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celebrated Simon produced medals which aredefervedly rec¬ 
koned the mod admirable pieces of modern workmanfliip. 
There are many good medals of Charles II. James II, and 
William III. Some are alfo found of James after his abdica¬ 
tion, and of the other pretenders, done in foreign coun¬ 
tries by eminent artilfcs. Queen Anne has feveral fine 
gold, filver, and copper, medals; of the gold, only two 
or three different pieces were (truck ; but in the otjier 
metals we have a feries of all the great events with which 
Marlborough illuffrated her reign. About 1740, Daffier, 
a native of Geneva, fettling in London, engraved a feries 
of medals of all the Englifh kings, with great take and 
fpirit: they are (truck upon fine copper, and amount to 
thirty-fix in number. He likewife gave medals of many 
illuftrious men of this and other nations, which, fays Pin¬ 
kerton, deferve confiderable praife. The various medals 
of eminent private perfons in England are very numerous. 
Thofe who wifit for fuller information of Englifh medals 
than our limits allow, may confult Pinkerton’s Effay lb 
often cited, and Mr. Snelling’s plates of them. 
As foon as medals began to revive, they became faiirical ; 
a quality almolt unknown to the ancient mint. Medals 
among the moderns have been the chief article of fatire, 
till tlie print-fhops took up the trade. The firfi fatiric 
medal, it is believed, was (truck by Frederic king of Sicily, 
in 1501, againlt his enemy, Ferdinand king of Spain. It 
bears the head of Ferdinand, ferdinandus r. ar. vetus 
vulpes orbis ; reverfe a wolf carrying off a (lieep, jugum 
MEUM SUAVE EST, ET ONUS MEUM LEVEj “My yoke 
is eafy, and my burden is light.” Many others have been 
(truck, of which the wfit would now perhaps be difficult 
to be found out; but of all nations the Dutch have mod 
diltinguiftied themfelves in this way; and they paid very 
dear for their conduct, as they brought upon themfelves, 
by one or two fatirical medals, the whole power of France 
under Louis XIV. It is faid' thijt, in 1.588, Elizabeth 
queen of England (truck a medal, with the Spanifh and 
Englifh fleets, and the motto, hesperidum regem devicit 
virgo. Philip king of Spain, caufed medals of the fame 
impreffion to be diltributed in England ; but with this 
addition, negatur, est meretrix vulgi. The queen 
fuppreffed them, and publiflied another medal, with this 
legend, 
Hefperidum regem devicit virgo Negatur, 
Eft meretrix vulgi, Res eo deterior. 
Mr. Pinkerton clofes his account of modern medals with 
a comparifon between thefe and the ancient medals. The 
molt furprifing difference between the ancient and modern 
works of art lies in the portraits. The ancient artifts, 
even of the lowed clafs, marked the character, and exhi¬ 
bited the life and fpirit, of the perfon whom they repre- 
fent; while the moderns only produce a kind of model, 
with very faint features of the charafter. The ornaments 
of the portraits have alfo this effect; the ancient being 
Ample and pidlurefque in real life ; whereas ours are dif- 
cordant and ungraceful. The reverfes of ancient medals, 
when confiding of human figures, or detached objefts, ex¬ 
ceed the modern in every view of ftrength, elegance, or 
tafte ; but in landfcape, and all that belongs to perfpec- 
tive, the modern excel the ancient to a prodigious degree. 
A great fault of modern reverfes, as of modern portraits, 
is that the manners of the time and country are very often 
totally perverted in them. Perfonifications are of all ages 
and countries and languages; but what title have heathen 
gods or goddeffes to exift on our medals, and attraft the 
adoration of our connoifleurs ? 
Of MEDALLIONS, MEDALETS, &c. 
1. Befides the ordinary coins of the ancients, which 
palled in common circulation through the country, there 
were others of a larger fize, which are now termed medal¬ 
lions. Thefe were ttruck on the commencement of the 
reign of a new emperor, and other folemn occaficms ; fre¬ 
quently alfo, by the Greeks in particular, as monuments 
Vou. XIV. No. 101.6. 
D A L. 
of gratitude or of flattery. Sometimes they were mere 
trial or pattern pieces; and thefe abound after the time of 
Maximian, with the words Tres Monet# on the reverfe. 
