A marc of fine silver, in the coin, is worth 55.38 livres; a marc of fine gold, in the coin, is worth 801.68 livres. We may therefore state thus, 55.38 : 801.68 :: 1 : 14.47. [Sidenote: The proportion is as 1 to 14.47.] The proportion, therefore, both at the mint and in the coin is the same; and is nearly as the French writers state it, to wit, as 1 is to 149⁄19, but more exactly as 1 to 14.47, which is very nearly as 1 to 14.5. [Sidenote: Gold contained in a louis d’or, and silver in a crown of 6 livres.] From these computations we find the exact quantity of fine gold in a louis d’or, and of fine silver in a great crown, or piece of 6 livres. In the louis d’or there are 137.94 grains fine, and 153.1 standard gold. In the great crown there are 499.22 fine, and 550.843 standard silver. [Sidenote: Proportion of a French grain weight to a troy grain.] Farther, by the most exact calculations I have been able to make, after comparing the accounts which French writers give of the proportion of the English troy grain, with the grain of the Paris pound, and the accounts which English writers give of the proportion of French grains, with those of the troy pound; and after checking these accounts with the most accurate trials, by weighing and taking a mean proportion upon all, I find that a French grain _poids de marc_, is to an English grain troy, as 121.78 is to 100. See the table. What a shame it is, that such proportions can only be guessed at by approximations, in the age in which we live! To discover, therefore, the number of troy grains of fine gold in a louis d’or, state thus, 121.78 : 100 :: 137.94 : 113.27. [Sidenote: Proportion between the louis and the guinea.] Now a guinea contains 118.651 troy grains of fine gold, and yet, in almost every country in Europe, the louis d’or, in time of peace, passes for as much as the guinea, when both are of good weight. This is a matter of fact well known, and is a confirmation of another principle which I have laid down, to wit, that the imposition of coinage gives an advanced value to a nation’s coin, even in foreign countries. [Sidenote: Of the fineness of French wrought plate.] The fineness of the French silver wrought into plate, is different from that of the coin. The fineness of the coin we have said to be 10 deniers and 21 grains, or 261 parts fine, to 27 alloy; and the value of a marc of it (when the 36 grains of remedy of weight is deduced) is 49 livres 16 sols, which makes the full marc of 4608 grains to be worth 50 livres 4 sols. The standard of the plate is 110⁄24 deniers, or 274 fine, and 14 alloy. In order, therefore, to find the value of the plate, at the rate of the coin, state thus, 261 : 50.2 :: 274 : 52.7; consequently silver plate in France, at the rate of the coin, is worth 52 livres 14 sols.