Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 7.djvu/26

6 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [011.41. bijing received of the butchers, after the manner afore- said, being all put together, then all the shillings of three ounces fine and under, but not above, should be tried and called out as well counterfeits after the same stamp and standard as others ; and after the rest of the money might be perused and compared one with an- other.' 1 Either by this or some other plan, the worst coin in circulation was found to be about a fourth of the whole, while the entire mass of base money of all standards was guessed roughly at i,2oo,ooo/. How to deal with it was the next question. Sir Thomas Stanley offered several schemes to the choice of the Government. 1 . The testers, worse and better together, might be called down from sixpence to fourpence ; a period might be fixed within which they must be brought to the Mint, and paid for at that price. The 1,200,000^. would be bought in for 8oc,ooo/. ; the bullion which it con- tained, being recoined and reissued at eleven ounces fine, would be worth 837,500^. ; and the balance of 37>o^ * n favour of the Government, together with the value of the alloy, would more than cover the expenses of the process. If the Queen wished to make a better thing of it, the worst money might be sent to Ireland, as the general dirt heap for the outcasting of England's vileness. 2. The bad coin might be called in simply and paid 1 ' A manner to make a proof how many sorts of standards are current commonly within this realm : ' Lansdoivne MSS. 4.