we find they were in Nero or Galbo's time, viz. each aureus at 100 h. s., the proportion of gold to silver would be as one to twelve and a half. 3dly. We are certain that the aurei were lessened in and before Nero's time to forty-eight in a pound, and were valued each, as Tacitus and Suetonius informs us, at 100 h. s., which brings the value of gold in respect of silver to be as one to fourteen and a half. "4thly. If we suppose fifty-four aurei in the pound, and the aurei yet to keep their former value of being reckoned worth 100 h. s. (which is very unlikely), the aurei will contain five and one-third scruples, and one pound of gold will amount to sixteen and one-seventh of silver. This being an advance above what Constantine raised it to, is to be rejected; and we are all along to suppose that, as the aurei were lessened, their value likewise suffered, and we are certain of nothing in this matter but that the aurei, either when forty-two in the pound, or forty-eight in the pound, or at both times, yet were passed, and were reputed to be worth 100 h. s., which, at twopence apiece, make 16s. 8d. of our present English money. W. S." 3. "Mr. THORESBY, Saturday morning, June 30, 1722. My nephew that had been abroad some time and returned hither last night, told me he was for going towards Rawden this morning, which allows me scarce leisure to return you thanks for your last favour; and to acquaint you further, that I read this week Dr. Edw. Bernard's book, De Mensuris et Ponderibus Antiquis, which, being a little too hard for me readily to understand, I can at present give you no further account of it, save that from his calculations I am something more confirmed than formerly of the truth of my own, in computing by the Roman ounce, and allowing only seven denarii to every ounce, and eighty-four to the pound. For I find in him that there are four sorts of the denarii to be met with, which he expresses in the following words, p. 104: 'Nobis vero, repetitò ceròtque æstimantibus, argenti denarius Romanus quadruplex reperitur: 1. Gordianicus et maximus Romanorum, 2. Consularis, 3. Tiberianus, et 4. Vespasianus.' The first he reckons to weigh from sixty-six, sixty-five, to sixty-four and a half grains; the second from sixty-two, sixty-one and a half, to sixty-one grains; the third sort from sixty to fifty-nine grains; and the fourth from fifty-four to fifty-three grains. Of these he gives us several instances; of the first he says: Servantur adhuc denarii antiquorum Consulum multi, Pescenii aliquot, plerique Gordiani et Philipporum, pauci Julianii; quinimo aliquot Philippici circa ludos percipue sæculares, et Posthumii aliquot ad 3 dwt. insigniter crevêre instar drachmarum thesiarum (72 gr.), pondus 2 dwt. 17 gr. (i. e. 65.) perferunt denarii aliquot Trebonii, Vesusiani, Gallieni, Arausii, Allecti, Ameliani, et Aureliani.' The instances he gives of the second sort amount to twelve by name, and adds at the last, et centum alii. For the third sort (of 60. and 59 gr.) he names L. Titus, Caius et Lucius Cæsares, L. Sergius, Cotta, Tampilus, Bæbius, Q. et L. Metellus, octaviani denarii bene multi, quidem tamen adhuc uberiùs et pulchriùs perstant. Sic Pompeius Mag. pollet in argento, passimque Tiberius.' For the fourth sort he reckons those a Nerone ad Alexandrum Severum monetæ restitutorem, quæ sunt grana argentaria 53.' "What I now remark from these four sorts is this, that the three first agree very well with Pliny, Celsus, Scribonius Largus, &c. who reckon eighty-four denarii to the Roman pound, and seven to the Roman ounce, in opposition to Budeus and all those that have since concurred with him. And if I had had this book when I requested you to enquire of your friends the weight of their heaviest coins, I should not have given you or them the trouble; this author having eased us of that labour, he having consulted many of the coins in England, and not a few beyond sea, having for some time been in France as governor to the present Duke of Southampton, and in his book frequently quoting the Vatican and other both Greek and Latin MSS. Yet he himself falls in with the error of reckoning_but sixty ounces to the Troy pound, and fifty-six grains to the Troy ounce; and so giving a grain too much to every four of our modern pence, reckoning them at thirty-two grains instead of thirty-one. You will perceive also that though there was a gradual descent of weight before Nero's time, yet those Emperors that came after him, as Gordian, Philip, &c. endeavoured rather to imitate the old Consuls than the later Emperors. author has been much obliged to Mr. Greaves, whom he often quotes with eulogiums of honour, and