THE RISE BETWEEN 1501 AND 1540. 737 



slightly cheapened, and was progressively getting cheaper ; and 

 I think that, had Henry held his hand in 1543, the rise in 

 prices, inevitable from the discovery of the New World, would 

 have gone on the lines and by the degrees indicated in the 

 above figures, though it might have been accelerated, as the 

 new silver was rapidly added to the currencies of Europe 1 . 



1 The actual weight of the base money was 631,950155. Its nominal value is said 

 to have been 638,113, a nearness of amount which gives colour to the possibility 

 hinted at above (p. 188) and in the first volume, that payments were long made by 

 weight. The actual amount of sterling silver in the base money was 244,416 Ibs., i.e. 

 at 6os. in the pound Troy, 733,248 in the new coinage. The average debasement 

 was therefore 60 per cent, in the whole of the issues. It is not a little remarkable that 

 the difference between the weight and reputed value of the base currency is very nearly 

 the same as the ratio of rise between the old and new money values of provisions. 



The story told by Stowe, that the dross left in the process of refining was so copious 

 that the roads were mended with it, is absurd. The alloy was copper or brass, and 

 would certainly have been reduced. See Ruding and James. 



VOL. IV. 3 B 



