UC-NRLF BflD 27S BUTTON'S HOME AND SCHOOL LIBRARY A SHORT HISTORY OF COINS AND CURRENCY SHORT HISTORY COINS AND CURRENCY WITH 125 ILLUSTRATIONS E. P. BUTTON & COMPANY 31 WEST TWENTY-THIRD STREET Printed in Great Britain PREFACE THIS little book is founded on an Introductory Address which I had the honour of delivering some years ago, as first President of the Institute of Bankers. It was, however, almost rewritten last year as a Lecture delivered at the London Institution. Mr Magnus has done me the honour of sug- gesting that it should be included as one of the volumes in the Home and School Library, which he is editing for Mr Murray. The second part is new. It deals with the weights of coins ; the standards adopted ; the means taken from time to time to secure a satis- factory currency ; and, I regret to add, those also perhaps even more numerous by which Kings and Parliaments have attempted to secure a temporary and dishonourable advantage, by debasing the standard and reducing the weight of the coins. In this respect we may fairly claim that our own Sovereigns and Parliament are able to show 5 115763 vi PREFACE (with a few exceptions) an unusually honourable record. In spite of all that has been written on the subject, the principles on which our currency is based are very little understood. We frequently hear Sir Robert Peel's celebrated question, " What is a Pound ? " put forward as if it were some abstruse and mysterious conundrum, instead of having been long ago clearly answered, and determined by Act of Parliament. I have also endeavoured to explain in simple language the law which regulates the issue of Bank-Notes. I have to thank Sir John Evans, Mr Barclay Head, and Mr Grueber for much valuable assist- ance. Mr Grueber has also been so very kind as to look through the proof-sheets. I am also indebted to the Governor and Court of Directors of the Bank of England for some interesting particulars bearing on the Evolution of the Bank-Note in its present form. AVEBURY. HIGH ELMS, DOWN, KENT, February 1902. CONTENTS PART I CHAP. PAGE I. THE ORIGIN OF MONEY ... I II. THE COINAGE OF BRITAIN . . -42 PART II I. WEIGHTS OF COINS . . .89 II. BANK-NOTES AND BANKING . . IO2 APPENDIX . . . . .137 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Chinese Pu Money ..... 5 Chinese Knife Money ..... 7 Later Chinese Knife Money . . . .8 Chinese Cash ...... 9 Lydia-Babylonic Stater . . . .15 Stater of Pheidon . . . . .16 Gold Stater of Croesus . . . .17 A Daric . . . . . .17 Stater of Sybaris . . . . .19 Stater of Athens . . . . .20 Stater of Cnossus . . . . .20 Tetradrachm of Selinus . . . .22 Decadrachm of Syracuse . . . 23 Didrachm of Metapontum . . . .24 Stater of Philip . . . . .25 Stater of Alexander . . . . .26 Tetradrachm of Lysimachus . . . .27 Tetradrachm of Tyre . . . . .27 Romano-Campanian Didrachm . . .28 Denarius ...... 29 Julius Caesar Denarius . . . .30 M. Junius Brutus . . . . .31 Denarius of Cleopatra . . . . . 31 Denarius of Augustus . . . . .32 Denarius of Augustus . . . . -33 Denarius of Tiberius . . . . .34 Lepton of Pontius Pilate . . . -35 9 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS FIGS. 55-56 Sestertius of Vespasian 57-58 Sestertius of Antoninus Pius 59-60 Aureus of Marcus Aurelius . 61-62 Shekel . 63-64 Tetradrachm of Simon Barcochab 65-66 Dirhem of Haroun al Raschid 67-68 Ancient British Stater 69-70 Ancient British Stater 71-72 Ancient British Stater 73-74 Coin of Tincommius 75-76 Stater of Cunobeline 77-78 Anglo-Saxon Sceat . 79-80 Penny of Offa 81-82 Penny of Alfred 83-84 Penny of Plegmund . 85-86 Penny of Canute 87-88 Penny of Edward the Confessor 89-90 Penny of William the Conqueror 91-92 Angel of Edward IV. 93-94 Rose Noble of Edward IV. . 95-96 The First Shilling . 97-98 The First Sovereign 99-100 Shilling of Henry VIII. 101-102 Groat of Henry VIII. 103-104 Shilling of Edward VI. 105-106 Half-Crown of Edward VI. . 107-108 Shilling of Philip and Mary 109-110 Crown of Elizabeth . HI-II2 Unite of Charles I. . 113-114 Half-Crown of Cromwell 115-116 Guinea of Charles II. 117-118 Rupee 119-120 Ryal of Mary, Queen of Scots 1 21-122 James II., Gunmoney 123-124 Irish Halfpenny 125 Exchequer .Tally PAGE 36 37 38 38 39 40 44 44 45 46 47 48 50 5i 52 53 54 56 61 62 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 73 77 85 86 87 127 A SHORT HISTORY OF COINS AND CURRENCY PART I CHAPTER I THE ORIGIN OF MONEY s IN early times the exchange of commodities was carried on by barter. Homer, in the seventh book of the Iliad, mentions that when From Lemnos Isle a numerous fleet had come, Freighted with wine . . . All the other Greeks Hastened to purchase, some with brass, and some With gleaming iron ; some with hides, cattle, or slaves. Barter, however, ( was a slow and cumbersome process. It was open to two great objections. [ Those who wished to buy might have nothing which those who wished to sell cared to take. in exchange ; and secondly, it would require A 2 THE ORIGIN OF MONEY much time and haggling to decide the relative values of the different articles. Hence it was gradually found that trade would be greatly facilitated by fixing on some object or objects which might be used as standards of value, and might be accepted, not for use, but to be again exchanged. In countries where there were no true coins various other things have served as a standard of value. In the Hudson's Bay Territory beavers' skins have long been used in this manner. In ancient Europe pattlfy were the usual medium of exchange, whence the Latin word pecunia (money, from pecus, cattle). In our own language the word "cattle," or "chattel," came to include all property. In the Zend-Avesta the payment of physicians is calculated in the same way, but comparatively few realise that when we pay our Doctor his fee we are doing the same thing, for our word "Jhe^ is the old word vieh, which in German still retains the sense of cattle, Homer* laughs at the folly of Glaucus, who exchanged his golden armour, worth one hun- dred oxen, for the bronze armour .of Diomede, worth only nine oxen. In Iliad xxiii. 703, Achilles offers as a prize to the conqueror in * Iliad vi. 234, BARTER 3 the funeral games in honour of Patroclus, a large tripod which the Greeks valued among them- selves at twelve oxen ; and offers to the loser a female slave valued at four oxen. In Africa and the East Indies shells _are, and long have been, used for the same purpose. We even find indications that shells- once served as money in China, for as M. Biot, in his interesting memoir on Chinese Currency, has pointed out, the words denoting purchase and sale, riches, goods, stores, property, prices, cheap, dear, and many others referring to money and wealth, contain the ideographic sign denoting the word "shell." Indeed, Wangmang, who usurped the Imperial throne about 14 A.D., wish- ing to return to the ancient state of things, attempted, among other changes, to bring into circulation five different varieties of shells of an arbitrary value. On the whole, however, pieces of jrieial were found most convenient for the purpose. They were easily carried, easily identified, and easily divided ; they did not decay, and could easily be weighed. Hence names for weights often passed into names for coins the^ shekel, the livre, the lire, the pound, and so ony The origin of money was well described by Aristotle. " It became necessary," he says, " to 4 THE ORIGIN OF MONEY think of certain commodities, easily manageable, safely transportable, and of which the uses are so general and so numerous, that they, in- sured the certainty of always obtaining for them the articles wanted in exchange. The metals, particularly iron and silver and several others, exactly correspond to this description. They were employed, therefore, by general agreement as the ordinary standard of value and the com- mon measure of exchange, being themselves ^ estimated at first by their bulk and weight, and afterwards stamped, in order to save the trouble of measuring and weighing them/^ Gold, silver, and copper are the metals which have been generally used as money, vlron, indeed, is said to have been used in Sparta, under the laws of Lycurgus ; but, in this case, there is no reason to suppose that it was ever coined. It was also used, according to Caesar, amongst the ancient Britons, in the form of bars. Pollux mentions that the inhabitants of Byzantium, in. ancient times, used iron for coins instead of copper, and so have the Japanese ; but, on the . whole, this metal is too heavy in proportion to / its value. LCoTns of tin are reported to have been struck by Dibnysius of Syracuse, and subsequently in Gaul, during the reigns of Septimus Severus and Cara- CHINESE SHIRT MONEY 5 calla, but they appear to have been almost immedi- ately abandoned again. Cast coins of this metal wej;e in use among the ancient Britons.f C Platinum was tried in Russia, but was found unsuitable ; lead is still used in Burmah ; nickel in Belgium, the United States, and Germany; and since 1869 we have struck some nickel pence and halfpence for Jamaica^J The similarity, however, of such corns to those of silver constitutes a serious inconvenience. is also said by some to have been at one FlGS. 1-2. Early Chinese Pu money, B.C. 700. (Natural size.) time used for subsidiary coinage in Egypt and in Sicily^ It is probable, however, that these objects were merely coin weights. 