Page:Craik History of British Commerce Vol 1.djvu/272

270 had been by his father. At first, indeed, he diminished the quantity of alloy from eight to six ounces in the pound; but in 1551 he increased it to nine, leaving only three ounces of silver in the pound of mixed metal out of which the different pieces of money were struck. Then, instead of 48s., as in the last reign, 72s. were now coined out of the pound. That is to say, instead of the old rate of 450 pennies out of more than eleven ounces of silver, three ounces were now made to yield 864 pennies. The public inconvenience and confusion, however, that resulted from this prodigious depreciation came at length to be so severely felt that, towards the end of the reign, vigorous measures were taken to restore the coinage to its ancient standard; and in 1552 the alloy in the pound of silver was reduced to nineteen pennyweights, or to within one pennyweight of what it had always been down to the thirty-fourth year of Henry VIII. At the same time the number of shillings into which the pound of metal was coined was reduced from 72 to 60. The gold coin, which had been as much depreciated as the silver, was likewise restored to the same extent. Edward VI. was the first English king that issued crowns, half-crowns, and sixpences of silver, if we except a crown struck by his father, which does not seem to have been intended for circulation.

One of Queen Mary's first proceedings was to issue a proclamation for the regulation of the coinage, in which she dilated upon the great mischiefs that had ensued from the base money of the two preceding reigns; but in her own first coinage, nevertheless, she once more slightly reduced the fineness of the metal, making the alloy of the pound of silver an ounce instead of nineteen penny-weights, and adding also two pennyweights more of alloy to the pound of gold. The coins struck after her marriage bear her husband's head and name as well as her own. Some authorities state that crowns of gold were struck by Philip and Mary; but no such pieces are now known to exist. The complete restoration of the coinage was reserved for Queen Elizabeth. In the second year of her reign