Note q — Chapter IX · [a] (continued 2)

M. Guérard, editor of "Paris sous Philippe le Bel," in the Documens Inédits (1841, p. 365), after a comparison of the prices of corn, concludes that the value of silver has declined since that reign, in the ratio of five to one. This is much less than we allow in England. M. Leber (Mém. de l'Acad. des Inscript. Nouvelle Série, xiv. 230) calculates the power of silver under Charlemagne, compared with the present day, to have been as nearly eleven to one. It fell afterwards to eight, and continued to sink during the middle ages; the average of prices during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, taking corn as the standard, was six to one; the comparison is of course only for France. This is an interesting paper, and contains tables worthy of being consulted.