6 THE ORIGIN OF MONEY y A curious illustration of the passage from a * state of barter to the use of money occurred in China.* Knives and pieces of cloth had long been used as in some measure a standard of value, almost as grey shirting is in India even now. About the twelfth century B.C. it occurred to the Chinese government that for purposes of ex- change it would be an advantage to substitute for various objects in common use, such as knives, pieces of cloth, hoes, sickles, spades, etc., etc., ^small metal models which might represent the objects themselves. This they did, and there are two principal kinds of coins the " pu " coins, roughly resembling a shirt (Figs. 1-2), and the " tao " or knife coins (Figs. 3-4), which are in the form of a knife. The word "pu" means cloth, and " tao " a knife. The specimen repre- sented in Figs. 1-2 is probably of about 700 B.C., but the dates of early Chinese coins are some- what uncertain. Figs. 3-4 represent a " knife " coin. These are also of very early date. The one figured is referred to the Tchou Dynasty about B.C. 300. On the obverse is "Currency of Tsi-moh City," and on the reverse " Three ten Star." But those forms were of course very inconvenient, and the blade was gradually short- ened (Figs. 5-6), while the end of the handle, * Terrien de Lacouperie. Catalogue of Chinese Coins. CHINESE KNIFE MONEY FlGS. 3-4. Chinese Knife money ; length, 7 in. weight, 740 grs. ;8 THE ORIGIN OF MONEY which was pierced by a hole, so that the coins might be strung on a cord, was enlarged. The inscription is " Yh tao ping wutsun," i.e., One tao equal to 5000 (cash). FIGS. 5-6. Later Chinese Knife money, 7-22 A.D. ; weight, 505 g rs * Finally the blade disappeared, and the circular end of the handle alone remained, with the hole in the middle, for, as the Chinese said, money ORIGIN OF CASH 9 which is meant tcT roll round the world should itself be round. This change took place about VgQQ B.C., and thus originated the form still in use and known as " Cash." * The coin bears a mark FlGS. 7-8. Chinese Cash, 680 A.D. ; weight, 59 grs. (Natural size.) like a new moon. This originated in an accident very characteristic of China. In the time of the Empress Wente'k, 620 A.D., a model in wax of a proposed coin was brought for Her Majesty's inspection. In taking hold of it she left on it the impression of her thumb-nail, and the impression has in consequence not only been a marked characteristic of Chinese coins for hundreds of years, but has even been copied on those of Japan and Corea. Even now the Chinese have no coins of gold or silver, but only of bronze. * Round coins seem to have been used somewhat earlier in certain provinces, but the origin of the " cash," and the general use of round coin, seem to be that given above. 10 THE ORIGIN OF MONEY 11. r, i \j\ 1 en / h Li' Silver indeed they use, but only as uncoined metal, passing by weight. The Persians also used at one time scimitar- shaped pieces of metal as money. In the West, however, the earliest money was more or less rounded. Money seems to us now so obvious a conveni- ence, and so much, I might almost say, a necessity of commerce, that it appears almost inconceivable that those who erected the Pyramids and sculp- tured the Sphinx, who built the temples of Ipsam- boul and Karnac, of Babylon and Nineveh, should have been ignorant of coins. Yet it appears certain that this was the case. As regards the commercial and banking systems of ancient Egypt and Assyria, we are almost entirely without information. The standard of value in Egypt seems to have been the "outen " or " ten " of copper (94-96 grammes), which were in the form of bricks, and, like the Aesrude of the Romans, were estimated by weight. The copper was obtained from the mines of Mount Sinai, which were worked by King Dzezer of the Third Dynasty as early as 4000 B.C. Gold and silver appear to have been also used, though less frequently ; like copper, they were sometimes in the form of bricks, but generally in rings, resem- bling the ring money of the ancient Celts, which is MONEY AND THE OLD TESTAMENT 11 said to have been employed in Ireland down to the twelfth century, and still holds its own in the interior of Africa. This approximated very nearly to the character of money, but it wanted what the Roman lawyers called " the law " and " the form." Neither the weight nor the pureness was guaran- teed by any public authority. I have often wondered how they got on without cojnSjjmdeyen without bankers. Such a state of things must have been very inconvenient. n ancient Babylonia and Assyria, as in Egypt, the precious metals, and especially silver, circulated as uncoined ingots. They were readily taken, indeed, but taken by weight and verified by the balance like any other merchandise. There are, however, several passages in our / translation of the Old Testament, which might lead us to carry back the use of coin too far. \. Thus in the I7th chapter of Genesis, in our version, we find among the commands given to Abraham, " He that is eight days old shall be circumcised ... he that is born in the house, and bought with money of any stranger." The word here translated " money " is in the original keseph ; in the Septuagint it is correctly rendered by v apyvpiovy and in the Vulgate argentum ; in fact, it ihpuld have been translated " silver," not " money." Again, in Genesis xx. 16, we are told, " And unto 12 THE ORIGIN OF MONEY Sarah he said, Behold I have given thy brother a thousand pieces of silver." The same expression is repeated in chap, xxxvli. 28. Here the word "pieces" suggests money, but probably it only meant pieces of a certain weight. The same observation applies to the statement in chap, xxiii., where Abraham bought the cave of Machpelah as a burial place for Sarah, and he "weighed to Ephron the silver, four hundred shekels of silver, current money with the merchants." Here it will be observed that the word money is in italics, imply- ing that it is not in the original. It is obvious that silver was used by weight, the word " shekel " meaning originally a weight, like our pound, and afterwards, like the pound, being used for a coin. f The word " money," indeed, primarily implies coin. It is said to take its origin from the fact that the Early Roman coins were struck in, or near, the Temple of Juno Mooeta. Juno received this name, according to Cicero, from the verb moneo, because she advised the" Romans to sacrifice a sow to Cybele to avert an earthquake. . Suidas, how- ever, derives it from the encouraging advice she gave them in their war against Pyrrhus. /^Neither of these derivations seems very satis- factory. ' But, however Juno acquired the name of Moneta, it is evident that the name of Moneta was given to money because it was struck in, or ORIGIN OF COINS 13 near, her temple, and hence that it primarily implies "coin," and that wealth is a secondary / meaning. Before the invention of true coins,, bars of silver appear to have been used in the form of spits or skewers,, six of which were termed a " drachma," literally a handful, w r hich then came afterwards to be used as a name for a coin. The earliest Western coinage was either that of"^\ Lydia, or of Pheidon, struck in ^Egina. The claims of Pheidon, King of Argos, to have made this useful invention rest on a passage in the Parian marble. It is not, however, very clear,, and if Pheidon made this invention, we should have expected his coins to have been struck in his own / city of Argos, and not at ^Egina. We may then, I think, probably accept the distinct statement of Herodotus * that, under the illustrious dynasty of the Mermnadse, the " Lydians were the first of all nations we know of" [observe the caution of the great father of history] " that introduced the. act of coining gold and silver." In ancient Greece, as now, the right of coinage was prerogative of the sovereign. And here we find a curious difference between the Bao-fAeJ? and The former coined in his own name, * Book I., par. 94. 14 THE ORIGIN OF MONEY but the Tvpawoi, however absolute, never did so.