690 GOLD 



Tho style of the golden weapons, torques, bracelets, &c., that have been found at 

 various times is very simple, and quite unlike the style of ornamentation of the early 

 Christian period ; it is therefore naturally inferred that they belonged to a time long 

 anterior to that. 



It is, however, certain that the Romans actually discovered gold in Wales, and 

 wrought it too: for independently of the statement of Tacitus, just quoted, then- an- 

 evidences, plenty, of Roman mine-works where gold must have been the principal, if 

 not the sole object of exploration. One of the most remarkable is Gogofau, in Cacr- 

 marthenshire. 1 This gold-mine is situate on the banks of the Cothy, and forms part of 

 the grounds of Dolau-Cothy. Hero a quartz-lode has been 'worked open to tho day,' 

 nud levels driven 170 feet through the slate. Tho officers of tho Geological Survey 

 discovered gold here, and a metallurgical workshop. Amongst other things a beautiful 

 gold necklace was found, which is now in the possession of Mrs. Johnnes, tho wife of 

 the gentleman to whom the property belongs. Other instances might bo cited, in 

 proof of the former existence of gold in tolerably large quantities in many parts of 

 these islands. 3 



Strabo coincides with Tacitus, as to the precious metals : but Caesar makes no 

 mention of gold and silver. Cicero (B.C. 106) says: 'In Britannia nihil esse audio 

 neque auri neque argenti,' 3 and, in another Epistle (ad Attic.) ho says, 'it was well 

 known that not a single grain of silver could be found in the island.' 4 The statements 

 of Cicero do not, however, tally with subsequent history, and are contradicted by 

 Camden and other modern authorities. Probably there is not, and never was, gold 

 ' and silver enough discovered in Britain to be, as Tacitus thought, ' the price ot 

 . victory ; ' yet the comparative scarcity of precious stones .at the time would tend to 

 pre-induce a desire to possess in quantity the next best representatives of value, tho 

 precious and the baser metals. 



Cimboline, prince of the Trinobantes, had a coinage of gold. This was supposed 

 to be made of British gold, obtained in Essex, but the Essex gold mine is exceedingly 

 problematical. 



An idea appears constantly to have prevailed that the gold of this country was by 

 no means of insignificant quantity or value. The 'avarice of kings' and the exigencies 

 of State, as soon'as possible, and as a matter of course, laid claim not only to all the 

 gold and silver found, but to all the baser metals as well. These pretensions were, 

 however, subsequently abandoned, and the Crown was divested of all rights in minerals, 

 except gold and silver ; these precious metals being retained, as it was said, ' for tho 

 purposes of coinage, and to support the dignity of the Crown.' 5 That great legal 

 authority, Sir Edward Coke, laid down the law, ' that vcyns of gold and silver in the 

 grounds of subjects belong to the king by his prerogative, for they are Hoy all mines,' * 

 and the Justices and Barons in the ' Great Case of Mines' (1568) unanimously agreed, 7 

 ' That by the law, all mines of gold and silver within tho realm, whether in the lands 

 of the queen or her subjects, belong to the queen by prerogative, with liberty to dig 

 and carry it away.' And so firmly was the prerogative of the Crown thus established, 

 that it was agreed that a royal mine could not be severed from tho Crown ; but the 

 judges overruled this. The only doubt existing in the time of Elizabeth was whether, 

 if gold and silver were found intermixed with the baser metals, the whole became a 

 royal mine. 



Some contended that any quantity of gold or silver so found was sufficient, whilst 

 others held the opinion that the gold and silver must exceed in value the other metals ; 

 but the judges decided that even where tho gold or silver in a mine of base metals in 

 tho land of a subject was of less value than the base metal, tho mere circumstance of 

 its existence makes it a royal mine. The uncertainty of the law, on this decision, 

 caused general distrust, and destroyed to a great extent this kind of enterprise ; there- 

 fore, in tho first year of William and Mary an act was passed (cap. 30.) wherein it 

 was declared that no mine of copper, tin, iron, or lead, shall hereafter be adjudged 

 a royal mine, although gold or silver might be extracted out of the same. This pro- 

 vision, also, was soon considered insufficient, and in tho fifth year of William and 

 Mary, an act was passed ( cap. 6.) entitled ' An Act to prevent Disputes and Controversies 

 concerning Royal Mines, wherein it was enacted, that all persons, being subjects of tho 

 crown of England, owners of mines within the kingdom of England, dominion of 



1 ' Note on the Gogofim or Ogofau Mine, near Pumpsnnt in Cacrmarthenshirc.' By W. W. Smyth, 

 If. A., 'Memoirs of the Geological Survey of the United Kingdom.' 



See ' Lectures on Gold,' delivered in the Museum of Practical Geology. 



Epist. ad Famil. 



Sir John Pettus, Fodirux Regales. 



Plowden, 338. Black. ' Com.,' Stephcns's edit. 1858, vol. II. p. 556. 



' Inst.' 132 ; 2 Inst.' 576, 1861 . 



See ' The Law relating to Mines, Minerals and Quarries in Great Britain and Ireland.' By 

 Arundul Rogers, Esq. 



