he mounted his horse and rode away, without bestowing on her a single word. Matilda was picked up by her attendants, carried home, and put to bed. Whether she was fascinated with the Duke's mode of wooing, or feared a second offer of a similar character, does not appear; but while still confined to her bed, through the maltreatment she had received from her lover, she declared to her father, "that sick in health and dolorous of body from the blows she had received, she had firmly decided to marry no man but Duke William." On this intimation of his daughter's feelings, the Earl of Flanders withdrew his opposition to the match. Matilda was married to the "Conqueror" at the Chateau d'Eu; and, if we may rely on Madame Guizot, "held him most dear to the very day of her death." Her marriage afforded her, at least, one source of gratification. On the conquest of England, William offered to endow her with the lands of any Saxon noble she chose to select; and she immediately demanded and received the estates of her once loved Earl Brihtric. She also obtained possession of his person, and threw him into prison, where he died mysteriously. In the days of our Anglo-Saxon forefathers nothing was more common, or deemed more honourable, than to acquire a wife by forcibly carrying off the sister or daughter of a public enemy, or private foe. The lady was said, in the rhyming laws our fathers loved, to be "Legitime capta, This was called "the Spartan form of marriage." But between the 5th and 10th century English women gradually obtained the right of disposing of themselves in marriage. At first both Church and State required the daughter to accept, without question or comment, whomsoever her father pleased. She obtained, however, at a very early period, the right of making an objection to a suitor for some grave and specified cause; but of the validity of this objection her father was sole judge. The money now paid to the bride's father was no longer called her "price," but "foster-lean," -a kind of charge for "unexhausted improvements " in her education. So woman has advanced to her present proud position. No doubt, as February is the month in which the day is intercalated in Leap-year, and the month also of S. Valentine, some will suppose that there must be some hidden connection between the 14th and the 24th. Be that as it may, we have at least one instance of a lady selecting the 14th as an opportunity not to be missed on which to exercise her privilege. In Vol. III. of the Paston Papers, published by Professor Arber, we read that, early in 1477, there began to be entertained a marriage between Mistress Margery Brews and Mr. John Paston, and here is the very forward valentine the young lady addressed to her rather hesitating lover :"Right, reverend and worshipful and my right well-beloved Valentine, I recommend me unto you, full heartily desiring to hear of your welfare, which I beseech Almighty God long for to procure unto His pleasure and your heart's desire. And, if it please you to hear of my welfare, I am not in good heal of body nor of heart, nor shall be till I hear from you." : HEREFORDSHIRE TOKENS OF THE SEVENTEENTH WITH NOTES ON THE ISSUERS CENTURY, THEREOF. By Mr. JAMES W. LLOYD. MR. President, Ladies, and Gentlemen,-It is with great diffidence and hesitation that I appear before you, fellow members and friends of the Woolhope Naturalists' Field Club, to speak on so dry a subject as "Tokens," one which is so far removed from the usual line of our pursuits. Following, however, in the steps of some of our esteemed members, I venture to bring before you to-day a few notes on the earliest copper currency of the county, and on the issuers thereof-our forefathers-for the pieces I am about to describe, tell us nothing of kings and queens-but simply of the people; and by their means the names of many industrious and thriving tradesmen of our towns and villages, at one of the most interesting periods of our history, have been handed down to us; men who acquired fortunes and estates, and founded families, whose descendants still live among us distinguished in most of the higher walks of life. Before proceeding to describe the tokens which were issued in the city and county of Hereford, it will be desirable, for the benefit of my non-numismatic hearers, to give a brief outline of their origin. From the earliest periods of our history, the small coinage of this country was of silver only, viz., the penny, halfpenny, and farthing; and these, from their small size, were of course troublesome, and easily lost. The need of a more useful and tangible currency was gradually increasing, and in the reign of Elizabeth efforts were made to supply the deficiency, but owing to the necessity for restoring the standard of the silver money, which had been greatly debased in the reign of her father, Henry VIII., nothing was done beyond striking pattern pieces for a copper currency, and the issue of a small number for circulation