equal to £2,700,000. In our own time the extensive coin- | ages in the royal mint from the year 1816 to 1822, amounted to £7,402,236 11s. 6d."-AKERMAN. 1773. and it was barbarism, and not prevention of fraud, which caused this alteration. No improvement was made in the method of coinage, until the power of the screw was applied to it in the French mint in the sixteenth century. The new invention was admitted into the English mint about the year 1561, when it was used together with the hammer, until the latter was wholly laid aside in 1662. The advantage of the new machine, known by the name of the mill and screw, over the old mode of striking with a hammer, consists chiefly in the increase of force, which is so great as to raise the impression at one blow. The edges of the hammered money were left in a rude and unfinished state, which exposed them to depredation by clipping. By means of the mill, a graining was applied to money, so as to form a regular circle on the outside of the legend, quite to the edge of the coin. The earliest specimens of Elizabeth's milled money exhibit instances of this invention. A legend was now imprinted upon the edges of the larger coins, and a graining technically termed milling, was applied to the outer extremity of the smaller; the present double sovereign and crown piece are examples of the former, and all our smaller pieces are specimens of the latter*. In the course of a few years after this re-coinage, the guinea fell to its original value of 21s. The old gold coins, the Jacobus or unite (25s.), the Carolus, (23s.), and the broad piece (21s. or 22s.), were not called in till the year As the coinage existing in our own times is a great improvement upon that of George III., and his predecessors; so, that of Charles II. was an improvement upon the thin hammered money of previous reigns. The improvement in the state of our coins in the seventeenth century, was due to the employment of more skilful artists in this line, and in particular of THOMAS SIMON, the celebrated engraver, of whose famous trial-piece, we have given a representation at the head of this article. This work, a specimen of the silver crown, was performed in order to interest the king in his behalf, and to prove to his majesty Charles II. not only that talent did not lie with foreigners, but that Englishmen deserved to be encouraged both from patriotic motives and for their superior skill. Simon was a native of Yorkshire: when he grew up, his natural abilities recommended him to the notice of Nicholas Briot, engraver Briot, the French artist before mentioned, was the person of the Mint to Charles I. Briot being ordered to go to who established the use of the mill in this kingdom, by Edinburgh, to engrave some dies for medals and coins, in which means the art of coining was carried to such a per1633, met with Simon, took him under his care, and taught fection as it had not before reached. Hence, the works of him. When Sir E. Harley was master of the Mint, he re- Simon, Briot's scholar, perhaps excel any of modern times. commended Simon as an engraver. The first public speci- Under Simon, the old awkward broad-piece begins first to nen of his talents was the Admiralty seal, engraved in 1636, assume the more decent form of the guinea; and the whole when the Earl of Northumberland was lord high admiral: coin to become more solid and compact. The coin went on it is of exquisite workmanship, the ship being finished with improving during the end of the seventeenth and the beastonishing minuteness. When Briot, who was a French-ginning of the eighteenth centuries. The artist who ranks man, returned to his native country, Simon succeeded him next to Simon is Croker, chief engraver at the Mint in the as head engraver at the Mint, in 1646. When the civil reign of Queen Anne. After his time the chief part of commotions broke out, Simon incurred the king's displeasure the coinage of the kingdom fell into a bad state, from which for making for the parliament a copy of the royal seal; but, it did not wholly emerge, until some years of the present after the king's death, the parliament took Simon into century had passed over our heads. favour; and throughout the interregnum Simon produced many hundred seals, medals, coins, &c., of various kinds : some of which have rarely been equalled for minuteness of execution. After Cromwell's death, Simon engraved the great seal for Richard Cromwell; and the coronation, judicial, and other seals of Charles II. At length, Rötiers, a Dutchman, in 1662, was appointed to the Mint; and this gave rise to the celebrated trial-piece. The frontispiece, which represents this, is a magnified view of that which is now in the possession of Thomas Hollis. Esq., F.R. and A. SS. Round the edge of this coin is the following petition: Thomas Simon most humbly prays your Majesty to compare this his Tryal-Piece with the Dutch, and if more truly drawn and emboss'd, more gracefully order'd, and more accurately engraven, to relieve him." This fine piece of workmanship did not however profit him, except by adding eventually to his fame, and the Rötiers were still continued in employment. It is even said that the Rötiers were called over in 1662, by the directors of the Mint, as Simon's works proceeded too slowly. It is supposed that Simon died of the great plague in 1665; as nothing is known of him after that year, when he engraved a medal for Charles