The  price  of  the  precious  metals  is  fixed,  by  law,  to  the
minutest  possible  fraction.  The  public  authority  assumes  no
arbitrary  weight  for  coins,  but  requires  them  to  correspond  in
Talue  to  some  denomination  of  the  money  of  account.  It  orders
that  a  certain  quantity  of  gold  or  silver  shall  pass  for,  or  be  a
legal  tender  for  a  certain  amount.  When,  for  the  first  time,  an
English  sovereign  was  coined  in  1816,  it  was  required  to  contain
Sdwts.  3foVa  grains  of  standard  gold,  or  4dwts.  ITxtAt  grains
of  pure  gold :  that  is,  that  quantity  of  gold  was  then  declared
to  be  worth  a  pound  sterling.  That  regulation  continues,  with
slight  change,  to  this  day ;  and  the  unit  of  the  English  money
of  account  is  thus  unhappily  placed  at  the  hazard  of  every  fluc-
tuation in  the  price  of  gold.
As  the  sovereign  was  intended  to  be  the  actual  equivalent  to
the  pound  sterling,  46j®2®^  sovereigns  were  to  be  coined  from  the
pound  of  standard  gold.  By  this  method,  5  dwts.  3j%V^  grains
of  standard  gold  were  made  a  legal  tender  for  a  debt  of  one
pound  sterling,  and  one  pound  of  gold  was  made  a  legal  tender
for  £46  lis.  6d.  This  arrangement  was  made  in  pursuance  of
an  act  of  Parliament,  and  could  only  be  changed  by  the  same
authority :  until  such  authority  is  exerted,  the  same  quantity  of
gold  could  be  legally  tendered  only  for  the  same  sum,  and  in
9


130  PRICE    OF    THE    PRECIOUS    MSTALS.
greater  or  less  quantities  in  proportion  to  the  sum  to  be  paid.
