again amongst us menacing a no less total Subversion than what let into Europe that Inundation of Saracens Turks Goths and other barbarous People are melancholy Prospects Let us but compare the Times Periods and Revolutions present Schisms and other Circumstances of this Degenerate Fanatick and Self-Interess'd Age and how little of generous and publick Spirit moral Probity sober Bravery and true Christian there is among us with the Causes and Accidents of those Desolations in the Eastern World subject to that once Glorious Empire and see if ever any Age did more resemble it and whether something like to Turcism besids Coffee do not at last emerge and spring from this Cataclysis and Medly of Opinions abounding among us and no Religion Not let us imagine or flatter our selves with an Impossibility of falling into the like Circumstances Those who lived in those yet flourishing Countries and brighter Days among the most polish'd Greeks doubtless as little dreamt it possible that the Successors of the Paaeologi Cantacuzeni Noble and High-born Porphyrogeneti should from their Illustrious Race Heirs of Crowns and Scepters literally now be keeping Sheep and feeding Camels in barren and sandy Deserts that the whole Posterity of that once proud and conquering People should lose both their Religion Country Laws Liberty Ease and Splendor nay their very Language and Native Tongue the most Learned Copious and Universal under Heaven in far shorter time than any Nation we ever read or I think heard of under it Nor am I much departed from my Text by this Preachment or Prophecy call it which you please whilst I shew what dreadful Confusions naturally flow from and attend the supine Negligence of so long suffering this Diminution of our Treasure which a more timely Care and Thought might have prevented and extream difficulty of redressing and recovering it to its pristine Course and Value Obsta Principiis is as infallible an Aphorism for healing of the Body Politick as any in Hippocrates for the Natural the most dangerous Evils creep now and then insensibly when if neglected they oft become irremediable or desperate The Source of ours is obvious Concisum Argentum in titulos with other concurrent Circumstances Iuv. Sat. XIV and if the Ruin of the Athenian State was fore-told because the Rats had gnawn and eaten Plato's Commonwealth what may these Vermin Clippers Corroders Regraters and vile Perverters of the Riches and vital Substance not of an Ideal but of a Real Commonwealth and Kingdom fore-bode I wish at least it may not prove a fatal Indication among other Omens of some surprising and publick Mischief if not prevented for the future by some speedy and effectual Course for 't is not enough to Coin Re-coin and make good the Faulty without future Caution and Sanctions inviolable In order to this I was glad to find that so many able Persons had by the Prudence of the Lords of the Treasury been encourag'd to take this Article into their serious Thoughts and by the Search and Recital of many antient and pertinent Records we should hardly ever have else inspected given us the * By Mr. Lounds out of the Red Book Exchequer See Iudge Hales 's Sheriffs Accompts c. History of our Mint and Coins whilst tho' I own the great Satisfaction I received in Reading their Judicious Remarks I must at the same time acknowledge that I always wish'd there might some Expedient be found which might if possible supply the Necessity of altering the Value and Estimation of the Species beyond its intrinsic Worth which has as I have shewed in all Ages and Exigences proved so mischievous in the Event In short whatever pretends to add or detract from the Value of Money must of necessity Influence and insensibly Affect all that 's necessary not only to the well-being but to the very Form and Essence of a Kingdom All Pacts and Covenants Bargains Obligations Estates Rents Goods Credit and Correspondences whatsoever becoming dubious and uncertain must sink and be at an end If once People want wherewith to purchase Bread which includes and comprehends all other Necessaries the Fisque and publick Treasure supplied by the People suffers in all its Branches and Relations as the most flourishing Tree does from its wither'd and dried up Roots and that State and Nation becomes Defenceâ—ess and a Prey-Let France as formidable as now it seems be Instance in the often named Philip the Fair's Reign when it lay so dangerously expos'd 'T is true that of early Days even here in England such things had been done Richard the First corrupted the Coin almost Six Hundred Years since and that after Henry the Second the First Edward a Wise and Prudent King had in good measure fixt the Standard and settled uniformity of Money and that Noble and Renowned Prince Edward III. stating its Value did raise it also aliquousque and that it has since frequently been vitiated especially by the incontinent King Henry the Eighth but all this while to the infinite Detriment and Dishonour of the Nation until as we shewed that Fortunate and well-consulted Princess Elizabeth intirely restor'd it to its genuine Value and antient