246 UNIVERSAL ERUDITION. 



bits of rough copper in the room of leather, 

 which they called <fs rude, and reckoned by their 

 weight : thefe were after marked according 

 to their weight, and laftly, with images. And 

 we ftill lee, on the moft ancient coins, the figures 

 of animals, and especially of oxen and fwine, 

 Numa, toward the end of his reign, began to 

 caft money, and it was from him that came the 

 word Nummus. They formed pieces of money 

 of different weights, and marked on each, a* we 

 have juft laid, its weight, or its intriniic value^ 

 It is time that perfects ail inventions, *nd k wis 

 time that taught the ancient nations (as it may 

 one day teach the modern Swedes) that the 

 precious merals were more commodious in the 

 commerce of life, and that a lefs weight mi& t 

 exprefs, and be equal to, a greater value , and 

 from difcovering this, they came to form money 

 of filver and gold. 



IV. But, in the daily ufe of thefe pieces, 

 it would be impofllble always to weigh them, 

 and much fraud might arife by depending on 

 their marks. To obviate this inconvenience, 

 the fovereigns of each country took on them 

 the exclufive office of making money ; and 

 that the public might be certain the weight was 

 juftly marked, they ftarnped them on one fide 

 with their image, and on the other with their 

 arms or cypher : which practice has continued 

 to the prefent day : and it is manifeft, that the 

 credit and glory of a prince is concerned in, 



having 



