Heraldry. field a pennon, or long streaming flag, on the end of his lance. On occasions of remarkable prowess, the Monarch summoned the Knight to his side, and, cutting off the long streaming part of the pennon, converted it into a square flag, or banner, which the Knight ever after bore, and was termed a Knight Banneret. 49. Viscounts' younger sons.

50. Barons' younger sons.

51. Baronets. Baronets bear, as Knights, an open helmet of steel, without bars, damasked crimson. English and Irish Baronets also bear in the dexter or middle chief, or at the fess point, a small escutcheon, argent, ensigned with a sinister hand erect, apaumy, gules. See fig. 29. This is called the badge of Ulster. Baronets were created by James I. during the troubles in Ireland, when the Province of Ulster was, more especially, in a state of insubordination. They offered their lives, property, &c. for the defence of the Kingdom. Originally their number was but 200, but since it has been unlimited. Baronets were also created by Charles I. in pursuance of his father's plan, in order to encourage the colonization of the Province of Nova Scotia; these Baronets bear what is called the badge of Nova Scotia, viz. an escutcheon, borne as by the Baronets of England and Ireland, argent, a saltire azure, surmounted by an inescutcheon of Scotland, royally crowned.

52. Bannerets not made by the King in person.

53. Knights Grand Crosses of the Bath. They bear their arms encircled with a red riband, bearing in gold the motto, Tria juncta in uno. The collar and jewel of the Order may be added. See 38.

54. Knights Commanders of the Bath. See 38.
55. Knights Bachelors. See 38.

56. Companions of the Bath.

57. Eldest sons of the younger sons of Peers.

58. Baronets' eldest sons.

59. Knights of the Garter's eldest sons.

60. Bannerets' eldest sons.

61. Knights of the Bath's eldest sons.

62. Knights' eldest sons.

63. Baronets' younger sons.

64. Esquires of the King's body. All Esquires use a helmet of steel in profile with the visor closed. See fig. 113.

65. Gentlemen of the Privy Chamber.

66. Esquires of the Knights of the Bath. See 64. 67. Esquires by creation. See 64.

68. Esquires by office. Kings of Arms, Heralds. and Pursuivants are Esquires by office. If an inferior Heraldic officer be a Knight, the superior still takes precedence. The costume of these officers is a tabard of the Arms of the Sovereign; that of the Kings is made of embroidered velvet; that of the Heralds, of satin; that of the Pursuivants, of sarcenet. The Kings wear a crown, as represented in fig. 110, composed of a circlet of sixteen acanthus leaves, oak leaves, or feathers, (for respecting what they are, authors differ,) nine of which are visible in painting. Round it is inscribed Miserere mei, Deus, secundum magnam misericordiam tuam. Both Kings and Heralds wear a collar of SS; on this are two portcullises of silver gilt for the Kings, and of plain silver for the Heralds. On the breast is suspended the Union Badge, and on the back the White Horse of Hanover. The Pursuivants have no collars. Each King has Arms of office, which always consist of argent, a St. George's cross, but the chiefs vary in the following manner; Garter, azure, within a Garter of the

Order, between a lion of England and a fleur-de-lys of Marshal France, a ducal coronet, or. Clarenceux, gules, a lion

of England crowned, or. Norroy, per pale, azure and gules, a lion of England crowned between a fleur-delys and a key, or. See 64.

69. Younger sons of Knights of the Garter. 70. Younger sons of Bannerets.

71. Younger sons of Knights of the Bath. 72. Younger sons of Knights Bachelors. 73. Gentlemen entitled to bear arms.

ling.

The degrees of Precedency among females are as fol- Precedenny lows:

1. The Queen. Her crown is that of the King.
And in general it may be observed, that the coronets of
females are those of the corresponding dignity among
men. Helmets never accompany female bearings.
2. The Princess of Wales.
3. King's daughters.

4. Wives of the King's sons.
5. Wives of the King's brothers.
6. Wives of the King's uncles.
7. The King's grandaughters.

