162 



often my intention to examine and arrange this collection ; but I 

 deferred it from various causes ; nor was I apprised, that it con- 

 tained any thing very valuable, till chance threw in my way the 

 pamphlet on the subject of the " Hebrew Medal, found at Friar's 

 Walk, near Cork." I then recollected, that a similar one was 

 among the poins my brother had collected on the continent ; and, 

 on examination, I found an exact duplicate, but in a more perfect 

 state. He informed me, that he obtained it from a Polish Jew, at 

 Rostoc, in L(jwer Saxony, who prized it as an ancient amulet 

 used by the early Christians ; but he annexed no such virtue to it 

 himself, and parted with it as a charm, which would be valuable 

 to a Christian, but could impart no protection to a Jew, though 

 marked in the Hebrew characters. I found it labeled " Hebrew 

 Talisman." 



On comparing it with the medal fovuid near Cork, it appears to 

 be a duplicate struck from the same die, and dift'ering only in the 

 superior state of its preservation. The inscription is much plainer ; 

 and those letters, which in the Cork medal were obliterated or im- 

 paired, and occasioned a difference of opinion from their indistinct- 

 ness, are here well defined and ascertainable beyond controversy. 

 The 3 beth, in the 4th place of the 2d line, is entirely effaced in 

 the Cork medal : in this it is as distinct as any other letter. In the 

 5th place of the 3d line, the j*? aleph and the -) raish are blended 

 togetlier, as if by some violence striking the surface of the yielding 

 metal till they coalesced : in this tliey are distinct and separated 

 by a proper interval. In the 3d place of the 4th line, the apices 

 of the letter, whether it be an y agin or a g phe, are blended toge- 

 ther in the Cork medal : in this they are perfectly distinct ; and 

 the last letter of the same line, which in the Cork medal is repre- 

 sented by two indistinct marks, „ like commas, in this is a plain 

 •> ioud. 



