Dec. 4. 1852.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



529 



mond, the church of Saxby near Lincoln, and 

 that of Bonby near Barton, were dependencies. 

 The Barons de Hurneto were higli in rank and 

 hereditary High-Constables of Normandy ; while 

 their neighbours, the Lords de Bohun, were in- 

 ferior to them in Normandy, yet became High- 

 Constables of England. Should your correspondent 

 propose any insulated question, I might probably 

 be able to obtain an answer for him, 



W. J. Hesledon. 

 Barton-upon- Humber. 



PLAGIARISMS OF MEDALLISTS. 



The plagiarisms of authors have long been a 

 favourite subject for criticism, and the pages^ of 

 "N. & Q." present us with many interesting 

 notices of parallel passages ; but a large proportion 

 of such supposed imitations may, perhaps, be 

 accounted for without impeaching the fair fame of 

 the writers. 



There is, however, another class of plagiarisms, 

 •viz. medallic, which have not hitherto attracted 

 much attention. Instances will readily occur to 

 those who have turned their attention to numis- 

 matology, a study equally fascinating and instruc- 

 tive, but unfortunately little cultivated, nothing 

 being more common than to meet with people, 

 otherwise well inibrmed, totally ignorant of medals. 

 Captain Smyth, in the introduction to his delight- 

 ful and valuable work, entitled Descriptive Cata- 

 logue of a Cabinet of Roman large brass Medals, 

 has given some instances of this ignorance, to which 

 I could, from my own experience, add others 

 equally amusing ; but I must refrain, and confine 

 myself to giving an example or two of the pla- 

 giarisms to which I have alluded. 



The late Mr. Till, the v/ell-known dealer in coins, 

 had a medal struck in 1834, which bears on one 

 side his name and address, &c., and on the other a 

 well-executed figure of Time, who is represented 

 disinterring an urn full of coins, with the appro- 

 priate legend, " Time discovers the riches of anti- 

 quity." I used to give the artist credit for the 

 invention of this device, not doubting its original- 

 ity, till I discovered recently the identical type on 

 «. medal, by Hedlinger, of Nicholas Keder, a dis- 

 tinguished Swedish numismatist, who died in 1728; 

 with the equivalent legend, " Profert antiqua in 

 apricum." Here the plagiarism is patent ; but 

 ■who is to have the merit of it, the artist, Mr. 

 W. J. Taylor, or Mr. Till himself? As the medal 

 •could scarcely but have been known to the latter, 

 I presume he must have furnished the design, 

 -which Mr. Taylor engraved with his usual skill. 



Sometimes, however, it is difficult to decide, be- 

 tween cotemporaneous medals bearing the same 

 device, as to which can lay claim to the original 

 design. A medal struck in honour of Cardinal 



Hercules Gonzaga, bishop of Mantua (president of 

 the Council of Trent when it resumed its sittings 

 in 1561), and one of Philip II. of Spain, struck ia 

 1557, have both of them for reverse Hercules sup- 

 porting the globe, with the legend, " Ut requiescat 

 Atlas." In the case of Philip, this is a most happy 

 allusion to his relieving his father Charles from 

 the weight of empire ; but, as regards the cardinal, 

 little better than a boastful allusion to his Pagan 

 Christian name and Herculean form. We should 

 not, therefore, be wrong, perhaps, in assigning the 

 priority to the former : but, query, is the medal of 

 Gonzaga ever found with a date, such variations 

 occasionally occurring ? 



I have used the term medallic in a restricted 

 sense, not including coins, which were in former 

 times extensively and avowedly imitated, more 

 especially our own ; e. g. the noble of Edward III. 

 was copied by Philip the Good, both obverse and 

 reverse, with only the necessary difference of 

 name and title, and with the substitution on the 

 shield of the bends of Burgundy for the lions of 

 England, quarterly with the lilies of France. 



Has it ever been noted that the legend on the 

 reverse of the five-sovereign piece issued in 1839, 

 " Dirige Deus gressus meos," had already been 

 adopted on the ducat of Leopold, grand duke of 

 Tuscany, who died in 1790, with the difference of 

 "Domine" for "Deus." It is much to be re- 

 gretted that the innovation allowed by some happy 

 chance on that occasion, viz. the representation on 

 the reverse of a full-length figure of her gracious 

 Majesty, with the attendant lion, has not been fol- 

 lowed up by substituting on the different coins 

 something a little more imaginative for the con- 

 stantly-recurring shield of arms, or, what is still 

 worse (however common the error), the filling up 

 the field of the reverse with the denomination of 

 the piece, which, if thought necessary, could so 

 easily find a place in the exergue. I never look 

 at Wyon's beautiful performance without thinking 

 of the equally beautiful lines in the Faerie Queene, 

 which probably suggested the device : 

 " The lion would not leave her desolate, 



But with her went along, as a strong guard 



Of her chaste person : .... 



Still when she slept he kept both watch and ward; 

 And when she waked, he waited diligent. 

 With humhle service to her will prepared : 

 From her fair eyes he took commandement, 

 And ever by her looks conceived her intent." 



John J. A. Boase. 

 Alverton Vean, Penzance. 



;^tn0r §iaUS. 



Francis Gasirell, Bishop of Chester. — The pre- 

 cise date of the birth of this worthy divine 

 appears to be unknown to biographers. He was 