8. Wives of the eldest sons of Royal Dukes.
9. Daughters of Royal Dukes.

10. Wives of the King's brothers' or sisters' sons. 11. Duchesses.

12. Marchionesses.

13. Wives of the eldest sons of Dukes. 14. Daughters of Dukes.

15. Countesses.

16. Wives of the eldest sons of Marquesses. 17. Daughters of Marquesses.

18. Wives of the younger sons of Dukes.

19. Viscountesses.

20. Wives of the eldest sons of Earls.

21. Daughters of Earls.

22. Wives of the younger sons of Marquesses. 23. Baronesses.

24. Wives of the eldest sons of Viscounts.

25. Daughters of Viscounts.

26. Wives of the younger sons of Earls. 27. Wives of the eldest sons of Barons. 28. Daughters of Barons.

29. Maids of Honour.

30. Wives of the younger sons of Viscounts. 31. Wives of the younger sons of Barons. 32. Wives of Baronets.

33. Wives of Knights of the Garter. 34. Wives of Bannerets.

35. Wives of Knights of the Bath. 36. Wives of Knights Bachelors.

37. Wives of the eldest sons of the younger sons of Peers.

38. Wives of the eldest sons of Baronets. 39. Daughters of Baronets.

40. Wives of the eldest sons of Knights of the Garter. 41. Daughters of Knights of the Garter.

42. Wives of the eldest sons of Bannerets.

43. Daughters of Bannerets.

44. Wives of the eldest sons of Knights of the Bath. 45. Daughters of Knights of the Bath. 46. Wives of the eldest sons of Knights Bachelors. 47. Daughters of Knights Bachelors.

48. Wives of the younger sons of Baronets. 49. Daughters of Knights.

of wo

50. Wives of the Esquires of the King's body. 51. Wives of the Esquires to the Knights of the Bath,

Heraldry. 52. Wives of Esquires by creation.

Abatements

istincons of onour.

53. Wives of Esquires by office.

54. Wives of the younger sons of Knights of the Garter.

55. Wives of the younger sons of Bannerets. 56. Wives of the younger sons of Knights of the Bath. 57. Wives of the younger sons of Knights Bachelors. 58. Wives of Gentlemen entitled to bear arms. 59. Daughters of Esquires entitled to bear arms. 60. Daughters of Gentlemen entitled to bear arms. 3. The crowns mentioned in the early Historical part of this Essay are distinctions still in use. Their application has been already noticed. They are marshalled above the helmet, coronet, &c. but usually below the crest.

The Arms of the Sovereign, or part thereof, are sometimes allowed to be borne as marks of peculiar favour. Richard II. is said to be the first who granted Arms of augmentation. Ordinaries, too, are added, of which the most usual are the chief and the canton. These ordinaries are generally ensigned with some significant device, or a portion of the Royal Arms as before. Thus Lord Nelson's paternal coat was augmented by a chief wavy argent, bearing a palm-tree between a ship at sea and a castle, all proper; the Arms of Thomas Lord Roos, created in 1525 Earl of Rutland, which were originally, or, two bars, azure, a chief gules, were thus altered: or, two bars, azure, a chief quarterly, first and fourth, two fleur-de-lys of France, second and third, a lion of England; and the Arms of John Churchill, Baron of Eymouth in Scotland, (sable, a lion rampant, argent,) were augmented by James II. with a canton argent, charged with a cross of St. George.

Henry VIII. was, in the highest degree, lavish of Heraldic distinctions. On Ann Boleyn he conferred the Arms of the Earls of Lancaster, of Angoulême, and Guienne, which she quartered with those of the alliances of her own family; but her family coat itself was dropped. To Jane Seymour he gave a coat of augmentation, or, on a pile, gules, between six fleur-de-lys, azure, three lions of England, which is quartered by the Seymours, Dukes of Somerset, to the present day. To Katharine Howard he assigned two whole coats, to be quartered with her own, viz. I. azure, three fleur-delys, in pale, or, on two flanches ermine, as many roses gules; and II. azure, two lions passant gardant, between four demi-fleur-de-lys, or. Lastly, to Katharine Parr he granted the following coat, to be quartered with her proper one: argent, on a pile, between six roses, gules, three others of the field.

