The Anglo-Saxons are said to have made use of coins as early as the reign of Ethelbright, or Ethelbert, who governed Kent from 561 to 616; as the fines ordered in his laws are all estimated by shillings, which was even then a denomination of money. The money-pound of the Anglo-Saxons, is thought to have been the same with the Tower-pound long in use at the mint, and to have weighed less than the Troy-pound by ¾ of a Troy-ounce. Its value was about 2_l._ 16_s._ 3_d._ of modern money. {268a} The _Mark_, like the Pound an imaginary coin, weighed eight ounces, or two thirds of the Pound. The merchant reckoned 12 ounces to the mark. Its value was 1_l._ 17_s._ 9_d._ The _Mancus_, a real coin, was valued at the 8th. of a mark, or 4_s._ and 8_d._ The Shilling, a real coin, was worth about eleven pence farthing of our money. The Anglo-Saxon penny, (pening, or sceata,) was a silver coin, and weighed near three-pence of our money. This little piece would do more in those times for its owner, than some shillings would do now. Halflings and Feorthlings, were the half, and the fourth, or quarter of the Anglo-Saxon penny, and were of silver. To these may be added a small brass coin called Styca. Beside these coins, it was usual with the Anglo-Saxons to complete the sum destined for any particular purpose, by adding what they called _live money_, such as oxen, sheep, horses, or _slaves_; {268b} which last species of traffick was carried to an almost incredible height of brutality. The value or price of cattle, land, and other commodities, in the times of which we are now speaking, amounted to but a very small portion of what they now fetch. “By the laws of Athelstan, (says Dr. Mavor) a sheep was valued at a shilling, or fifteen-pence of our money: an ox was computed at six times the value of a sheep, and a cow at four. A horse was valued at thirty shillings of our money, and a mare at twenty-four. Between the years 900 and 1000, a hide of land was purchased for about one hundred and eighteen shillings, which was little more than a shilling per acre. {269} On the whole, (he adds) when we combine the alteration in the weight of the pound, and the modern value of the precious metals from their greater plenty, we may conceive every sum of money mentioned by historians, during the Anglo-Saxon, and even the Norman times, as if it were multiplied more than a hundred-fold above a sum of the same denomination at present.” SECTION V. _Probability that Lynn was formerly concerned in the exportation of slaves—comparison between the ancient and modern English slave-dealers_—slaves and horses _the chief exports of this country in those days—corn not then exported_, _though it had been formerly—imports—commerce—miscellaneous hints and observations_.