Decus Publique Deposited
A nickname for the silver Crown of James II of England, the first issues of which had an edge inscription reading DECVS ET TVTAMEN, i.e., "an ornament and a safeguard."
Thomas Shadwell, in his play, The Squire of Alsatia, 1688, has the phrase, "To equip you with some Meggs, Smelts, Decus's and Georges;" Sir Walter Scott mentions the term in his novel The Fortunes of Nigel (xxiii.) thus: "noble Master Grahame . . . has got the decuses and the smelts." See Megg.
- Frey's Dictionary (American Journal of Numismatics, Vol. 50, 1916)