4. While we are on the subject of Marshalling, we may be expected to notice what Menestrier calls sottises Anglaises; abatements, or symbols of disgrace introduced into Arms. In this respect we fear we are too open to the sarcastic Frenchman's assaults. Abatements, of course, are never used, except in a case which we shall presently mention; and in this, if they are follies, they are shared by our continental neighbours.

Abatements must always be tawny or murry, except only bastons. As it would be impossible or invidious to present the reader with real coats containing these abatements, we must give them separately.

Fig. 195 is a delf, or quadrant spot. If this bearing be repeated in the escutcheon, or be of metal, or charged, it is not to be taken for an abatement. This is the sign of a revoked challenge.

him who uncourteously treats a lady, or deserts his Marshal Sovereign's banner. ling. Fig. 197 is a point dexter parted, and belongs to a w

boaster.

Fig. 198 is a point in point; the designation of one who behaves slothfully in the field.

Fig. 199 is a point champain. It belongs to one who kills a prisoner of war.

Fig. 200 is a gore sinister. It is given to effeminate persons.

Fig. 201 represents two gussets, dexter and sinister. Both are abatements; the former for voluptuousness, the latter for intoxication.

The plain point, assigned for lying, is exemplified in fig. 3, where it forms the lowest division of the escutcheon.

The baston, already noticed, is the abatement of a bastard, and the only abatement used.* It is, moreover, hereditary, and can only be removed by the King. A bastard may bear his mother's Arms without this abatement; but if he bear his father's, he must add it. The illegitimate descendants of some of our Kings have thought fit to incur this blemish for the sake of retaining the Royal Arms; an instance of which we have in the family of Fitzroy, Duke of Grafton, whose coat will be found in fig. 64. The baston must not be borne of metal, except by the descendants of Kings.

A traitor's coat is represented reversed, and is not blazoned by the technical, but proper names of the tinctures, except where such tinctures are themselves technical.

5. Ensigns are either national or personal. The anti- Ensigns. quity of the former has been already shown; and they still retain some peculiarities of ancient Heraldry. They are, for the most part, different altogether from the Arms of the Country which they represent; except what are called "Standards," which are usually the same. The ensigns of the Norman Monarchs appear to have been wholly different from the National bearing and from each other. Argent, a cross, gules, was, at an early period, borne in the English army, and considered hence the National banner. In nothing is the Heraldry of National ensigns more decidedly distinguished from that of National escutcheons, than in the particular that while ordinaries rarely enter the latter, they are as rarely absent from the former. This circumstance also draws a wide distinction between the ancient and modern Heraldry of ensigns; and we may observe, as another distinction of this department of modern Heraldry, that colour, as in the escutcheon, so in the banner, is an essential feature. Yet the rules which prescribe the different combinations of colours and metals in ordinary modern Heraldry, have no application in the theory of ensigns.

The largest species of ensign is the Standard, commonly Standard. of a square form, but now somewhat oblong. It was generally used by Sovereign Princes, or by the Commanders of armies. The Gonfanon, as used anciently, Gonfanon. did not, according to Dr. Meyrick, resemble the species of ensign commonly termed by that name in modern Heraldry, but "was fixed in a frame made to turn like

*“All the bastardis of all cotarmuris shall bere a fesse, sum call hit a baston of oon of the iiii dignites of colouris, except the bastarde of the fixiales, and the bastarde of the brethyrne of the cheve blode: where theritance is deparded to evych brothir e like moch, theys bastardis shall add more bagy to his armys, or take away a bagy of

Banners.

Li chevaliers ourent penons.