* Their money was issued in the name of the people. It would seem that the mode of coining was by placing the piece of heated metal on an anvil, then putting the die upon it, and striking the upper side of the die with a hammer. Ancient coining implements, though very rare, have occasionally been discovered. Sir John Evans has described one found at Avenches in Switzerland. "This die," he says, "which was intended for striking the obverse of one of the Helvetian degenerate imitations of the stater of Philip (Figs. 29-30), consists of a disc of bronze inlaid in a cylindric block of iron. The surface of the die is concave, so as to produce the convexity of surface so common among the coins of this class, and one reason for this concavity of the die appears to have been that the coins were struck from nearly spherical pieces of metal, which were heated and prevented from rolling in their place by the concavity of the die." The simplicity and portability of this apparatus, / and the fact that the coins were hand-made, \ accounts for the number of mints and moneyers ~A_ under our early kings, and this primitive process * With one or two exceptions, such as Alexander of Pheras, and Dionysius of Heracleia. THE EARLIEST COINS 15 continued in use until the invention of the mill and the screw in 1561. The new method was not, however, at first supposed to work well,, and was / given up until 1662, when it was finally adopted. ^ In this short history it is, of course, impossible to mention more than a few of the more interest- ing coins ; even in the case of our English series, on which I propose to dwell rather more in detail. The number and variety of coins is indeed immense ; in a single reign, that of Elizabeth, there were no less than 20 denom- inations of money some of them of scarce types. I will now proceed to the coins themselves. The earliest coins we have (Figs. 9-10) are Lydian, and oval in form. They are perhaps -L. FlGS. 9-10. Lydia-Babylonic Stater, dr. B.C. 700 ; electrum ; weight, 167 grs. stamped ingots rather than true coins,' r for one side presents merely a striated surface. The reverse presents three incuse depressions, the 16 THE ORIGIN OF MONEY two outer ones square, the one in the centre oblong, and enclosing some animal or other ornament. They consist of electrum, a mixture of gold and . silver, and were probably struck about B.c: 700, in the reign of Gyges. They were known as staters, from a Greek word signifying " standard," and the legal weight FlGS. 11-12.- Stater of Pheidon, King of Argos and ^Egina, dr. B.C. 700 ; silver ; weight, 194 grs. was about 167 grains, or 220 grains, depending on whether the Babylon ic or Phoenician standard was used. The coins of Pheidon, King of Argos (Figs. 11-12), are little, if at all, later.. They are of silver, were struck in /Egina, and are irregular in form, with a tortoise, the symbol of Astarte, the Phoenician goddess of trade, on one side, and on the other merely an incuse square made by the upper of the two dies, between which the "-flan," or plain piece of metal, was placed. The coinage * PERSIAN COINS 17 consisted of the obol, 3 obol piece, 6 obols or drachma, and double drachma. The drachma originally weighed 93 grains, but was gradually reduced to 66. Figs. 13-14 represent a gold stater of Croesus, FlGS. 13-14. Gold Stater of Croesus ; weight, 124 grs. King of Lydia, B.C. 568-554, celebrated for his wealth. The obverse represents the fore-parts of a lion and a bull, face to face. The reverse is simply two incuse squares. FlGS. 15-16. A Daricj gold; weight, 130 grs. The next illustration (Figs. 15-16) is a Persian " Dark." The name is derived from dara, a king. It is a coin of Darius (B.C. 521-485), and repn(|sents the great king holding a bow and arrow. The B 18 THE ORIGIN OF MONEY daric weighed : about 1 30 grains. The word "daric" is unfortunately rendered a "drachma" in our translation of the Old Testament* The earliest known inscribed coin is a Phoeni- cian stater of Halicarnassus. On the obverse is $ai/o9 e/ou 2^/xa, " I am the sign of Phanes," and a stag feeding. The reverse is an oblong sinking between two square sinkings. There has been considerable difference of opinion as to the meaning of the word Phanes. Some have regarded it as the name of a local banker ; others that it signifies " the shining one," a name for Artemis ; others that it refers to a certain Phanes who was a high official of Amasis, King of Egypt, but entered into the service of Cambyses, King of Persia, and assisted in the invasion 'of Egypt in B.C. 525. The coin, however, would seem to be of a slightly earlier date. In these earliest coins it will be observed that one side is left plain, or bears only the mark of the anvil The next improvement was to work the head of the die into the form of some object which thus appeared in concave on the coin. Tne oldest coins of most of the Greek cities of southern Italy are ' remarkable for hav- ing the type of the obverse side repeated in ' an incuse, or sunk form, on the reverse. * Nehemiah vii. 70. COINS OF ATHENS 19 Figs. 17-18 are a stater of the celebrated city Sybaris, dr. B.C. 550, showing on both sides the figure of a bull, with the head reverted, and the initial letters of Sybaris, 2i/, below. This style FlGS. 17-18. Stater of Sybaris ; silver ; -weight, 126 grs. is not considered to have lasted after B.C. 500. Sybaris itself was destroyed by Croton in 510. It is evident, however, that if two dies are to be made, it is useless to repeat the same design, and that the second surface may be better utilised. Athens seems to have been the first to realise this. Figs. 19-20 illustrate the typical coinage of Athens about B.C, 500, with the head of Athene on one side, and the owl and an olive spray, the emblems of Athens, on the other. The Athenian coinage is singularly rude ; it is supposed that these coins became known throughout the Greek 20 THE ORIGIN OF MONEY islands, and that it was considered unadvisable to change the type lest the circulation should be FlJS. 19-20. Stater of Athens ; silver; weight, 265 grs. affected. In these archaic coins the eye is always drawn as if seen from the front, even when the face is in profile. FIGS. 21-22. Stater of Cnossus ; silver; B.C. 480-450; weight, 176 grs. Lord Liverpool long ago said of the 'Athenian coinage that it was a case in which " the affecta- THE MINOTAUR AND LABYRINTH 21 tion of an archaic style of work is easily distin- guished from the rudeness of remote antiquity." In later times the same happened to the coinage of Venice, which down to the eighteenth century retained the style of the fourteenth. Many of the early Greek coins have a deep slit across them. These are supposed to have been made by the Persians, during their invasion of Greece, to test the metal. The coin represented in Figs. 21-22 belonged to Cnossus in Crete, a city said to have been founded by Minos. It bears on the obverse a figure of the Minotaur, in human form, but with a bull's head, kneeling and holding a globe. On the reverse is the famous Labyrinth which was built for the Minotaur by Daedalus. Recent' explorations carried on by the Cretan Exploration Committee, under the superintendence of Mr Arthur Evans, have unearthed a considerable part of the western side of the great Palace, including two large courts, the porticoes and entrance 1 corridors, a vast system of magazines, some of them full of huge stone jars, a bath chamber, a central court, and a richly adorned room, where between lower benches rose a curiously carved gypsum throne, on which King Minos himself may have sat in council.* The city of Selinus having been attacked by * Cretan Exploration Fund Report, November 1901. 22 THE ORIGIN OF MONEY a pestilence which was supposed to be sent by Apollo, consulted Asclepius as to the best means of averting the wrath of the god. He advised the FiGS. 23-24. Tetradrachm of Selinus ; silver; B.C. 466-415 ; weight, 269 grs. citizens to drain a pestiferous marsh in the neigh- bourhood, which they did, and thus stopped the plague. The grateful inhabitants struck the above coin, Figs. 23-24, in his honour. On the obverse is the name of the city, 2EAIN02 ; a young river- god sacrificing at an altar, before which is a cock, the emblem of Asclepius. In the left hand of Selinus is the lustral branch, behind him a leaf of parsley (Selinus) and a bull. On the reverse ZEAINONTION (retrograde) and Apollo dis- charging the arrow of death. This is an early recognition of sanitation, and might well be taken as a seal for the medical profession. EUAINETUS 23 We now come to one of the most beautiful coins that the world has ever seen. Figs. 25-26 represent a decadrachm of Syracuse, B.C. 415-405. The obverse is a head of Persephone, decked with cornleaves, and surrounded by dolphins ; the reverse a quadriga, and Victory flying above is about to crown the charioteer. In this case we know the artist who made the die Euainetus. His initials, E Y., appear behind the neck of Persephone. FIGS. 25-26. Decadrachm of Syracuse; silver; B.C.' 415-405 ; weight, 686 grs. Winckelmann, speaking of this coin, said, " It transcends all imagining, and might not Raphael, who complains that he could not find in nature any beauty worthy to stand for Galatea, have taken her likeness from the best Syracusan coins, since in his days with the exception of the 24 THE ORIGIN OF MONEY Laocoon the finest statues were not yet dis- covered? Beyond these coins human compre- hension cannot go." Poole said * that " nothing more delicately finished has been produced by Greek art than Euainetos' Persephone." Headf calls it u the chef d'ceuvre of the art of coin engrav- ing"; and Lenormant J describes Euainetos as "the Phidias of coin engraving." " Comme precision et science du modele, il est incomparable ; ses tetes de divinites respirent un souffle vraiment ideal ; il sait etre riche sans tomber dans cette serie d'ornements et de details qui finit par rapetisser un oeuvre d'art." Figs. 27-28 also represent a very lovely coin. FlGS. 27-28. Didrachm of Metapontum ; silver; B.C. 359-336; weight, 123 grs. It was struck at Metapontum, a town of Magna * Greek Coins in illustrating Greek Art, Num. Chr. 1864. f