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Burnet's History and Demosthenes' Orations, two crowns, Mr. Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, a great book and dear! Common Sense and that's Tom Paine's, and you may have it for two pistareens." The boy shook his head. "I want a law-book." The genie put forth The Principles of Equity, and named the price. "'Tis too dear."
At every stroke of the spade he laid bare a golden ingot; diamond crosses sparkled out of the dust; bags of money turned up their bellies, corpulent with pieces of eight, or venerable doubloons; and chests, wedged close with moidores, ducats, and pistareens, yawned before his ravished eyes, and vomited forth their glittering contents. Wolfert awoke a poorer man than ever.
It has been said of Bradshaw's Railway Guide, the indispensable companion of the traveller in England, that no man can study it for an hour without qualifying himself for an insane asylum. But Bradshaw is pellucid clearness compared with the American tables of exchange in 1786, with their medley of dollars and shillings, moidores and pistareens.
The revenue to the crown of Portugal is estimated from 20 to 30,000l. annually, clear of all expenses; but the balance of trade is greatly against them, all their specie being drawn to Lisbon. The currency of the island is Spanish, and consists of dollars, converted by their laws, into milreas of 5s. 6d. pistareens, value about is. bits, about 6d. and half bits, about 3d.
Beside the ninepences and fourpence-ha'-pennies, there were bits and half-bits, pistareens, picayunes, and fips. Of gold pieces there were the johannes, or joe, the doubloon, the moidore, and pistole, with English and French guineas, carolins, ducats, and chequins.
At times Washington would joke himself, though it was always somewhat labored, as in the case of the Jack already cited. "Without a coinage," he wrote, "or unless a stop can be put to the cutting and clipping of money, our dollars, pistareens, &c., will be converted, as Teague says, into five quarters."
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