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1796.]

State of Provincial Coins.

and retire; turrets rifing in coverts, and ruined arches almoft buried within them; mutilated caftles and mouldering abbies partially concealed; hamlets, churches, houfes, cottages, and farms are blended into one general and extenfive scene, which is wonderfully picturefque; while the mountains of Glamorgan and Brecon melt into a diftant and magnificent horizon, with an effect on the mind, which nature alone, and nature only in particular fituations, can produce.'

The first and twelfth fections of this Hiftory contain much judicious and elegant defcription, and will ferve as illuftrations of the preceding remarks.

By way of conclufion, I beg leave to obferve, that, whoever afpires at the character of a poet, fhould, after all, be cautious of relying too implicitly on the authority of books, and of copying them too clofely; not merely because a topographer or tourist may himself be inaccurate, as a modern writer, of confiderable tafte in picturefque beauty, is acknowledged to be, but becaufe, after all, a mere copyift, no lefs than the writer, who fludies nothing but metre and harmony, is ftill inferior to a genuine poet, and cannot be expected to pollefs the gay freedom and manly boldness of an original and attentive obferver of nature. A mere copyift, whether poet or painter, my produce an agreeable picture, but fuch only as make ufe of their own eyes will arrive at eminence; and though much of the time labor," may be confpicuous, they will but feebly and imperfectly reprefent the picturefque or the fublime their Prolifiones Poetice will be little more (to borrow the language of poetical imitators) than the flowers of Parnaffus, and rarely exhib t the fruits of genius: Havn spat, as Longinus fays of a part of this character, δηλον, ως πλεον ανθός έχει τα λειγμένα ηδέως *. Hence it is, that Longinus is always happy to illuftrate his obtervations on the five fources of the fublime from Homer. This great poet made Nature his model, and like his hero defcribed what he fuw and felt.

I

mores hominum multorum vidit et urbes. Aug. 10, 1796. G. D.

To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine.

SIR,

SHOULD be happy if a few obfervations that occur to me, upon a fubject which I know to be extremely interesting *Longinus de Sublim. MONTHLY MAG. No. XI.

867

to many perfons of tafte throughout Britain, were deemed worthy of being diffufed through the medium of your very excellent Mifcellany; as they are humbly intended to promote improvement in an elegant art, intimately connected with the Belles Lettres; and on which, I will venture to fay, the reputation of the prefent times for induftry, ingenuity, and arts, muft, in a great meature, depend, at periods of the latest pofterity.

Such of your readers as have not studied, or contracted a relish for the subject, may fmile when they learn that I allude to the defign and execution of the most common current coin of the prefent day, known by the name of Prøvincial Halfpence; being iffued by private traders for circulation in Great Britain, chiefly fince the year 1786, and which, in fome districts, have almost totally supplanted the prefent very bafe and barbarous copper currency. To those who are not aware of the Numifmatic study, I would recommend, as introductive to to their knowledge in it, Addison's Dialogues; the writings of Foikes, De Cardonnel, and Snelling; but especially the late excellent publication of that ingenious antiquary and fcholar, Mr. Pinkerton*. There are others, in whom the bare mention of the topic will excite the livelieft attention to my remarks.

Excepting the coins of the Romans, there has nothing occurred parallel to to thefe, within fo fhort a period, fince the æras of the ancient independent ftates of Greece, when almost every city had its diftinct coinage, as is ele gantly illuftrated by the engravings and. defcriptions of Dr. Combe. Our modern coins of cities, in Britain, exceed the ancient in neatnefs of finish, from the ufe of the mill, and invention of indenting, or of elevating letters round the outer edge, as much as they fall fhort of them in the high relief, and boldness of execution, in the reprefentations which they bear; but in their great variety, and, in moft cafes, appropriate imagery, they approach the neareft to the merit of the Roman reverfes, of any thing that has occurred in the mintages of modern times.