History of Ancient Art ; Historia Numorum ; see also A. Evans' Syracusan Medallions. \ La Monnaie dans PHILIP OF MACEDON 25 Graecia, between 359 and 336 B.C. The obverse is again a head of Persephone. Metapontum was the centre of a great wheat-growing district, and its emblem was an ear of wheat, which Is shown on the reverse, with the inscription META, for Metapontum. These coins have generally some other object associated with agriculture, such as a plough, or a locust. In this case, which is, I think, one of the prettiest, there is a little harvest mouse sitting on the wheat leaf. FIGS. 29-30. Stater of Philip of Macedon ; gold ; B.C. 359-336 ; weight, 133 grs. We now come to one of the most important and interesting, while it is certainly not the least beautiful, of Greek coins the stater of Philip of Macedon. It was the most important coin of the Mediterranean, and is especially interesting to us from being, as we shall see, the foundation of our British coinage. The obverse bears a beautiful head of Apollo, with a crown of laurel leaves ; 26 THE ORIGIN OF MONEY the reverse a charioteer in abiga over the word $IAiniIOY. Horace justly spoke * of this coin as "regale numisma Philippi." We can better understand the immense coinage issued by Philip, from the statement that tHe gold mines of Crenides yielded him 1000 talents, or ,3,000,000 a year. Figs. 31-32 are a stater of Alexander the Great, B.C. 334. On the obverse is a head of Pallas ; on the reverse AAESANAPOY, with "Nike (Victory) holding a wreath and trophy. Up to this time the heads placed on coins were FlGS. 31-32. Stater of Alexander the Great ; gold ; B.C. 334 ; weight, 133 grs. those of deities. I have chosen the next illustra- tion, Figs. 33-34, because it is the first known coin on which a human head was ever placed. It was struck by Lysimachus, one of Alexander's generals and afterwards King of Thrace. He put on the obverse the head of Alexander, but being afraid that he might be accused of blasphemy for his * Ep. II. i. 232. ALEXANDER THE GREAT 27 innovation, gave the head a ram's horn, to indicate that it was not Alexander the Great as a man, but FlGS. 33-34. Tetradrachm of Lysimachus, B.C. 321-281 ; silver ; weight, 1 30 grs. Alexander as a demigod as being the son of Jupiter Ammon. Figs. 3^-36 are a tetradrachm of Tyre, B.C. 1 16. FIGS. 35-36. Tyre Tetradrachm ^silver ; B.C. 116; weight, 216 grs. The obverse is the head of the Tyrian Hercules or 28 THE ORIGIN OF MONEY Baal ; the reverse; an eagle on a rudder, in front of which is a club and the letters LI., i.e., year ten = 116 B.C. Baal is represented in the Old Testament as an evil being, because he was the tutelary deity of a people often at war with the Jews. To the people of Tyre he was a good deity, and the head is certainly a very fine one. The Romans were much behind the Greeks in the matter of coinage. For purposes of exchange they used at first lumps of bronze (ses rude), the value of which was estimated by weight. The earliest Roman coins, which were large square, circular, or oblong pieces, date from about the fourth century. These were cast in a mould, and bore on each .side a design in high relief. No silver money was struck till the first Punic War in B.C. 268. In illustration of the Early Roman coinage I give FlGS. 37-38. Romano-Campanian Didrachm, dr. B.C. 300 ; silver ; weight, 109 grs. EARLY ROMAN COINS 29 This coin has on the obverse a head of the young Hercules ; on the reverse " Romano" (rum), short for Romans, with the wolf and twins (Romulus and Remus). These coins- are supposed to have been issued during the Samnite wars, under the directions of the Roman generals, for the use of the army. The true Roman silver coinage did not commence till nearly half a century later. Figs. 39-40 give one of the first types of true FlGS. 39-40. Denarius; silver; 6.0.269; weight, 66.7 grs. Roman silver coinage. On the obverse is head of Roma, behind which is the sign X denoting ten asses. On the reverse is ROMA, above which are the Dioscuri Castor and Pollux, charging, as they appeared at the battle of Lake Regillus, when " Swift, swift, the Great Twin Brethren. Came spurring from the East." * The denarius Was so called from containing ten * Macaulay's Lays of Ancient Rome. 30 THE ORIGIN OP MONEY asses. It remained a principal Roman coin, and the official money of account, down to the middle of the third century A.D. It is the origin of the French name Denier. The denarius contained about 7^d. of our money, and represented the average day's pay of a soldier or labourer, as in the well-known parable. Figs. 41-42 are a denarius of Julius Caesar. On the obverse is "Caesar Diet. Perpetuo,", with a head of Julius Caesar. On the reverse, " L. Buca," the name of the moneyer. A caduceus and fasces crossed, a globe, two hands joined, and a hatchet. If we except some early pieces, the place of mintage of which is doubtful, the first Roman FIGS. 41-42. Julius Caesar. Denarius ; silver ; B.C. 44 ; weight, 56 grs. gold coins were those of Julius Caesar. They were struck in B.C. 49. The next coin (Figs. 43-44) is interesting as giving us a portrait of Junius Brutus, and was CLEOPATRA 31 struck by his confederate Casca, the envious Casca, while acting Brutus' lieutenant in Asia Minor, FlG?. 43-44. M. Junius Brutus ; silver; weight, 123 grs. dr. B.C. 43-42. The obverse has a head of Brutus in a laurel wreath, and the inscription " Brutus Imp.," the word Imperator then only meaning general ; and the reverse " Casca Longus," with a trophy between the prows of two ships. Figs. 45-46 represent the coin which Cleopatra FlGS. 45-46. Denarius of Cleopatra ; silver ; . - weight, 55 grs. struck, B.C. 33-32, to commemorate her marriage, if so it could be called, with 'Mark Antony. 32 THE ORIGIN OF MONEY The obverse has the inscription, "ANTONI ARMENIA DEVICTA," with a head of Mark Antony, and behind an Armenian tiara. On the reverse is "CLEOPATRA REGIN^ REGUM FILIORUM REGUM," and below a ship's prow. This is one of the best portraits we have of this celebrated queen ; as she struck it herself we may assume that it was not unflattering, but though it is FIGS. 47-48. Augustus. Denarius, B.C. 18 ; silver; weight, 60 grs. a bright and intelligent face, it does not seem to justify her reputation for beauty. Soon after Augustus had established his author- ity he instituted public games in honour of Julius Caesar, who was, as we are informed by Suetonius, " ranked amongst the gods, not only by a formal decree, but in the belief of the vulgar. For during the first games which Augustus, his heir, consecrated to his memory, a comet blazed for seven days together, rising always about eleven o'clock ; and it was supposed to be the soul of CLESAR'S GHOST ON A COIN 33 Caesar, now received into heaven." Augustus struck the above coin (Figs. 47-48) in memory of this auspicious event, with his own portrait and name on one side, and on the other " Divus Julius," with Caesar's ghost in the form of a comet. The period would correspond with one of the former appearances of Halley's comet, the second before the one observed by that great astronomer. Figs. 49-50 is another denarius of Augustus; on the reverse Augustus and Victory are represented FlGS. 49-50. Augustus, Denarius, B.C. 17; silver; weight, 59 grs. in a biga of elephants, surmounting a triumphal arch placed on a bridge. Figs. 51-52 is a denarius of Tiberius, i.e., Tiberius Caesar, son of the Divine Augustus Augustus. On the obverse is " TI. CAESAR, Divi Aug. F. Augustus," and a laureate head of Tibe- rius. On the reverse, " PONTIF. MAXIM," and a C 34 THE ORIGIN OF MONEY figure of the Empress Livia seated, holding a sceptre and branch. FlGS. 51-52. Denarius of Tiberius, the Tribute Penny ; silver ; A.D. 16-37 ; weight, 59 o rs . This is known as the Tribute Penny, being the coin referred to in the New Testament as being asked for by Jesus when the Pharisees " took counsel how they might entangle him in his talk. " And they sent out unto him their disciples, with the Herodians, saying, Master, we know that thou art true, and teachest the way of God in truth, neither carest thou for any man ; for thou regardest not the person of men. u Tell us therefore, What thinkest thou? Is it lawful to give tribute unto Caesar, or not ? " But Jesus perceived their wickedness, and said, Why tempt ye me, ye hypocrites ? " Shew me the tribute money. ; And they brought unto him a penny. " And he saith unto them, Whose is this image and superscription ? THE TRIBUTE PENNY 35 " They say unto him, Caesar's. Then saith he unto them, Render therefore under Caesar the things which are Caesar's ; and unto God the things that are God's. " When they had heard these words, they mar- velled, and left him and went their way."* Figs. 53-54 represent a lepton of Pontius Pilate, struck in the year of the Crucifixion (A.D. 29-30). It bears on the obverse the name of Tiberius, and a "simpulum," which was an object used in sacrifices ; and on the reverse three ears of corn bound together. The "widow's mite," two of which FIGS. 53~54- Lepton of Pontius Pilate ; copper ; weight, 31 grs. went to a " farthing," was probably one of these coins. The word translated " farthing" is sup- posed to have referred to a bronze coin of Antioch, and the "pieces of money" for which Christ was betrayed are supposed to have been tetradrachms of Antioch. The " penny," as already mentioned, was the denarius (Figs. 51-52). * St Matthew, xxii. 15. 