JOURNAL OF JOHN LAUDER

xlii

Genealogical
Roll.

of Cardigan's sister.' Thus the salary of a Secretary of State
in England was the same in 1684 as it is now, whereas the
salary of a Scottish judge was only one eighteenth part of its
present amount: Lauder in his will gives a detailed account
of his own inv estments. Sir Thomas Dick Lauder computes
that he left about £'11,000 besides the estate of Fountainhall,
which he inherited. He was, howev er, the son of a wealthy
man. At his marriage before he had any means of his own,
90,000 merks were settled hy his father, who had several
other children, on the children of the marriage (£5000
sterling, representing a sum many times as large in the
present day).

)lO};EY

Lauder mentions a great variety of coins both in his
Journal in France and in his Accounts after his return home.
Some explanation of the principal coins may be useful. It
is necessary to keep in mind that the value of coins wa.¡; in
a perpetual flux. There were during the century frequent
changes in the value of coins relatively evea to those of the
same country.

1. In France.

(1) Livre. The livre used by Lauder, and called by liiiii
indifferently 1 frank,' was the livre tournois,' of 20 sous. It
was, subject to exchange, of the same value as the pound
Scots,2 Is. 8d. sterling, which grenU y simplifies calculations.
The .f.' s. d. French was equal to the £' s, d. Scot. and one
twelfth of the value of the £' s. d. English or sterling.
(2) Ecu, ~cu blanc, or cTargcnt, il silver coin worth 3 livres,s
or 5s. sterling, thus of the same value as the English ('1'o\n,
and sometimes called crown hv Lauder.

1 The livre parisis contained 25 sous.Iajor's Grcatcr liritairr (S. Il. S.),
p. 32, note. S See pp. 3 and 4 and nassirrr.
1 The value varied a little, but it was three livres in tbs3.-nlfrrroiru de
PAradlnric des Irrs~r-iptious ~t da Belles Lcttrts (1857). Tome 21, 2me partie,
P. 350.