It is, however, deeply to be regretted, by every lover of the fine arts, that fo

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many of thefe pieces are degraded by puerile and contemptible devices: fuch are all emblems of particular trades, or articles of dealing; mere defignations and fign-pofts; and almost all morfels of heraldry, efcutcheons, mottos, fupporters, &c. Thefe can tranfmit no thought, no information to pofterity. The amazing durability of coins fhould ever be remembered by thofe who are concerned in if fuing them; and fuch defigns adopted as may reflect the moft ftriking and intercfting features of the prefent age. Among feveral hundreds of differently defigned pieces in my poffeffion, fuch only as come under fome of the following defcriptions feem to deferve being fignalized and recommended to imitation.

1. Such as have fac-fimiles of remarkable buildings: c. g. the Canterbury halfpenny, bearing the cathedral; the York one, with the noble miniter, reverfe Clifford's tower; the Leeds cloth-hall appears upon one of the Leeds tokens; the weft front of St. Paul's church upon a London one; Ipfwich crofs, a neat relique of ancient architecture, graces the Ipfwich halfpenny; as an old tower, a very entire and lofty remain of Gothic labour, does that of Dundee ; the venerable ruins of Bigod's caftle, in Suffolk, is on that of Bungay; one of Bedal, in Yorkshire, gives a street in perfpective, two inns, and a fpire; the fplendid front of the new pump-room embellishes halfpence and farthings of Bath, &c. Thefe medals (if we may infer from the performance of thofe of Greece and Rome) will exhibit to future times, the forms of the ftructures which they bear, long after their originals may have faded and mouldered in the duft.

"Ambition figh'd-she found it vain to trust
"The faithlefs column, and the crumbling
buft;
"Huge moles, whofe fhadows ftretch'd from
fhore to thore,
"Their ruins perifh'd, and their place no
more!

"Convinc'd, the now contracts her vaft
defign,

"And all her triumphs fink into a coin*.” POPE. The abbeys of Melrofe, Paisley, St. Andrew's, Arbroath, &c. and the best modern buildings in Edinburgh and Glafgow, would be defirable objects for Scottish provincial pieces.

2. Others afford reprefentations of the great and useful undertakings of the prefent times: fuch as the iron bridge over

* Pope.-Verles to Addion on his Dia logue, on Medals.

the Severn, on the Cole-brook-dale halfpenny,reverfe the inclinedplane at Ketley; Thames and Severn canal piece has a failing barge, reverfe a maffy aqueduct bridge; a Kent halfpenny, on the union of Appledore, has a windmill, the miller, and his houfe; the great iron-works of Wilkinfon are differently pourtrayed on his currency, &c. There is much yet to be done in this department for England. How much it is to be wifhed that the magnificent iron arch over the Wear, at Sunderland, which immortalizes the name of Burdon; the rocky entrance to the Duke of Bridgewater's aftonishing fubterraneous navigation at Werfley; Eddyftone lights, docks at Liverpool and Hull; fome of the largeft ftcam-engines, cranes, locks, drawbridges, &c. throughout the kingdom, had the Numifmatic honours paid to him which their magnitude and usefulness render due ! it is to be lamented that among the few coins ftruck for Scotland, not one comes under this defcription. How ornamental and honourable would it be for fome of them to bear the figures, and perpetuate the dates of the erection of the greatest foundery in the world at Carron ; the north bridge at Edinburgh; the elegant bridges at Perth and Glafgow; the great quay at Aberdeen; or the vast and ufeful aqueduct over the Kelvin, fupporting, at a ftupendous elevation, one of the greatest canals in Europe!

And

III. Striking emblems of that spirit of induftry and commerce, which characterizes the prefent times, and efpecially the British nation: one, payable at Ipfwick, has "May God preferve the plough and fail," a team in a field, and a hip in full fail, coming into view behind a headland; a weaver is at work upon a HaverHill coin, reverfe a plough and shuttle; fhips in full fail are meet infignia of the trade of Liverpool, Yarmouth, Portfea, and the Cinque-ports; as a fheep, reverse a woollen weaver, is of the manufacture of Rochdale; and a hop plantation of the beft production of the county of Suffex; the rapid and useful mail-coach, and exhibitions of whale fifhing and hat-making are feen upon different London pieces, &c.

