THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. 55 



commerce, which required that money should be expressed in a 

 small portable form. Hence, Bills of Exchange, Promissory Notes, 

 Drafts, and other commercial paper media. Paper money, however, 

 did not fill all that was wanted, and the worthy company of gold- 

 smiths of London, as early as 1600, issued notes to pay for monies 

 loaned them on security — the first banking institution in England, 

 on record. In 1604, the Bank of England was projected, and went 

 into operation, issuing its notes — and then came consols, stocks, and 

 shares representing the National Debt of England, somewhere now 

 about ;^8oo,ooo,ooo. 



The numismatic researches which have been carried on with 

 indefatigable industry by some of the most eminent scholars, may 

 seem simply curious, but like all other historical studies, convey 

 many useful lessons. Coins and medallions perpetuate the memory 

 of great nations, and faithful to its change of fame the medal has 

 transmitted events, the history of which must otherwise have long 

 since perished. They comprise a compendious chart of history, 

 chronology, and heathen mythology, a system of classic architecture, 

 and they constitute an accurate commentary upon the more celebrated 

 poems of Greece and Rome. It is not the metal, but the erudition 

 that stamps the value of a coin in a cabinet. 



The names of various coins are traceable with a little research, 

 and show how ordinary adaptations have brought them into common 

 use, without, very often, a thought being given to their origin. Some 

 are from their weight, as the word "Pound" — the French "Livre" — 

 Italian "Lira," — others from the metal as "Rupee" from the Sanscrit 

 word "Rupya" — silver ; others from their design, as the "Angel"— the 

 "Testoon" from teste, or "tete" a head ; others from the State, as a 

 "Sovereign," "Crown" ; others from the proper name of the monarch, 

 as the "Daric" from "Darius" — the "Louis d'or" — the "Napoleon.'* 

 The Dollar, or Thaler is from the "Joachims Thaler," or money of the 

 Joachims valley, where these coins were first struck in the i6th century. 

 Guineas took their name from the country where the gold composing 

 them was obtained, and the first guineas bore the impression of an 

 elephant in token of their African origin. The "Franc" is an 

 abbreviation of Franconum Rex. The "Sou" is from the Latin 

 "Solidus." "Shilling" is derived from a word signifying "to divide'' 

 and the name is sometimes taken to signify the fraction of a larger 

 coin, as " half-penny," " farthing," "cent "and "mill." The word 



