinson. 



portant documents, I have had to lament the 

 great disorder in which the more ancient records 

 were frequently found, and the little care which 

 has been, and still is, taken of them. The nem 

 regulations for the registry of recent and current 

 baptisms, marriages, and burials, seem to be al- 

 most everywhere faithfully attended to. Cannot 

 something be done to prevent farther destruction 

 to the older records ? If there be any statutory 

 or other regulations respecting these valuable 

 papers, a brief statement of them in your pages 

 may perhaps call attention to the subject, and aid 

 the object in view. Pishey TnoMrsoN. 



Stoke Xewington. 



I have lately had occasion to make a search 

 among the church registers of many parishes in 

 Lincolnshire and elsewhere ; and whilst I acknow- 

 ledge the courtesy and kindness with which, al- 

 most uniformly, every facility was afforded to my 

 inquiries by the official custodians of those im- 



FRENCH AND ENGLISH COIN. 



(2°'* S. vi. 266. 357.) 



I am much obliged to INIr. Buckton for his re- 

 ference to Say's Political Economy. From it I 

 learn that, in the time of Charlemagne, the French 

 livre (like the Anglo-Saxon pound) represented a 

 pound weight of silver. 



Looking at the pound weight of Charlemagne, 

 as being (like the English pound of silver) divisi- 

 ble into ounces, pennyweights, and grains, it will 

 be seen that originally the French livre (like the 

 pound of this country) represented 240 penny- 

 weights of silver : that the French sous (like the 

 shilling of this country) represented 12 penny- 

 weights; and thus the French denier (like the 

 English penny) weighed 1 pennyweight, or 24 

 grains. 



In order to complete the comparison, there are 

 two points that require to be ascertained : — 1. the 

 relative weight of the pound in the two countries ; 

 2. the relative fineness of the silver. 



If I am not mistaken, the pound weight of silver 

 among the Anglo-Saxons, as well as under the 

 Norman and Plantagenet kings, was that which is 

 designated as the 7ou'er pound: being lighter than 

 the pound Troy in the proportion of 15 to 16. 



What was the weight of Charlemagne s pound ? 

 On the second point, I may begin with giving an 

 answer to part at least of Mr. Eastwood's in- 

 quiry {1"^ S. vi. 373.). On referring to Ruding's 

 Annals of the Coinage (vol. i.), it will be seen 

 that the' standard of fineness among the Anglo- 

 Saxons was (what our standard of fineness still 

 is) 11 oz. 2 dwts. fine to 18 dwts. of alloy. What 

 was Charlemagne's standard of fineness ? 



From the data furnished by Say I collect that 

 in the reign of St. Louis (1226—1270), the livre 

 represented no more than about 56 dwts. of silver ; 

 the denier weighing only about 5i grains. At that 

 time the English pcnvy weighed 22 grains, or 

 thereabouts : so that, supposing the pound weight 

 to have been the same in both countiies, the value 

 of £ s. d. sterling must (in the reign of our Hen. 



