Page:Craik History of British Commerce Vol 2.djvu/131

Rh the coinage had actually been reduced is most clearly set forth in an "Essay for the Amendment of the Silver Coin," which appeared in 1695, and the author of which evidently writes from official sources of information. He computes the entire silver money coined by Queen Elizabeth to have amounted to 4,632,932l.; that coined by James I. to 1,700,000l.; and that coined by Charles I. to 8,776,544l.; making, in all, 15,109,476l. By this time all Queen Elizabeth's crowns, half-crowns, groats, quarter-shillings, half-groats, three-halfpenny pieces, three-farthing pieces, and halfpence, were wholly gone; and also great numbers of her shillings and sixpences. The crowns, groats, twopenny pieces, pence, and halfpence of James I. and Charles I. had likewise all disappeared; with many of their half-crowns, shillings and sixpences. On the whole, this author calculates that there did not remain in circulation more than a third part of this old coinage, or not much above 5,000,000l. sterling. This, however, constituted by far the greater part of the existing silver currency; for the unmelted coins of Charles II., James II., and King William did not amount to more than about 563,000l. Thus the nominal value of the whole silver money of the kingdom, clipped and unclipped, hoarded and current, was about 5,600,000l. But of this about 4,000,000l. consisted of clipped money; while the remaining 1,600,000l. was either hoarded up, or current only in the remote counties. The most curious part of the statement, however, and that also which proceeds upon the surest grounds, is the calculation of the extent to which the clipping had been carried. There had, it seems, been brought into the Mint, in the three months of May, June, and July, 1695, 572 bags, each containing 100l. of silver coin, promiscuously collected, which, according to the standard, ought to have weighed 18,451 lbs. 6 oz. 16 dwts. 8 grs. troy; but the actual weight of the whole turned out to be only 9480 lbs. 11 oz. 5 dwts., or very little more than half what it ought to have been! The exact diminution amounted to about five shillings in every eleven. The whole four millions of clipped silver money,