868 
many ef thefe pieces are degraded by 
Ppuerile and contemptible devices: fuch 
are allemblems of particular trades, or 
articles of dealing ; mere defignations and 
fign-pofts 5 and almoft all morfels of he- 
raldry, efcutcheons, mottos, fupporters, 
&c. Thefe can tranfmit no ¢hought, no 
wiformation to pofterity. The amazing 
aurability of coins fhould ever be remem- 
bered by thofe who are concerned in if- 
fuing them ; and fuch defigns adopted as 
may refieét the moft ftriking and intereft- 
ing features of the prefent age. Among 
feveral hundreds of a def figned 
pieces in my pofiefiion, fuch only as come 
under ane of the following defcriptions 
deem to deferve being fignalized and re- 
commended to imitation. 
r. Such as have fac-/rmules of remark - 
able buildings : e.g. the Canterbury half- 
penny, bearing the cathedral; the York 
one, with the noble muinfter, reverfe 
Cliford’s tower; the Leeds cloth-hall 
appears upon one of the Leeds tokens ; 
“the weft front of St. Paul’s church upon 
a London one ; ina crofs, a neat re- 
Jique of ancient architecture, graces the 
ipfwich halfpenny ; as an old tower, a 
very entire and lofty remain of Gothic 
labour, does that of Duadze ; the venera- 
ble ruins of Bigod’s cafile, in Suffoik, ts 
on that of Buxgay; one of Bedul, in 
Yorkfhire, gives a ftreet in per{pective, 
two RE, and a fpire; the {plendid front 
of the new pump-room embellithes half- 
pence and farthings of Baih, &c. Thele 
medals (if we may infer from the per- 
formance of thofe of Greece and Rome) 
will exhibit to furure times, the forms of 
the firuétures which they bear, long after 
their originals may have faded and moul- 
dered in the duft. 
«¢ Ambition figh’d—fhe found it vain to truft 
‘* The faithlefs column, and the crumbling 
buft; 
« Huge moles, whofe fhadows ftretch’d from 
{hore to jhore, 
“¢ Their ruins perifh 
! 
*d, and their place no 
MOFEe - 
‘6 Convine’d, fhe now contraéts her vaft 
cefign, 
«* And all her triumphs fink into a con®.” 
Pope. 
The abbeys of oe Paifley, St. 
Andrew’s, Arbroath, & tc. and the bet 
modern buildings in ~—EKdinburgh and 
Glafeow, would be defirable objeéts for 
Scottith provincial picces. 
2. Others afford reprefentations of the 
great and ufeful undertakings of the pre- 
fent times» fuch as the iron bridge over 
REDE SDN Sih TPN NS Na 
* Pope.——Werfes to Acaiion cn his Dii- 
legues cn Medals. 
State of Provincial Coins. 
[ Dees 
the Severn, on the Co/e-4rook-dale half- 
penny,reverfe the inclinedplane at Ketley; 
Thames and Severn canal piece has a fail- 
ing barge, reverfe a mafly aquedué& 
bridge ; a Kent halfpenny, on the union 
of Appledore, has a windmill, the mil- 
ler, and his houfe ; the great iron-works 
of Wilkinfon are differently pourtrayed 
on his currency, &c. ‘There is much 
yet to be done in this department. for 
England. How much it is to be wifhed 
that the magnificent iron arch over the 
we at Sunderland, which immortalizes 
the name of Burdon ; the rocky entrance | 
to the Duke of Bridgewater’ s attonifhing 
fubterraneous navigation at Worfley 
Jiddyftone lights, docks at Liverpool and 
Hull ; fome of the large ffeam-engines, 
panne locks, drawbridges, é&c. through- 
out the kingdom, had the Numifmatic 
honours paid to him which their magni- 
tude and ufefulnefs render due !. And 
it is to be lamented that among the few 
coins {truck for Scotland, not one comes 
under this defcription. How ornamental 
and honourable would it be for fome of 
them to bear the figures, and perpetuate 
the dates cf the erection of the greatei 
foundery in the world at Carron; the 
north bridge-at Edinburgh ; the elegant 
bridges at Perth and Glafgow; the great 
quay at Aberdeen ; or the vaft and uie- 
ful aqueduct over the Kelvin, fupport- 
ing, at a ftupendous elevation, ene of the 
greatett canals in Europe ! 
Il]. Striking emblems of that fpirit 
of induftry and commerce, which charac- 
terizes the prefent times, and efpecially 
the Britifh nation: one, payable at ip/- 
wich, has “* May God preferve the plough 
and fail,” a team in a field, and a fhip m 
full {2il, coming into view behind a head- 
dand ; a weaver is at work upona Haver- 
Hill coin, reverfe a plough and fhuttle ; 
fhips in full fail are meet sa/zem/a of the 
trade of Liverpool, Yarmouth, Portfea, and 
the Crnque-ports; as a fheep, reverfe a 
wocilen weaver, is of the manufacture of 
Rechdale; end a hop plantation of the 
befi produéticn of the county of Suffex ; 
the rapid and ufeful mail-coach, and ex- 
hibiticns of whale fifhing and hat-making 
are feen upon different London pieces, &c. 
1V. Illuftrious charaéters, and men 
remarkable in Britifh hiftory, have now 
their features tran{mitted to * diftant: 
climes and ages’’ upon common currency ; 
which perhaps conveys the ‘ charge 
of fame” better than expenfive medal- 
lions: Newton, Sha k{peare, Johnfon, _ 
Howard, Rowe; and the founders or. 
greateft benefadtors of Bath, Southampton, 
Leancafer, &c. are honoured upon i. 