The difference was, perhaps, rather in the charge than the form. Indeed, the Gonfanon appears to have anciently sustained the office of the banner, to indicate the presence of some important person; while the Pennon was borne by every ordinary Knight, as well as by the more powerful feudal dignitaries.

A writer in the Retrospective Review, to whose observations this department of our Treatise is greatly indebted, observes, "When the English army was composed of tenants in capite of the Crown, with their followers, it appears that such tenants were entitled to lead them under a banner of their Arms; but the precise number of men so furnished, which conferred this privilege, has not been ascertained. Judging, however, from the Siege of Karlaverock, it would seem that early in the XIVth century there was a banner to every twenty-five or thirty men at arms.'

"When the tenant in capite was unable to attend in person from sickness, or from being otherwise engaged in the King's service, he nevertheless sent the quota of men at arms and archers, for which, by the tenure of his lands, he was engaged; and his banner was committed to the charge of a deputy of equal rank to his own. Thus at Karlaverock, the Bishop of Durham, being prevented from attending by some public duty which detained him in England, he sent one hundred and sixty of his men at arms with his banner, which, it is worthy of remark, was simply that of his paternal Arms, without any reference to those of his See; which tends also to prove that in the field he was considered merely as a temporal Baron."t

"The most curious fact on the subject which is esta blished by the Poem is with respect to the banner of an Earl; for it is evident that it was considered to belong to the dignity rather than to the individual. Ralph de Monthermer, the Earl of Gloucester in right of his wife, Joan, daughter of King Edward I., and widow of Gilbert de Clare, Earl of Gloucester, by which title he was repeatedly summoned to Parliament, led his followers on that occasion under the banner of Clare, the Earl of Gloucester, whilst he was himself vested in a surcoat of his paternal Arms, which he also bore on his shield." "The fact is the more worthy of attention, because it corroborates the opinion that he possessed the dignities of Earl of Gloucester and Hereford solely in right of his wife; for on her death in 1307 he ceased to enjoy them, and they were assumed by Gilbert de Clare, her son by her first husband; Monthermer being summoned to the very next Parliament as a Baron only."‡ Corporations and Fraternities, secular and religious,

* Retrospective Review, Second Series, Oct. 1827. + Ibid. Ibid.

had also their respective Banners; which, on particular Marshal occasions, were paraded in the field. ling.

The Banner was not only displayed on a staff, but was also appended to the trumpets of the owner. It was borne, too, by Heralds, when acting on the part of the Prince or Chief to whom it belonged.

Beside this Banner, a Knight might have what was called his Standard, which differed wholly from the species of flag now known by that name; since, while the modern Standard universally displays the Arms, the early one always bore the badge or cognizance. The Standard was somewhat longer than a Banner, but not so deep. Both Standard and Banner led 100 men.

The Pennon, like the Banner, contained armorial bearings; every Knight having the command of 100 men was allowed to bear one of these. We have already spoken of the manner of creating a Banneret. The Guidon, or, as some write it, Guidhomme, was Guidon. the ensign of an esquire or gentleman, and conducted 50 men. It bore no Arms, but simply the crest, cognizance, or Device.

The Pennoncell might be used by any individual. It Pennancell bore the cognizance, or "avowry," i. e. the name of the tutelar saint of the bearer.

This interesting department of Heraldry has in this Country almost wholly fallen into decay. At the funeral of Lord Nelson great attention was paid to ensigns, as well as to every other branch of the study; but at that of the late Duke of York the utmost disregard of the subject prevailed.