The common opinion is, that all the Roman pieces of 
gold exceeding the denarius aureus, all in filver exceeding 
the denarius, and all in brafs exceeding the feftertius, went 
under the denomination of medallions ; and that they were, 
in refpeft: of the other coins, the fame as modern medals 
in refpecl of modern money; but Mr. Pinkerton thinks 
that many of thefe large pieces went in circulation, though 
not very commonly, like the five and two guinea pieces, 
filver crowns, &c. in this country. The fineft medallions 
were prefented by the mint-mafters to the emperor, and 
by the emperor to his friends, as fpecimens of fine work- 
man(hip. The beli we have at prefent are of brafs, and 
many of them compofed of two forts of metal; the centre 
being copper, with a ring of brafs around it, or the con¬ 
trary ; and the infeription is fometimes confined to one 
of the metals, fometimes not. There is a remarkable 
difference between the Greek and Roman medallions in 
point of thicknefs ; the latter being frequently three or 
four lines thick, while the other leldom exceed one. 
Very few medallions, however, were ftruck by the Greeks 
before the time of the Roman emperors ; but the Greek 
medallions of the emperors are more numerous than thofe 
of the Romaas themfelves. All thefe pieces, however, 
are of fuch high price, that few private perfons are able to 
purchafe them. In the laft century, Chriftina queen of 
Sweden procured about 300. In the king of France’s 
colleNion there are 1200 ; a number formerly fuppofed 
not to exitt; and Dr. Hunter’s collection contains about 
400, exclufive of the Egyptian. 
a. Befides thefe large pieces, there are finaller ones, of 
a fizefomewhat larger than our half-crowns; and by Ita¬ 
lian medallifts are called medaglion cini, or (mail medallions. 
They are (till fcarcer than the large kind. And upon 
the whole, medallions are fo fcarce, that there cannot be 
any fet or feries made of them, even though the metals 
and fizes fliould be mixed promifcuoufly. 
3. A third kind, which have almoft efcaped the notice 
of medallifts, are the final! coins, or m’JJilia, fcattered 
among the people on folemn occafions; fuch as thofe 
ftruck for the (laves on account of the Saturnalia, counters 
for gaming, tickets for baths and feafts, tokens in copper 
and in lead, &c. Thefe are diftinguiftied by Mr. Pinker¬ 
ton by the name of medalets. Many, or perhaps almoft 
all, of thofe ftruck for the Saturnalia were fatirical; as 
the Haves had then a licenfe to ridicule not only their 
mafters but any perfon whatever. Mr. Pinkerton men¬ 
tions one of the molt common pieces of this kind, which 
has on the obverfe the head of an old woman veiled, with 
a laurel crown ; the reverie only S. C. within a wreath. 
Baudelot is of opinion that it is the head of Acca Lau- 
rentia, the nurfe of Romulus, to whom a feftival was or¬ 
dained. “ Perhaps (fays Mr. Pinkerton) it was ftruck in 
ridicule of Julius Csefar ; for the manner of the laurel 
crown, and its high appearance over the head, perfectly 
refemble tl)3t of Julius on his coins.” Some have a (hip 
upon one fide ; oil the reverie T, or a crofs, which was 
the image of Priapus ; and occalioned many falfe invec¬ 
tives againlt the firft Chriltians, who paid fuch refpeft to 
the crofs. Some pieces have the heads of the emperors 
upon one fide; and on the reverie oniy numerals III. IV. V. 
&c. Both thefe kinds appear tickets for the baths, as the 
number feems to denote the particular bath. Some have 
the head of a girl, with a velfel ufed at the baths in her 
hand. The fpintriati are fo immodeft, that few will bear 
mention. But fome are merely ludicrous; as one which 
has an afs with a bell about his neck, and a foldier riding 
him; another with two figures hoifting a woman in a 
balket into the air. Of thole that will juft bear mention, 
is a man with titles around him, as chief of the games ; 
and a woman in ridicule of the modeft bath-girl above 
mentioned. There is alfo one marked xix, on which ap¬ 
pears an imperator triumphing in a car; this car is placed 
j« A on 
