VARIATIONS IN THE COINAGE.
Henry VIII. greatly debased both his gold and silver coins, which he alloyed with copper to a great extent. The proportions of the pound, indeed, in 1546, amounted to 8 oz. of alloy to 4 oz. of silver, which constituted, a positively base coin, the old allowance having been but 18 pennyweights of alloy to 11 oz. and 2 pennyweights of silver. His depreciations were equally daring, for out of the pound of silver he now coined 576 pennies or 48s. The gold coins of this monarch were sovereigns, half-sovereigns or rials, half and quarter rials, angels, half and quarter angels, George nobles, and forty-penny pieces. In this reign the immemorial privileges of the sees of Canterbury, York, and Durham, for coining small money, was abandoned, the last Bishop that used it being Wolsey's successor, Edward Lee.
Edward VI. carried both depreciation and debasement still farther; but towards the close of his reign he was obliged to restore the currency to something like the ancient standard. He was the first that issued crowns, half-crowns, and sixpences. Little alterations were made by Mary, beyond striking coins with her husband's head as well as her own; but under Elizabeth the coinage was, at length, completely recovered from its debasement, the old proportion of 18 pennyweights of alloy being restored, which has continued to the present day. The number of shillings struck out of a pound of silver was not lessened, however, for it continued to be sixty, as in the preceding reign, till 1601, when it was increased to sixty-two, at which rate it went on to 1816, when it was raised to sixty-six, at which it now remains. Her gold coins are much the same as before, but are distinguished by having the edges milled for the first time. Shortly before her death she had intended to coin farthings and other small pieces of copper, a metal which had not yet been made use of in this country.
CHAFFINCH CONTEST.
At the town of Armentières, in France, there is a fête du pays, called hermesse, or ducasse d'Armentières, in which the chaffinch and its fellows are the chief actors and objects of attraction. Numbers of these birds are trained with the greatest care, and no small share of cruelty, for they are frequently blinded by their owners, that their song may not be interrupted by any external object. The point upon which the amusement, the honour, and the emolument rests, is, the number of times which a bird will repeat his song in a given time. A day being fixed, the amateurs repair to the appointed place, each with his bird in a cage. The prize is then displayed, and the birds are placed in a row. A bird-fancier notes how many times each bird sings, and another verifies his notes. In the year 1812, a chaffinch repeated his song seven hundred times in one hour. Emulated by the songs of each other, they strain their little "plumed throats," as if conscious that honour was to result from their exertions.
EXPENSIVENESS OF DRESS IN THE TIME OF JAMES I.
Dress, indeed, must have swallowed up almost every thing at a time when James and his courtiers set the fashion of appearing in a new garb almost every day. When the Duke of Buckingham was sent to France to bring over Henrietta Maria, he provided, amongst others, one suit of white uncut velvet, and a cloak set all over with diamonds, valued at £80,000; besides a feather made of great diamonds, and sword, girdle, hat-band, and spurs, thick set with the same. Another suit of purple satin, embroidered all over with pearls, was valued at £20,000. At the marriage of the Princess Elizabeth with the Palatine, Lady Wotton wore a gown profusely ornamented with embroidery that cost £50 a yard; and Lord Montague spent £1,500 on the dresses of his two daughters for that occasion. By this account it would seem that the ladies were, at all events, not more expensive in their attire than gentlemen.
INGENUITY OF THE TUNISIANS.
A stranger visiting a city like Tunis, cannot but be struck with the various peculiarities, which present themselves to his view, wherever he turns. In their government, mercantile pursuits, professions and trades, the Tunisians are centuries behind. But, with all their disadvantages, the traveller, in traversing their crowded sooks (market places) and serpentine streets, finds numerous illustrations of the proverb, "Necessity is the mother of invention." In every workshop some tool, or implement, presents itself, which is as curious in its formation as it is strange to see the peculiar use for which it is intended, and the manner in which it is employed. We may illustrate this by a sketch of a turner.