MEDAL. 



and carried a collection he had ordered 

 to be made constantly with him, in order 

 that he might remember the qualities 

 which caused their being struck. Exam- 

 ples like those were not without imitation 

 in succeeding periods, but the most noble 

 and magnificent consequence was the Ca- 

 binet of Cosmo de Medici, which was for 

 a long time the admiration of Europe. 

 Keysler, who saw this collection in 1730, 

 asserts, that " with regard to the number 

 of old coins, they reckon at present three 

 hundred and twelve medallions, among 

 which are forty, five of silver. The largest 

 copper medallion is a Julia, the consort of 

 Septimus Severus. The copper coins of 

 the smaller size amount to about eight 

 hundred, and those of the larger size to 

 one thosand eight hundred The middle 

 sort, by the French called Jfoycn lironze, 

 are two thousand two hundred, and this 

 collection is the most valuable and curi- 

 ous, containing a great number of Greek 

 coins. Among the silver pieces are eight 

 hundred consular ones, and upwards of 

 two thousand others. Here are six hun- 

 dred pieces of gold, and sixteen medal- 

 lions of the same metal. I was assured 

 by Bianchi, that the largest gold medal 

 weighs one hundred and sixteen Louis 

 d'ors, and represents the Emperor John 

 Palaeologus VI., who assisted at the Coun- 

 cil of Florence." 



The number of medals in gold, silver, 

 and copper, struck in honour of cities and 

 countries, amounts to fifteen hundred. 

 The gold and copper ones of this assort- 

 ment are the most curious. The whole 

 collection consists of fourteen thousand 

 ancient, and eight thou&and modern me- 

 dals. Of the latter there are nine hundred 

 of gold, and two thousand of silver, 

 amongst which the largest is that of Cos- 

 mo III., and upwards of three thousand in 

 copper. 



This collection eclipsed every other, 

 though there were many of very great ex- 

 tent in different parts of the continent ; 

 nor have the learned of England been de- 

 ficient in their exertions to procure those 

 useful evidences of past transactions. 

 Camden, who first engraved medals for 

 his valuable works, is supposed to have 

 been one of the first collectors : to whom 

 may be added, Sir Robert Cotton. Henry, 

 Prince of Wales, son of James I. possessed 

 thirty thousand coins and medals. Arch- 

 bishop Laud gave five thousand five hun- 

 dred coins to the Bodleian library. The 

 Earl of Arundel, celebrated for his taste 

 in selecting specimens of antiquity, had 

 an excellent collection of medals ; and 



Evelyn enumerates the Dukes oF Hamil- 

 ton and Buckingham, Sir Thomas Fan- 

 shaw, Sir William Fasten, Sir Thomas 

 Hammer, Messrs. Sheldon, Selden, and 

 many others, as having in their possession 

 cabinets of medals Charles I., a monarch 

 who would have done more to improve the 

 state of the arts in England than all his 

 predecessors, had his reign been happy, 

 collected a vast number, which were lost 

 after his dethronement ; and his historian, 

 Lord Clarendon, endeavoured to rival his 

 royal master in this interesting pursuit, 

 which appears to have been in some de- 

 gree a favourite one with Oliver Cromwell. 



Charles II. entertained a similar parti- 

 ality for medals, but his successors have 

 entirely neglected them, and suffered 

 their subjects to set them an example, 

 which it is much to be wished they had 

 followed. Amongst those were Sir Hans 

 Sloane, the Earls of Pembroke and Win- 

 chelsea, and several others, mentioned by 

 Haym, who wrote about 1720. Since the 

 above period our general knowledge of 

 medals has been considerably increased, 

 and the skill with which the most recent 

 collections were made, does infinite honour 

 to the penetration and acumen of our me- 

 dallists, who are frequently enabled to 

 detect fictitious pieces, which have been 

 made with sufficient art to impose upon 

 foreigners. Several noblemen and gen- 

 tlemen now possess rich cabinets, and the 

 British Museum contains a superb collec- 

 tion, derived from numerous sources. 



Medals have from necessity been uni- 

 formly struck on copper, variously mixed 

 with other substances, silver, and gold ; 

 the most ancient of the latter metal are 

 evidently in its native state, neither puri- 

 fied or combined with copper, though 

 there are some which are supposed to be 

 of gold and silver. Philip of Macedon 

 caused the gold used for coining in his 

 dominions to be made of the utmost puri- 

 ty, and in this particular he was imitated 

 by Alexander the Great, and others near- 

 ly his contemporaries. The Romans, pro- 

 fiting by the experience of ages, and per- 

 ceiving that the purity of the metal im- 

 proved the beauty of the impression, de- 

 termined to use it in as perfect a state as 

 possible ; the silver coins of that people 

 were less pure, and became at length 

 greatly debased. 



The pure brass medals, and the red, or 

 copper, called by the ancients Cyprian 

 brass, were generally covered by platina 

 The best mixture was electrum, compos- 

 ed of one fifth of silver, and the remainder 

 of gold : in some instances this was a na- 



