Lord Lucas Farthings Pubblico Deposited
A name given to certain pattern Farthings bearing the Words QVATVOR. MARIA. VINDICO., i.e., "I claim the four seas." which legend is said to have given offence to Louis XIV. Lord Lucas referred to them in a speech in the House of Lords, on February 22, 1670- 1671, when he complained of the scarcity of money, as follows :
"Of his now Majesty's coin there appears hut very little, so that in effect we have none left for common use but a little lean coined money of the late three former princes. And what supply is preparing for it, my Lords? I hear of none unless it be of copper farthings, and this is the metal that is to vindicate, according to the inscription on it, the dominion of the four seas."
The "supply" appeared in 1672, when a copper currency for general use appeared, and the Farthing became a legal tender. See Ruding, Annals of the Coinage of Britain. 1840. (ii. 14).
- Frey's Dictionary (American Journal of Numismatics, Vol. 50, 1916)