Jan, 8. 1853.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



45 



Allow me now to put a question to the critics. 

 In the two concluding lines of the Merchant of 

 Venice (the speaker, observe, is the jesting Gra- 

 tiano) : 



" Well, while I live, I'll fear no other thing 

 So sore, as keeping safe Nerissa's ring." 



May there not be a covert allusion to the story 

 first told by Poggio in his Facetiae, then by 

 Ariosto, then by Rabelais, then by La Fontaine, 

 and, finally, by Prior, in his Hans Carvel ? Ra- 

 belais was greatly read at the time. 



Thomas Keightlet. 



STATUES REPRESENTED ON COINS. 



(Vol. vi., p. 485.) 



Mr. Burgon {Inquiry into the Motive of the Re- 

 presentations on Ancient Coins, p. 19.) says : 



" I do not believe that the types of coins are, on any 

 occasion, original compositions; but always copied from 

 some sacred public monument . . . When we find Mi- 

 nerva represented on coins, we are not to understand 

 the type as a Minerva, but the Minerva of that place ; 

 and in some cases which might be brought forward, the 

 individual statues which are represented on coins, or 

 ancient copies, will be found still to exist." 



This opinion is certainly borne out by a very 

 great number of proofs, and may almost be con- 

 sidered demonstrated. The Farnese Hercules is 

 found on many coins, Roman and Greek. The com- 

 monest among the Roman are those of Gordianus 

 Pius, 1st and 2nd brass, with " virtvti avgvsti." 

 Three colonial coins of Corinth, of Severus, Cara- 

 calla, and Geta ( Vaillant, Num. Imp. Coloniis per- 

 cuss., ii. 7. 32. 54.), exhibit the same figure. As 

 an additional illustration of Mr. Burgon's view, I 

 would advert to the Corinthian coin of Aurelius 

 (Vaill. i. 182.), which has a Hercules in a differ- 

 ent attitude ; and which Vaillant regards as a copy 

 of the statue mentioned by Pausanias as existing 

 at Corinth. Du Choul (Religio vet. Rom., 1685, 

 pp. 158, 159.) gives a coin representing Hercules 

 killing Antasus ; and quotes Pliny for a statue 

 representing this by Polycletus. Haym also (Te- 

 soro, i. 248.) gives a coin with a reversed view 

 of the same subject. The figures of Hercules on 

 coins of Commodus are certainly copied from the 

 statues of that Emperor. Baudelot de Dairval 

 (De V TJtilite des Voyages) gives a small silver sta- 

 tuette of Commodus as Hercules, certainly copied 

 from the larger statues, and corresponding with 

 those on coins. 



I am not aware of any coins exhibiting exactly 

 the Venus de Medici. It is possible, however, that 

 they exist, though I cannot at present find them. 

 Haym (Tesoro, ii. 246., tab. xvi. 8.) gives a coin 

 of Cnidus, with a very similar representation, the 

 Cnidian Venus, known to be copied from a statue 

 by Praxiteles. > 



I must say the same as to the Apollo Belvidere. 



I cannot at present refer to an engraving of the 

 equestrian statue of Aurelius, but Mr. Akerman 

 (JDescr. Cat., i. 280. 12. u., 283. 10.) describes gold 

 coins and a medallion of Aurelius, representing him 

 on horseback ; and I find in the plates appended 

 by De Bie to Augustini Antiquatum ex Nummis Dia- 

 logi, Antw., 1617, plate 47., one of these coins 

 engraved. I find the medallion engraved also by 

 Erizzo (last edition, n. d., p. 335.), who explains it 

 as referring to this statue. He says, however, that 

 the attribution of the statue was uncertain ; and 

 that on a medallion of Antoninus Pius, which he 

 possessed, exactly the same representation was 

 found, whence he was inclined to suppose it rather 

 erected for Antoninus Pius. 



I suppose the coins of Domna, alluded to by 

 Mr. Taylor, are those with the legend " veneri 

 viCTRici." In spite of the attitude, I can hardly 

 think this intended for Venus Callipyge, from the 

 fact that Venus Victrix is found in the same atti- 

 tude on other coins, holding arras ; and sometimes 

 again holding arms, but in a different attitude, and 

 more or less clothed. The legend is opposed alsa 

 to this idea. See the coins engraved by Ondaap, 

 or Oiselius, Plate rii. The coin of Plantilla in 

 Du Choul (1. c. p. 188.) is a stronger argument; 

 for here is seen a partially clothed Venus Victrix, 

 with the same emblems, leaning on a shield, as the 

 Venus of Domna leans on a column, but turned 

 towards the spectator instead of away : thus de- 

 monstrating that no allusion to Callipyge is to be 

 seen in either. 



Erizzo (1. c. p. 519.) mentions the discovery at 

 Rome of a fragment of a marble statue inscribed 

 "veneris victricis." 



In the British Museum (Townley Gallery, i. 95.) 

 is a bas-relief representing the building of the 

 ship Argo. There is described in the Thomas 

 Catalogue, p. 22. lot 236., an unpublished (?) 

 medallion of Aurelius, possibly copied from this 

 very bas-relief. A very doubtful specimen exists 

 in the Museum of the Scottish Antiquaries, which 

 enables me to make this assertion, although it is 

 not minutely described in the catalogue, and is 

 otherwise explained. This is an additional con- 

 firmation of the original statement, and many 

 more might be added but for the narrow limits 

 allowed, which I fear I have already transgressed. 



W. H. Scott. 



Edinburgh. 



JDDGE JEFFREYS. 



(Vol.vi., pp. 149. 432. 542.) 



This extraordinary and Inhuman man was the 

 sixth son of John Jeffreys, Esq., of Acton, near 

 Wrexham, co. Denbigh, by Margaret, daughter of 

 Sir Thomas Ireland, Knight, of Bewsey, and was 

 born at Ids father's house about the year 1648. 



