private individuals followed his example, receiving in reimbursement part payment at the rate of 861 livres 5 sols. 10 den. for the mark of Page 170 fine gold, and of 59 livres 5 sols. 10 den. for the mark of fine silver.
This latter tariff underwent no change until 1771, when, under the pretext of the changes which foreign coinage tariffs had undergone, those terms were fixed respectively at 709 livres and 48 livres 9 sols.
In this résumé the mention of billon money has been generally avoided, as unduly complicating the subject. But in the legislative action of France in the eighteenth century there is one act which necessitates a momentary departure from this standpoint.
In 1738 the Government of the United Provinces diminished the value of their sols. by one-half. The French Government fearing that this diminution would lead to an immense influx of such sols. decided to follow suit. By a decree of August 1st of the same year, 1738, it was ordered that the Douzains and pieces of thirty deniers should have course only for eighteen deniers. The important point to notice in connection with this is that, in order to mitigate the effect of this reduction, the same decree limited the tender of such billon money. It was ordered that in payments up to 400 livres not more than 10 livres should be tenderable in billon, and for payments of more than 400 livres not more than 1⁄40 of the total. The restriction was ineffectual in preventing either the import of foreign billon specie or the operations of billonage