imposture ; but the veneration with which they were guarded at 

 Rome, no more proves tlieir origin to have been Roman, than the 

 finding of a specimen in Ireland demonstrates any thing beyond the 

 fact, that it was lost there. 



It is a remarkable circumstance, that most of the specimens of 

 similar medals, which have been noticed by the learned, a.re im- 

 pressions of different dies, agreeing with each other neither in their 

 sizes or inscriptions. There are five varieties at the least. 



With regard to the resemblance, Waserus* has given us the fol- 

 lowing curious account : — " Sed neque hoc silentio transmitti debet, 

 " viz. imaginem Domini, quae nummo illo nostro exprimitur, ad earn 

 ♦' descriptionem esse designatam, quam Lentulus, civis Romanus, 

 " et Judaeae olim prasses, ad Imperatorem Tiberium misisse vulgo 

 " perhibetur." His account then proceeds with a fine detail of the 

 resemblance, describing it precisely according to that which, whether 

 handed down by tradition, or acquiesced in as just from its suitable 

 expression, has been chosen by the common f agreement of Carlo 

 Dolci and all others, both painters and sculptors, as best fitted to 

 convey a proper idea of our Saviour's sacred countenance and 

 appearance. Although Waserus says, " vulgo perhibetur," I 

 have not been successful in my attempts to discover upon what 



u2 



* p. 65. Waserus' observations on the subject are printed in the " Critici Sacri," Amstel. 

 1698, vol. vi. at the end. His plate is copied in the same work, see vol. i. tab. 12. 



f The head of Christ is always represented as elevated, and the hair always falls down along 

 ihe sides : a mode of representation adopted, as Dr. Spurzheim contends, by a common senti- 

 ment among modern artists, as best expressing the incarnate God, p. 340 — Denon. (V. I. p. 213. 

 Ed, 1800, in 8°.) considers the resemblance of our Saviour, which is now commonly received, 

 to be traditional, and not to have been invented after the revival of the arts. 



