SHILLING. 



fying a weight ; but others, with greater probability, de- 

 duce it from the l,?ili\\ficHicus, which fignified in that lan- 

 guage, a quarter of an ounce, or the forty-eighth part of a 

 Roman pound. In confirmation of this etymology, it is 

 alleged, that the (hiUing kept its original fignification, and 

 bore the fame proportion to the Saxon pound, as ficilicus did 

 to the Roman and the Greek, being exaftly the forty- 

 eighth part of the Saxon pound ; a difcovery which we 

 owe to Mr. Lambarde. Explicatio Rerum et Verborum 

 in Legg. Sax. voc. Libra. 



Others fay, that the (hilling was at firfl a German appel- 

 lation, fchelUng ; coins of which name had been ilruck at 

 Hamburgh in 1407. 



However, the Saxon laws reckon the pound in the round 

 number at fifty fhiUings, but they really coined^ out of it 

 only forty-eight ; the vdue of the (hilling was five-pence ; 

 but it was reduced to four-pence above a century before 

 the Conqueft ; for feveral of the Saxon laws made in Athel- 

 ftan's reign, oblige us to take this eltimate. Thus it con- 

 tinued to the Norman times, as one of the Conqueror's laws 

 (Legg. Sax. p. 221.) fufficiently afcertains ; and it feems 

 to have been the common coin by which the Englifh pay- 

 ments were adjufted. After the Conqueft, the French 

 folidus of twelve-pence, which was in ufe among the Nor- 

 mans, was called by the Englifli name of fhilling ; and the 

 Saxon (hilling of four-pence took a Norman name, and 

 was called the groat, or great coin, becaufe it was the 

 largeft Engli(h coin then known in England. 



The groat, from the French gros, a large piece, was in- 

 troduced by Edward IIL in 1354, and continues, though 

 not in common circulation, to this day. The half-groat, or 

 two-pence, is of the fame date and continuance. In Scot- 

 land, about the year 1553, were firft coined teftoons, or 

 fhiUings, bearing the butt of the queen, and the arms of 

 France and Scotland on the reverfe : they being of the 

 fame intrinfic value as thofe of England, were then worth 

 four (hillings, and the half-teftoon two, Scottifh money. 



It has been the opinion of bilhops Fleetwood and Gib- 

 fon, and of the antiquaries in general, that though the 

 method of reckoning by pounds, marks, and (liillings, as 

 well as by pence and farthings, had been in conftant ufe 

 even from the Saxon times, long before the Norman con- 

 queft, there never was fuch a coin in England as either a 

 poinid or a mark, nor any fhilling or teftoon, till the year 

 1503, 1504, or 1505; but in the twentieth year of king 

 Henry VII. (A.D. 1505,) a few filver (hillings, or twelve- 

 pences, were coined, being about one-half the fize of the 

 modern (hillings, or forty out of a pound weight of filver, 

 which were fair and broad pieces. Thefe, however, it is 

 faid, have long fince been folely confined to the cabinets 

 of colleftors. 



Mr. Clarke combats this opinion, alleging, that fome 

 coins mentioned by Mr. Folkes, under Edward I. were 

 probably Saxon (hillings new minted, and that archbi(hop 

 Aelfnc (Gram. Saxon, p. 52, at the end of Somner's 

 Saxon Diction,) exprefely fays, that the Saxons had three 

 names for their money, wa. mancufes, (hillings, and pen- 

 nies. He alfo urges the different value of the Saxon (bil- 

 ling at different times, and its uniform proportion to the 

 pound, as an argument, that their fhilling was a coin ; and 

 the teftimony of the Saxon gofpels, in which the word we 

 have tranflated piecei of filver, is rendered fhiUings, which, 

 he fays, they wouid hardly have done, if there had been no 

 fuch coin as a (hilling then in ufe. Accordingly, the 

 Saxons expreffed their fhilling in Latin by ^rA/j and ar- 

 genteus. 