II., commemorating the victories of England over Holland. As engraver to the Mint, Simon received an annual salary of 50%. He is deemed by the most competent judges to have been the best engraver of modern times. In former years the coining of money at various local mints was either permitted or connived at hy the government of the country. In the reign of Queen Elizabeth no mint was allowed, except in the Tower of London, which practice was continued till the civil wars compelled Charles I. to coin money at most of the principal towns which took up the royal cause: hence the square and rhomboidal siege pieces. It is remarkable that, in all his difficulties, this monarch never debased the coin which he issued; a proceeding, of which so many other more fortunate monarchs have been guilty. Money was afterwards again ordinarily coined at the Tower, till the erection of the present Mint within these few years. In AKERMAN'S Numismatic Manual we read that the Commonwealth struck money during the life-time of the king, (Charles I.) with his name and titles; but that after his death new dies were ordered to be made. The coins issued are distinguished from all others in the English series. The types furnished the cavaliers with subjects for much joke and ribaldry. The double shield on the reverse, was called "the breeches for the rump." In allusion to the legends, God and the commonwealth were said to be on opposite sides. A wag launched the following epigram at them: We have elsewhere alluded to the thinness of the old money, as resulting from the use of the hammer in coinage. The use of the hammer in fabricating money, being the only method first known, was of easy management and small expence; and hence the vast number of mints in almost every city of England, and the number of moneyers whose names appear on early coins, sometimes amounting to more than a hundred, upon those of one prince. The moneyer was the coiner, who in early times put his name on the coin, and often the name of the town. These persons frequently travelled about with the kings, in order to coin money upon emergencies. May their success like to their coin appear, Send double crosses for their single cheer. The witty Fuller says, "I hope hereafter, when the question is asked of our coiners, whose image and superscription is this? It will be returned, The Cæsar's of England!" A consequence of the thinness of modern coins was their large size in respect of their value; so that no relief could well be given to the impression. We are told that Constantine the Great ordered the Roman coin to be struck thin, and with small relief, in order that the common fraud of covering lead or copper with gold or silver, which we know the thickness of the ancient coin led to, might be prevented. But, in fact, the money became thinner by the decline of the art both before and after the time of Constantine; description of the "Custom of the Maundy;" see No. 562, p. 133. For the derivation of the word cash some people have referred to a common copper coin of China and India, which is so called: others say that the term "cash" is now transferred by usage from the case which holds the coin, to the coin itself. According to the latter explanation, the word would be derived from the French, caisse, a box, case, or chest; also a merchant's or banker's cash-box, or counter. The term "hard cash" means coin, in contradistinction to bills, notes, or paper-money: but a very peculiar sort of "hard cash" were "Musket balls, full bore," which were a legal tender in Massachusetts, in 1656, and were current for a farthing a piece, provided no man were compelled to take above twelve at a time of them. Till the time of Charles II. a regular copper coinage was not used, from a dislike towards copper; this being the metal chiefly used in counterfeiting the gold and silver coins: such counterfeits were termed "black money," in contradistinction to "white money," or good silver coin. But it appears that there were two kinds of black money, the counterfeit, and the authorised money of billon: the latter was very much used in France and also in Ireland. The want of a lower, but well tangible sort of money was long felt, and in consequence of the increase of tradesmen's tokens (see Vol. XVII., p. 63), the government of Queen Elizabeth had attempted to effect a copper coinage; but the queen being averse, the scheme was given up. King James in 1613 issued royal farthing tokens; but these were not well received. Charles I. issued the like; but at his death counterfeits and tokens increased so much, that in 1672 government took the matter regularly in hand, and issued farthings. Tin farthings were likewise used with a stud of copper in the middle. In 1693 the tin was all called in, and the copper coinage of farthings and half-pence went on improving. For the farthings of Queen Anne, which were chiefly trial-pieces, we refer the reader back to Vol. XVII., p. 76. The present copper coinage has been all executed within the last fifty years. It does not appear that England has been singular in its long abstinence from a copper coinage. "It is worthy of observation," says Pinkerton, "that while copper money was in Greece of very ancient date, and in Rome two centuries older than silver, yet in almost all the nations of modern Europe it arose a thousand years later than silver." Thus we see that the established metals for coining in modern