Dignity And here again 't is worthy Remark that the most prosperous and glorious Potentates and most beloved were even those who took the greatest Care to preserve the Species chast and intemerate Instances we have in Charles the Great in whose time the Western Empire was in its highest Ascendant since the Roman Caesars as on the contrary how prodigiously it sunk and languish'd as often as they fell to Tricks and ignoble Shifts even to the late German Emperors upon which the learned * Not is in Klock His words are these Quae nunc iterum Monerarumcorruptio in Imperio nostro existat quam frustra huic morbo medendo hactenus desudaverint viri etiam cordatiores palam est Peller sadly complaining for want of timely Remedy suffering such wretched Leaches that as with us still persisted to abuse the Publick breaks out into this pathetic Exclamation and so may we Morbum ipsum Deus curet the Lord have Mercy on us ille qui eum in terris representat For if his Majesty and those in Power did not speedily take the Cure into their Hands Conclamatum est our Condition would be desperate and the Nation ruined What France has suffer'd we have shew'd in Philip and from him till their Charles the Fifth and therefore call'd the Wise for his Care in re-settling his Mint on a firmer Base but after which it horribly relaps'd in Charles VII and IX and frequently since but never without its pernicious and natural Consequences But now since we are fall'n into this sore Calamity the Difficulty is how to heal the Wound supply the present Deficiency and not only seek whence to derive a timely Stream equivalent to that which is issued out but to remove the Dams and Impediments that obstruct the flowing Current till which to be
did this Pagan Relique last but till the time of Constantine the Great 's Conversion and that he totally abolish'd their impious Rites for until then we meet both that renowned Emperor and his Sons with Radiations and flattered with Consecrations Nor truly was it since wholly so laid aside but that several of his Successors made bold to put them on again and wear them in their Medals and Medalions as far as down to Arcadius Honorius and lower yet among the Greeks where we meet them with a certain Nimbus or Glory about their Heads as in Monkish Manuscripts and antient Altar-Pieces we find the Saints depicted It is indeed reported as if Constantine even after he had embrac'd the Christian Faith ordered the Radiant Crown to be set on that famous Porphyritic Column which he caus'd to be transported to his new Rome from the old and I remember Philostorgius tells us that besides Wax Tapers there was both Victims and Sacrifices offered to it Ex Vales. in Philostorg excerp even by some superstitious Christians but the Credit of that Historian we know is not over-great That they set up lights nay and kneeling before it imploring help and healing of their Infirmities both Photius Theodorit and Nicephorus affirm whilst as to the other the mistake has been discovered that Statue having been made long before by the hand of the famous Phidias to represent Apollo and by no means for that Religious Emperor tho he honored it with his Name after he had caus'd to be inclosed within it as they write some of the Nails which his Mother Helen is we know reported to have miraculously discovered with the real Cross some time before But to dispatch this matter we do not only in Medals meet with Princes Radiant like Gods but with all other circumstances of Deity So Iulian was represented like Serapis and others we find often in their company Apollo in the Reverses of Augustus Domitian with Pallas with Commodus Hercules Hadrian with Romulus Maximianus with Mars Dioclesian with Iupiter c. And as these haughty Emperors so their Empresses Daughters Neeces and Misses to be sure would come in for their share affecting the Garb Attire and Symbola of Goddesses and sometime Priestesses as did Antonia the Wife of Drusus Nero. Pliny mentions an amorous Painter who drew all his Mistresses to represent some Deess for which Iustin Martyr reproaches the Pagans worshipping their Courtezans What would that holy Man now have said to those Christians who not only set up and inthrone their Misses Pictures over their Altars to represent the B. Virgin with the Babe in her Arms but kneel and pay their Devotions to them But so Painters with Poetic liberty Quidlibet Audendi set up and inshrine these fair sinners as so many Idols And thus we have Cleopatra dress'd like Diana Sabina the Wife of Hadrian like to Iuno Faustina with Venus as in another rare Medal we see her mounted upon a Pegasus carrying her up to the Clouds and so of others all of them marks of Deification for such in Medals are those who appear veil'd and with Stars Altars Temples and Eagles perching on them Peacocks the Phoenix Elephants Mules and Chariots drawn by Lions and the like Let us now descend again to the Barbarous The Parthian Armenian and Persian Monarchs had their distinct Crowns some of which resembl'd the Episcopal Miter or Thiara Nor was it new since there are Medals that present us Cesar and others of the