Eight of the latter were equal to a paul, ten of which were equivalent to a piastre.
The value of the paul was, as nearly as possible, equal to fivepence-halfpenny English.

The lira--the original representative of the leading denomination of our own _l.s.d._--no longer existed in--the flesh I was going to say, but rather in--the metal.

And it is rather curious, that just as the guinea remained, and indeed remains, a constantly-used term of speech after it has ceased to exist as current coin, so the scudo remained, in Tuscany, no longer visible or current, but retained as an integer in accounts of the larger sort.

If you bought or sold house or land, for instance, you talked of scudi.
In more every-day matters piastre or "francesconi" were the integers used, the latter being only a synonym for the former.

And the proportion in value of the scudo and the piastre was exactly the same as that of the guinea and the sovereign, the former being worth ten and a half pauls, and the latter ten.