36 THE ORIGIN OF MONEY Figs. 55-56 represent a coin of Vespasian, struck in A.D. 70 to commemorate the subjugation of FlGS. 55-56. Vespasian. Sestertius, A.D. 70; bronze; weight, 400 grs. Judaea. On th^ obverse is IMP. CAES. VES- PASIAN. AUG. P. M. TR. P.P.P. COS. III., with a head of Vespasian Laureate. The letters after Vespasian stand for Augustus, Pontifex Maximus, Tribunitia Potestate Pater Patriae Consul III. (thrice Consul). On the reverse is "Judea Capta." and below, S. C, and the Empress standing near a palm tree, at the foot of which Judaea is seated weep- ing. The letters S. C. stand for Senatus Consulto, indicating that it was struck by order of the Senate, who had authority to strike bronze coins, those of silver and gold being the special pre- rogative of the Emperors. ROMAN EMPERORS 37 Figs. 57-58 are a sestertius struck by Antoninus Pius (131-161 A.D.), to commemorate his success- ful campaign in Britain. On the obverse is a head of the Emperor, laureate, with the inscrip- tion, ''ANTONINUS AUG. PIUS, P.P. TR. P. COS. III." On the reverse, a figure of Britannia seated, hold- ing a standard and spear, and with her shield at her side ; and with the inscription u Britannia." This coin is interesting, because the figure of FJGS. 57-58. Sestertius of Antoninus Pius, 131-161 A.D. ; bronze; weight, 413 grs. Britannia is generally considered, and is indeed obviously the original of that on our copper coinage, though it does not appear that there is any actual record of the fact. The next is an aureus of his adopted son, Marcus Aurelius, a great emperor, and still greater man author of the Meditations, one of the 38 THE ORIGIN OF MONEY noblest books in the whole of literature. On the obverse is the Emperor's head, with the FlGS. 59-60. Aureus of Marcus Aurelius, 177 A. I). ; gold ; weight, 112 grs. inscription, " M. Antoninus Aug. Germ. Sarm.," referring to campaigns more than once mentioned in his writings ; and on the reverse a pile of German arms and standards, and " D. Germ. TR/P. XXXI. Imp. VIII . Cos. III. P.P." Before coming to the money of our own country FIGS. 61-62. Shekel ; silver ; weight, 220 grs. I will give one or two illustrations of Eastern coins. JEWISH COINS 39 Figs. 61-62 represent a Jewish shekel. It used to be supposed that these coins were struck by Simon Maccabaeus, B.C. 141-135 ; but they are now referred to the time of the first revolt in the reign of Nero, 66 A.D. They bear on one side a chalice ornamented with jewels, and the inscription, "Shekel of Israel, year 3." On the other a flower with "Jerusalem the Holy" in old Hebrew letters. They weigh about 220 grains. FlGS. 63-64. Tetradrachm of Simon Barcochab, 133 A.D. ; silver ; weight, 213 grs. Figs. 63 - 64 are a tetradrachm of Simon Barcochab, struck in the second year of the second revolt, during the reign of Hadrian, 133 A.D., which I have selected because it gives a representation, probably somewhat conven- tional, of the Beautiful Gate of the Temple, and giving a glimpse of the Sanctuary within. On the reverse is " Second year of the 40 THE ORIGIN OF MONEY Deliverance of Israel." A citron and bundle of branches. Considering the zeal and success with which the Jewish race subsequently devoted themselves to commerce and finance, it is remarkable how small a part these professions play in the early history of the race. One ingenious French writer, indeed, has attempted to account for the turbulence and frowardness of the Jews in ancient times, by suggesting that they were fretted, being driven by circumstances into pastoral and agricultural pursuits against all their instinctive and natural tendencies, being, in fact, des banquiers comprinics. Figs. 65-66 show a dirhem of Haroun al Raschid, FlGS. 65-66. Dirhem of Haroun al Raschid, 805 A.I). ; silver ; weight, 44 grs. the romantic hero of the Arabian Nights, struck at Bagdad in the year of the Hegira 189 (805 A.D.). It is to be regretted that the coin bears no like- HAROUN AL RASCHID 41 ness of the great caliph, but the Mahomedans had, and still have, a feeling against placing any figure on a coin. The inscription is simple, and surely very grand. On the obverse, " There is no God but Allah : he is one ; he has no companion " ; and on the reverse, " Mohammed is the Messenger of God." CHAPTER II THE COINAGE OF BRITAIN CAESAR has been quoted as denying the exist- ence of coins among the Britons, and according to the common text of his Commentaries the passage runs, " Utuntur aut sere aut annulis (taleis) ferreis ad certum pondus examinatis pro nummis." (They use brass or iron rings of a certain weight for money). But, as Mr Hawkins has pointed out, many of the manuscripts have after "sere," the words "aut nummo aureo," (or gold money), so that far from denying the exist- ence of money, he expressly affirmed it. The first antiquary who described and figured an ancient British coin was the illustrious Camden in 1586; but I am indebted for most of the following facts to Sir John Evans' excellent work on The Coins of the Ancient Britons. The earliest British coins were copies of the staters of Philip of Macedon (Figs. 29-30), and probably date back to about B.C. 200-150. The 42 ANCIENT BRITISH COINAGE 43 earliest inscribed coins are those of Eppilus, Verica, and Tincommius, sons of Commius, a British chief mentioned in Caesar's Commentaries, so that we may take the date of these coins at a few years before the Christian era. The un- inscribed coins were doubtless earlier. Sir J. Evans ingeniously attempts to determine the date from the diminution in weight. The stater of Philip weighed 133 grains; the earliest British coins 120 grains, reduced by B.C. 20 to 84 grains ; so that, assuming the degradation to have been approximately regular, the weight of 1 20 grains would have been reached by about B.C. 200. Sir John is disposed, however, to put them a little later. ' The coins were not only reduced in weight, but the artists were unable to reproduce the beautiful Greek designs. The dies, moreover, were usually considerably larger than the coins struck from them, so that in many cases a por- tion only of the pattern was reproduced on the coin. On the earlier specimens (Figs. 67-68) the head is clear, the front hair is represented by three open crescents, and the hair at the back of the head has lost the graceful waves and is reduced to parallel rows of nearly similar curls ; while the wreath of olive leaves is represented by a double 44 THE COINAGE OF BRITAIN row of flat leaves. On the reverse the change is greater; one horse only is represented, and FIGS. 67-^8. Ancient British Stater, B.C. 200-150; gold ; weight, 118 grs. that but badly ; of the chariot only one wheel remains, while the charioteer is resolved into a series of dots. The inscription is copied, ;- but quite illegible. FlGF. 69-70. Ancient British Stater, dr. B.C. 150-100 ; gold ; weight, 95 grs. Figs. 69-70 represent a still more degraded, lighter, and probably later coin. The face is ANCIENT BRITISH COINAGE 45 omitted, or possibly the metal did not reach to that part of the die, and the hair is still further conventionalised. The horse is still recognisable, though on some other specimens it is so much altered that the neck and body have been mis- taken by some writers for the golden knife said to have been used by the Druids for cut- ting the sacred misletoe ! Finally, Figs. 71-72 FlGS. 71-72. Ancient British Stater, dr. B.C. 150-100; gold; weight, 90 grs. represent a coin which is evidently derived from the previous example, and therefore from the stater of Philip. We can still trace the waves of the hair, and four legs of a horse, but if we had not the intermediate stages no one could tell which side was the head of -Apollo, and which was the chariot and horses! It is most interesting to watch this gradual degrada- tion, so ably traced in Sir J. Evans' work. Some of the smaller British coins were made of tin. 46 THE COINAGE OF BRITAIN The earliest of these coins were probably struck in Kent, and thence extended westwards and northwards. It is doubtful whether the Dumnonii, who occupied Devon and Cornwall, had any coinage of their own, nor are there any types which can be assigned with certainty to the midland counties. The earliest inscribed British coins are, as already mentioned, those of Eppilus. Verica, and Tincommius, sons of Commius, who was King of the Atrebates at the time of Caesar's second invasion, B.C. 54. The illustration given (Figs. 73-74) represents a coin of Tincommius. On the obverse is " Tine " on a sunk tablet. The reverse is a horseman, and under him appears a FlGS. 73-74. Coin of Tincommius ; gold ; weight, 82 grs. capital " C." On other coins it is followed by an " F," no doubt for C(ommii) F(ilius), son of Commius. Another name found on numerous British coins is that of Tasciovanus, King of the CYMBEL1NE 47 Catyeuchlani (Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire, and perhaps Middlesex and Essex). His name appears as Tasc, Tasciov, and