times, are gold, silver, and copper; and that all other materials of coinage were regarded in a spurious light. We should, however, except the metal platinum, which the Russians employ in striking some of their money. This fine and valuable metal is extracted from the mines of the Uralian mountains, and has a specific gravity rather exceeding that of gold. The quantity of alloy for gold, in order to harden the coin, and make it wear well, is two carats out of the twentyfour: that is, one-twelfth of the gold money is alloy. The alloy for silver is three parts in forty. The for going proportions relate, however, to the English coinage. In France the legal proportions of the different coins are as follow:silver coins, 9 parts silver, 1 copper; copper money, 4 parts copper, 1 silver; gold coin, 9 parts gold, 1 copper. In the next place, the quantity of gold used in forming a sovereign, is rather below the proportional value of 20s., in order that no inducement may exist to melt down the national coin for the purposes of trade. Hence it is, that an English sovereign, which, by the tabular values of the respective coins, is equal to 24 francs, fetches 25 francs, and sometimes more, at the foreign mints. The coinage of Scotland did not commence before the twelfth century; there being silver pennies of Alexander I. A.D. 1107. Though the Scottish money was originally the same as that of England in size and value, many causes had brought it so low, that in the seventeenth century, it was only one twelfth part value of corresponding English money; and so it continued till the union of the kingdoms cancelled the Scottish coinage. In regard to the money of Scotland, it was for the most part fabricated after the fashion of the English. The copper coinage, though more ancient than that of England, was not earlier than the end of the sixteenth century, and seems to have been derived from the French. By the articles of the Union, which took place at the beginning of the last century, it was appointed that all the coins should be reduced to the English, and the same accounts observed throughout. Till that period, the Scots | had, as we have just said, their pounds, shillings, and pence, as in England; but their pound was twenty pence English, and the others were in proportion. Accordingly, their mark--13s. 4d., Scottish-was current in England at 13d.; and their noble in proportion. Besides these, they had their Turnorer pence and halfpence; their penny being one-twelfth of that of England, as noticed before; besides base money of achisons, baubees, and placks: tlie boddle, one sixth of the penny, one fourth of the achison, one-third of the baubee, and one half of the plack. In Ireland, the coins are as in England; viz. shillings, pence, &c., with this difference, that their shilling is but equal to 11 d. sterling; or a shilling English is equal to 26 halfpence; whence their pound is only 18s. 44d. of English money. The Danes seem to have originated the Irish coinage about A.D. 930. The harp, the present distinguishing mark of Irish money, is not observed till the reign of Henry VIII., when the difference in value between English and Irish coin became apparent, and much base money was thrust upon Ireland. Both Henry VIII. and Queen Elizabeth coined base money, approaching to billon, for the use of this country, In 1601, Ireland obtained a regular copper coinage. In 1635, a mint was established in Dublin by Charles I. Since the abolition of this mint in 1640, in consequence of the Massacre and disturbances in that country, no legal gold or silver coins have been struck with the Irish badge; but copper only. James II. arriving in Ireland from France in 1689, instituted a mint, and issued shillings and half-crowns, struck of all the refuse metal that could be procured; for this purpose some brass guns were used, so that this coinage is generally termed gunmoney. Pennies and half-pennies of lead, mixed with tin, were issued in 1690; and crowns of gun-metal, of the size of our half-crowns. Upon some occasions in the last century, some private individuals obtained patents for executing the copper coinage for Ireland. In 1722, William Wood obtained from George I. the famous patent which excited such discontent in Ireland. It was for coining halfpence and farthings. The patentee aimed at making a vast profit by the diminished size of the pieces. In this affair Swift distinguished himself in opposing the government. These coins are of very fine copper and workmanship, and have the best portrait of George I. anywhere found. Sir Isaac Newton, then at the head of the Mint, said they were superior to English farthings in everything but size. Those issued in 1737 were coined of just size and weight, with the harp only on the reverse, and are the patterns of those used at the present day. There being now no mint in Ireland, their copper coins are struck in London, and sent over. In the year 1760, there was a great scarcity of copper coin in Ireland; upon which, a society of Irish gentlemen applied for leave, upon proper conditions, to coin halfpence; which being granted, they appeared with a very bad portrait of George II., and the legend VOCE POPULI, The bust bears a greater resemblance to the Pretender than to George II.; and it is not certain that this fact was not premeditated: it was said that these pieces were issued without any leave being asked or obtained, The reader will