We here conclude our summary of this curious and not unprofitable theory. Prejudices, founded on generous and noble sentiments, but now fast decaying before opinions, which, if less prejudiced, are less honourably grounded, have exalted, it must be allowed, the pursuits of Heraldry to a very exaggerated and unmerited dignity; but there are extremes in this as in all subjects, and the contempt which the elegant fabric of Heraldry is fated to experience at the hands of utilitarians, is equally discreditable to modern taste and to modern knowledge. Heraldry is, at least, a very beautiful structure; and, if material utility must be the standard of Good, Heraldry, even here, may advance her preten sions. For if the maintenance of a high spirit of honour, attachment to existing institutions, and the preservation of those gradations to which Society is indebted for all its symmetry and solidity, be objects of importance, Heraldry has valuably contributed to all. Heraldry, too, was chief handmaid of the ornamental Arts in dark and barbarous Ages: and whatever may be said of the pedantry of early Heralds, who crowded their Treatises with information wholly alien from their subject, yet this alone is good evidence that a Herald, as such, was expected to be a man of various erudition; inasmuch as his very Science led him to treat of objects almost universal. Heraldry, too, has been the means of determining genealogies and inheritances through very remote conclusions: its use in illustrating History, both as regards customs and facts, must be allowed to be considerable; and its study, therefore, can never be unworthy the Historian, the Biographer, and the man of Letters; while the Philosopher may well be required to tolerate what has proved in many instances of essential value to Society.

Numismatics.

ature and

the

rliest mins.

Origin of the Art of Coinage.

PRIOR to the invention of stamped money, commerce was carried on by the exchange of commodities, and the brication little metal employed probably consisted of pieces cut without regard to shape but regulated by weight; for all large, and even for small sums recourse was, consequently, had to scales, and, if we take into consideration the diversity of weights existing in Countries apart from each other, we shall readily perceive the inconvenience attending this original barter. On the earliest Grecian Coins a variety of types appear which are derived, as we shall shortly explain, from circumstances connected with the Country; it will not then be unreasonable to suppose that each City having adopted some particular emblem, affixed it to the pieces of metal there struck, at once designating the City to which they belonged, and indicating in a manner their value. This stamping of pieces of metal was, in fact, a public testimony that they were of the weight required, and might pass in traffic without trial by scales. It will be obvious, that it was sufficient to affix the stamp on one side only of the Coin, but a difficulty arose as to the means of effecting this; if the metal were laid on an even surface, the dye containing the device placed upon it, and the hammer resorted to, the pieces would in all probability be displaced during the operation, and the impression would thus be rendered imperfect. At the present day, the piece of metal, or planchet as it is termed, is placed within a steel collar corresponding with it in size; but this being a contrivance unknown to the Ancients, the method they adopted may be thus explained. Deep grooves, generally two in number, were cut out of the surface of one extremity of a bar of metal or a puncheon, by which means projections were formed and the planchet was then laid thereon; in this manner, after a single blow of a hammer, the metal would be partially secured and retained in its place until the operation of striking was completed. From the great relief given to From the great relief given to the early Coins, the type could only be brought out by repeated blows, and their extreme thickness and globosity leads us to suspect they were, in the first instance, of a spherical form. The Coins produced after the manner we have just described, would bear on one of the sides the type of the City rudely executed, and on the other several deep indentations made by the fixed puncheon; these depressions most frequently partook of a quadrilateral form, and were four in number; hence after the lapse of a few years, when the Coins were characterised by a greater degree of neatness, the reverses represented a square divided into four equal parts. The lines, which at first were of considerable breadth, insensibly disappear, and about the year 500 B. c. but one slight depression of a square form remained occupying the field of the Coin; this compartment served for the introduction of a second symbol, and instances occur in which the former divisions are slightly indicated

ins of ecia

pria,

3.

I.

on the surface.

We have as yet noticed but one variety of indenta tions on the reverses; for although about 500 B. C. the indented square prevailed throughout Greece, nume

619

rous modifications were employed before the dye assumed this simple character. Instances occur of Coins Fabric of in which the dye is circular, but divided like the preceding into four parts; others there are, also, in which the bounding figure is square, but the cavities are triangular, from the cross lines running diagonally.

the most ancient Coins.