Tasciovan. He probably reigned from about B.C. 30 to 5 A.D., and was the father of Cunobeline. FIGS. 75-76. Stater of Cunobeline ; gold ; weight, 82 grs. Figs. 75-76 represent a stater of Cunobeline, the Cymbeline of Shakespeare, struck at Camu- lodunum (Colchester) ; it is a remarkable specimen of British art, and nothing so good, except perhaps some of Offa's pennies, was struck in our island for several hundred years afterwards. It is approxi- mately of the year 30 A.D., and bears on the obverse the letters " Camu," for Camulodunum, separated by an ear of corn, the Eastern counties being then, as now, a great corn-growing district. On the reverse is " Cuno," with a horse galloping. After the invasion and conquest of South Britain by Claudius, our native coinage was replaced by Roman money, of which the circulation must have been very considerable. Mints were re-established 48 THE COINAGE OF BRITAIN at London and Colchester by Carausius and Allectus, continued at London by Constantine, and the last Roman coins struck in England were those of Magnus Maximus, who died in 388 A.D.. Then followed a dark interval, and it was not until two hundred years afterwards that the Anglo- Saxons commenced to strike their own coins. The earliest of these was the sceatta, generally of silver, but occasionally of gold, followed by the penny in silver, and the styca in base silver and copper. The sceattas and stycas were not, however, struck at one time" in the same district. Some were rude copies of Roman and other coins, while other devices were probably original. The word sceatta signified " treasure." We still FIGS. 77-78. Anglo-Saxon Sceat, 600 A.D. ; gold; weight, 20 grs. have it in the word " scot," or " shot," as "scot and lot," paying one's shot, scot-free, etc. The specimen figured belonged to about 600 A.D. It has a bust on one side, and on the other a cross and an inscription in blundered R.unes, which is supposed SCEATTAS. STYCAS 49 to stand for " Feartigo," or forty, i.e., forty stycas. London is the only city mentioned on the sceattas ; and the word " London " is almost the only intel- ligible inscription in Roman letters. The sceattas were not in general circulation north of the H umber, where they were replaced by stycas (Germ, stuck, a piece), small pieces of base silver or copper. The earlier ones much resembled sceattas ; the later ones were of more simple forms, such as a small cross, a circle, or even a single pellet. The question is often asked, " What was the value of these ancient coins?" and like many other questions, it is easier to ask than to answer. They must be measured in something say wool or wheat, and the price of wheat of course varied then, as it does now, according to the harvest. By the laws of Wessex the life of an Anglo-Saxon was valued at 1200 sceattas, that of a Briton at 600. Before, and indeed for some time after, they had coins, the Anglo-Saxons used, as Caesar said of the ancient Britons, to make small payments by break- ing pieces off their armlets or rings, and such broken bits were called skillings or cuttings, from which our word shilling is derived. Figs. 79-80 represent one of our earliest pennies. This coin was first struck by King Pepin about D 50 THE COINAGE OF BRITAIN the year 755 A.D., and in 760 was adopted by Offa, who was King of Mercia, from 757 to 796, and erected the celebrated Offa's dyke, which " FlGS. 79-80. Penny of Offa, dr. 760 A.D. ; silver; weight, 17 grs. stretched from the Dee to the Bristol Channel Securities 1 7,476,000 Rest 3,178,000 | Other Securities. 29,055,000 Public Deposits.. 10,742,000 Other Deposits... 37,600,000 Seven - day and other Bills 143,000 ,66,216,000 Notes 17,669,000 Gold and Silver Coin... 2,016,000 ,66,216,000 From this it will be seen that the total amount of notes issued was, on the 24th Decem- ber 1901, 47,824,000, of which 30,049,000 was THE BANK RETURN 117 against gold, and ,17,775,060 against securities. In the improbable event of there being any de- ficiency, it would be made good out of the capital of the bank. As regards the banking department of the bank, the capital of the bank is 14,553,000; the reserve fund, or undivided profits, 3,178,000; the amount due to Government departments was 10,742,000; due to private depositors, 37,600,000; due on bills, 143,000: making together, 66,216,000. Against this the bank held Government securi- ties, 17,476,000; other securities, 29,655,000; bank - notes (part of the above amount), 17,669,000; and gold and silver coins, 2,016,000. In 1775 bankers were prohibited by Act of Parliament from issuing notes of less than 2Os., and in 1777, of less amount than 5. This led to much inconvenience, to obviate which the London bankers invented cheque-books, which were first issued in 1781, and thus founded banking in its present form. ON COMMERCE AND BANKING IN ANCIENT TIMES. The works of Heeren, MacPherson, and others, contain admirable summaries of the exchange of 118 BANK-NOTES AND BANKING .commodities in ancient times, and the transfer of various products from one country to another ; but as to the manner in which the accounts were kept, and the balances adjusted, whether and to what extent credit was given, whether bills of exchange in any form* existed in fact, in what manner the mechanism of business was -carried on, we have unfortunately very little in- formation. The excavations in Assyria and Babylonia have, however, thrown some light on the subject, and afforded us some interesting information as to the commercial arrangements of these countries, and we now possess a considerable number of receipts, contracts, and other records relating to loans of silver on personal securities at fixed rates of interest; loans on landed or house property ; sales of land, in one case with a plan ; sales of slaves, marriage settlements, etc. These were engraved on tablets of clay, which were then baked. Some of those in the British Museum are considered to go back to B.C. 3000. The earliest banking firm of which we have any account is said to be that of Egibi & Company, for our knowledge of whom we are indebted to Mr Boscawen, Mr Pinches, and Mr Hilton Price, Several documents and records BANKING IN ANCIENT TIMES 119 belonging to this family are in the British Museum. They are on clay tablets, and were discovered in an earthenware jar, found in the neighbourhood of Hillah. a few miles from Babylon. The house is said to have acted as a sort of national bank of Babylon ; the founder of the house, Egibi, probably lived in the reign of Sennacherib, about B.C. 700. This family has been traced during a century and a half, and through five generations, down to the reign of Darius. At the same time, the tablets hitherto translated scarcely seem to me to prove that the firm acted as bankers, in our sense of the word. I give below the contents of three such tablets in my own collection, kindly translated for me by Mr Pinches. The first runs as follows : " Loan of 2/3 of a mana of coined (?) silver, by Nabu-sum- iukum to Ban'isat, daughter of Nabu-usatu, at an interest of one shekel monthly upon the mana. " 4th day of Sivan, 8th year of Darius." The " mana " contained 60 shekels, so that the rate of interest was very high/ There were two Babylonian silver shekels. The heavy shekel weighed 2.1.80 to 21.90 grammes; the light one 10.90 to 10.95 grammes. 120 BANK-NOTES AND BANKING - The second tablet runs : " Loan of five mana of silver by Nabu-zer-iddin, ' chief of the dagger-bearers 7 (rab-nas-patrutu) to Belnasir. The money to be repaid in instalments of a shekel and a half, beginning in Nisan. " 1 5th day of Tebet, 34th year of Nebuchadnezzar." The third relates not to money, but to corn, and it will be observed that, in this case, the full Amount, and the full amount only, is to be returned : " Loan of corn by Labasi to Baba, daughter of Nabuikisa. 4 She shall pay it back, in its full amount, this month. 