16 The Very Rev. H. R. Dawson on the 



> 



and in every thing connected with it in this country he was employed. His 

 fame had reached England, so that Mr. Boulton, the intelligent proprietor of the 

 Soho Factory at Birmingham, was induced to give him an invitation to go over 

 to his employment in 1791? expressed in the most flattering terms, which, how- 

 ever, he thought proper to decline. 



During the administration of the Marquis of Buckingham he produced a 

 pattern piece, which he denominated the Union Penny, engraved after a design 

 by Sir Joshua Reynolds. Only six impressions were struck before the die was 

 destroyed, but so admirable was the execution, that two were thought worthy of 

 a place in the cabinet of the reigning monarch. Afterwards he was employed 

 to superintend the coinage of the copper money issued by Messrs. Camac, Kyan, 

 and Camac, until the failure of the concern, by which he sustained considerable 

 loss ; and then he resumed his former pursuits. These led him in 1797 to com- 

 memorate the destruction of the French fleet atBantryBay by a beautiful medal, 

 which is still worn by the members of a club established on the occasion in the 

 neighbourhood ; and he was further employed by the Orange Association and 

 by the Farming Society, to design and make their badges and premium medals. 



The Rebellion, and subsequently the Legislative Union in 1801, diverted 

 the public mind from any consideration of the fine arts, and the medallic art, the 

 object of our inquiry, shared the common neglect. With the exception of a 

 medal for the Dublin Society, and a Premium Medal for the Navan Farming 

 Society, no other work of importance was executed by Mossop ; and when the 

 former was undertaken, it was proposed that it should have an appropriate reverse 

 for each of the objects which that Society was embodied to encourage. From the 

 eminent skill exhibited in the part of the work which was completed, it is much 

 to be regretted that the original plan was not persevered in. This medal, when 

 at present used, is struck with a blank reverse, upon which is engraved the name of 

 the person obtaining it, and the object for which it is adjudged. 



In 1804 a paralytic affection, followed almost Immediately by apoplexy, ter- 

 minated in a few hours the life of this ingenious artist. Though his works are 

 not numerous, they are interesting, and as the first of the kind produced in Ire- 

 land, are a lasting evidence of his natural ability in this department of art. Had 

 he received the advantage of early preparatory study, there can be no doubt that 

 he would have equalled any modern medallist, and rivalled those in former times 

 of whom other countries are so justly proud. Besides his medals, he engraved 



