John, a trefoil "in guise of a little tree." And note
here the difference between artistic and mechanical coinage. The
Florentines, using pure gold, and thin, can strike their coin anywhere,
with only a wooden anvil, and their engraver is ready on the instant to
make such change in the stamp as may record any new triumph. Consider
the vigour, popularity, pleasantness of an art of coinage thus ductile
to events, and easy in manipulution.
124. It is to be observed also that a thin gold coinage like that of
the English angel, and these Italian zecchins, is both more convenient
and prettier than the massive gold of the Greeks, often so small that
it drops through the fingers, and, if of any size, inconveniently large
in value.
125. It was in the following year, 1255, that the Florentines made the
noblest use of their newly struck florins, so far as I know, ever
recorded in any history; and a Florentine citizen made as noble refusal
of them. You will find the two stories in Giovanni Villani, Book 6th,
chapters 61, 62. One or two important facts are added by Sismondi, but
without references. I take his statement as on the whole trustworthy,
using Villani's authority wherever it reaches; one or two points I have
farther to explain to you myself as I go on.
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