7 6th day of Tisri, I3th year of Nabonidus." It must be admitted that these three documents, from the Government Record Office in Babylon some of the earliest actual business documents which have come down to us, are admirably plain, simple, and business - like. One consideration, however, which I think would strike any modern man of business, is a feeling of wonder that it should be worth while to record such small trans- actions on solid tablets, and still more that it should be found desirable to deposit them in a Government office. In London we should regard such a system as one of exaggerated caution. In fact, most transactions are effected by word of inouth, recorded at first on mere slips of paper, if GREEK BANKERS 121 at all, and only reduced subsequently to a formal document. Such a system is, of course, only consistent with good faith as between man and man. It is a well-known saying that if a man cheats you he is to blame ; but if he cheats you twice, you are yourself to blame. In Greece the original business of bankers seems to have consisted in changing money for foreigners, but they soon commenced banking and allowing interest on deposits. We are incidentally informed that the father of Demosthenes kept part of his fortune with one of these " trapezitae," or bankers. Some of them enjoyed considerable credit. Pasion, for instance, we are told, was well known and trusted all over Greece. The ordinary rates of interest were very high, and will not at all bear comparison with those of the present day, as they ranged from 10 to 37 per cent. ; but the risks also must have been extreme, and notwithstanding this large rate of interest their profits seem to have been small. Even Pasion's business is said to have been worth but ^400 a year, which appears scarcely credible. The Greek bankers seem to have been as much notaries as bankers, and a large part of their business consisted in witnessing contracts between others. They were acquainted with letters of credit, and had even invented a form of endorse- ment. Thus Jceratus, we read, drew in Athen.s a 122 BANK-NOTES AND BANKING bill on his father in Pontus, which was guaranteed by Pasion, and then bought by Stratocles. Bottomry bonds also were in use. It is often said that the great banks of Greece were the temples, but I con- fess I have my doubts about this. No doubt they served in some cases as national treasuries, and there are some references in history to deposits being made in the temples, but there is a second and not less important function of banks, viz. : repayment of deposits, as to -which the evidence is very deficient. The Greeks appear to have introduced bank- ing into -Italy at least if we may judge from the fact that in early Latin writers most of the words re- lating to banking and finance are of Greek origin, and were gradually replaced by others of Latin origin. The bankers in Rome soon became of great importance, and the old Roman comedies contain many allusions to them, not always, indeed, of a complimentary description, although their pro- fessional honour stood very high. It has been mentioned, as an indication of the unpopularity of Gaulish bankers, that when the revolt of Ver- cingetorix took place, the houses of the bankers were first attacked. But surely another explana- tion may be given. We are told that all money transactions among the Romans were carried on through the interven- ROMAN BANKERS 123 .tion of bankers, and that they kept the account books of their customers. But, however this may be, the system of banking does not appear to have been very thoroughly developed. When Cicero sent his son Marcus to complete his education at Athens, he wrote to Atticus to inquire if it would be possible to procure a letter of credit on Athens, or whether it would be necessary for Marcus to carry money with him. The later Roman law contains numerous provisions relating to banks. One is rather curious. It seems that if a banker failed, those who had simply deposited money with him "for safety ranked before those who placed sums with him at interest. But although they have been the subject of various learned dissertations, it is by no means clear how the Roman bankers kept their accounts. It has been stated that the house and archives of a Pompeian banker Lucius Ccecilius Jucundus have been discovered in that city. I have not, however, seen any account of the result. We are generally told in histories of banking, as, for instance, in that of Gilbart, that the first national bank was that of Venice, founded in the year 1157, but this institution does not seem to have been at first, in any sense, a true bank. The state being deeply involved in debt, its creditors were formed into a corporation, and 124 BANK-NOTES AND BANKING the debts made transferable like our consols. It has indeed been stated that in 1587 the in- stitution began to take money on deposit. The fact, however, appears to be that it undertook the custody of bullion, pledging itself to keep it intact ; in;, the vaults, and to return it to the depositor at any time, or to transfer the amount to any one else. It was in fact a treasury or storehouse rather than a bank. .The earliest real bank .appears to have been that of Barcelona, founded in 1401. In this case, the city funds were made responsible for any moneys entrusted to the bank, which not only received deposits, but ex- changed money and discounted bills. The Bank of Amsterdam was founded in 1609. The so- called Bank of St George, at Genoa, dates back to 1407, but does not appear to have done genuine tanking business until 1675. The Bank of Stockholm commenced in 1668. Up to 1770 there were very few banks out of London, but during the American War a large number were founded. My own firm com- menced business in 1772. EXCHEQUER TALLIES. Although banking, in some form or other, can, as we have seen, be carried back to an early EXCHEQUER TALLIES 125 period in history, and even in our own country has long existed, still in our national accounts a very archaic system was pursued until quite recently. It is indeed scarcely credible that the old wooden " tallies " were only abolished by Mr Burke's Act, which was passed in 1782, but did not come into full effect till 1826, on the death of the last of the chamberlains. The tally was a willow stick, not exceeding 5 feet in length, about one inch in depth and thickness, with the four sides roughly squared. On one of the four sides the amount was expressed in notches. The stick was then split down the middle : one half, constituting the tally, was given to the person making the pay- ment into the Exchequer, the other half, the counter tally, or counterfeit, was kept in the Exchequer. There w r as no single notch for a larger sum than ,1000; a notch of the gauged width of ii inch denoted ;iooo ; i inch ioo\ f inch 10 ; and half a notch of this last size i ; of Y\ inch is., and the smallest notch id. ; ^d. was denoted by a small pounded hole. In the Return on Public Income and Expendi- ture, 29th July 1869, the following account is given of the mode in which these tallies were actually issued. 126 BANK-NOTES AND BANKING .The slip of parchment, or teller's bill, as it was called, was thrown down a pipe into the tally court, a large room under the teller's offices, notice being given to the tally officer by a clerk calling out " down " through the pipe. The teller's bill fell upon the large table in the tally court, which was covered with a chequered cloth. In the tally court sat officers of the clerk of the pells, and of the auditor as perform- ing the duties of the chamberlain of the Ex- chequer. The teller's bill was first recorded by the officer of the clerk of the pells, in his book of introitus or receipt, and then passed over to the auditor's clerk, who entered it into a book called the bill of the day. A copy of each teller's bill was written by the auditor's clerk upon an indented form of receipt (up to 1826 upon the wooden tally, the amount being ex- pressed in notches only), and given upon his ap- plication, generally on the following day, to the receiver or other person paying in the money. At the close of the day, when all the teller's bill had been sent down and entered, the bill of the day was sent on to the clerk of the cash- book, in which book all the receipts of the day were entered. The auditor's cash - book was the foundation of all the accounts of the receipt of revenue, EXCHEQUER TALLIES weekly, quarterly, and yearly certificates of which were trans- mitted from the Exchequer to the Treasury, from which the annual accounts of revenue were prepared and laid down before Parliament. The following figure (Fig. 125) represents a section of the end of an Exchequer tally two-thirds natural size, " acknowledging the receipt of ^236, 45. 3|d. on 25th October 1739, from Edward Iron- side, Esq., as a loan to the king on 3 per cent, annuities, pay- able out of the sinking fund, on account of ^"500,000 granted per Act ii George II., c. 27- " This date is written upon the upper side of the tally, where the two notches, denoting 200, are cut. The lower side, on which the smaller notches are cut, has only the word ' Sol ' written upon it." * * Returns, Public Income and Ex- penditure, Part II., July 1869, p. 339. to 128 BANK-NOTES AND BANKING INTEREST. That the rate of interest does not depend on the abundance of gold or silver was strikingly shown by the cases of California and Australia, where, although, in consequence of their gold mines, that metal was peculiarly abundant, the rate of interest has been extremely high. It is now generally admitted that the rate depends partly on the security of repayment, and partly on the average rate of profit deriv- able from the employment of capital. The rates in ancient times seem to have been extraordinarily high according to our ideas. It is stated that Pompey lent money at 50 per cent, Brutus, and Cato himself, at 48 per cent. The rate of interest in Rome, as elsewhere in ancient times, was, in fact, excessive. There was, how- ever, no legal rate till the law of Twelve Tables. It was then fixed nominally at 8| per cent. Subsequently, in the time of Cicero, it was raised to 12 per cent, at which it continued until it was reduced by Justinian, who made what seem to us the curious provisions that the rate should be 4 per cent, for illustrious persons, 6 per cent for those engaged in commerce, and 8 per cent in other cases. The high rates which prevailed so generally in THE RATE OF INTEREST 129 ancient times