in Ireland. Authority was also granted by Elizabeth to the Mayor and Corporation of Bristol to issue a farthing token, but this was solely for the use of that city, and of no benefit to the country generally. Leaden tokens were then issued by the people, but they served only to show the increasing necessity for a general circulating medium. James I., in the year 1613, granted a patent for the issue of farthings to John Baron Harington, and Charles I. renewed the patent on his accession. These pieces, however, like their predecessors, the silver farthings, were extremely small, and of mere nominal value, and, being issued in great quantities, ultimately became an intolerable nuisance, and the source of great loss to the holders from the refusal of the patentees to re-change them. In consequence of the public dissatisfaction, these pieces were suppressed by order of the House of Commons in 1644, and it is supposed it was the intention of the Government to issue an authorised copper currency, as pattern pieces were struck, but owing to the Civil War this was not carried out. The death of the king put an end to the exclusive right of coining, and the tokens which form the subject of this paper began to appear, a few being dated 1648, and in a few years increased to a great extent, until 1672, when they were put down by proclamation of King Charles II., who then established the regal copper currency, which has continued to our own day, by the issue of farthings and halfpennies, bearing on the reverse the wellknown figure of Britannia. The tokens were of the values of penny, halfpenny, and farthing, the Herefordshire series consisting principally of halfpennies, there being few farthings, and only one penny. They were struck both in brass and copper, round, octagonal, square, and heart-shaped, the two latter being least common. Our county series contains specimens of each shape. They usually bear round the circumference of obverse the name and trade of the issuer, and in centre either the arms of the trade, the arms of the issuer himself, or some device; and round the reverse the name of the town or place of issue, with the initials of the issuer and his wife in centre, the initial of surname being placed above those of the Christian names of the man and wife. These interesting mementoes of our forefathers have had their historians. Snelling, in his View of the copper coin and coinage of England (1766), giving a very full account of their origin, and an interesting description of their character and peculiarities, with four plates illustrating 160 different pieces, including one of the city of Hereford. The next work treating of the subject generally, entitled-Tokens issued in the seventeenth century in England, Wales, and Ireland, by Corporations, Merchants, Tradesmen, &c., described and illustrated by William Boyne, F.S.A., published in 1858, is the accepted standard authority on this branch of numismatics, describing nearly ten thousand tokens, and illustrating a great many. Since the publication of Boyne's valuable work, great numbers of tokens have turned up, and it is by the separate publication of lists of the different counties that these are described, and much has been done in this way, but, so far as I know, no complete Herefordshire list has been published in a separate form. Price, in his History of Leominster, published in 1795, gives a plate of six tokens of that town; and in his History of Hereford the same author gives a wood-cut of the Hereford Corporation token. Duncumb, in his history of the county, describes incorrectly three tokens of Hereford, but says nothing of those issued in other towns. The best list of the Hereford series is given by the late Richard Johnson, in his Ancient Customs of the City of Hereford, while in other local histories, viz., Parry's Kington, Townsend's Leominster, The Ledbury Guide, &c., appear short lists of the tokens issued in those places. In the Hereford Free Library, there are drawings of nineteen tokens made for the late Thomas Bird, Esq., Clerk of the Peace for the county, from specimens in the collection of the late John Allen, Esq. Of local collections of these pieces, one of the best I know is that of Mrs. Johnson, The Steppes, Hereford. Boyne describes 41 tokens as belonging to this county, but one of these belongs to Essex, and another is a duplicate description, probably from an imperfectly preserved token, leaving 39 as his total. The following list describes 72, of which 60 are in my own collection. The plates exhibited are from drawings made from specimens in my cabinet some two years ago, and represent the tokens fairly, as they are, not as they were when fresh from the dies. I mention this as it has been suggested that the tokens should have been shown more clearly drawn, with sharper lines, but I consider these more faithful representations. It now remains for me to render my best thanks to the various ladies and gentlemen who have kindly