ISSUES OF HENRY AND EDWARD. 735 



mitted, and the intrinsic value of the issue was little more 

 than one-sixth of that at which the unit stood in 1527. The 

 coinage of 1552 has been treated as a reform by some writers, 

 but it is certain that it was not accompanied by a redemption 

 of the base coin at its nominal value, and it was probably 

 intended only for that financial operation by which Gresham 

 restored the King's credit, as far as the foreign exchanges went, 

 at Antwerp. Good and bad money never circulate together 

 at equal rates in the same market. 



My reader will now, I think, conclude with me that the rise 

 in prices which occurs between 1545 and 1549 he will re- 

 member that 1545 means from September 29th of that year to 

 the same date in 1546, and so throughout the entries in these 

 volumes follows so closely on the issue of the base coin as 

 to be referable to that cause entirely. A shilling of 1543, 

 when the first debasement was effected (the amount perhaps 

 at that time escaping the attention of the general public), was 

 worth two shillings and sixpence of the issue of 1546, almost 

 the same amount as the difference between corn prices in 

 1401-1540 and 1541-1582, and five times the issue of 1551. 

 No wonder that Latimer in 1549 stated that 'the naughtiness 

 of silver is the occasion of dearth of all things in the realm,' 

 and quoted Isaiah, that * thy silver hath become dross V 



It is, I believe, impossible to determine the extent to which a 

 government can exact a seignorage upon the metallic currency, 

 or issue inconvertible paper, which it professes that it will 

 hereafter redeem, without disturbing internal prices. It may 

 even give the appearance of prosperity to the country in which 

 such a policy is adopted, by heightening the price of exports, 

 for assuredly English wool, when the weight of the piece of 

 silver was lessened, whatever might have occurred to articles 

 produced and consumed at home, sold at better nominal prices 

 in the Flemish market, since the coin in such transactions 

 became bullion. The monetary history of communities is full 



1 The reader may find more on the facts of the case in Ruding, ii. 460. 