were, to a great extent, due to the uncertainty of repayment, both from the unsettled state of politics, and from the unsatisfactory character of the law. Instead of endeavouring to cure the evil by removing the cause, legislators attempted to put down the high rates of interest by rendering them illegal. In this they were not only not successful, but they produced the very opposite effect from that which they in- tended. The result was to raise, not to lower, the actual rate paid, because the borrower had not only to pay interest, but to compensate the lender for the additional risk. Indeed, the idea that there is something wrong about charging interest for the use of money is not the least remarkable, or disastrous, of the various prejudices which have interfered with the happiness and comfort of man. The supposed axiom that " pecunia non parit pecuniam" the mis- application of certain texts of Scripture, and the supposed interests of the poor, all contributed to the same error. In Mohammedan countries, notwithstanding that interest is expressly forbidden in the Koran or rather, perhaps, to a certain extent, in con- sequence of that prohibition the ordinary rate is three or four times as high as in Europe. In England after the Conquest, interest was I 130 BANK-NOTES AND BANKING expressly prohibited, both by civil and ecclesi- astical law; and one curious effect of this was that, as the Jews were allowed, under the Mosaic dispensation, to charge interest to strangers, the business of money - lending fell naturally into their hands. Subsequently, a simi- lar privilege was accorded to the Italian or Lombard merchants, from whom, of course, Lom- bard Street, still the centre of banking, derived its name. In the reign of Henry VIII. a statute was passed legalising interest to the extent of 10 per cent. In the reign of Elizabeth, 1571 (13 Eliz., cap. 8), an Act was passed against usury and "corrupt chevisance and bargaining by way of sale of wares," which were declared to have abounded, " to the importable hurt of the Commonwealth," declaring usury to be forbidden by the law of God, in its nature sin, and detest- able. Quaintly enough, however, this was in the first instance limited to five years, but subse- quently (39 Eliz., cap. 1 8) it was continued, on the ground that it was found by experience " to be very necessary and profitable to the Common- wealth of this realm." Under James I. the limit was lowered to 8 per cent. ; in the time of Queen Anne to 5 ; and the usury laws were not altogether abol- USURY LAWS 131 ished till 1839. As regards Scotland, interest was altogether illegal until the Reformation. In 1587 it was legalised up to 10 per cent This Act was repealed in 1552, but revived in 1571, the effect of rendering interest once more illegal having been to raise it from 10 per cent to much higher rates. Subsequently, in 1633, the legal rate was reduced to 8 per cent., and in 1 66 1 to 6 per cent. In Ireland interest was forbidden until 1635, when it was legalised up to 10 per cent, reduced in 1704 to 8 per cent., in 1722 to 7 per cent., and in 1732 to 6 per cent The statute of Anne, above alluded to, applied to the whole kingdom. In 1818, a Committee of the House of Commons was appointed which reported strongly against the usury laws ; but even then so strong was the popular prejudice, that not until 1839 was it rendered legal to charge a higher rate of discount than 5 per cent In France the legal rate, which had been 5 per cent., was lowered in 1766 to 4 per cent According to the Code Napoleon, 6 per cent was the highest legal rate on commercial loans, and 5 per cent on those of real property. In the United States, again, the rate is fixed by law, and varies from 8 to 6 per cent in the different states. It is unnecessary to say that these restrictions are quite inoperative. It is 132 BANK-NOTES AND BANKING very remarkable that so many civilised countries have failed, and that some still fail to appreciate the simple statement of Locke, that " it is in vain to go about effectually to reduce the price of interest by a law ; and you may as rationally hope to get a fixed rate upon the hire of houses or ships as of money." DERIVATION OF WORDS RELATING TO COINS AND CURRENCY. The derivations of words relating to money and commerce are interesting and instructive. " Pecuni- ary'' takes us back to the times when value was reckoned by so many head of cattle. The word " money " is from moneta, because in Rome coins were first regularly struck in or near the temple of Juno Moneta, which again was probably derived from monere, to warn, though this deriva- tion is uncertain, as has been already stated (see ante, p. 12). "Coin" is probably from the Latin word cuneus, a die or stamp. The Latin numrnus^. from which we derive our word " numismatics," was the Greek i/o^ou 07x01, derived from i/o/xo?, " law," 1 and referring to the legal character of the coin. Many coins are merely so called from their weight,, as, for instance, our pound, the French livre, Italian lira, the Jewish shekel : others from the metal, as DERIVATIONS OF NAMES FOR COINS 133 the Roman " as " from ces, bronze ; the " aureus " ; the " rupee " from the Sanscrit " rupya," silver : others from the design, as the angel, the testoon, from teste or tete, a head ; others from the proper name of the monarch, such as the Louis d'or or the Napoleon. The dollar, or thaler, is short for the Joachims- thaler, or money of the Joachims valley in Bohemia, where these coins were first struck in the sixteenth century. Guineas were called after the country from which the gold was obtained, and the "franc", is an abbreviation of the inscription " Francorum Rex." The " sou " is from the Latin solidus. The word " shilling " appears to be derived from a root signifying to divide ; and in several cases the name indicates the fraction of some larger coin, as the denarius, halfpenny, farthing, cent and mil. The pound was originally not a coin, but a weight, and comes from the Latin pondus. Our pound was originally a pound of silver, which was divided into 240 pennies. The origin of the word penny is uncertain. Some have derived it from p end o, to weigh, but this does not seem very satisfactory. Our word "sterling" is said to go back to the time of the Conquest, but the derivation has been much disputed. Some have supposed that it was first attributed to coins struck at Stirling, but for this there is not, the slightest evidence ; others, 134 BANK-NOTES AND BANKING that the name was derived from coins having a star on the obverse ; but no coins which could have given rise to such a name are known. The most probable suggestion is that it had reference to the Easterling, or North German merchants. It first occurs in a public record of the time of Henry II.* The purity of gold is usually stated in carats. Our standard gold is described as 22 carats, i.e., 22 parts of gold and 2 of alloy out of 24, this number being selected because the Roman "solidus" weighed 24 carats. The word comes from the East, and originally signified the beans of the locust tree called locusts in the New Testament, where we are told that John the Baptist lived on locusts and wild honey. The tree still retains the name in its botanical appellation of Ceratonia. The beans from time immemorial have been used as a weight among Eastern nations, just as barley and wheat grains have been with us. Before the invention of true coins,, the Greeks =used little spikes or obelisks of metal, whence the name u obol " ; six of which made a " handful," whence the name " drachma," which has continued to the present day. The " stater " was the " standard." *Ruding, i, 174. CONCLUSION 135 Finally, some coins have been named from the head of the State, as, for instance, the ancient Persian daric, from dara^ a king, the crown ; and last, not least, the sovereign, which is not only the standard of these islands, but the great financial standard of commerce of the world long may it so remain ! APPENDIX EXTRACT FROM THE COINAGE ACT (-33 VICT., 1870, CHAP. 10) <( A TENDER of payment of money, if made in coins which have been issued by the mint in accordance with the provisions of this Act, and have not been called in by any proclamation made in pursuance of this Act, and have not been diminished in weight, by wear or otherwise, so as to be of less weight than the current weight, that is to say, than the weight (if any) specified as the least current weight in the first schedule to this Act, or less than such weight as may be declared by any proclamation made in pursuance of this Act, shall be a legal tender : In the case of gold coins, for a payment of any amount : In the case of silver coins, for a payment of an amount not exceeding forty shillings, but for n,o greater amount : 137 138 APPENDIX In the case of the bronze coins, for a pay- ment of an amount not exceeding one shilling, but for no greater amount." FIRST SCHEDULE. Gold Silver Shilling Bronze Penny Standard Weight, Grains. 23.27447 Least Current We ; ght. 122.5 Standard Fineness. \y% alloy ) Remedy, Imperial Grains. .2 87.27272 145-83333 1 I 1% silver \ ft alloy J f Mixed metal,! copper, tin, [ 2.91666 and zinc By a subsequent Act, passed in 1891, the