A couple of pence soothes and pacifies (8)
I believe the answer is:
appeases
'pacifies' is the definition.
('appease' can be a synonym of 'pacify')
'a couple of pence soothes' is the wordplay.
'couple of' indicates the doubling of some letters.
'pence' becomes 'p'.
'soothes' becomes 'eases' (easing is a kind of soothing).
'p' doubled is 'pp'.
'a'+'pp'+'eases'='APPEASES'
'and' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for appeases that I've seen before include "Conciliates, mollifies" , "Placates" , "Mollifies by making concessions" , "Calms" .)