186 



KNOWLEDGE. 



[August 2, 1897. 



passive obedience to the authority of princes ; and it had 

 been ordered at the time of his condemnation that the 

 decree issued by the University of Oxford on the occasion 

 of the Kye House Plot in 1G83, advocating the same 

 doctrine, should be burnt by the common hangman. To 

 this resolution the reverse, with a mitre, and the legend, 



IS FIRM TO THEE, alludes. 



We may pass over the next reign to that of George II. 

 One event of that reign — the taking of Portobello in 1739 

 by Admiral Vernon — is celebrated by more medah than 

 any other single event in English history, and the number 

 of the medals is no doubt proportioned to the degree of 

 public interest excited. " On the obverse of our specimen 

 (No. 11) is a half-length figure of the Admiral; on the 

 reverse a view of the capture of Portobello : admiral 



VERNON TOOK PORTOBELLO | WITH SIX SHIPS ONLY | 



NOV. 22, 1739. The most satisfactory medal of this reign is, 

 perhaps, the military 

 medal (No. 13) struck 

 to commemorate the 

 defeat of the Younger 

 Pretender at Culloden 

 in 1746. It is by R. 

 Yeo, one of the As- 

 sistant Engravers to 

 the Mint. The bust of 

 the Duke of Cumber- 

 land, who defeated the 

 Jacobites, is on the 

 obverse ; on the reverse 

 Apollo leans on his bow 

 and points at the 

 dragon which his 

 arrow has pierced. 

 The composition, 

 modelling, and setting 

 of this reverse are 

 very much above the 

 average of the time. 



There are, of course, 

 a great number of por- 

 trait medals, but none 

 of them are distin- 

 guished by excellence. 

 That of General Wolfe, 

 the hero of Quebec, is 

 by I. Gosset and J. 

 Kirk (No. 17) ; the 

 latter medallist is re- 

 sponsible for a large 

 number of medals in this and the following reigns. 



The most interesting medals relating to civil affairs in 

 the reign of George III. are, perhaps, those of John Wilkes 

 and of Lord George Gordon. When Wilkes was elected 

 Lord Mayor of London in 1774, a medal (No. 15) was 

 issued celebrating Wilkes's imprisonment for his famous 

 article in the Xort/i llriton. No. 45, 1763. The jack- 

 boot on the reverse is a bad pun on the name of Lord 

 Bute, Prime Minister in that year, while the axe is meant 

 to suggest treason. The medal with the portrait of Lord 

 George (jordou (No. 12) illustrates the "No Popery" Eiots 

 of 1779-1780, for which he, as president of the Protestant 

 Association, was responsible. Among other portraits of 



* The autliora of the " Medallic Ilhistrations," a work the expression 

 of mj obligations to which was accidentally omitted from the preceding 

 article, ennmerate forty-seven varieties of medals of this Buhject 

 alone ; whUe there are many others which allude partly to Portobello, 

 partly to other captures by the popular Admiral. And this list is not 

 quite complete. 



Pia. 2. — Reverse of Pistrucci's Waterloo Medal. 



distinguished men of this reign we may mention (though 

 want of space precludes illustration) one of William Pitt, 

 by Thomas Wyon, jun. Thomas belonged to a large 

 and distinguished family of medallists and seal engravers, 

 one of whom still holds an official position at the present 

 day. 



The wars of the close of the last and the beginning of 

 the present century were naturally fertile subjects for 

 contemporary medallists. The Fleming, C. H. Kiichler, was 

 employed by one Alexander Davison to strike a well-known 

 medal (Fig. 1 in the text) in commemoration of the victory of 

 the Nile. On the obverse, Britannia holds a medallion with 

 a portrait of Nelson ; on the reverse is a view of the two 

 fleets in Aboukir Bay. On the edge is engraved ; FROM 



ALEXR DAVISON ESQR ST. JAMES'S SQUARE. A TRIBUTE 



OF REGARD. Davison presented a specimen of this medal 

 to every officer and seaman who took part in the battle. 



The present specimen 

 is in gold, in which 

 metal admirals, cap- 

 tains, and commanders 

 received the reward. 

 A somewhat similar 

 medal, by the same 

 artist, was presented 

 by Matthew Boulton 



TO THE HEROES OF 

 TRAFALGAR 



The battle of Water- 

 loo inspired — if such a 

 term can be used of 

 such a work — a huge 

 medal by the famous 

 Benedetto Pistrucci, 

 who is, however, better 

 known by his design 

 of St. George and the 

 Dragon. This medal 

 measures nearly five 

 and a half inches in 

 diameter. On the ob- 

 verse, in the centre, 

 are the busts, aceollate, 

 of the Prince Regent, 

 the Emperors of Aus- 

 tria and Russia, and 

 the King of Prussia, 

 a singularly unrefined 

 group of heads. 

 Various groups from 

 allegory and mythology are placed around in a kind of broad 

 border. On the reverse (Fig. 2 in the text) the centre is 

 occupied by Wellington and Blucher on horseback, in classi- 

 cal garb, conducted by Victory. The border on this side is 

 a writhing mass of giants, at whom Jupiter, seated on high 

 in a chariot and four, ought to be hurling the thunderbolt 

 which he peacefully holds in his hand. The medal is a 

 peculiarly unconvincing piece of pseudo-classicism, although 

 it is interesting to see that Pistrucci has been studying 

 the recently acquired Elgin marbles for his horses. This 

 medal was never struck, the dies not having been hardened ; 

 but it has been reproduced by the electrotyping process. 

 More interesting, perhaps, than this medal, is the small 

 one (No. 18), which was given to all officers and privates 

 present at the battle. The reverse, which is by T. Wyon, 

 sen., is an adaptation from one of the most beautiful 

 coins of Elis ; needless to say, most of the beauty has been 

 adapted away. This medal was the first war medal 

 officially issued for general distribution in this century. 



