Penny reign of that the florin and noble established a common gold currency in England. The earliest halfpenny and farthing (¼d.) found date to the reign of Henry III. The need for small change was also sometimes met by simply cutting a full penny into halves or quarters. In 1527, Henry VIII abolished the Tower pound of 5400 grains, replacing it with the Troy pound of 5760 grains and establishing a new pennyweight of although, confusingly, the penny coin by then weighed about 8 grains, and had never weighed as much as this 24 grains. The last silver pence for general
How Are Things in Glocca Morra? made up by composer Lane, who had devised a dummy lyric beginning with the line, "There's a glen in Glocca Morra". Harburg liked the name but insisted on changing the line to "How are things in Glocca Morra?" because this is personal and immediately evocative of nostalgia and homesickness. James Stephens' work "The Crock of Gold" (first published in 1912) refers to "the leprechauns of Gort na Gloca Mora" ("the field of the big rock" in Gaelic). It is unknown whether Lane or Harburg were aware of the novel or if this is a coincidence. Many versions of this song