822 MEDAL. 
Mr. Pinkerton) of exquifite workmanfiup, exceeding 
moft copper coins either ancient or modern, and will.do 
honour to the engraver Mr. Croker to the end of time.” 
The one, whofe reverfe is Peace in a car, pax missa per 
orbem, is the moll efteemed ; and next to it the brit- 
tannia under a portal. The other halfpence and far¬ 
things are lefs valuable. The copper coinage of George I. 
and II. is very pure; that of George III. not quite fo good ; 
and it is to be obferved, that for many years the intrinfic 
value of the metal was not one half of its currency. The 
pound of copper, valued at iod. yielded 46 halfpence, 
or 23 pence, when coined : hence forgeries even of good 
metal yielded a large profit, and the whole kingdom 
lwarmed with counterfeit copper, inl'omuch that not a 
fiftieth part of the currency was legitimate. In 1797, 
therefore, copper twopences, pence, and halfpence, were 
ifl'ued, which were really worth their weight in copper at 
i6d. a-pound. Thefe, therefore, have never been coun¬ 
terfeited ; but, as copper continued to rife in price, they 
began to be withdrawn from circulation, to be melted 
clown ; and the two-penny pieces have entirely difap- 
peared ; but probably not many of them were iffued, as 
from their fize, they were inconvenient money. In 1806, 
the lad new coinage of pence, halfpence, and farthings, 
appeared; the pieces are fmaller; and we now fuffer 
no inconvenience from the want of copper; for the 
counterfeit money is all (topped, and the good old half¬ 
pence of George II. have been called in to be melted 
down. 
Our prefent copper coin is, we believe, generally con- 
fidered to be elegant and tafteful. The late Mr. Barry, 
however, was of a different opinion. He had exempli¬ 
fied his idea for the improvement of medals and coins, 
originally fuggefted in a letter to his majefty’s privy 
council, by introducing into the picture of the Society 
of Arts two models for medals or coins ; the one, a more 
than profile female head, with the imperial fhield of 
Great Britain and Ireland fufpended from her fhoulder ; 
the other, a head of Alfred, the great improver and 
founder : the latter of which he adopted from neceffity, 
not from choice, as he had no portrait of his prefent 
majefty with which he was fatisfied. He was particularly 
defirous to fhelter this improvement under the wings of 
the Society, as he “ thought it probable that the noble 
relievo, and the fecurity of that relievo exemplified in thofe 
heads, would be imitated in our coinage; and, from 
its obvious utility and dignity, be adopted all over Eu¬ 
rope : and, in an object of fuch importance as the con- 
lervation of the portraiture and infeription, two points 
of the higheft defiderata, the lead would be taken by a 
Society which has given rife to fo many others, and has 
been fo long remarkable for its exemplary, patriotic, and 
philanthropic, conduit. As the fuggeltions in the letter 
to the privy council were delivered generally, without 
the fpecification of thofe minute particulars neceflary for 
the execution of Mr. Barry’s ideas, the perlon who ex¬ 
ecuted the new halfpenny and farthing, iffued fhortly 
after, entirely mifconceived Mr. Barry’s idea of the proper 
convexity , or of the cavo-bed in which it fliould have 
been raifed; the fpirit had evaporated in his ill-managed 
experiment, and there was nothing remaining but a re- 
fiduum, a mere caput mortuum of little value, by which one 
important part was unneceffarily facrificed to the other, 
and confequently nothing defirable obtained, but rather 
the contrary ; as the head, which ought to be molt im¬ 
portant and principal, is flat, and without relievo, and 
triflingly buried in the centre of the coin, like a mite in 
a cheefe, in order to allow fpace for an unneceffariiy- 
mifehievous circle of large letters, which might have 
been fo well difpofed of in another* manner, according to 
the ufage of the Greeks. Nay, even in the halfpenny 
and farthing of George II. the head, as it Ihould always 
do, importantly fills the coin, and the circular infeription 
is even fo contrived as to be fubfervient to that end. If 
the contrivance vifible on the (lighted glance at tlibi’e 
models had been adopted, the fine heads on the Grecian 
and Roman coins, thole of the Hamerani’s on the papal 
medals, or thofe admirable ones executed by Hedlinger 
for Sweden, though now fo liable to injury from their 
bold and noble relievo, as to be expofed to fpeedy ruin 
from time and ufage, might preferve their moft eflential 
parts from being injured until thofe parts which were 
lealt eflential had been entirely worn away. Thus, too* 
one of our current half-crowns of king William or queen 
Anne, had they been executed in this way, would have 
gone through many centuries, and from the wearing 
would be hardly worth a (hilling, by the time thelikenels 
and infeription, the two moft eflential parts, came to be 
injured.” Tranf. of the Soc. of Arts, vol. xix. Pref. 
