4] A TOPOGRAPHICAL 



King Stephen to Walter, Bishop of Coventry, (trt which place the 

 see of Lichfield was then transferred,) and his successors, yet not a 

 single coin, issuing from it, has yet been discovered. From this 

 circumstance only it might fairly be inferred, that the quantity of 

 specie (if any) which it issued was extremely small, But when 

 we recollect, that out of more than 400 coins of Stephen (who 

 granted the mint) found near Ashby-de-la-Zojsch, not more than 

 fourteen miles from Lichfield, not one was found bearing the name 

 of that city, and moreover, that no coins of any subsequent Mo- 

 narch struck there have yet been discovered, we may safely con- 

 clude, that, from some circumstance or other, now unknown, no 

 Mint was ever established. We must therefore descend for many 

 centuries before we meet with any coin of this place ; and the 

 first which occurs, is in the time of Charles the Second, when it 

 appears, that the Corporation struck a Farthing Token, in order to 

 relieve the inhabitants from the scarcity of change under which 

 they then laboured. This curious Coin, which is octagonal, has 

 on the obverse, in Italic letters, within an octagonal compartment, 

 the words " The Citty of/* circumscribed " To supply the poore's 

 need." On the reverse, in the field of the coin, is " Litchiield," 

 being a continuation of the first-mentioned legend in the same si- 

 tuation, and round it, " Is Charity indeed ;" so that the inscrip- 

 tions on both sides of the coin, if connected, will run thus : " The 

 Citty of Litchfield" "To supply the poore's need" " Is charity 

 indeed/' This coin, which is remarkable for having a poetical le- 

 gend, is dated 1670. 



That Farthings were issued by the tradesmen of Lichfield, as 

 well as by those of other places, at this period, there can be no 

 doubt. Snelling, in his list of Towns whose Traders struck Farth- 

 ing Tokens, mentions, among others, Lichfield ; but as he gives no 

 representation or even verbal description of the coin which af- 

 forded him authority for placing this city in that list, and as we 

 have, moreover, not been so fortunate as to meet with it, it is not 

 in our power to give a description of it. The Repository, of all 

 others apparently the most likely to exhibit the coins struck at 

 Lichfield, should seem to be the celebrated Museum begun by 

 the late ingenious Mr. R. Greene, of that place, and, as we believe, 

 still preserved entire. 



In the year 1794, Mr. Barker, of this city, struck two tokens, 

 of silver, as it should seem, (though not mentioned by Pyr) both of 

 which have on the obverse, in a shield, (each side of which is orna- 

 mented with a wreath,) the Aims of the City of Lichfield. On the 