see that our limits will not suffer us to enter into a description of all the various species of money now used in Europe and America, together with an enumeration of the respective values of each piece: for information of this sort, so useful to the mercantile adventurer, we must refer him to treatises on the article MONEY. MODERN SECTION V. MEDALS-PAPAL MEDALS SPANISH AND FRENCH MEDALS COMPARISON OF ANCIENT AND MODERN MEDAISENGLISH MEDALS-CORONATION MEDALS. In the middle ages MEDALS seem to have been quite unknown. Till the fifteenth century, no medals appear of any country in Europe; excepting of Scotland, which has gold medals of David II., in the middle of the fourteenth century. These were struck in England during his captivity. The medal of John Huss, the famous reformer, which was struck in 1415, seems to have led the way for the series of medals, which afterwards sprang up in the different countries of Europe. The papal medals are not only the most elegant, but the most ancient series in Modern Europe. Paul II. created pope in 1464, is the first pontiff who has medals of his own time. After Paul II. coëval medals are found of all the popes. As it is the especial object of medals to commemorate among the people of the partaken in by the arts of painting and sculpture; though Queen Anne are illustrative of the achievements of Marlborough; and those of the English kings, executed soon after by Dassier, a native of Geneva, are very good: the latter are thirty-six in number, and are struck in fine copper. MEDAL STRUCK BY NAPOLEON TO COMMEMORATE THE INVASION OF ENGLAND. The devices on the English coronation medals, are usually on the one side a representation of the sovereign, and on the other, some emblem of the circumstances of the period; but not always in the best taste. At the coronation of George III., the king's gold and silver medals were struck by Laurence Nattier, and were ornamented on one side with his majesty's bust, and the inscription, GEORGIVS III. D.G.M. BRIT. FRA. ET HIB. REX. F. D.; and on the reverse, was a figure of the sovereign seated, with Britannia holding a crown above his head, and the inscription, PATRIAE OVANTI (To his country triumphing), CORON. Xxii. SEPT. MDCCLXI.-Silver medals of the queen were also thrown into the scaffolding, and amidst the populace. On one side was represented her bust, with the inscription, CHARLOTTA D.G.M. BR. FR. ET HIB. REGINA; and on the other side her figure appeared at full length, standing by an altar, with a seraph about to crown her: the whole being encircled by the motto, QVAESITVM MERITIS. (By merit obtained), CORON. xxii. SEPT. MDCCLXI. STUDY medals: but the French medals are neither fine nor numerous till the reign of Louis XIV., in the middle of the seventeenth century. There are also series of fine medals, comprising those which were struck under the consulate and the empire of Napoleon, down to the reign of the present king. The Napoleon collection at Boulogne contains one of the medals intended to commemorate the threatened invasion of England. It represents a Herculean figure disabling and crushing a monster, half man and half fish, which latter is meant to represent the British nation. The legend is DESCENTE EN ANGLETERRE. On the exergue is Frappé à Londres, en 1804. This was probably done to excite the confidence and vanity of the French people; but, as the scheme of invasion was either a feint or a failure, these medals were almost all soon suppressed, and no opportunity afforded for giving the shadow of truth to the exergue of the medal-"Struck at London, in 1804!" SECTION VI. COLLECTION OF COINS AND MEDALS-PEMBROKE History informs us that cabinets and series of Greek coins were formed by the Roman senators, as choice treasures: this was natural, considering that the Romans respected the skill and talent of the Greeks in all the arts and embellishments of life. Some of these sets of medals and coins of cities have come down to our times: but yet it must be owned, that the taste of the Romans was rather for gems than for medallic specimens. When, however, literature began to be cultivated in Italy, at the end of the fifteenth century, the study of medals was found conducive to the knowledge of ancient geography and history, and of ancient literature generally. In the succeeding century, cabinets began to be formed universally by people whose minds were awakened to the increasing light of knowledge. Hence we have, likewise, ancient orthography and customs elucidated, and the lives of the great men of antiquity enriched with their portraits. In the middle of the sixteenth century, Goltz, a printer and engraver, travelled over Europe in search of coins and medals, for the benefit of certain works relating to them, which he was about to publish. Excepting Italy, more ancient coins seem to have been found in Britain than in any other country. Camden is thought to have been the first English writer who produced medals in his literary compositions, about A.D. 1600. After this, we have many works illustrated with coins: such as SPEED's Chronicle, 1610. Henry, prince of Wales, eldest son of James I., left to his brother Charles I. his collection of coins and medals, amounting in number to about 30,000. This cabinet was broken up and lost during the civil wars of his reign. As soon as medals began to revive, in the fifteenth century, they were made to serve the purpose of satire, until