" He makes no mention in his treatise of the
peso de oro, by which denomination the sums in the early part of
the sixteenth century were more frequently expressed than by any
other. But he ascertains both the specific and the commercial
value of the castellano, which several of the old writers, as
Oviedo, Herrera, and Xerez, concur in stating as precisely
equivalent to the peso de oro. From the results of his
calculations, it appears that the specific value of the
castellano, as stated by him in reals, is equal to three dollars
and seven cents of our own currency, while the commercial value
is nearly four times as great, or eleven dollars sixty-seven
cents, equal to two pounds twelve shillings and sixpence
sterling. By adopting this as the approximate value of the peso
de oro, in the early part of the sixteenth century, the reader
may easily compute for himself the value, at that period, of the
sums mentioned in these pages; most of which are expressed in
that denomination.
I have been the more particular in this statement, since, in my
former work, I confined myself to the commercial value of the
money, which, being much greater than the specific value, founded
on the quality and weight of the metal, was thought by an
ingenious correspondent to give the reader an exaggerated
estimate of the sums mentioned in the history. But it seems to
me that it is only this comparative or commercial value with
which the reader has any concern, indicating what amount of
commodities any given sum represents, that he may thus know the
real worth of that sum; - thus adopting the principle, though
conversely stated, of the old Hudibrastic maxim, -
"What is worth in anything,
But so much money as 't will bring.
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