COINS OF TOBACCONISTS. 



135 



the third 

 lines : — 



a quid of tobacco; beneath were the 



We three are engaged in one cause ; 

 I snuffs, I smokes, and I chaws." 



The same distich sometimes appeared on painted signs, 

 beneath figures of a Scotchman, a Dutchman, and a 

 Sailor. 



Throughout the seventeenth century, the want of a 

 small copper currency was awkwardly felt by traders ; 

 and the difficulty was met by each man striking small 

 coins for his own use, bearing his name, trade, and 

 address upon them, and sometimes an engraved allu- 

 sion to his business. Until Charles the Second, in 

 1672, made the issue of such pieces unlawful, and 

 then provided a royal currency in their place, tens of 

 thousands of these coins circulated in every town in 

 the kingdom. They were tacitly received from trader 

 to trader, " for necessary change," as 

 was sometimes expressed upon them. 

 Evelyn notices their popularity in his 

 time ; and that though sometimes re- 

 stricted to the immediate neighbour- 

 hood of the issuer, they served his pur- 

 pose as an advertisement, as well as a 

 convenience. We select two thus issued 

 by tobacconists in London : The first 

 is a farthing upon which is exhibited 

 three pipes, it was issued by " Alexander 

 Sharp, in Chick Lane " (West Smithfield) ; the second 

 is a halfpenny made in the form of a heart, and having 