IV. Illuftrious characters, and men remarkable in British hiftory, have now their features tranfmitted to "diftant climes and ages" upon common currency; which perhaps conveys the "charge of fame" better than expenfive medallions: Newton, Shakspeare, Johnfon, Howard, Rowe; and the founders or greatest benefactors of Bath, Southampton, Lancaster, &c. are honoured upon pieces

of

1796.]

State of Provincial Coins.

of general circulation. Of this clafs, it must be obferved with regret, that the portraits are in general far from being accurate; fuch as they are, however, it must be acknowledged that they are upon the whole, not inferior to the effigies of the Roman emperors, in coin of the lower empire, the farce ones of which (without regard to their barbarous execution, or the contemptible or deteftable characters of their prototypes) are collected with fo much eagernefs and expence. Qur's are not lefs worthy of being ftyled the "Concifum argentum in titulos facte que minutas

In this refpect alfo, Scotland creeps at more than her ufual diftance behind the fitter kingdom. Why are the features of Buchanan, Napier, the admirable Crichton, Hume, Robertfon, Black, Cullen, and Reid, configned to the fugitive materials and faithlefs charge of paper and canvafs, and not a fingle medal recording their hiftories to pofterity +?

or

V. The dignity of others confifts in their recording historical events; fhowing the very age and body of the time its form and preffure," in bearing fymbols of the high fpirit of political party, which is characteristic of thefe days: the naval victory on the 1ft of June, 1794; the nuptials of the Prince of Wales; the cruel imprisonment of Ridgway and Symonds; and the glorious and memorable acquittal of Hardy and others, are recited on London jettons: one exhibits Paine on a gibbet as a worthlefs crininal; while others clafs him with Sir Thomas More, and mention him with applaufe, &c.

VI. Some, laftly, are merely defcriptive and curious: bathing machines and fifh ing boats appear on the Lowestoffe piece; the windings of the Stort canal upon one payable at Bishop-Stortford, the engraver, James, has been very fuccefsful in two landfcapes upon the oppofite fides of his Dudley token; and his elephant upon the Pidcock exbibition pieces, is, at leaft, as well reprefented as the fame animal is by ancient artifts, upon denarii of the family Cæcilia, or upon thofe of Julius and of Auguftus.

I now earnestly folicit the attention of all companies and individuals, who may *Juvenal in his 5th Satire.

Befides the meed of merit given to diftinguished Englishmen on provincial coins, many elegant medals have been struck of them. In Italy and France alfo, this homage has been very liberally bestowed on literary, military, and patriotic excellence, during this and the laft eentury.

869

henceforth be difpofed to employ the artifts of Birmingham, London, &c. to fa bricate coins for them to the foregoing obfervations, which I humbly flatter myfelf will be approved by every perfon of tafte who has made the medallic art a ftudy; and it is much to be wished that particular injunctions were given to the engravers, to have the figures on the piece much bolder and higher raifed than is ufually done, which is effected by having them more deeply cut into the dye; and the dotted, or plain circle, by which the figures on the field are protected, fhould be much stronger and more elevated; the fhapes of even moft of these pieces which I have commended are too thin and broad; they should be encreated in thickness, even though their circumference fhould be thereby diminished.

There has been lately communicated to me a fmall copper coin; the part of a rupee, done for the Eaft India Company, by that diftinguifhed leader in every useful and elegant art, Mr. Boulton, of Birmingham, upon a new principle, admirably calculated to preferve both the figures and legend from being foon defaced by attrition: the field of the piece is protected by a circle, broad, plain, and confiderably elevated, into which the letters are indented in intaglio, in the fame form as they ufually are round the external rim. The improvement is differently modified in different pieces; fome having circular, and others elliptical portions of the field, bearing the more interefting fubjects of the defign funken deeper than the level of the exterior parts. The origin of this beautiful invention feems to have been from the hand of Dupré, a Parisian artist, in his fine "Médaille, qui fe vend cinq fols chez Monneron, patente," ftruck on the first æra of the French revolution, in 1790.