mentions his Roman Diary; and being one of the Savilian Professors, had the use of a peculiar library, to which none but those two Professors have the freedom of access, it making one of the lower rooms in the Schools tower at Oxford. This "I once, long ago, borrowed of Mr. Gale this book of Dr. Bernard's *, but could then make nothing of it; and still it seems to me very difficult, and not easily to be understood by persons not a little versed in the subject he writes of, or better mathematicians than I am; it was become so scarce that I was forced to procure it from Oxford. But the books I sent for from London are not yet arrived, or, it may be, scarce on shipboard. This author styles Mr. Greaves, flos cathedra Savilianæ, if I remember right. P. 105. Jo. Grævius vir clariss. et justitiæ Romanæ diligentissimus æstimator." P. 123. Sed Joh'i Grævio antecessori nostri semper memorando,' &c. and the like in other places, which I have not time now to consult. In p. 140. this author gives us the weight of several British gold coins before they were quite subdued by the Romans. WILLIAM SMITH." * Dr. Bernard has before occurred in this volume, p. 307. Letters relative to Mr. SMITH'S MSS. "SIR, 1. The Rev. THOMAS ROBINSON* to CUTHBERT CONSTABLET, Esq. Wycliffe, Oct. 19, 1742. Notwithstanding the plentiful fortune in terra left by the late Mr. Smith ‡, of Melsonby, to his nephew at Easeby, such are the present circumstances of the latter (the estate having been entailed by his uncle) as to have obliged him to retreat to London, where it is said he now lives in close retirement. "His pressing necessities put him upon contriving all possible methods to satisfy the demands of his creditors; and amongst others, he has at last determined to sell all the MS. volumes of his said late uncle, being thirty-seven in number, which he offers to let you have for seventy-four guineas, that is, two guineas each volume, one with another; alledging that, besides the very great difficulty of getting access to the originals, you cannot any where hire a writer barely to transcribe them for that sum. "Dr. Cochman, the present Master of University College, Oxford, as I informed you some years ago, had desired the favour of him to present to that College such of the volumes (being, as they tell me, the first eleven of the xix marked with numeral characters,) as relate chiefly to their affairs, which he once appeared inclinable to grant; but the difficulties and straits he now labours under have altered his mind therein; which the College seems in some measure to resent, and is unwilling to purchase what they fully expected gratis. "The messenger (a schoolmaster) that came to me yesterday from Easeby, desired I would not fail writing to you by this day's post, to have your answer as soon as possible; and added, that if they hear not from you in about a fortnight's time, the books were ordered to be sent up to London soon after. I was further desired to let you know that there are also eight volumes of Heraldry at Mr. Thomas Smith's chambers, No. 13, in Gray'sInn, London, which, if you incline to purchase, you may get some friend of yours to peruse and treat about. As you have the contents of the thirty-seven MS. volumes, if, after due consideration thereof, you will please to send me your thoughts and proposals, you may depend on my best endeavours to serve you. Mr. Tunstall §, and the rest of the family at the Hall, are in good health. I am, Sir, "Your most obedient humble servant, T. ROBINSON." *Of St. John's College, Cambridge, B. A. 1725, M. A. 1731. He was presented to the Rectory of Wycliffe in Holderness, a Crown living, in May 1731; and is there recorded by this epitaph: octo. "H. S. E. Thomas Robinson, A. M. hujus ecclesiæ Rector per annos fermè triginta Of whom see hereafter, p. 509. ・ 2. CUTHBERT CONSTABLE, Esq. to Mr. ROBINSON. "SIR, Burton Constable, Oct. 29, 1742. "I thank you for the favour of yours. I am sorry for the present circumstances of Mr. Smith, because I always esteemed him an honest good man, and worthy of better fortune than what he now labours under. As for the determination he has taken at last to sell his manuscript works at two guineas a volume, I cannot persuade myself that they can be worth so much to me, as a great part of them only regards University College, Oxford; nor can they be of so much use even to that College, being only abridgements, or larger indexes to original MSS. in it, and as they are in possession of the originals themselves, what great use will the abridgements be to the College? Besides, as I have never seen what condition they are in, nor how fair they are writ, nor how