Page 172 - Reading Mercury

Ten o’clock Five o’clock
And wait the arrival of the Trains, which leave Paddington
At 9 o’clock, Morning
12 o’clock Noon
6 o’clock evening
7 o’clock evening
On SUNDAYS at the following hours:--
Morning, 7 o’clock.—Evening, 5 o’clock.
And wait the arrival of the Trains, which leave Paddington
At 9 o’clock, Morning; and 7 o’clock, Evening.
LONDON, through Oakingham & Bracknell—The ALERT, every
morning at 8 o’clock (except Sunday)
The TELEGRAPH fast coach, every day at 12 o’clock (except Sunday)
The ZEPHYR, through Windsor, every day quarter past 1 o’clock (except Sunday).
Bath and Bristol—The STAR, every morning quarter before 9 o’clock (except
Sunday)
Oxford and Cheltenham—The DART, every morning at 8 o’clock (except Sunday)
Oxford and Birmingham—The HERO, every afternoon at half past 4 o’clock (except
Sunday)
Brighton and Worthing—The HERO, Monday, Wednesday, and Fridays, at quarter
before 12.
Portsmouth—The OXONIAN, Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, at quarter before 12.
Southampton—The ROCKET, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings, at 8
o’clock.
Newbury—The NOVELTY (Lay’s), afternoons at 3 o’clock (except Sunday)
Sociables to Henley, Newbury, and Basingstoke.

rd
Sat 3 Nov (BC)
ANTIQUITY OF THE PENNY
The penny is a coin of vast antiquity. Its familiar copper shape, as may be generally
known is a comparatively modern alteration of the silver form in which it was known
to our fathers. In a curious, although whimsical little work, the silver penny is shown
to be derived from the Greek Drachma of Ægina which has been traced to a date six
hundred years antecedent to the Christian era. The Drachma was afterwards coined,
not only in Greece but in Sicily, Syria and Persia. The same coin under the name of
Denarius, was struck by the high consular families during the Roman Republic and by
the Emperors. The author of the work just quoted states that it must have been a
Denarius of Tiberius, to which Christ drew the attention of the Jews when answering
their question as to the lawfulness of paying tribute. (He also mentions a very
interesting circumstance respecting the Aureusor a larger gold coin of the Roman
Emperors—namely, that, in 685, under Justinian II., one was struck with a head of
Christ, giving him the usual placid countenance, with a full round forehead, and
ringlets hanging down each side of the face, and the beard parted below in the
middle.) From Rome the Denarius was transferred to Saxon England, in 750, being
there coined by the kings in Kent, Mercia and other departments of the Heptarchy.
Under the name of Penny, and comparatively rudely executed, it was kept by the
Saxon, Danish, and Norman dynasties, in succession, and was the chief coin in
circulation down to the reign of John. David I, was the first king of Scotland who is
known to have issued the penny. In this kingdom it continued to be coined till the
reign of James IV. In the course of its existence from Roman times to the present, the

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