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



cuted by Benjamin Wyon, and the reverse by Mills, both artists of eminence, 

 and are creditable to them. 



I have but few medallists more to notice ; as they are still living, and work- 

 ing in their profession, I should prefer finding that the Academy was about to 

 take them under its fostering care, to occupying your time in criticising their 

 performances. John Jones was employed in the establishment of the younger 

 Mossop until the death of the latter, and has since produced some works from 

 his own graver connected with the political events of these busy times. They 

 speak for themselves, and I only regret that he has not been more employed, as 

 his Premium Medal for the North East Agricultural Society, is, in taste and 

 execution, a very beautiful performance. His tools and presses are now rusting 

 in his workshop ; and a talented professional native, educated in an excellent 

 school, has the mortification of finding himself neglected, and English artists 

 employed to record Irish events. 



William Woodhouse, who is a native of England, and received his education 

 at Birmingham, has also struck some few medals. I have no doubt, from the 

 specimens I have seen, that were he to receive due encouragement, his talents 

 would be well employed in the service of our country. 



The last with whom I am acquainted is Isaac Parkes, a native of Birmingham 

 also, but who came to this country in 1807, and served his apprenticeship to his 

 brother, an eminent button manufacturer in this city. We are justified in con- 

 sidering Parkes as our own ; for, here he served his time ; here he received 

 instructions in modelling from Sherwin, the pupil of Smyth, whose chisel- 

 lings and figures adorn so many of our public buildings ; and, here whatever 

 proficiency he has attained to in the art has been elicited and nourished. If 

 diligent attention to business, access to a well-chosen collection of models, and a 

 considerable share of ingenuity and taste, can secure public patronage, Parkes 

 well deserves it ; and his large medallion of the late Duke of York is an evidence 

 of his boldness and power in the art of die sinking, — for amongst all those of the 

 middle ages, I have scarcely seen one that exceeds it in relief, and it has this 

 superiority over them, that while they were invariably cast, this was raised out 

 of the solid metal by the power of the screw. 



The comparatively small number of medals I have been able to record from 

 the time of Charles II. to the present day, affords a lamentable and humiliating 



