Topographical, statistical, and historical gazetteer of Scotland > Volume 1

INTRODUCTION. 11
and the amount of stamp duty received from them was £35,392. In the year ending
loth September, 1837, the newspapers were 65 ; the stamps 4,123,330 ; and the duty
£17.180. In the year ending 5th January, 1839, the newspapers were 64 ; the stamps
4,228,370 ; and the duty £17,386 Is. 4d. In the half-year ending 30th June, 1839,
the newspapers were 63 ; the stamps 1,908,780 ; and the duty £7,876 5s. 5d. At the
last of these dates, 3 of the newspapers were published in Aberdeen, 2 in Arbroath, 2 in
Ayr, 2 in Berwick, 2 in Cupar-Fife, 3 in Dumfries, 3 in Dundee, 12 in Edinburgh, 1 in
Elgin, 1 in Forres, 12 in Glasgow, 2 in Greenock, 3 in Inverness, 2 in Kelso, 1 in
Kilmarnock, 1 in Leith, 2 in Montrose, 1 in Paisley, 4 in Perth, 2 in Stirling, 1 in
Stranraer, and 1 in Wick. Of the whole 63, no fewer than 46 were weekly ; while 5
were published thrice a-week, and belonged to Edinburgh, Glasgow, and Greenock ; and
12 were published twice a-week, and belonged to Edinburgh, Glasgow, Greenock, Kelso,
and Leith.
COINS, WEIGHTS AND MEASURES.
Scottish coinage cannot be traced higher than the twelfth century. Silver pennies
were coined by William the Lion and his immediate successors ; and this and other
silver coins continued to be the only currency till the reign of David II. During the
whole of the Scoto- Saxon period, Scottish money was of the same fashion, weight, and
fineness, as the English, bore the same denominations, and was, in all respects, coequal
with it in value. David II., amid the feebleness and the wretched circumstances of his
reign, coined groats, half-groats, pennies, and half-pennies, of silver, but so debased the
coinage, that it was, for the first time, prohibited in England, or rated at a depreciated
standard. The amount of deterioration was one-fifth of the whole value ; and was
estimated nearly at that proportion in the calculations of the English. David's succes-
sors not only followed his example, but carried out the principle of it with a boldness
and a rapidity of expansion which excite surprise. Three, two, and one of the English
pennies successively, and in speediness of change, became equal to four of the Scottish.
The money of Scotland was at length carried so far along the career of deterioration, as,
about the year 1600, to become only one-twelfth of the English in value ; and, at this
miserably depreciated rate, it has ever since stood in abstract or comparative reckoning.
Robert II., who ascended the throne in 1371, introduced gold pieces, and coined £17
12s. out of one pound of gold. Mary coined royals of 10, 20, and 30 shillings, generally
known under the name of Crookston dollars. James VI. coined merks, half merks,
quarter merks, and half-quarter merks, and nobles and half nobles. Charles II. coined
pieces of 4 merks and 2 merks, dollars of 56 shillings each in value, half-dollars, quarter
dollars, half-quarter dollars, and sixteenths of dollars. James VII. coined 40 and 10
shilling pieces ; and William and Mary pieces of 60, 40, 20, 10, and 5 shillings. At the
epoch of the Union, nearly £900,000 existed in Scotland in the different coins of various
nations ; and the whole specie was recoined in uniformity with the English standard,
and, with very little addition of paper currency, put into circulation, to the permanent
exclusion of the old and wofully depreciated coins. — Copper money, or billon, generally
known by the name of black money, was introduced to Scotland a century and a-half
before it appeared in England. The copper coins of James II., III., IV., and V.,— the
largest of which is about the size of a modern shilling, but very thin, — were probably
intended to pass for groats and half-groats. Mary coined placks, or fourpenny pieces ;
James VI. coined bodies, or twopenny pieces, and hardheads, or threepenny pieces ; and
Charles II., and William and Mary, besides repeating parts of the former coinage,
coined bawbees. — The early weights and measures of Scotland were derived chiefly from
England, during the 12th century ; and, whatever may have been their variety, they
long continued to serve every practical end among an uncommercial people. The par-
liament, desirous to maintain fairness and uniformity, appointed standards in the several
departments ; and, probably with a reference to the respective manufactures of the
burghs, assigned the keeping of the standard ell to Edinburgh, that of the reel to Perth,
that of the pound to Lanark, that of the firlot to Linlithgow, and that of the jug to
Stirling. Yet these standards seem to have been very carelessly kept, — so much so,
that one of them was, for a long period, actually lost ; and they did not prevent
the usages of Scotland from becoming discrepant with those of England, or even frorn
atsuming various and perplexing local peculiarities. An uniformity of weights and