It may perhaps be objected that these improvements will occafion additional expence, and confequent reduction of the profits of circulation; but it is to be confidered, that even if lefs weight of copper were to be given in that form, the public would be no lofer; because the pieces would be much lefs liable to wear by friction, than when almost the whole rough furface is expofed to continual rubbing, as by the prefent ftyle of infipid bas relief. Among the beft provincial coins recently published, not a few are unhappily found destitute of the dates of the years when they were iffued. Such is the defect of most of the pieces of Kempfon, in Birmingham, bearing public buildings; on thofe of Skidmore, Hol5 S 2

born

torn, having St. Andrew's and St. Luke's churches, although the periods when thefe edifices were founded are given, to year appears for the coins, Caermarthen halfpenny has the iron-works, and the Stratford one commemorates Shakspeare, and tells the years of his birth and death; but thefe pieces are registered into no æra of time with refpect to themfelves. In monuments fo lafting, this is a moft deplorable and radical defect. The omnition cannot be too much regretted and cenfured; nor its future correction too earneftly enjoined.

A form of much strength and elegance appears in two promiffory Penny tokens lately communicated the one bearing a pyramid, and the other a lion in a rocky cave and alfo in fome London penny pieces exhibiting the Manfion-Houle and Somerfet-Houfe (the praise of which it is faid is due to Mr. Kempfon); but it is painful to add, that, upon the last-menmentioned ones, no date is to be found to intimate to future ages the time when when they were struck.

The attention of all Medallifts is folicited to the fubject of this paper. It is unfortunate in the objects of their study, that, while fo much care and labour are lavished in elucidating what has been already done, fo little folicitude is bestowed on the merit of prefent performances, and to perfect or extend what might do honour to the prefent age, and prefent topics for refearch, inftruction, and admiration, to the antiquaries of future times. We purchafe, collect, or pore with unwearied affiduity upon fome important, and many frivolous veniges of ancient mintage; while extremely little of our time, influence, and expence are given to regulate, and judiciofly multiply, the productions of living artifts. Were we to contraft with this neglect, the prodigious activity and liberality with which lovers of painting, mufic, and fome other branches of the fine arts, patronize their respective lines of purfuit, we fhould probably be animated to more exertion. Much might be done by every medallift of opulence and influence in the district where he refides, were he

*It is furprifing and vexing to observe, that little or no effect has been produced by the publication of Mr. Pinkerton's admirable chapter on the "Progrefs of British Coinage," in his 2d vol. The concluding part of it is worthy of the confideration of politicians and phi lofophers, as well as of men of taste, and Jovers of the acts.

merely to think of it; and the writer of this paper (though poffeffing these advantages in a very fmall degree) may with truth and juftice fay, that he has prompted the undertaking, and occafioned the exiftence of feveral medals and good provincial coins. It is likely too, if perfons of refpectability were to intereft themfelves in the coins iffued in their neighbourhood. that pieces, fufficiently weighty, and of good copper, would be given to the public; the difcreditable ftigma, too juftly thrown, of late, on many of thefe coins (in confequence of the bafe arts of fome fraudulent coiners) removed; and any interference of the legislature against the exiftence of private mintage averted. This is a moft important confideration, and highly worthy of the attention of thofe who wish their continuance.

It fhould finally be obferved, that as the tradefmen who iffue provincial currency, are, in fome cafes, perfons of no great knowledge or tafte, it is the duty of the engravers, or undertakers employed by them, to fuggeft the defigns and form which might confer the greateft degree of refpectability on their coins: for this purpofe, the attention of artifts is humbly requefted to these remarks. Let it be impreffed upon the mind of every citizen, that this is a fubject upon which, as a great mafter of it has told us, PERPETUAL GLORY OF THE NATION IS INTERESTED *."

Dundee, O. 1796.

THE

CIVIS.

THE ENQUIRER. No. X. QUESTION: Is mankind advancing towards perfection?

VIRLSQUE ACQUIRIT EUNDO.

VIRG.

SOME philofophers, I fuppofe through

an excefs of humility, have afferted, that there is no fpecific diftinction which raifes the nature of man above that of other animals. Without entering into an elaborate comparifon of the powers of different animals, the fuperiority of man may be inferred with certainty from the fingle fact of the capacity, enjoyed by the human fpecies alone, oferpetual improvement. The bees of the prefent time form their cells with wonderful exactnefs and regularity; the prefent race of birds build their nefts in a manner perfectly adapted to their accommodation, and with a degree of skill inimitable by man: but we are not in

* Pinkerton's Ey, vol. ii. (note) p. 148.

formed,

1795.]

