Elementary arithmetic, with brief notices of its history... by Robert Potts.

MONEY.

47:

the issue of bank dollar tokens at 5s. each, as to make them worth
more as bullion than as coins. It was deemed expedient, in order to
prevent them from being withdrawn from circulation, that they
should in future be current at the increased value of 5s. 6d. each. In
the year 1812, an Act was passed to amend that of 51 Geo. III.,
c. 127, respecting the gold coins and the notes of the Bank of
England.1
On July 1, 1817, a new gold coin, called a sovereign of 20s. value,
was made current by proclamation. It was 5 dwts. 3'274grs. Troy
weight of standard gold. On the obverse was the head of the king,
with the circumscription GEORGIUS III. D. G. BRITANNIAR. REXF. D.,
and the date, and on the reverse, the image of St. George, armed on
horseback, encountering the dragon with a spear, placed within the
garter bearing the motto, HoNi SOIT QUI MA.L Y PENSE, with a graining
on the edge (Stat. 57, Geo. III., c. 46). A new coinage of silver also
was ordered. According to an account delivered to the House of
Commons on 1 June, 1818, the coinage of sovereigns was 5,406,517,,
and of half-sovereigns 3,103,474, of shillings 50,490,000, and of sixpences 30,436,560.
George IV., 1820-1830. Various coinages were issued both for
the united Kingdom and the Colonies during this reign.
In 1821, there was a silver coinage of crowns, shillings, and sixpences, and a gold coinage of sovereigns and half-sovereigns. The
sovereign had on the reverse the figure of St. George and the Dragon,
the half-sovereign, the ensigns armorial of the United Kingdom on a.
shield, surrounded by the rose, thistle, and shamrock, with the date.
Farthings were also struck, having on the obverse the king's head,
with his titles; on the reverse, the figure of Britannia seated on a.
rock in the sea, holding a trident in her left hand and an olive
branch in her right, with the inscription BRITANNIAR. REX. FID. DEF.,
and the date. In this year and the next, above 51 tons of copper
were coined into farthings, 96 to the pound weight Avoirdupois.
In 1825, an Act was passed "to provide for the assimilation of
the money and moneys of account throughout the United Kingdon
of Great Britain and Ireland."
William IV., 1830-1837. William IV. ascended the throne on
the death of his brother. A new coinage was ordered in 1830, of
gold, silver, and copper, without any alteration of standard or weight,
for the United Kingdom, and in the following years coinages were
effected for several of the Colonies. By an order in Council, 3 Feb.
1836, a fourpenny piece in silver was struck for common circulation.
The coin of this denomination was discontinued after the reign of
Charles I., and was not struck for common currency until this year.
The following epigram appeared while the Bill for this Act was passing
through Parliament:
Bank Notes and Guineas.
"' Bank notes, it is said, once guineas defied
To swim to a point in trade's foaming tide;
But ere they could reach the opposite brink,
Bank notes cried to gold,-help us, cash us, we sink.
That paper should sink, and guineas should swim,
May appear to some folks a ridiculous whim;
But before they condemn, let them hear this suggestion,
In pun-making, gravity's out of the question."