202 
pertinacious, or in any degree blame- 
able, if, for the above reasons, I continue 
the same practice in English ; leaving 
every one to follow me or not, at his dis- 
cretion, and trusting to time and expe- 
rience for a final decision. I must ex- 
press my regret that the title of the Lin- 
nean Society, as I would always write 
it, has in its charter been spelt Linnean. 
The latter had in view the name of Linné, 
and was so far proper; but [have always 
conceived the diphthong to be more clas- 
sical, and, if we preserve the word Lin- 
n@us in English, undoubtedly more cor- 
rect. In this pot, most certainly, every 
writer may judge for himself, and in 
speaking there luckily is no ainbis nity. 
Norwich, James EDWARD SMITiI. 
March 10, 1810. 
ee 
Lo the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, 
HOSE coins which the French de- 
nominate medailles plaquées, or 
plated medals, are generatly of brass, 
covered with a coat of gold or siiver. 
Soine few have been discovered of iron 
and of lead, but hitherto this branch of 
numismatic antiquity has been neglected; 
which consideration induced M. Waxelil, 
a very learned and ingenious Russian, 
lately in this country, to communicate, 
ina little French work, (elegantly printed 
and published by Booth, in Duke. street,) 
the result of his enquiries, which he 
-hopes may lead to interesting discoverics 
on the subject of ancient Greek and Ro- 
man coinage. From his work we fearn, 
that, in almost all nations, necessity or 
poverty, aud we might perhaps add, ava- 
rice, occasioned the counterfeiting of le- 
gitimate coin, a:though death was the 
punishment of this crime.—See Ulpian : 
Leg. digest. ad leg. Cornel de fatsis; and 
Cod. Theod. fals. moneta. 
As merely counterleits of current mo- 
ney, the collectors of genuine medals 
have thought the plated beneath their no- 
tice ; hut perhaps the prineipal origin of 
these base coins may be attributed to a 
‘desire of imposing on the amateurs, or Vir- 
tuosi, of early times. 
Augustus to that of Gordian the Third, 
‘the sciences flourished, and the emperors 
protected and encouraged artists of dis- 
tinguished abilities. Marcus Aurelius 
“patronized the ingenious; aud, as Pliny 
informs us,‘ Hadrian had formed a fine 
evtlection of medals. This example 
would naturally influence his. subjects; 
gad in all probability there were, in his’ 
On the Plated Coins of the Ancients. 
From the age of 
[April 1, 
time, many persons who cultivated the > 
study of numismaties. This opinion ig. 
confirmed by plated medals ; amongst 
which are found some that never were, — 
perhaps, in general currency as legal - 
coin. Such is a denarius of Tiberius, 
with the reverse of the children of Au- 
gustus, and the levend * C. L. Casures 
Augusti F.Cos.desig. Princ. Juventutis.” 
Other coins esteemed, on whatever ac= — 
count, most rare, are discovered amongst — 
% 
; 
the plated, especially those of the Roman 
empresses; and to a fraud directed — 
against the ancient collectors, M. Wax- © 
ell is willing to attribute those handsome. 
counterfeits, whilst the more common 
were probably made from the same mo- 
tives which influence the comers of base — 
money in our own times: and this ap- 
pears from the beauty of the former, 
which bespeaks the hands of excellent 
artists; whilst the others are coarsely exe- ° 
cuted, and often exhibit errors in the 
dates and orthography, which show that 
the only object. in making them, was that 
they might circulate in place of the cur- 
rent and legal money. : 
We are authorised in supposing that 
the plated medals are of the most remote 
period of coinage. The oldest are found 
amongst the Grecians, of which the re- 
verses are impressed with four strokes of 
the puneh, probably beeause the art of — 
striking both sides was not known in 
those early ages; or perhaps from the — 
circumstance of the medal being placed — 
on ablock or supporter, whilst it received 
the blow of the hammer. 
In M. Waxell’s collection, is a medal 
+ 
C7 thes 
of Macedon, considered as of the most 
ancient inde this proves that the art 
of plating coins was practised about five 
hundred years befure the Christian zra. / 
Among the Roman medals, seme are 
found of the first consular classes, plated ; 
and from the workmanship of these, it. 
appears that the art was introduced with 
that of coinage in a certain degree of 
perfection, and that the Romans were 
indebted for it to the Greeks. 4 
Pliny, speaking of those counterfeits, — 
informs us thatin his ume, some of them 
were purchased at a higher price than the 
true medals ; a proofthat they were col. — 
lected by persons desirous of comp! etna 
certain series, or of possessing curious - 
and uncommon coms. Even at this time, — 
if a plated medal exhibits a rare reverse, « 
or interesting device, it differs very little 
in price from the genuine une; but those — 
or common devices are not esteemed by 
Collectors,” 
