Note 41 — SCENE IV.

a tavern-token] “During the reign of Queen Elizabeth, and from thenceforward to that of Charles the Second, very little brass or copper money was coined by authority. For the convenience of trade, victuallers and other tradesmen, without any restriction, were therefore permitted to coin small money, or tokens, as they were called, which were used for change. These tokens were very small pieces, and, probably, at first coined chiefly by tavern-keepers; from whence the expression a tavern-token might have been originally derived.” Reed. “That most of them would travel to the tavern, may be easily supposed, and hence, perhaps, the name. Their usual value seems to have been a farthing.” Gifford, note on B. Jonson’s Works, vol. i. p. 30.