PENNY

The twelfth part of a shilling. The penny was formerly a silver coin, first struck in England by the Saxons. It contained the 240th part of their pound, and its weight was about 22a grains. Till the time of Edward the First the English penny was struck with a cro so deeply sunk in it that it might, on occasion, be easily broken and parted into halves, thence called halfpenny; or in four parts, thence called /wwr/Arngs, or farthings. Edward the First also reduced the weight of the penny to a standard; ordering that it should weigh the 20th part of an ounce. It afterwards suffered succe ive diminutions, till, in the reign of Elizabeth, its value was reduced to the ()2d part of an ounce of silver. This proportion is still observed. [s. 922]