Dumfries Treasurers' Accounts. 295 



not successful ; and the Council is found shortly afterwards 

 purchasing coal at Sanquhar. 



The contract with these colliers gives us the exact value 

 of the ;^ Scots at the time. It was exactly one-twelfth of 

 the ;£j sterling. Throughout these Accounts the payments 

 and totals are always reckoned in Scottish currency, and it 

 is therefore necessary to divide both the charge and the dis- 

 charge by twelve to obtain an approximate idea of the 

 revenue of the Burgh. Scotland derived its coinage from 

 England; both currencies were based on the system of 

 Charlemagne, with the silver pound as the unit. Owing to 

 the wars with England, and perhaps in imitation of his allies 

 in France, Bruce had to debase the coinage in 1355, with the 

 result that it sank in value, till in 1600 ;£^i Scots was equiva- 

 lent in value to one-twelfth of ;£'i sterling, i.e., is 8d 

 (Cochran-Patrick, Records of the Coinage, Ixxvi.) Scottish 

 coins as currency were in consequence prohibited in England, 

 where a pound of silver, which contained ;^3 sterling, was 

 made into ;£^36 Scots. According to Chambers {Eiicyclo- 

 pcedia, vide " pound "), the ;£. i Scots was divided into 20 

 shillings, each worth an English penny, a statement sup- 

 ported by iMoryson [I tin., i., 283). " The Scots of old called 

 20 English pence a pound; as we in England call 20 silver 

 shillings a pound." At the Union of the Crowns in 1603 

 nothing was done to correct this anomaly, but at the political 

 Union of the two countries in 1707 it was provided that both 

 should adopt the English currency. Two other coins are 

 mentioned in these .Accounts. .A dollar is given as worth 

 58s Scots. On the other hand, seven " dolloris " were 

 receive:! from Thomas Welsche, \alued ;^'i9, i.e., about 

 ;^2 14s 7d Scots eacii. According to Cochran-Patrick (ii., 

 plate xiv.), a dollar in 1675-8 was worth 53s 4d. The dollar 

 in fact was of varying value. It was a large silver coin 

 introduced into England well before 1600, and known in 

 .Aberdeen as early as 1560 (Murray's Diet.). It was the 



he judged the Coalls point towards the Scots side But could find 

 noe prospect or probability of finding a workable coall in any part 

 of the Scots side" (MS. Sederunt Book of the Society, in the pos- 

 session of the D. & G. N. H. «fe A. Society. Ed.). 



