438 On the most ancient Mode of recording Laws, Ke. [June 1, 
never have deserved their friendship, had 
they been his contemporaries. . 
Culver-street, Bristol, Your's, &c. 
April 10, 1809. G. CUMBERLAND. 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, 
FN medals you will find, not only the 
» names of several princes unknown in 
history, but many of their exploits and 
events; the epochas of cities and go- 
vernmers; the different habits of every 
age and country; their deities and 
their respective temples, sacrifices, and 
altars. 
In them you will meet, with the names 
of an infinite number of eities which no 
longer exist, or are altered ; of provinces, 
and for what they were peculiarly noted ; 
and their genius and occupations; and 
ef harbours, mountains and rivers; and, 
sometimes, their situation. 
Thus these coins, anciently no more 
than the instruments of commerce, and 
the symbols of the first wants of man- 
kind, beingstamped only with an ox or 
asheep, have come to be the deposi- 
taries of what was most singular, and of 
the most distinguished actions of nations, 
Hence, so many great men, especially 
those who were attached to history and 
the sciences, have often made them a 
part of their studies. From these coins 
ut is, that Varro and Atticus took many 
of their heads and other decorations, for 
the trophy which they erécted to vir- 
tue and patriotism. It is well known, 
that the Romans no sooner began to cul- 
tivate literature, than, convinced’ of the 
utility of medals, they were extremely 
eurious in making collections of them. 
Certainly that of Augustus must-have 
been immense, since Suetonius says, 
that in the Saturnalia he used to present 
his friends, not only with coins of all 
prices and different expressions, OF of the 
alicient kings, but also with foreign pieces 
which had never been current in the Em- 
pire; by foreign, I suppose, are meant 
all that were neither Greek nor Latin, 
but being struck in civilized nations, cou- 
veyed some historical knowledge. This 
abuse appears to have been excessive, 
fer Seneea says, ‘ that they were more 
frequently amassed as ornaments of sa-- 
Joons, than as helps to learning; and 
sometimes from a worse motive than 
splendour, a ridiculous ostentation, with 
which the rich are infatuated, of being 
lavish in every thing.” In another place 
he exposes the taste in vogue" that in 
the midst of vice and ignorance, a library 
is become as indispensable an accomipa- 
niment of a great house, as offices, baths, 
and bagnios.” However, from their ac- 
kuowledged utility, their connection with 
the study of antiquity, the noble pur-_ 
poses to which learned men have ap- 
plied them, and the number of events 
and chronological chasms which they 
have illustrated and supplied, they still 
retain their value in the republic of let- 
ters. i 
With respect to Inscriptions, they are 
of such use to history, that none who 
have excelled in it, ever supposed it un- 
necessary to consult them. No monu- 
iments whatever can come in competition 
with them for antiquity. They were known 
even before barks of trees were used for 
writing. Stone and metals appear to. 
have been the only substances for writing 
in those times, when the elements of the 
sciences, or the history of the world were 
engraved, by the first learned men, on 
the columns mentioned by Josephus. 
This custom is also proved by those in- 
scriptions fastened to columns, which, 
Porphyry ( De Abst. Anim. ) tells us, were 
preserved with so much care by the Cre- 
tans; and, what puts the antiquity of 
these pieces out of all doubt is, that they 
describe the sacrifices of the Corybantes, 
and are quoted by Porphyry to prove, 
by the most ancient monuments, that 
the first sacrifices consisted only of the 
fruits of the earth, without any bleeding 
victims. But although Pliny asserts, that 
the first writing was'on palm-leaves, and 
aftérwards on the rind of certain trees, 
that this custom was subsequent to that 
we have mentioned is unquestionable 5 
and, besides, the materials of which the 
first books were composed, is all he 
speaks of. “ Euhemerus, according to 
Lactantius, had made a history of Jupi- 
ter, and the other fictitious gods, wholly. 
taken from the religious inscriptions 
which were to be found in the most an- 
cient temples, and chiefly in that of Ju- ~ 
piter Tuphylius, where an inscription ow 
a golden pillar testified, that it had been 
set up by the god himself.” Porphyry,. 
as cited by Theodoret, in his second dis- 
course against the Greeks, says the same 
thing of Sanchoniathon—“ he collected, 
his ancient history from the records of all 
the cities, and the monuments in tem- 
ples, which from the usage of those times 
could be no other than inscriptions.” 
And Pliny himself, in his 9th book, re- 
lates, that the Babylonian astrologers, 
used ‘bricks to perpetuate their observa- 
HOS. 
