NOTES ON RECENT ADDITIONS TO THE LIBRARY.

Gilbart's History, Principles and Practice of Banking. New Edition. Revised to the present date, by A. S. MICHIE, Deputy Manager of the Royal Bank of Scotland, London.

The volumes written by Mr. Gilbart nearly fifty years ago will, no doubt, long be regarded as standard works. But, as new editions are required from time to time, it is well not only that they should be brought down to the latest date as regards the facts, but also that the matter contained in them should be revised; and the publishers are to be congratulated on the choice of the gentleman who has undertaken this delicate task. Mr. Michie is a practical man, with an experience not only of banking practice, but of what other men require. With care and skill he has continued to the present date all historical information, whether resulting from new legislation or from the course of events, condensing, when desirable, many figures into averages. Amongst new matter, may be instanced chapters upon the Clearing-house, the crises of 1875 and 1878, and on recent banking legislation, besides that affecting the Bank of England. But if Mr. Michie has been alive to the additions needed to make the work more complete, he has had an equally keen appreciation as to what was not needed. With all the reverence one ought to have for Mr. Gilbart's works, there is no denying that they are sometimes a little heavy, and partake of the "reward-formerit" character. So the old chapters on "The Moral and Religious Duties of Banking Companies," and on "Ten Minutes Advice about keeping a Banker" are boldly omitted, along with some rather wearisome paragraphs on old controversial matters. Inaccuracies by previous editors ignorant of banking have been rectified, and recurring allusions to the same subject collated and reduced to order. The main purpose of the work as an educational text-book, specially serviceable for young men, and more particularly those in the country whose experience lies within a narrow compass, has never been lost sight of. Whilst the old sterling merit of the work has been preserved, it probably has never yet been presented in so desirable a form.

*2 Vols. London: GEORGE BELL & SONS, York-street, Corent-garden.

JOURNAL OF THE INSTITUTE OF BANKERS.

FEBRUARY, 1882.

RICHARD B. MARTIN, Esq., M.P., in the Chair.

£. s. d., OR THE ORIGIN OF POUNDS, SHILLINGS AND PENCE.

BY JOHN EVANS, Esq., D.C.L., LL.D., F.R.S., &c.

[Read before the Bankers' Institute, Wednesday, 21st December, 1881.]

I HAVE been requested by your President to read a paper before this Institute, and it has been suggested to me that some account of the origin and history of our English pounds, shillings and pence might not unfittingly occupy your attention for a short period. this evening. I do not of course propose to enter into the subject of the origin of money, which has already to some extent been discussed by your President and by Mr. Barclay V. Head, but I shall try to make you acquainted with somewhat more of the pedigree and family history of those three units of our commerce, the£. 8. d.," than is usually comprised in the programme of a commercial or, indeed, of any other education.

As to the letters themselves which form the capitals of so many columns in this city, it is of course well-known that they are merely the initials of the Latin words Libræ, Solidi and Denarii, which were regarded as the equivalents of the English pounds, shillings and pence. There was a time indeed when the same terms and even the same coins were in use over a large part of western Europe; but the process of degrading the coinage at the expense of the people for the benefit of the prince, from which this country has been comparatively exempt, took place with greater rapidity in most other countries. As an example we may look at the £. s. d. of France at the end of the last century, or even at a still earlier