Emperors arrogating pontifical Dignity and sacerdotal Offices with their veil'd Heads us'd by both Sexes and not seldom with the Lituus Patera Sistrum Silphium and other sacred Utensils and Characters of Priestly Function and Augurie Mercuries Petasus was wing'd Vulcan and the Cyclops Caps were without brim and Castor and Pollux had a Star by them The Phrygian Bonet was what the Polonians use at present or rather the Venetians Doge Nor seldom meet we both sexes Headed shall I say or Hooded with the spoils of Lions Wolves and Panthers some with the Tusks and Promuscis of an Elephant others in Casks cristed with the Horns of Rams Goats Bulls and other Animals of the Herd which now and then are wing'd denoting fortitude terror sublimity of Mind expedition in Affairs or the Monsters they had subdu'd which divers Hero's and Emperors would be represented by in imitation of Alcides the brawny Commodus fancying himself descended from him Iupiter Hammon and others of the Gods and Goddesses For as to Horns which at this day but to name alone in Spain would indanger ones Life but which the most illustrious of the German Families and noblest bear so frequently on their Cimiers and Crests it seems the Cornuted Head was no such Character and Mark of Ignominy as the learned Spanheim shews in that Passage of his excellent Work De usu Praestantia Numismatum which tho not so very pertinent to our Argument is yet very entertaining and worthy a curious Reader To conclude and before we leave the Imperial Diadem we shall find some even among our Saxon Kings wearing the Regal Circle after the manner of the Greeks Edward the Confessor had of early days a Barr'd Crown but most conspicuous is that of Edward the Fourth How would a neighbour Monarch have boasted this whose Predecessor Lewis the Twelfth had but a single Bar Arch'd over his Crown about the year 1500 wearing only a Cap or Bonnet before as testifie his Coins stamp'd at Milan Genoa Naples c. till he Marry'd our Henry the Eighths Sister who afterwards Espoused Charles Brandon Henry the Third brought the clos'd Crown into Poland soon imitated by the Swedes Philip of Spain took it not till after his Marriage with Queen Mary of England and Maximilian Grandfather to Charles the Fifth and Great Grandfather of Philip first wore an Arch over a Ducal Coronet A little after which Iames the Fourth upon his Marriage with Margarite Daughter to our Henry the Seventh Barr'd the Crown of Scotland and the Kings of Denmark not until after Christian IV. made his Brotherly Visit to our King Iames the First But that of Portugal was first worn by Iohn Bragança late Father to the most Serene and virtuous Queen Dowager From all which instances it appears that the Monarchs of England were of the First in Christendom that pretended to the Arched Crown And as for the French till their First Francis they were for the most part contented with an open Flowry Bordure only little different from the Ducal Coronet which some of the Saxons had of Silver and others wore the copped Helmet as Cnutus the Great Miter-like But more of Crowns see in a Disseration of M. de Cange Whilst by the way we cannot but take notice of what we meet with in the famous Donative pretended to be from the Great Constantine wherein among other particulars which Impostors would obtrude on the World for authentic but which has unluckily discover'd the fraud this is one
Sculptors nay the whole Mystery of Ingraving making and tempering of the Stamp and Die with the impressive Engine mechanically describ'd by Monsieur Phelibien in his Principles of Architecture and Sculpture to which accurate Piece I recommend the Curious CHAP. VII Of MINTS and of the most Skilful Artists Authors Collectors and Collections How to Methodize and Dispose of Medals for the Cabinet and Library with some Reflections on the Modern Clipping and Diminution of Coin AMONGST the many admirable and useful Inventions of the Antients the loss of the Mechanical Part of the Mint is to be deplor'd but more that since the breaking in of those barbarous People who were the Cause of this Loss and of that glorious Empire it was not restor'd to any tolerable Form or Regulation by any more honest and skilful Undertakers than such as were first Employ'd about the Money especially in these Northern Parts and here in England at that time so little polish'd and so very ignorant as not to discern how greatly they were abused and imposed on whilst they totally committed the Coynage and Management of the Mint to certain cunning and avaritious Iews Genoeses and crafty Italians not at all inferior to the Iews in all the Arts of knavery and dishonest Gain It was by these that Princes were universally circumvented and under pretence of bringing vast Advantages to the Publick persuaded to admit of these many Alterations Debasement of the Species and Advancement of the Coin above its genuine and universal Value which never ended without the Loss Impoverishment and Ruin of their Subjects whilst those Miscreants grew excessively Rich by their Frauds and Extortions It must therefore be confess'd that we know little more of