Holograph notes on French coinage

Author: Isaac Newton

Source: MINT 19/2/151, National Archives, Kew, Richmond, Surrey, UK

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- Revision History
  - 1 January 2001
    - Catalogue information compiled by Rob Iliffe, Peter Spargo & John Young
  - 29 September 2011
    - Catalogue exported to teiHeader by Michael Hawkins
  - 10 May 2017
    - Transcribed by Will Scott
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<151r>

|1 Marc = {illeg}|8| ounces = 64 Gros = 19{illeg}|2| Deniers = 160 Esterlings = 320 Mailles = 640 \Felins/ Grains = 7 $\frac{7}{8}$ ounces Troy – 2^gr.|

|1 Ounce = 8 Gross = 24 Deniers = 20 Esterlings = 40 Mailles = 80 Felins = 576 Grains.| |1 Denier = 24 grains.|

A \double/ Lewis d'or new out of the Mint weight 8^dwt 16^gr. Thirty six & a quarter Lewi dors make a French mark of Eight ounces, wanting only about $\frac{2}{3}$ of the Remey|d|y w^ch Remedy is the 40^th part {illeg}|o|f the ounce French or almost 12 grains English & 8 $\frac{11}{12}$ silver Lewises make a Mark French wanting only $\frac{3}{4}$ ths of {illeg}|the| remedy, w^ch remedy is about 36 grains sterling in y^e Mark. And thence the silver Lewis weighs 17^{dw^t} 12 $\frac{2}{3}$ ^gr new out of the Mint.

If 1 Mark = 7 $\frac{7}{8}$ ounces Troy, A Lewidor new out of y^e Mint weight 4^dwt 8 $\frac{1}{20}$ ^gr & a silver Lewis 17^dwt 12 $\frac{7}{8}$ ^gr. so that a Lewidor is to L|a| Lewis a{illeg}|s| |[|1 to 4 $\frac{4}{90}$ , or {illeg} to 180 1 to {illeg}|4| $\frac{1}{22}$ , or|]| 22 to 89.

{illeg}|A| Le|D|ouble Lewis|d|ors new out the Mint \one with about/ weighs 8^dwt 16^gr, a new sil {illeg}|&| by the assay {illeg}|th|e {illeg}|fren|ch \Gold/ money is found sometimes $\frac{3}{4}$ ^legr sometimes\oftener/ $\frac{1}{4}$ ^legr most commonly $\frac{1}{2}$ ^legr worse never standard. It may be recconed $\frac{7}{16}$ ^legr or in a r{illeg}|o|und number $\frac{1}{2}$ legr worse then standard Before the coynage of Pistoles which began in Feb 170 $\frac{0}{1}$ th{illeg}|os|e current in o^r markets weighed one with another 4^{dw^t} 7 $\frac{1}{8}$ ^gr: but the heavy ones being melted down they do not now weigh one w^th another above 7^{dw^t} 6^gr or 7^dwt 6 $\frac{1}{2}$ ^gr. They \are {well} a|e|qually assaid & sized & the/ double Pistoles are generally heavier in proportion then the single ones \being less worn/. They {sic} are \both single & double/ well \allayed &/ sized.

Silver Lewises new out of the Mint weigh one with another 17^{dw^t} 13^gr or 13 $\frac{1}{4}$ \^gr/ but in every six or seven years wearing lose a grain, more or less. They are less equally \allayed &/ sized then the gold. The assays of ten pieces were as follows. 1^st Coyned 1651 wors 2|4|^{w^t} ob. {illeg}|2|^d coyn{illeg}|d| 1679 better 1^{w^t} ob. 3^d coynd 1680 sta. 4^th coynd 168{illeg}|2| better 4^{w^t}. 5^t coynd 1687 sta. {5}|6| coynd 1690 restamp 1694 wors 1^{w^t}. 7^th 8^th 9^th & {illeg}|10|^th worse sta. sta. {sic} better 1^{dw^t}. worse viij^{dw^t}. One w^th another w{illeg}|orse| $\frac{7}{10}$ ^dwt. These & two others weighed one with another 17^dwt 6^g, the eight heaviest of them 17^dwt 12 the two heaviest 17^dwt 13 $\frac{1}{4}$ ^gr, the two lighted 17^dwt 3 $\frac{1}{2}$ ^gr being {illeg}|li|gh{illeg}|t|ned by wearing

The French standard is 11 ounces fine & one \ounce/ of allay both for gold & silver They cut a Mark into 36 $\frac{1}{4}$ Pistoles & 8 $\frac{11}{12}$ silver Lewises, abating {illeg} part of\allowing for/ the remedy. The whole remedy {illeg}|for| gold is two Felins {illeg} (or about 11 $\frac{4}{5}$ ^gr g{illeg}|ra|ins English) per Marc & for silver {three} six {fi} three times as much. And of this they abate about 7^gr per Marc of gold & 21^gr p^r Mark of silver \in the weight of the money/ so that the French Marc is (36 $\frac{1}{4}$ Pistoles + 7^gr = 8 $\frac{11}{12}$ \white/ Lewises + 21^gr =) 7 ounces 17^dw{illeg}|t| 9^gr \Troy/ quam proxime. And {illeg}|t|herefore y^e ounce Frenc{illeg}|h| is to y^e ounce Troy of the Exchequer & Tower as 6{5}|0| to 61.

The remedy of Allay is