He farther adds, that the Sa.xon iliiUing was never ex- 



preffed hj folidus, tiU after the Norman fettlements in Eng.. 

 land : and howfoever it altered during the long period that 

 elapfed from the Conqueft to the time of Henry VII. it 

 was the moll conftant denomination of money in all pay- 

 ments, though it was then only a fpecies of account, or 

 the twentieth part of the pound llerling : and when it was 

 again revived as a coin, it lellened gradually as the pound 

 fterling leffened, from the twenty-eighth of Edward III. 

 to the forty-third of Elizabeth. Clarke on Coins, &c. 

 p. 120. 152. 155. 200. 376. 



Silver farthings ceafed with Edward VI., but the filver 

 half-pence continued the fole coins till Charles II. The 

 filver penny was much ufed to the end of the reign of 

 George I., and fo far from being no where to be found, as 

 Hume affirms (Hill. vol. vi.), is fuperabundant of every 

 reign fince that period, not excepting even the prefent 

 reign of George III. 



In the year 1560, there was a peculiar fort of fhiUing 

 llruck in Ireland, of the value ef nine-pence Englifli, 

 which paded in Ireland for twelve-pence. The motto 

 on the reverfe of thefe is, posui deu.m adjutore.m 



MEUM. 



Eighty-two of thefe fhiUings, according to Malynes, 

 went to the pound, they therefore weighed twenty grains 

 one-fourth each, which is fomewhat heavier in proportion 

 than the Englifh fhilling of that time, fixty-two of which 

 went to the pound, each weighing ninety-two grains feven- 

 eighths ; and the Irifti fhilling being valued at the Tower 

 at nine-pence Englifh, that is, one-fourth part lefs than 

 the Englifh (hilling, it fhould, therefore, proportionably 

 weigh one-fourth part lefs, and its full weight be fomewhat 

 more than fixty-two grains ; but fome of them found at 

 this time, though much worn, weighed fixty-nine grains. 

 In the year 1598, five different pieces of money of this 

 kind were ftruck in England for the fervice of the king- 

 dom of Ireland. 



Thefe were (hillings to be current in Ireland at twelve- 

 pence each ; half (hillings to be current at fix-pence ; and 

 quarter (hillings at three-pence. 



Pennies and halfpennies were alfo ftruck of the fame kinds 

 and fent over for the payment of the army in Ireland. 

 The money thus coined was of a very bafe mixture of 

 copper and filver ; and two years after there were m.ore 

 pieces of the fame kinds ftruck for the fame fervice, which 

 were (till worfe ; the former being three ounces of filver 

 to nine ounces of copper ; and thefe latter only two ounces 

 eighteen pennyweights, to nine ounces two pennyweights 

 of the alloy. Simon's Iri(h Coins. 



The Dutch, Flemidi, and Germans, have likewife their 

 fiiilling, cMed fchelin, fehilling, fcalin, &c. ; but thefe, not 

 being of the fame weight or finenefs with the Englifli (hil- 

 ling, are not current at the fame value. See Schillixg 

 and Skillixg. 



The pound Flcmifh in accounts is divided into twenty 

 ftiillings, and fubdividcd into twelve groots or pence Flerai(h. 

 The coins in Holland are good (hillings, or efcalins, and 

 half ditto, at fix and three ftivers ; unilamped or bafe (hil- 

 lings reckoned at five and a half (livers, and called fefthalfs. 

 At Hamburgh, accounts are kept in fliillingo, fixteen of 

 which are equal to a mark, and each containing twelve 

 pfenings ; and fometimes in pounds, (hillings and pence 

 Flemiih ; the pound being equal to twenty fhiUings, and 

 the (hilling equal to twelve-pence or grotes. 



The Englifh fiiilling is worth about twenty-three French 

 fols ; thofe of Holland and Germany about eleven fols and 

 a half; thofe of Flanders about nine. The Dutch fhiUings 

 are alfo called yi/f de gros, becaufe equal to twelve gros. 



The 



