The former difficulty is easily disposed of. The average value of the rupee at the period, covered by the returns, from 1594 to 1707 was 2s. 3d. in English money of the time. The value of the rupee varied a little with the condition of the coin. If much worn it fell to perhaps 2s.; if quite new and of full weight it may have been worth as much as 2s. 6d.; but that 2s. 3d. was the ordinary rate of exchange is abundantly clear from numerous records[1]. Mr. H. G. Keene, the able historian of Hindústán, has fallen into the error of estimating the rupee as low as 1s. 3d., from a mistaken valuation of the French livre, which he would make equivalent to 10d. Apart from the fact that we have Bailly's authority for estimating the livre of the period at 1s. 6d., it is inconceivable that English travellers should have exchanged their money at the rate of 2s. 3d. for the rupee, whilst French travellers of the same period should have obtained the rupee for 1s. 3d. We may be perfectly certain
- ↑ The following are some of the chief estimates: 1615, Sir Thomas Roe, 2s. 2d.; Terry, 2s. to 2s. 9d.; 1638, Mandelslo, ½ écu; 1640-67, Tavernier, ½ écu or 1½ livre or 30 sols, which the English translator of 1684 renders by 2s. 3d.; 1659-66, Bernier, 30 sols; 1666, Thevenot, 30 sols; 1673, Fryer, 2s. 3d.; 1689, Ovington, 2s. 3d.; 1697, Manucci, 30 sols. The écu was 3 livres, and the livre contained 20 sols. The livre tournois of 1643-61 (i.e. the livre of account as known to Bernier, Tavernier, and Thevenot) was worth 1.95 francs, and that of 1684-1715 (i.e. that of Manucci) a trifle less (1.80), according to Bailly's Hist. financière de la France, vol. ii. p. 298. The livre was thus equal to about 1s. 6d. This agrees with Sir Isaac Newton's estimate of the écu at 4s. 6d. in 1717. See also J. A. Blanchet, Nouveau Manuel de Numismatique (1890), vol. i. p. 26. The rupee, estimated at ½ écu or 1½ livre or 30 sols by Mandelslo, Tavernier, Bernier, Thevenot, and Manucci, was therefore equal to 2s. 3d. English.
