218 ADDRESS TO THE [LECT. 



The figure of Britannia on our present specimens was 

 copied from a coin of Antoninus. 



The " mark " was originally Danish, but is said to have 

 been introduced here by Alfred ; it contained at first 

 100, and afterwards 160 pennies. It was never struck, 

 but was only a money of account. Throughout Nor- 

 man times, the halfpenny and farthing were, as a rule, 

 not separate coins, but halves and quarters of the penny 

 very neatly cut. Though some Saxon halfpence are 

 known, these coins were not struck in any quantity till 

 the reign of Edward the First. Our gold coins recom- 

 menced under Henry the Third, who coined gold pieces 

 intended to pass for twenty pence. Edward the Third 

 struck gold florins, current for six shillings. This coin 

 being found inconvenient, he issued the " noble," some- 

 times called the " rose noble," worth six shillings and 

 eightpence, or half a mark. This, with its half and 

 quarters, was our only gold coin, till the " angel " of 

 Edward the Fourth. 



Groats and half-groats were introduced by Edward 

 the Third. They received their name from the French 

 " gros," a large piece. It was one of the charges against 

 Wolsey that he put his cardinal's hat on the money 

 struck in the archiepiscopal mint at York. The " shilling," 

 though long used in accounts, was first actually struck 

 by Henry the Eighth. The silver crown, half-crown, 

 and sixpence commenced under Edward the Sixth. The 

 sovereign of twenty shillings was first struck by Henry 

 the Seventh. The guinea commenced under Charles the 

 Second, in 1663, and was so called from the Guinea 

 gold from which it was made ; it was withdrawn in 



1815, when the sovereign and half-sovereign were again 



I 



