gentlemen's servants--that is, their weekly allowance for purchasing
everything except dinner. When the servant now went to the huckster's,
and got, as heretofore, 6d. worth of bread, 9d. worth of tea, 4d. worth
of sugar, and 5d. worth of butter, there was only 6d. of change to buy
another loaf in the middle of the week, instead of 8-1/2d., which was
wont to afford, we will not say what, over and above. It is for a
similar reason that we say, if there remain anything which can be either
identified or confounded with a penny, it should be lowered rather than
raised in value. Small prices are not easily adjusted, and the
temptation in the other case lies on the side of the dealer not to alter
them. It is more certain, for instance, that a baker will take care to
divide 2s. worth of bread into twenty-five penny-loaves, when a penny
comes to be the twenty-fifth of a florin, than that he will divide 1s.
worth into ten only, if a penny become the tenth of a shilling. And it
would be less hardship for the poor housekeeper to find her penny-loaf
1-25th smaller, if she could discern the reduction, than to get only ten
for her shilling, even if they were a fifth larger. Besides, we should
feel it to be a poverty-stricken thought, that our internal commerce
should be reduced to barter in half-farthings' worths, and that our
merchants and bankers should have no denomination above the value of
10s. for the enormous sums which figure in their books.

The subject of names is worth a remark or two. The commissioners
recommended 'florins,' as affording facilities to foreigners for
understanding our monetary system; and in this respect it has
advantages. 'Cent' and 'millet' are easily enunciated, and they convey
to the educated classes, whether at home or abroad, the relative value
of the coins. We cannot say, however, but we would prefer a more
familiar nomenclature than florins, cents, and millets. Mr Norton's
suggestion, that the names should not only be capable of easy and rapid