The Enquirer. No. X.

or the

formed, that either the one other have made any improvement upon the ingenuity of their ancestors.. If any individual among the inferior animals-as we prefume to call them-has been tortured into a mechanical habit of performing fome wonderful feat, which does not naturally belong to its fpecies, we never find that it communicates its new accomplishment, by inftruction, to its offspring, for the future improvement of the fpecies. The famous learned pig did not train up a family of learned pigs. In order to prove the fuperiority of man to all other animals, nothing farther is, then, neceffary, than to eftablifh the affirmative of the prefent queftion, that mankind is advancing towards perfection.

If the fubject be confidered theoretically, we certainly find in the powers of human nature fufficient ground for expecting fuch a continued progrefs. Every individual poffeffes faculties which enable him to examine the nature of the objects which furround him, to contemplate the events which fall under his obfervation, to compare one object and one event with another, and to draw general conclufions from particular occurrences; and thus to become, by degrees, poffeffed of that ufeful guide in the conduct of life, expcrience. The experience of different men not only carries each individual, more or lefs, towards perfection, during the courfe of his life, but may be conceived to ferve as a common stock of improvement, which it is the intereft of all to preferve and increafe; which, therefore, may be reafonably expected to be tranfmitted from age to age, not only without lofs, but with perpetual accumulation.

If we examine facts, we fhall find this fpeculation confirmed by the general hiftory of mankind. As far as we are able to trace the rife and progrefs of fociety through the mutilated pages of history, we find that, at whatever point of civilization any of the inhabitants of the world are at prefent arrived, they have paffed, from the loweft ftate of barbarifm, through certain ftages of improvement. At first, ftupid or ferocious, they were either contented with a precarious fupply of food from the fpontaneous productions of naure, or employed force to render the foreft, the plain, the rivers, and feas, tributary to their neceffities. The urgent demands of nature calling into exertion mental energy, as well as bodily ftrength, they next employed their ingenuity in inventing expedients, by means of which they might be better fupplied

871

with neceffaries and conveniences; and thus, by gradual advances, from predatory favages they have become harmlets fhepherds, induftrious husbandmen, ingenious mechanics, and polished citizens. But, leaving thefe general views, let us examine more minutely the marks of progrefs towards perfection which appear in the hiftory of knowledge.

If we compare the ancients and moderns, with refpect to their acquaintance with natural objects, we fhall find the latter far fuperior to the former, both in the variety and accuracy of their information. The ancient philofophers profeffed, it is true, to ftudy nature; but it was rather with a view to investigate general truths refpecting its original fornation, and the caufes of production and decay, than to become acquainted with the diftinct characters and properties of individual bodies. They were too deeply engaged in fublime fpeculations concerning general principles, to intereft themfelves in minute details respecting particular objects. They travelled, indeed, in fearch of knowledge; but it was not fo much to learn the qualities and ufes of natural bodies, as to be inftructed in metaphyfical theories, and to exercife themfelves in the arts of disputation. Plato thought his permanent ideal world the only ficld of contemplation worthy the attention of a philofopher, and regarded vifible objects as too evanefcent to deferve a better name than

le, non-cntities. And though Ariitotle, Theophraftus, and Pliny, with fome others, paid more attention to the material world, and have left many valuable proofs of their acquaintance with nature, no one will think that their accounts of natural bodies can deferve to be compared, in variety of detail, or accuracy of defcription, with the writings of modern naturalifts.

In analyzing the component parts of natural bodies, what is there among the ancients, which can deferve the name of philofophical chemistry, compared with what has been done by modern philofophers If the ancient Egyptians difcovered a confiderable degree of chemical fkill, in the embalming of dead bodies; if, in building their pyramids, they made ufe of a cement, with the exact nature of which we are at prefent unacquainted; if it be allowed, that the process of diftillation, and fome other chemical operations, were not unknown to the ancients; and that they were not ignorant of many of the properties of what they

improperly

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