A token frequently struck in imitation of a real coin and usually of brass, copper, or some other inferior metal.

John Skelton in The Interlude of Mag- nyfycence, 1526 (l. 1186) has " Nay, offer hym a counter in stede of a peny," and in Dent, The Pathway to Heaven, 1601 (24) occurs this phrase: " A fool believeth every thing; that copper is gold, and a counter an angel." The last word is of course an allusion to the gold coin.

The second meaning of Counter is to signify a piece of metal used for calcula- tions, e.g., in games of chance. In this sense it corresponds to the Rechenpfennig (q.v.), and it is so used by Thomas Hobbes, in his Leviathan, 1651 (i. iv. 15), who has this passage : " Words are wise mens counters, they do but reckon by them ; but they are the mony of fooles. "

Similarly, the clown in Shakespeare's play, The Winter's Tale (iv. 3), attempts to compute his money, but says, " I cannot do't without counters. "

Finally the word was employed in the plural form for base coin and money in general. An example is to be found in Shakespeare's Julius Caesar (iv. 3) where Brutus says: I did send To you for gold to pay my legions, Which you denied me: was that done like Cassius? Should I have answer'd Caius Cassius so? When Marcus Brutus grows so covetous, To lock such rascal counters from his friends, Be ready, gods, with all your thunderbolts, Dash him to pieces !