Coins of

The Coins of some Cities of Asia Minor present a singular variety; in these the surface on which the metal was placed had angular pieces cut out, not the deep Plate II. grooves noticed above; as it is difficult to convey in Fig. 10. words an idea of this modification, we have given a Minor representation of the form of the end of the instrument coeval with by which, possibly, it was effected. The difference in the Lydian the appearance of the Coin thus formed will be, that Kingdom. instead of the area being divided as before by bands, the Fig. 11. separation is effected by an angle of each department being considerably depressed. The improvements resulting from this variety in the dye may be easily conceived; in the course of time it was found unnecessary to give so great a depth to the depressions, which therefore gradually became less apparent, and about the year 460 B. C., but four slight triangular indentations are seen, disposed like the sails of a windmill. There are a few Coins in which the triangular parts are given in relief, possibly suggested by the preceding variety, and admirably adapted for fixing the planchet during the operation of forming the type. The depressions were by no means limited to four, although that number is by far the most frequent; on the Persian Coins denominated Darics but one indentation appears, of an irregular form, and on ancient Coins ascribed to the city of Ephesus there are Fig. 12. two; on early Coins of Dyrrachium and Corcyra three cavities may be seen, on those of Egina they are, with scarcely an exception, five in number, and in those of Plate I. Sicily yet more numerous. Two varieties, more compliFig. 1. cated, occur of Boeotia and Thebes; on a few Coins of these Cities the square is divided both by transverse and diagonal lines, thereby forming the triangular depressions before alluded to.

The first attempt at the introduction of types on both faces of the Coins, appears in the insertion of some small object in one of the compartments. On Coins of Egina a Dolphin is common; and in a few of Syracuse, the square divided into four parts may be recognised, and in the centre a circular cavity is reserved containing a head of Proserpine.

Fig. 2.

Such are the combinations in early Coinage which possess chief interest, and these are as many as our limits will permit us to detail. There are a few Cities on the Coins of which the progressive stages of the Art may be traced, as is the case with those of Chios; some Cities also retained to themselves a peculiar modification; thus in the colonies constituting Magna Græcia, a singular method was practised, but one equally effectual for securing the planchet; the Coins of Metapontum, Tarentum, Crotona, Sybaris, and Posidonia, are hollowed on the reverse with the obverse in relief with Coins of the same object: these Coins, termed incused, we may Gracia. presume to have been struck at the period during which the simple square dye prevailed in Græcia Propria. One advantage gained by this method was, that these

Magna

Numismatics.

Plate I.
Fig. 5.

Coins of Macedonia.

Fig. 4.

I. Grecian

Coins required a smaller quantity of metal; the pieces exceed in their diameter the ordinary dimensions of Greek Coins, but are extremely thin.

The Cities of Maronea, Abdera, Acanthus, Amphipolis, and Ænos, situated on the coasts of Macedon and Thrace, near to their junction, have commonly on their Coins a double square, a peculiarity which being found to exist on Coins of the Macedonian King, Alexander I., determines their age. (500 B. C.) On the reverses of these Coins the divided square appears, considerably reduced in size, around it the name of the City is inscribed, and there is a second square beyond. The divisions of the inner square were afterwards omitted when some device was introduced, and in a short time the inner square was altogether dispensed with.

Having in the preceding remarks shown the possibility of effecting a chronological arrangement of these curious Coins by a careful examination of the indented marks, it may be proper to state, that the interpretation we have assigned to them is not altogether in accordance with the opinions hitherto received. In hazarding these conjectures we would by no means insist that the various figures certainly originated in the manner we have described, but we think the supposition consistent throughout, and neither forced nor improbable.

The Coins of the Greek Cities may be subdivided into Civic Coins. those 1. of Græcia Propria, and the Islands; 2. of the Greek Colonies; and 3. of the Greek Cities in Asia. The first two divisions embrace Coins from the invention of the Art of striking them until the subjugation of the Country by the Romans. The third division is of minor import ance, comprehending the Coins of Cities founded by Alexander the Great while prosecuting his conquests in the East. This class terminates with the Augustan Age, and includes many Cities of Asia Minor, Arabia, Palestine, Syria, and Mesopotamia.