assisted me in the preparation of this paper, by lending specimens, or allowing me to inspect their collections; and to the different incumbents of the various parish churches, who have so cordially allowed me to inspect their parish registers to obtain notices of the births, marriages, and burials of the issuers and their families, a favour which in only a single instance was refused, and that, unfortunately for my paper, was in a parish whose registers would have afforded, perhaps, greater information than any other. In a few instances, I have been unable to make a personal examination of the registers, but in those cases I have been most ably assisted by the clergymen and others, who have made searches and sent me transcripts of the entries, notably the Rev. R. H. Cobbold, of Ross; the Rev. J. F. Crouch, of Pembridge; and the Rev. W. Martin, of Bromyard ; and I am especially indebted to our late worthy President, Mr. Piper, who sent me most copious extracts from the Ledbury registers. I must also acknowledge how much I have been indebted to the Rev. C. J. Robinson, one of our former Presidents, for much valuable information, both directly and by reference to his well-known work, The Mansions and Manors of Herefordshire. The Rev. F. T. Havergal's Monumental Inscriptions of the Cathedral has also been laid under contribution, with considerable advantage; lastly, my obligation to Justin Simpson, Esq., of Stamford, author of A List of the Lincolnshire series of Tradesmen's Tokens and Town Pieces of the Seventeenth Century, must not be passed over, for, at considerable outlay of time and trouble, he searched the Rolls of the Hearth Tax for this county at the Record Office, London, and sent me the interesting items of information therefrom, which will be quoted in the course of this paper. I now proceed to describe the tokens of each town, following Boyne's plan of taking them alphabetically. BROMYARD. [The preceding letter "O" means the obverse of the coin, and the letter "R" the reverse.] 1. O. IOHN. BAMEHAM = Crest of the Baynham family, a bull's head couped or. R. OF. BRAM-YARD I. F. B 2. O. IOHN. BAYNHAM = Crest of the Baynham family, a bull's head couped or. R. OF. BRAM-YARDI.F.B The issuer of this token belonged to a family of importance and position in the town, but I have been unable to discover what trade he followed. The bull's head on obverse is the crest of the Baynhams, who bear gul. a chevron arg. between two bull's heads in chief caboshed or, and one in base arg. The names of John Baynham and his brother Anthony appear as two of the free burgesses to a form of election of a master to the Free Grammar School at Bromyard dated 27th June, 1661. Dunc. Vol. II., pp. 77, 78. In the chancel of Bromyard Church is a marble tablet with the arms of the family and the following inscription :-"In this chancel were interred the bodies of John Baynham, Esquier, June 4, 1636, aged 70. Elizabeth his wife Feby 12, 1655, aged 66. Edward Baynham eldest son and heire Jann 10, 1652, aged 42. Mary his wife June 16, 1650, aged 30. John Baynham :* 6: son May 24, 1671, aged 52. Frances his wife: July 10, 1683. Anthony Baynham died Janua 23, '98." King Charles I. on his second visit to this county in 1645, arrived at Bramyard, Wednesday, 3rd September, spending a night at Mrs. Baynham's, on his way to Hereford. This was no doubt the mother of the issuer of the token. This token is incorrectly described by Boyne. John Baynham, Gent., was assessed for eleven fire hearths in Bromyard, 18 Charles II. 1666. Hearth Money was a tax established by 13 and 14 Car. II. c. 10, whereby a hereditary revenue of 2s. for every hearth or chimney in all houses paying church and poor rates was granted to the King. It was abolished upon the Revolution by the 1 W. and M. st. 1 e 10. HEREFORD. 4. O. HEREFORD. CITTY. ARMS = Arms of the city with date 1662 above the shield. R. HEN. IONES. SWORD. BERERA sword erect between H. I (Plate 1, No. 1.) A woodcut of this token is given in Price's Historical Account of the City of Hereford, 1796, page 64 5. O. Same as No. 3, but from different dies R. 6. Similar, dated 1663 7. O. HEREFORD. ARMES = Arms of the City, 1662. R. H. IONES. SWORD. BERER A sword erect between H. I 季 The Arms of the City as shown on these tokens are gules, three Lions passant gardant argent, with the augmentation granted by King Charles in 1645, in recog nition of its loyalty, viz., on a border azure ten Saltiers or Scottish crosses argent. The following is the patent under the hand and seal of Sir Edward Walker, Knight, Garter Principal King at Arms, dated the 16th day of September, 1645. "To all and singular unto whom these presents shall come. Sir Edward Walker, Knight, Garter Principal King at Arms of Englishmen, sendeth greeting. Whereas it is most agreeable to justice and reason, that those porsons, families, or cities, that have excelled in wisdom, fidelity, and eminent service to their * The issuer of the token, |