the Antient Mint Greek or Roman than that every Capital City of the Provinces had commonly their respective Mints and some of them two or three as OF II. III. IIII. c. besides other peculiar Marks For those of Old the place of Minting we frequently find in the Circular Inscriptions at large e. g. in that of M. Antoninus LVGDVNI and in the Exerg P. or S. TR. Signata or Percussa Treveris P. AR. Arles as in one of Helena Mother of Constantine CON. OB. Constantinopoli Obsignata M.S. ANT. Antioch with the Numerals 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. the like of other great Cities as of the Latin MD. PS Mediolani percussa and many besides which tho' carrying on them the Names of Spain Germany Aegypt Arabia and other remote places might yet for all that be Roman Coins and Medals not seldom bearing the Figure or Symbolum representing the Province as that of the Cony did Spain which the Learned Bochartus derives from Saphan in the Phoenician Tongue to signify that little Animal abounding in that Country These Monetariae Officinae had their Praefecti Aerarii Instituted by Augustus Quaestors Treasurers and other Officers belonging to them but the Great and Paramount Superintendent Magistrate of them all was the Triumvir Master indeed of the Mint and of all the Flandi Feriundi periti having the sole Fabrication of all the three Metals and was of such high Authority that he frequently stamp'd Money and Medals bearing his own Head and Effigies Names and Titles like a King but this Priviledge was exceedingly abated by that Emperor who after he had divided the Government of the Provinces between him and the Senate leaving to them the Coining of Copper only reserved that of Gold and Silver as Royal Metals to himself wherefore very rarely or never find we any of their Names after Tiberius tho' the Roman Coin was a long time after current here Those of Silver therefore in which we sometimes meet the Triumvir S.C. or in those Copper with TRIB POTEST c. we may look upon as struck before Augustus's time The like Offices we are told by Cambden were settled here at London by the Great Constantine who as appears Coin'd Money in the City in Honor of his Father P. LOND S. Pecunia Londini Signata or P.L.N. under the Comes Largitionum together with the glorious Title of Praepositus Thesaur Augustensium in Britannia Since the Decadency of the Empire the Antient Money bare ordinarily the Prince's Head sometimes his Name only and upon the Reverse a blunt Cross or like Figure with notice of the Place where it was Coin'd and in others the Name of the Monetarie and none else Triumvir-like very frequent in our Saxon Coins and those of the Franks with sometimes a Me fecit which perhaps might be that of the Graver Procopius tells us that the Kings of France did not set their Pictures at all upon their Money till they had first obtain'd Leave of the Emperor Iustinian tho' le Blanc denies it and even with us when most of the great and considerable Payments were made Honestly that is by Weight it was without any Head or Effigies whether Gold or Silver As in France where they still employ divers Mints Capital Letters A. B. C. c. without altering the Inscription shew the place of Coining as Paris Lions Tholouse Aix Amiens Nants Bourdeaux Poitiers c. In like manner with us in England there were divers Countries and Cities besides London where Money was Stamp'd some upon Occasion for a Time only others that had Ius Monetae by peculiar Priviledge We had a considerable Mint at Calais in Picardy and in some places more than One for London had no fewer than Eight Canterbury as many within one Five belonging to the King the other to the Archbishop and Abbot Rochester had Three Two the Kings One the Prelates Dover Reculver in Kent in Essex Chichester Lewes Hastings One. York Wallingford Ipswich Shaftsbury Shrewsbury Darby Leicester Worcester Lincoln Norwich Exceter Chester c. and as Cowell tells us there were Mints erected all over the Kingdom and wherever the King's Council thought convenient for those numerous Fabricks were always very chargeable and highly prejudicial to the Publick by reason of the Corruption and therefore wiser Princes restrained them to as few and as soon as possibly they could King Charles the First Coin'd indeed both at Oxford Newark Shrewsbury and I think at York and Pontfract but it was in case of Necessity whilst the standing Mother-Mint was and still continues at the Tower where yet no Gold had been stamp'd before Edward the Third some affirm him to have been the first who Coin'd Groats tho' smaller Pieces were in use since Henry the First and afterwards Half-pence and Farthings of which and all other obsolete small and wretchedly minted Coins British Saxon Danish c. see the Notes before Cambden already mentioned and what we find in his Remains concerning our Mint at present in the Tower the Author of England's Notitia gives a particular Account and of the several Officers and Establishments there together with their Salaries very accurately as I believe which as to the matter I have somewhere read was heretofore a certain Portion of the