Era of Grecian Civic Coins.

No chronological arrangement of the early Coinage of the Grecian States can at present be effected, but we are, nevertheless, induced to offer some hints for the consideration of the student on their probable era; viewing them in connection with the Coins of the ancient Kingdoms of Lydia and Persia. The subject has indeed seldom been more than imperfectly touched upon; and we conceive much valuable information connected with the chronology of Ancient Greece, the progress of the Art of Sculpture, and comparative wealth of the several States, might be obtained, if this inquiry were more fully pursued. We shall confine our remarks to a few Coins on which there remain grounds for reasonable conjecture as to their era; such are those of Egina, of Mace

donia, and of Græcia Magna, but we have first to notice Of Gre the Coinage of the Asiatic Countries. ChicCa

The Lydians occupied a portion of Asia Minor, lying between the rivers Thermus and Menander, and Lydia. are the nation recorded to have first stamped the metal used in commerce.* Upon reviewing the annals of the Lydian Kingdom, we shall find their History, at the commencement of the VIIIth century B. C., involved in obscurity, and intermixed with fable; at that period also the surrounding nations enjoyed independence. Upon examining the Coins ascribed to this Country, we will venture to say that the rudest among them cannot Plate II. claim a higher antiquity than many of acknowledged Fig. 10. Grecian workmanship, which we shall show in the sequel to have been struck about 600 B. C. Under Croesus, 560 B. C., Lydia was incorporated with the Persian Empire, and as we must assign the year 700 B. C. as the earliest date for the practice of the Art of Coinage, we may consider the Lydian Coins as having been struck during this interval. It may be remembered that throughout the Poems of Homer, who flourished, according to Newton, 870 B. C., no passage is found from which we can infer the existence of stamped money, an omission which could scarcely have occurred if Coins had been in his days a medium of commerce.

The earliest of the Persian Coins in existence are the Persia. pieces denominated Darics, and commonly referred to Fig. 12 Darius I., who ascended the throne 521 B. C. Upon a careful inspection of them, they will be found scarcely reconcilable with this date, being of extreme rudeness, whereas the Greeks of Asia Minor had, at the period in question, arrived at some proficiency in the Art. We may then conjecture that they were issued by order of Darius, a King of the Medes, who, upon a partial conquest of Lydia, 544 B. C., caused the money of that Country to be recoined for his own use.†

1.

For the epoch of the institution of Coinage in Græcia Gracia Propria, antiquaries usually adduce a passage in the Propa Arundelian Marbles, relating that Phidon, a Prince of the Argives, established a Mint in the Island of Egina, 859 B. C. The Coins struck by him bear the marks of Plate L high antiquity, and as they are found to this day in great Fig. numbers, must have circulated extensively. The date assigned for these Coins will be perceived to be quite at variance with the generally received opinion that the Lydian Coinage is the most ancient. To free ourselves from this embarrassment we may observe, that a Prince, also bearing the name of Phidon, is reported to have flourished nearly three centuries later than the former, while the events recorded of their lives perfectly coincide; a circumstance so improbable, that Sir Isaac Newton without hesitation rejects the first name as fictitious, and fixes the date of Phidon at 584 B. C. We heartily concur in the opinion entertained by this great Philosopher, and we conceive that we shall not greatly err, if we place the earliest Coins of Egina as struck about 600 B. C. This conclusion will guide us in ascertaining the era of many Coins of the neighbouring Cities and Islands, as Thebes, Melos, &c.

Coins of great antiquity are found of many Cities of Macel.: Macedon and Thrace, bordering on the coast of the Egean Sea. A knowledge of the circumstances which gave rise to a Coinage in this distant region, will acquaint us also with the period of their fabrication. The founda

Herodotus, i. 94.

† Newton, Chronology, Babylonians and Medes,