VRE TOURNOIS = 20.26 _francs_.

LIVRE PARISIS = 25.33 "

Though there is something arbitrary in this mode of valuation, it is,
perhaps, on the whole the best; and its result is extremedy handy for the
memory (as somebody has pointed out) for we thus have

One LIVRE TOURNOIS = One Napoleon.

" " PARISIS = One Sovereign.

VENETIAN MONEY.

The MARK of Silver all over Europe may be taken fairly at 2_l._ 4_s._ of
our money in modern value; the Venetian mark being a fraction more, and the
marks of England, Germany and France fractions less.[3]

The Venice GOLD DUCAT or ZECCHIN, first coined in accordance with a Law of
31st October 1283, was, _in our gold value_, worth ... 11.82 _francs_.[4]
or English ... 9_s._ 4.284_d._

The Zecchin when first coined was fixed as equivalent to 18 _grossi_, and
on this calculation the GROSSO should be a little less than 5_d._
sterling.[5] But from what follows it looks as if there must have been
another _grosso_, perhaps only of account, which was only 3/4 of the
former, therefore equivalent to 3-3/4_d._ only. This would be a clue to
difficulties which I do not find dealt with by anybody in a precise or
thorough manner; but I can find no evidence for it.

Accounts were kept at Venice not in ducats and grossi, but in _Lire_,
of which there were several denominations, viz.:

1. LIRA DEI GROSSI, called in Latin Documents _Libra denariorum
Venetorum grosorum_.[6] Like every _Lira_ or Pound, this
consisted of 20 _soldi_, and each _soldo_ of 12 _denari_
or _deniers_.[7] In this case the Lira was equivalent to 10 golden
ducats; and its Denier, as the name implies, was the _Grosso_. The
Grosso therefore here was 1/240 of 10 ducats or 1/24 of a ducat, instead
of 1/18.

2. LIRA AI GROSSI (_L. den. Ven. ad grossos_). This by decree of
2nd June, 1285, went two to the ducat. In fact it is the _soldo_ of
the preceding _Lira_, and as such the _Grosso_ was, as we have
just seen, its denier; which is perhaps the reason of the name.

3. LIRA DEI PICCOLI (_L. den. Ven. parvulorum_). The ducat is
alleged to have been at first equal to three of these _Lire_
(_Romanin_, I. 321); but the calculations of Marino Sanudo
(1300-1320) in the _Secreta Fidelium Crucis_ show that he reckons the
Ducat equivalent to 3.2 _lire_ of _piccoli_.[8]

In estimating these _Lire_ in modern English money, on the basis of
their relation to the ducat, we must reduce the apparent