temporary independence secured by the revolt, but they have only for inscription, "The liberty of Jerusalem," and "Year 1 of the deliverance of Israel," and no name. Barcocebas, or more correctly, Bar-kaou-kab (the son of star), becoming the sole director of the revolt, it assumed under his command important dimensions, and he rapidly made himself master of 50 fortresses and 985 villages, which called serious attention to a revolution which had not at first created much alarm. Barcocebas, after these successes, assumed the title of king, and also of Messiah, continually styling himself "prince of Israel," on that fine series of coins issued by his authority, which were formerly attributed by numismatists to the glorious reign of Simon Maccabæus. Their present assignment to Simon Barcocebas appears fully justified by their general character and appearance, which differs entirely from that of the Jewish coins of the Maccabæan period. Their workmanship bears a close resemblance to that of the Romano-Egyptian coins of the period of Hadrian, both in a peculiar solidity of make, and also in a liny rigidity of outline exhibited in the devices. The types are of analogous character to those of the ancient shekels of Yaddous, and the inscriptions bear a similar import, proving that the very first emission of national money, under the protectorate of Alexander the Great, still possessed more pleasing associations than the subsequent issues of the native princes. The larger silver coins of the issues of Barcocebas appear to be tetradrachms or double shekels. Their weight, however, corresponds more accurately to that of Roman denarii, the large pieces being of the weight of four. The one engraved (Fig. 9) is of the well-known "Temple" type, in which the oriental character of the capitals and bases of the columns are very peculiar, resembling those of the Persian architecture of the Alexandrian period, which may be an allusion to the original temple, and not to the building then existing, which, as Josephus informs us, had been partly rebuilt by Herod, who, in his restorations, employed the Corinthian order. The inscription, part of it being on each side of the columns, appears to read "Simeon," Barcocebas having doubtless assumed the still popular name of the celebrated Simon Maccabæus. The type of the reverse is an ornamental bunch or bouquet of flowers and branches, called loulab, such as was carried by the priests in the Feast of the Tabernacle, and by the side of it is a cone of cedar, the inscription being, "Lecheruth Jeroushalim," ("to the liberty of Jerusalem,") with numerals expressing the year 2 of the liberation, after the manner of the coins of Yaddous. Among a number of other types, all having reference to the national and religious institutions, those of the copper coins engraved are as interesting as any. On the obverse of some of them (see Fig. 10) is the national emblem of the palm, as it appeared on the famous Roman sestertius of Titus. This type is accompanied by the name "Simeon," which has sometimes the addition "Nassi Israel," prince of Israel. On the reverse of this type is a vine leaf, the inscriptions accompanying which are various. The same types also occur on silver coins. The best of these coins are of very superior workmanship in their peculiar style, and their size and general character make them a fitting climax to the numismatic history of Judæa. Barcocebas was not joined by the Christians of Jerusalem in consequence of the great cruelties which he perpetrated, by which he lost a very important element of possible success. Nevertheless, the rebellion was not subdued till the popular commander, Julius Severus, had been called from Britain to lead a new army against the Jewish insurgents. As the rebellion drew to a close, coins of a very inferior character were issued, some of them being, in fact, Roman denarii, over the devices of which the Jewish symbols and inscriptions were stamped, in many cases the original workmanship of the Roman coin being still discernible. The types of a large copper coin of unusual size, bearing the inscription, "Simon, prince of Israel," and year 1 of the redemption of Israel, appears to have been struck over an old Roman sestertius of the early period of the empire, before the size of the Roman large copper was reduced. These last-named coins, which finally close the Jewish series, were at one time the only coins attributed to the epoch of the revolt of Simon Barcocebas. The insurrection being finally and completely subdued, a Pagan temple was erected in a conspicuous situation, and statues of Jupiter and Venus stood on the spot where the crucifixion of Christ had taken place, while Jews were forbidden from any longer inhabiting Jerusalem, which was at once converted into a Roman colony under the title of Colonia Ælia Capitolina, in honour of Hadrian's prenomen, Elius. Roman coins of this colony, of precisely the same class as those of other Roman colonies, were struck on the occasion, and similar coins were issued during the reigns of succeeding emperors. A tolerably complete series exists up to the reign. of Trajanus Decius, and, with some omissions, even to the time of Hostilianus, during which long period the name of Jerusalem was as it were obliterated, and that of Ælia Capitolina adopted in its place. Before closing these remarks on the ancient coinage of the Jews, it may not be amiss to put travellers in the East on their guard against purchasing at extraordinary prices the coins that will be offered to them while at Jerusalem, as being found in recent excavations. Most of these are only casts or electrotypes from the real coins, having a certain interest as true copies, but not to be paid for as originals. It may also be interesting to exhibit an engraved specimen of the clumsy forgeries of Jewish coins which deceived the numismatic amateurs of the last generation, and for which purchasers are still found among the unwary. The specimen engraved (Fig. 11) belongs to the Messrs. Groombridge, who have kindly lent it for this occasion. The examination of the obverse alone will be sufficient to exhibit the wretchedness of such attempts at falsification. The type is a vase of quite modern fashion, the handles and other parts being ornamented in the most paltry style of the last century, instead of having the severely simple character of the Omer of the ancient shekels (engraving No. 1), which it is intended to imitate. The smoke or incense issuing from it, a most