the printshops took to the business. Many satiric medals passed between Philip, king of Spain, and Elizabeth, queen of England. Satire seems to have been unknown to the ancient mint: but, in these later ages, a great number of medals have been struck for private men of eminent learning or talents; 'and in this respect modern medals excel those of the ancients. As to the execution of modern medals in comparison with ancient ones, in all that relates to portraits, human figures, and other detached objects, the ancients far exceed the moderns in character, truth, and taste: but in landscape, and all that belongs to perspective, the moderns are superior: when, for instance, we have on an ancient medal the view of a building, we see only its elevation; but on a modern medal the perspective is also afforded. An especial fault, however, too often occurs in modern portraits and reverses,that the manners of the time and country are very often totally perverted. Personifications are of all ages, countries, and languages: heathen gods and goddesses thrust themselves upon Christian medals, and attract the adoration of connoisseurs! The like objection also applies, in great measure to our coinage:-but the fault here complained of is largely It would take us too long to enumerate the different public and private cabinets now existing: but we are tempted to observe that one of the finest collections in the world is that of Thomas, the eighth earl of Pembroke, who died in 1732, and who was the collector of the statues, &c., at Wilton House, South Wilts. This collection is vested in trustees, and deposited in the Bank of England, for sale, where they even now wait a purchaser who can command about 30,000%. They were published in a huge octavo volume in the year 1746. As ancient architecture, sculpture, and poetry, have tended to improve the taste of modern times, so the study of coins and medals assists in promoting the same end; being particularly useful in guiding the judgment and views of the lovers of such arts and sciences as we just mentioned. Besides the ancient portraits on the obverse, which are likely to kindle the admiration of the painter and the sculptor, the architect, as well as the painter, has on the reverse exquisite views of ancient edifices, which are found in perfect preservation on medals. Triumphal arches, temples, fountains, aqueducts, amphitheatres, circuses, hippodromes, palaces, basilicas, columns and obelisks, baths, sea-ports, pharoses, and the like, are all found on the reverses of ancient medals. To a person of poetical imagination, the Roman coins are very entertaining, on account of the fine personifications and symbols which are to be found on their reverses. What can the additional experience of the world, during 2000 years, add to the personification of HOPE found on the reverse of an ancient medal? She is there represented as a sprightly damsel, walking quickly, and looking straight forward; with her left hand she lifts up her garments, that they may not hinder the rapidity of her pace; while in her right hand she holds forth a rose-bud, an emblem infinitely more fine than the trite one of an anchor, which is the symbol of Patience, not of Hope. Happiness, Abundance, Security, Piety, Modesty, and the like, are all shadowed out under similar apposite emblems, springing out of Nature herself, and therefore just and true. Many passages of Sacred History are likewise illustrated or explained by reference to medals. The Mosaic account of the Deluge is confirmed by a coin struck at Apamea in Asia Minor, in the reign of Philip I., about 650 B. C. On the reverse of this medal is a chest floating upon the waters: a man and woman seem coming out upon dry land. Above it hovers a dove with an olive-branch; and another bird is perched upon the roof. On the front part of the chest is the word NOE in Greek characters. Seven or eight of these medals are extant, and they are admitted by the best medallists to be genuine. On some medals of Commodus, who lived at the latter part of the second century of the Christian era, the Supreme Deity is represented under the form of a bull, as indicative of his supreme power. On the reverse of some of the medals of Marcus Aurelius, who reigned somewhat earlier, are seen the bull and serpent. On the medals of Persia, and in the works of Zoroaster, this worship was practised. He represents God under the figure of the serpent, and describes him as "the master of all things-exempt from death-eternal in his duration-without beginning, and without parts." On the medals of Tartary we find the figure of the serpent: on the reverse of a medal of Tyre we find the serpent encircling an egg; and we see the same figure on the medals of Japan: this people, in their cosmogony, say it was the warm breath of the serpent that called into life the first man. As those coins and medals which are scarce, are, from that cause, the more valuable, whether they be the old Roman coins of lead,-or coins and medals in copper, brass, silver, or gold, the metal itself merely affecting the value according to its weight, it is not to be wondered at that a considerable part of the science of numismatics should consist in enabling the medallist to detect forged imitations of the objects of his regard. This art of forging is said to have arisen at the beginning of the sixteenth century, and it has since prevailed to a great degree. Counterfeit