(_For the Mirror_.)
"She sighs and shakes her empty shoes in vain,
No _silver-penny_ to reward her pain."
_Dryden_.
According to Camden and Spelman, the ancient English penny[2] was the
first silver coin struck in England, and the only one current among our
Saxon ancestors.
In the time of Ethelred, it was equal in weight to our threepence. Till
the time of King Edward I. the penny was struck with a cross, so deeply
indented in it, that it might be easily broken, and parted on occasion
into two parts, thence called _half-pennies_; or into four, thence called
_fourthings_, or _farthings_; but that prince coined it without indenture,
in lieu of which he struck round halfpence and farthings. He also reduced
the weight of the penny to a standard, ordering that it should weigh
thirty-two grains of wheat taken out of the middle of the ear. This penny
was called the penny sterling. Twenty of these pence were to weigh an
ounce; whence the penny became a weight, as well as a coin. By subsequent
acts it has been further reduced. In ancient statutes, the penny was used
for all silver money; hence the _ward-penny_, the _avert-penny_, the
_rete-penny_, &c.
The _ward-penny_ was formerly a customary due paid to the sheriff, or
other officer, for maintaining _watch_ and _ward_. It was payable at the
feast of St. Martin; and is still paid within the manor of Sutton Colfield,
in Warwickshire, and that with some very singular ceremonies.
The _aver-penny_, or _average-penny_, was contributed towards the king's
averages, or money given to be freed thereof.
The _rete-penny_ was an ancient customary due of one penny for every
person to the parish priest.
The _schar-penny_ was a compensation paid by tenants who neglected to pen
up their cattle at night in the pounds or yard of their lord, for the
benefit of their dung, or _scearn_, as the Saxons called it.
_Peter-pence_ were an ancient tax of a penny on each house throughout
England, paid to the Pope. It was called _Peter-pence_ because collected
on the day of _St. Peter ad vincula_. By the Saxons it was called
_Rome-feoh_--i.e. the fee of Rome; and also _Rome-scot_, and
_Rome-pennying_, because collected and sent to Rome. And lastly, it was
called _hearth-money_, because every dwelling-house was liable to it,
provided there were thirty pence _vivae pecuniae_ belonging to it--nay,
every religious house, the Abbey of St. Alban's alone excepted. It was
finally prohibited under Queen Elizabeth.
"The money of England (says Chamberlayne) was abused and falsified for a
long time; till Queen Elizabeth, in the year 1560, to her great praise,
called in all such money; since which time, no base money hath been coined
in the Mint of England, but only of pure gold and silver, called _sterling
money_; only of latter time, in relation to the necessity of the poor, and
exchange of great money, a small piece of copper, called a farthing, or
fourth part of a penny, hath been permitted to be coined; and so likewise
an halfpenny of two farthings."
Penny pieces of copper were first issued in England June 26, 1797.
N.B. This is a _penny article_, but it is hoped the reader will not object
to pay _twopence_ for it.