429 
mentaries ; Dubnovellaunus is most probably the Damno 
Bellaunus of the Inscription of Augustus at Ancyra; and 
Tasciovanus was the father of Cunobeline, the Cymbeline of 
Shakspeare, and, therefore, a contemporary of Augustus. 
Speaking generally, therefore, the date of the British coins 
iust enumerated may be taken as from 10 to 20 years before 
the Christian era ; and if we consider what period would be 
necessary to allow of such a transformation of type from their 
prototype to their debased and degenerate state, both in 
execution and weight, from 120 grains to 84 grains, it is 
very evident some considerable period must have elapsed, as 
it is only fair to suppose that each successive tj^pe was struck 
in imitation of one already in circulation ; and as there w r as 
also a debasement of the metal accompanying the diminution 
in weight of 30 per cent., I think that from 100 to 150 years 
is but a reasonable allowance for so complete a change of type 
and weight. We may, therefore, regard it as highly probable 
that there was a native coinage in some parts of Britain as 
early as b.c. 150, if not earlier. 
The classification of British coins which I have adopted is 
that of assigning the different types, as far as practicable, to 
particular parts of the country in which they were probably 
struck. I have already assigned the date of about b.c. 150 
for the commencement of the British coinage ; but it is 
difficult to fix, with any degree of certainty, in what part of 
the country it actually commenced, though there is high 
probability that the knowledge of coining was first communi- 
cated to some parts of the south-eastern coast, as Kent, and 
gradually spread from thence, as a centre, and was adopted 
in different districts of Britain at different periods, varying 
in time in proportion to the distance of each from the centre, 
while the coinage of each district derived its character in a 
great degree from the peculiar modification of the prototype 
which was first introduced — the uninscribed series, in every 