The coinage of Scotland did not commence till a 
late period. There is room to believe, fays Mr. Pin¬ 
kerton, that filver pennies exift of Alexander 1.1107, as 
fome are found with that name, apparently of ruder and 
more ancient fabric than thofe of Alexander II. 1214. 
Of David, 1124., there are coins. Thofe of William, 1165, 
are numerous, with le rei wilam round the head; (fee 
fig. 34.) A large hoard of William’s pennies was found 
near Invernefs in 1780. The Scottifh money continued 
to be the fame with that of England in fize and value till 
the time of David II. 1355, whofe vaft ranfom drained 
the Scottifn coin, and occafioned the fize of that which 
remained to be diminilhed. After this ranfom, the Scot- 
tifli coin gradually diminilhing, in the firft year of Ro¬ 
bert III. it palled only for hall its nominal value in Eng¬ 
land ; and at length, in 1393, Richard II. ordered that 
it Ihould pafs only for the weight of the genuine metal 
in it. It funk by degrees, till, in 1600, it was only a 
twelfth part value of Englilh money of the fame deno¬ 
mination, and fo remained till the union of the kingdoms 
cancelled the Scottilh coinage. 
In filver, we have only pennies of Alexander II. who 
reigned till 1249; but Alexander III. who reigned till 
1293, coined half-pence. Of Robert I. 1306, and David 
II. there are filver farthings. The groat and half-groat, 
introduced by David II. completed the let of filver mo¬ 
ney till the reign of Mary, when they all ceafed to be 
(truck in filver, on account of the high price of that me¬ 
tal. In 1553 (hillings were firft coined, with the bull of 
the queen on one fide and the arms of France and Scot¬ 
land on the other. The filver crown was firft coined 
in 1365, which went for 303. Scots; pieces of 20s. and 
10s. having likewife been (truck, and marks of filver, 
worth 3s. 4d. Englifti, were alfo coined about the fame 
time. Tlieie coins have upon them the marks xxx. xx. 
x. to denote their value. They are commonly called 
Cruickjlone dollars, from the palm-tree upon them, miftaken 
for a remarkable yew at Cruickdone near Giafgow, where 
Henry Darnly refided. It is deferibed, however, in the 
aft as “ a palm, with a Jkellpadoc (a tortoife) crawling 
up.” This alludes to Darnley’s marriage with the queen, 
as the motto from Propertius, dat gloria vires, alfo 
implies. The motto nemo me impune lacesset firft 
appears on the Scottilh coins in 1578 ; and the invention 
is given to the celebrated Buchanan. In 1582, the crown 
of an ounce weight went for 40s. Scots, and was accord¬ 
ingly marked XL. in 1597 the mark was L. the Scottilh 
money being then only one-tenth of the Englilh : the 
mark was LX in 1601, the value being then reduced to 
one twelfth, at which it has ever fince continued. In 
the time of Charles I. half-marks, 40 and 20 penny pieces, 
were coined. In 1675 the Scotilh dollars firlt appeared, 
in value 56s. Scots, with halves and quarters of propor¬ 
tional value. In 1686, James VII. coined 60s. 40s. 20s. 
10s. and 5s. pieces ; but only thole of. 40s. and 10s. are 
known, with thefe numbers under the buft. At the 
union of the kingdoms, all the Scottilh coins were called 
in, and recoined at Edinburgh, with E under the bull s 
fince which there lias been no coinage in Scotland. The 
Scottilh tilver coins are in general equal, if not luperior, 
in the workmanfiup, to the Englilh. 
Gold 