fully they treat of these matters, as you took the obliging trouble some years ago to write me the heads, if I cannot be induced to give so great a price as is required, though it must be confessed they have been performed with great labour and industry; but as a great part of my life is spent, and what remains, unfit to peruse and turn over such numerous volumes, I am not like to be a chapman at the rate they are set at: but if a guinea a volume would purchase them, I know not but the esteem I had of the collector would make me go so far to oblige Mr. Smith more than myself; and this is the utmost I can do to serve him: and if I be admitted a purchaser I will, as I formerly told you, let you have the perusal of any of them you please; and thank you at present for the trouble you was pleased to take in acquainting me about these MSS. And believe me, Sir, your most obliged and most humble servant, CUTHBERT CONSTABLE. * "When you go to the Hall please to make our compliments to Brother Tunstall and all friends. My Son †, who is a lusty young man both in breadth and length, designs in a little time to pay his respects to his uncle at Wycliffe, to whom he presents his duty and humble service." 3. Mr. SMITH to RICHARD WILSON ‡, Esq. Recorder of Leeds. In answer to yours of the 5th, if I had had time, health, and ability, those MSS. of my uncle should not have gone for any * Marmaduke Tunstall. See p. 512. + William. See p. 509. Richard Wilson, Esq. son of Thomas Wilson, Esq. of Leeds, merchant, the representative of an antient Yorkshire family (of which there is a copious pedigree in Dr. Whitaker's edition of Thoresby's "Ducatus Leodiensis," p. 3.), was born July 24, 1678; elected Recorder of Leeds in 1729; and dying April 7, 1761, was succeeded as Recorder by his eldest son Richard, who died, unmarried, July 13, 1776.-" The late Mr. Wilson had several volumes of Pedigrees, Nomina Villarum, Surveys of Churches, &c. transcribed from Dodsworth, by the Rev. Mr. Smith, Rec price, at least till I had the opportunity of perusing them, and transcribing out any thing I thought proper; but as it has pleased God to cut me short in all these respects, they must even go for what they can make towards the satisfaction of my creditors. "I told you before I should not be able to send the particulars of the Heraldry books; I have this day looked them over, but though I think there is in all, or most of them, Indexes or Contents of my uncle's own writing, yet they are so large and copious that it would take near a sheet of paper apiece to write them. There are seven books, three of them large, two middling, and one thin folio, and one large quarto; four or five are done in colours, and two in black and white; in general they consist of the coats of arms, pennons, figures of mail, obsequies, and pedigrees of most of the nobility and gentry of the land to 1617. One is called Registrum Annorum Anglicanorum,' by Wriottesley, Garter King of Arms; and though I can find no connexion in the books one to another, yet they seem most of them to be his doing. I am not a judge of their value, having never shewn them to any one, but I believe in most people's opinion they are much better worth than the MSS., of which I think there are thirty-seven, and seven of these makes forty-four; which surely cannot be set at less than fifty guineas together, which is little more than what is bidden. "As for those relating to University College *, there would be neither justice nor honesty in it, if I should follow Mr. Kay's advice, though otherwise reasonable as to them, and pretend to make presents to those that do not need, when I am not able to pay my creditors. As to the clearness or fairness of the MSS. Mr. Robinson knows them better than I, none having seen them so much as himself. If you get rid of any of the old rubbish at ten shillings in the pound abate, I shall be glad of it. "I am, Sir, your obedient servant, W. SMITH." tor of Melsonby; additions to Camden and Thoresby, &c. &c. which are probably in the possession of his brother and heir, Thomas Wilson, of Leeds, Esq.;" Gough's "British Topography," vol. II. p. 416. Mr. Thomas Wilson died in 1789, aged 76. Christopher Wilson, a younger brother, was made Bishop of Bristol in 1782, and died April 18, 1792. *These appear to have been purchased by Mr. Marmaduke Tunstall ; and after his death by George Allan, Esq. of Darlington, by whom twentysix quarto volumes of MSS. relating chiefly to the University of Oxford, extracted from the several public Libraries there, by the Rev. W. Smith, were presented to the Society of Antiquaries. See the "Literary Anecdotes," vol. VI. p. 126. |