By William Long, Esq. 127 



to the engravings of some gold coins found on Farley Heathy Surrey, 

 which are given at p. 304 of the thirteenth volume ol the Archae- 

 ological Journal. The Rev. Prebendary Earle, also argues from 

 these characters on British coins in favour of the solar theory, but 

 this view is not acquiesced in by all numismatists. The writer's old 

 and valued friend, Mr. W. S. W. Vaux, F.R.S., President of the 

 Numismatic Society, has kindly furnished him with the following 

 communication : " There is no mystery about the origin of the 

 earliest coins of Britain. They are degraded types of Gaulish coins, 

 and these Gaulish coins again are degraded types of those of Philip 

 of Macedon. When the Gauls invaded Macedonia, they brought 

 back, as part of their plunder, gold money of Philip; and as they 

 had none before (so far as we know) they set to work to copy what 

 they had found. The first copies are sufficiently well done to be like 

 their originals. You find 01 A III IT OY legible and a victory 

 driving a chariot. Soon the Greek letters are lost, and the victory 

 and chariot become indistinct. Some of these indistinct coins found 

 their way to Britain in the course of trade, and were imitated by the 

 Britons, each imitation being one stage farther off from the original 

 Philip's, till, at length, all notion of a horse and chariot is lost. The 

 horse remains, but such a nondesci'ipt animal (sometimes with his 

 tail divided into three distinct tails ! ) that you would hardly guess 

 tbat it was meant for a horse. Then the chariot departs altogether, 

 and its wheels appear anywhere on the coins — above, before, in front 

 of other objects. Some of the circles alluded to by Dr. Thurnam 

 are probably these wheels. I doubt altogether the existence of any 

 astral or mythic marks, though, of course, a star or a wheel with 

 the spokes crossing will be seized on by some as representing the 

 sun, and so on. These gold British coins may be considered as 

 before or as contemporary with Julius Caesar. After his time we 

 find Roman types on British coins." 



Having said so much upon the probable connection of Stonehenge 

 with sun-worship, it will be well to introduce here the opinions 

 which have been broached by antiquaries and others since the publi- 

 cation of Sir Richard Hoare's volume of "Ancient Wilts," in 

 1812. 



