CURRENCY. 175 



the coin issued was of the finest quality, and that no notable 

 change could have taken place in the proportion subsisting 

 between the two metals in the course of five years, the remon- 

 strance must have arisen either from an impression that such 

 a currency was not needed, or from a suspicion that its quality 

 was indifferent. On every occasion conceivable the Commons 

 petition against public grievances. Is it reasonable to conclude 

 that they would be silent when the Mint issued depreciated 

 coins, and the inevitable consequence, the total disappearance, 

 namely, of the older and heavier currency, ensued ? The 

 money-changers were hanged or imprisoned when suspected 

 or convicted of the offence of clipping, can we imagine that 

 in an age of strong remonstrance and expostulation the crown 

 would have been allowed to diminish the silver by one-tenth 

 without complaint and in silence ? 



I am strongly of opinion that the coinage, though apparently ./ 

 counted by tale, was really weighed. In inventories of plate, 

 silver is always reckoned as weighing so many pounds, shil- 

 lings, and pence. The accounts which I have investigated 

 speak constantly of weighing silver, and of purchases of scales 

 for the purpose; and the parties who render accounts, as, for 

 instance, the bursars of Merton college, claim allowances, small 

 it is true in amount when compared with the sums passing 

 through themselves, for cc falsa moneta" and "defectus pondera- 

 tionis." Thus in 1316, this official of the College, who disbursed 

 the largest part of the annual income of the society in the main- 

 tenance and allowances of the fellows, claims d. on this head ; 

 in 1321, is. 9<t.- 9 in 1322, y. ij</.; in 1324, #.; in 1325, 5^.5 

 in 1326, tyd. in 1327, 7^.; in 1328, 4^.; in 1329, 8d. j in 

 1334, 2s. 2</.; in 1340, is.; in 1344, 9^.- in 1346, zs.o^.; in 

 1347, is. 8*/. Is it not reasonable to conclude that in these 

 cases the separate sums paid to the bursars by the bailiffs, 

 though they were nearly equal or apparently equal to the 

 weight in each case, shewed some deficiency in the aggregate ? 

 Coins may have been issued by the Mint containing less than 

 the customary or Tower standard, but I should doubt whether 



