CHAP. XXIV. USE OF GOLD AND SILVER. 203 



cifixes, chalices, flagons, processional and other 

 crosses, batons de chantre, vessels for holy water 

 and for incense; besides chandeliers, lamps, shrines, 

 reliquares, images, boxes for holy oil, and various 

 small articles used in the different parts of de- 

 votion. Many parts of the dress made of gold or 

 of silver, especially buckles for belts for the body 

 and for the swords, are enumerated ; besides the 

 hilts and guards of the swords and sabres, and 

 many ornaments for the harness of the war and 

 other horses. 



This long list of articles contained in the or- 

 dinance is framed to ensure the stamping of the 

 several portions of the gold and silver articles, and 

 to afford a security to the purchasers that they 

 were of the legal degree of purity ; but it shows 

 that a large portion of those metals must in that 

 age have been applied to other uses than that of 

 conversion into coin in France. 



The ordinance was not extended to articles of 

 less than an ounce in weight, and therefore, as far 

 as relates to gold, the greater part of the objects to 

 which that metal was applied, such as rings for 

 the fingers and for the ears, beads for counting 

 prayers, and small trinkets of various kinds, were 

 not amenable to the laws for assaying. 



At the early part of the period the consumption Spain. 

 of the precious metals in Spain must have borne 

 some proportion to its wealth and its devotion. 

 At the close of the seventeenth century we find 



