Page:Craik History of British Commerce Vol 1.djvu/200

198 for 6s. 8d. and 3s. 4d.; but they were considerably inferior in intrinsic value even to the nobles that had been struck since the last year of the reign of Henry IV.; for, instead of 108 grains, the angel contained only 80 grains. It was, therefore, really worth little more than three-fourths of the late noble, or exactly two-thirds of the original coin of that name. Henry VI. also, during his short restoration to power in 1470, coined angels of gold, and groats and half groats of silver, all after the depreciated standards that had been established by Edward IV. It is not probable that Edward V. coined any money. The gold coins of Richard III. were angels and half angels, of the same weight as his brother's, and bearing Richard's cognizance of a boar's head; his silver money is distinguished from that of Richard II. by being a third lighter.

The depreciation of the coin in Scotland during the present period proceeded much more rapidly, and was carried to a much greater extent, than in England. When James I. returned home, in 1424, he found the real value of the Scottish money very considerably less than that of the English of the same denominations; on which he immediately got an act of parliament passed for restoring the coin to the same weight and fineness with that of England; but it proved of no effect,—the depreciation was carried farther and farther, till at length, at the close of the present period, the Scottish coins were scarcely more than one-fourth of the weight of the English. The pound of silver, which had been originally coined, as in England, into 20 shillings, was coined in 1424 into 37s. 6d.; in 1451 into 64s.; in 1456 into 96s.; and in 1475 into 144s. The value of the Scottish shilling at this last-mentioned date, therefore, was little more than 4½d. of our present money. We shall find, however, that it afterwards declined to a much lower point than this.