unmeaning addition, is also treated in a flat, unartistic, and modern feeling. But the great and fatal mistake of the forger is the inscription, " Shekel Ishrael," in which the modern Hebrew letters are used instead of those of the ancient alphabet, which was always employed for monumental and other public purposes in Judæa, especially for the coinage, even after the later kind of writing had been long generally prevalent as the popular style. Some of these forgeries have been made to bear the name of Solomon, David, or even Samuel, though it is well known that no Jewish coin of any kind was issued previous to the epoch of Alexander the Great, several centuries after the time of Solomon; and that no Jewish coins bearing the name of a prince or high priest were issued till the comparatively late period of the Maccabees. Many other coins, illustrative of Judæan history, might easily have been added to those described above, were it not that the article has already assumed dimensions of far greater extent than was originally intended. CLUSTERS, NEBULE, AND OCCULTATIONS. BY THE REV. T. W. WEBB, M.A., F.R.A.S. NEBULE. WE opened our list with a promise of glorious and wonderful objects of contemplation, and our readers, we believe, will not have found themselves hitherto deceived by overwrought expectations. We cannot ensure them a continuous succession of scenes of equal interest and wonder; our next, however, will be little inferior to its great predecessor; and those accustomed to a search after obscure and difficult objects will readily adopt the epithet of "overpowering," which Smyth has so characteristically applied to it. It is 3. The Great Nebula in Andromeda. Being readily visible to the unarmed eye, in consequence of its brightness and extent, it will give but little trouble in the finding. Having first identified B Andromeda from the directions following No. 63 of the Double Star list (INT. OBS., vol. ii., 374), we shall perceive that this star is the lowermost of a short line of stars tending in a np direction: of these the next to B is μ; the third is v; and a little p, or to the right of v, the nebula will be immediately recognized by its misty aspect. It is so conspicuous that, like the nebula in Orion, it is singular that it should have found no place among the "Nebulosa" of the ancients. It was, however, perceived before the invention of the telescope, being represented in a diagram whose date seems to have been towards the close of the 10th century.* Tycho Brahe, strange to say, makes no mention of it, though he carefully observed the adjacent stars; and no further reference to it occurs till 1612, Dec. 15, when Simon Marius first, as it would appear, viewed it with the telescope, and gave a very good account of it. This, however, seems to have drawn little attention, as the great observer Huygens was ignorant of its existence even in 1659; but in 1664 the passage of a comet through that region was the means of bringing it finally into general notice. For a length of time subsequently it was so differently described by different observers, that Le Gentil, *Herschel II. and Smyth have given A.D. 905; upon what authority does not appear; but from Bond's statement it would seem to follow that this is a misprint for 995. Bond in turn has misprinted 1662 for 1612, and the Latin title of one of Bouillaud's treatises, as cited by him, contains several strange errata. He is also mistaken in supposing that no intimation of its having been seen is to be found between 1612 and 1664, as Smyth tells us that Bouillaud, in 1667, mentions its having been noticed 150 years previously by an expert though anonymous astronomer. about the middle of the last century, was led to conclude that it must have varied in form and brightness; an inference which, however, seems to have had no foundation, except in the inadequacy of the instruments then in use. It stands No. 31 in the catalogue of Messier, communicated to the Academy of Sciences in 1771. Sir W. Herschel estimated its dimensions at about 13° in length by upwards of 16' in breadth, and considered it undoubtedly the nearest of all the great nebulæ. His illustrious son in 1826 described it as "very bright and of great magnitude, and altogether a most magnificent object," its brilliancy increasing gradually from the edges to the centres where he found a kind of indistinct nucleus of stronger light, about 10" or 12" in diameter. Lamont observing it ten year, afterwards at Munich, with a power of 1200 on a very large achromatic, gave this magnitude about 7". On the mounting of the great achromatic by Merz, of 14 inches aperture and 23 feet focal length, at the Cambridge Observatory, Harvard College, U.S., in 1847, nothing was remarked at first but a vast number of stars of various magnitudes scattered over its surface, an almost star-like nucleus, and a sudden termination. of the light all along the np side. But it was subsequently perceived that this abrupt bordering was occasioned by the presence of a long dark streak, 1' broad, beyond which the hazy light recommenced, though with less intensity, for about 4', when it was a second time interrupted by a similar dark band, and again continued till it faded entirely away. Thus one side of the great mass appeared subdivided lengthways by two dark canals, the innermost nearly 1' in length, straight for half that distance, but subsequently bent a little inwards; the other not so extended in length, and inclined to the first at an angle of about 3'. A truly wonderful structure is thus indicated, but, as it would seem, not without a parallel in the heavens, many other instances of arrangements more or less analogous having been pointed out by Sir J. Herschel and the Earl of Rosse; and unless, as the former has suggested, we can conceive the interposition of imperfectly transparent matter nearer to our eyes (which seems very difficult), we must suppose it to be a kind of stratification of the nebulosity presented edgeways to our sight, and giving us but little opportunity of conjecturing what might be the aspect of the luminous mass viewed in a transverse direction. The Earl of Rosse, indeed, seems to incline to the opinion that there may be an extreme fore-shortening of some kind of annular formation, the dark streak being the perspective projection of an interior void; but he has not referred to the complication introduced by the presence of the second streak, which would seem to require a kind of figure-of-eight arrangement; and, |