324 VARIATION IN THE 



CHAP. XII. 



that rate till the third of Edward VI. in the 

 year 1550, when the pound was coined into 

 seventy-two shillings ; but in the sixth year of 

 that prince the value of the shilling was in- 

 creased, sixty being coined from the pound. This 

 rate was continued through the reign of Mary to 

 the forty-third of Elizabeth, when sixty-two shil- 

 lings, as has been continued to the present time, 

 with the recent exception, were made from a 

 pound, and the fineness of the silver was improved. 

 In order to simplify to the reader the view 

 intended to be presented, the money mentioned, 

 in the several ancient writers hereafter quoted, 

 will be reduced into money of the present day, 

 on the assumption, that the statement of the 

 alteration here given is sufficiently correct for 

 the purposes of this inquiry, though there may 

 be some exceptions, owing to short variations in 

 the course of so many centuries. Some devia- 

 tions were made on the introduction of gold 

 coin about the year 1395, on account of the ^re- 

 lative value of that metal to silver being fixed 

 by the king too high, which made the public 

 reluctant to receive it. Henry the sixth, in the 

 first year of his reign, 1422, coined the pound of 

 silver into thirty-seven shillings and sixpence, 

 but in the fourth year brought it to thirty shil- 

 lings, and in the last year again reduced it to 

 thirty-seven and sixpence. There are other 

 smaller instances of deviation. If all of these 