medals come under six heads: 1. Medals known to be modern imitations of the ancient, but valuable, because executed by the best Italian masters: 2. Medals cast from the former: 3. Medals cast in moulds taken from the antique: 4. Ancient medals retouched, and the obverses or reverses altered: 5. Medals impressed with new devices, or soldered: 6. Counterfeit medals which have clefts, or which are plated. When the art of imitating the genuine antique coins began to be practised, it was at first without any intention of deceiving, but merely to facilitate the study. The very clever imitations, however, of the artists of Italy soon passed for genuine, and became an article of a trade, which has continued to this day. This consideration is apt to throw great damp upon the zeal of the numismatic student. Cabinets of medals are usually ranged into three distinct sizes: 1. That which contains, or is intended to contain, every issue of the mint, in every age and country. Such a cabinet belongs only to national museums, princes, and others who have the command of great wealth. The Pembroke Cabinet, before spoken of, is one of those. 2. The smaller cabinet contains several sequences, or particular series of medals, from the earliest to the latest times; other medals, or such as belong to other sets, being received from curiosity and in order to give variety to the collection. 3. The smallest cabinet, usually called a casket of medals, includes all little collections of coins; in which, perhaps, not more than one sequence, or series, can well be formed. The coins of the Middle Ages form the department of study now chiefly pursued, with a view to the elucidation of history. MEDALLIONS and MEDALETS belong likewise to the family of medals. Medallions were, in former times, medals of a size larger than ordinary; such a one is that which forms the frontispiece of our former paper. They were never current coins, as medals were; but were struck to serve as public monuments, or to be presented by a monarch to his friends, or by the mint-makers to a monarch, as specimens of fine workmanship. Medallions were commonly issued upon the commencement of a new reign, as coronationmedals are in these later days. Medalets were small coins, scattered among the people on solemn occasions: they were also struck for the use of slaves, and served as counters in gaming, tickets for baths and feasts, and money-tokens in general. It is the opinion, however, of some medallic scholars, that the medalets of lead, alluded to in our former paper, were a species of mock money, used at the time of the Roman Saturnalia, when all the different usages and customs of society, whether good or bad, were ridiculed and parodied. Among many whimsical regulations made to gratify the Roman populace, during this week of general licence, was one which forbad the use of money: if any one offered a legal coin in payment, it was to be condemned as an act of madness, and the man was brought to his senses by a penitential fast for that day. To ridicule the idea of money, the mob rulers stamped this leaden circulating medium with the most grotesque figures and the oddest devices, such as a sow, a jackass, a fabulous bird, a general in his car with a monkey behind him, &c. As all this was done in mockery, this base metal was stamped with the letters S. C. See p. 86, col. 2. Pinkerton, referring to these lead coins, or tickets, regrets that "such curious remains have almost escaped the notice of medallists, and have not yet been arranged in one class, or named. A special work on them would be highly acceptable." When a medal is in the least defaced in figures or in legend, the medallist will reject it, hardly excepting even the rarest coins. Hence, it becomes of importance to preserve medals in their original perfection, or as nearly so as possible. Nothing contributes so much to preserve brass and copper coins, as the fine rust, called in Latin arugo, which appears like varnish on them, and which depends for the sort of it upon the particular situation or soil in which the coin or medal may have been lying for ages. There are, therefore, different kinds of rust; but, as Pinkerton says, "These rusts are all, when the real product of time, as hard as the metal itself, and preserve it much better than any artificial varnish could have done; concealing, at the same time not the most minute particle of the impression of the coin." In the case of gold and silver, the purer these metals are, the cleaner and freer from blemish, and the more mint-like will they be, wherever found, and whenever we may have to examine them: but the books of the medallists must be consulted by him who wishes to prosecute this subject, and who may, therefore, desire and need to acquaint himself further with all the spots, blemishes, and tarnishes, which obscure or adorn medals, and the means prescribed for safely removing them An examination of the medal-room of the British Museum, together with a perusal of more extended and systematic works on Numismatics, or the Science of Coins, &c. will promote and improve the taste of the reader for a subject so interesting to the poet, the painter, the architect, the historian, and the man of literature generally. LONDON: JOHN WILLIAM PARKER, WEST STRAND. PUBLISHED IN WEEKLY NUMBERS, PRICE ONE PENNY, AND IN MONTHLY PARTS, PRICE SIXPENCE. Sold by all Booksellers and Newsvenders in the Kingdom. |