exceeding the Orator Tiro for its singular Use and Expedition as of things many of them altogether New and unknown to the Antients but by whom the Authors would have been Celebrated among the Minervas Vulcans Dedalus's and as we said even the Demi Gods and should have Mercurius on the Reverses of their Medals as by some of which to name only Printing Gun-Powder and the Nautic Box in Re literaria Militari Navali the whole Face and Frame of the World as my Lord Bacon observes has almost quite been chang'd Nor this out of Vain-Glory Oftentation or Ambition of a Name tho' Honos alit Artes and is its due but for Encouragement aud the Benefit of future Ages as well as of the present For who can Divine as all things are in continual Flux in this sublunary State obnoxious to Changes and Vicissitudes what or when the Period of things seemingly never so fixt and stable may be since we our selves have seen daily read and have before us the Fate and Catastrophe of the most polish'd and civil Nations the Greeks and Romans that of China and other Famous and Antient Empires over-run by barbarous People who burnt and destroy'd all those goodly Monuments and remains of Learning and Ingenuous Arts subject to such Deluges Invasions and Revolutions I say who can tell but Medals may yet revive survive and out-live the Generations and Ages to come as they have since done this of ours For how many obscure Passages of History Geography and other parts of useful Erudition have been and still are illustrated and supplied from Medals and Inscriptions alone They have we see and is abundantly made out discover'd the Religion Rites and Superstitions of the Antients the Deities of the several Countries the Originals and Rise of Illustrious Families Brave and Heroical Actions and Things as well Facinorous and Tragical Events which have escap'd the Teeth of Time and surviv'd all its Revolutions they have given us the antient Names of many Cities Situation of Countries Rivers Monuments Temples Solemn Feasts and a thousand other useful Notices no where else to be met with or if nam'd very corruptly and so of divers Pontifs Governors and Proconsuls c. not to be found in any Book In a word Medals the truest Lydian Touch have often prov'd the Best and Truest Comments on Authors and are the most Delightful and Instructive Compendia's and Maps of the Antient World in the most flourishing State But to go on or return rather to the modern and later Centuries which we left behind one shall find who among the most Curious and publick Spirited had begun the Metalick Bizot tomâ— 3d. p. 3. Au Lecteur History of Holland antecedent to Bizot namely the Antique-Modern Medals of the Famous Princes of Sicily Milan Florence Venice Genoa c. for the most part moulded and in the large Volume and richer Metal with these may Luckius and Typatius be consulted as the only Authors I conceive that have taken any considerable Notice of the several States and Republicks and as Molinet those of the Popes to which may be added other Famous or Infamous Persons celebrated or mentioned in later History whether Princes or private Persons The Studious therefore will sedulously inquire after the Medals of Iohn Huss and his Companion Ierom of Prague Maximilian Francis the First and Charles the Fifth his Expedition into Africa Anno 1535. as before this of Solyman the Magnificent's Siege of Belgrade 1521. and that of Vienna Eight Years after Philip Villier's de l' Isle Adam brave and strenuous Defence of Rhodes Anno 1522. Of Charles Duke of Bourbon's Sacking of Rome and Imprisoning the Pope 1527. c. Of the Smalcaldian Famous Convention of the Protestants 1530. c. Of the Difference between Henry the Second of France and our Sixth Edward when Bulloign was gotten from us already mention'd That of Charles the Fifth's indisputable Abdication and Recess 1555. That remarkable one of the Use of the Cup in the Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist indulg'd to the People of Bohemia 1564. Valetta's glorious Defence of Malta besieg'd by the Turks 1565. with the Reddition of Nicosia in the isle of Cyprus to Selymus 1570. Of the Famous Battel and Victory of the Venetians at Lepanto Anno 1573. and the Year before that of the barbarous bloody and inhumane Massacre perpetrated by Charles the Ninth thro' France inscribed Virtus in Rebelleis the Reverse is two Columns which was the King's Devise or Symbol with this Inscription Pietas excitavit Iustitiam In another round his Head Carolus Nonus Rebellium Domitor the Reverse Hercules fighting against Hydra with a Flaming Torch and Club But above all Pope Gregory the Thirteenth Reversing his stern Effigies with a Representation of that base and Antichristian Murder of the Admiral the words Hugonotorum Strages so honestly and impartially described and detested as we noted by the Pen of the Illustrious and Learned Tunc etiam nequid ad summam insaniam deesset aemulatione veterum Imperatorum Laus in tam detestando facinore quaesita nam cusi Numi Argente◠〈◊〉 Regique III. Non VII br Oblati in quorum antica paxâ—e Regis in Throno sedentis Effigies depicta erat cum Inscriptione c. Thuan Hist. Lib. III. A o. M. ICLXXII Thuanus to which one may oppose that observable Medal of Lewis the Twelfth upon his being interdicted by Iulius the Second PERDAM NOMEN BABYLONIS Moreover there are Medals of all those signal Persons and Passages Sieges Battels Treaties Marriages and other remarkable Actions Argument of History not only happening in Europe but in other parts of the World where Christian Princes have been concern'd But before I dismiss this Paragraph I must not omit such as have on small Occasions and unlikely Causes and Accidents produced wonderful Effects threatning the sudden Subversion of States and whole Kingdoms besides some of antient Times those nearer our own Instances of these are the Medals which those notorious and truculent Enthusiasts Iohn of Leyden Knipperdolling and their Associates stamp'd with their Effigies and Heads during the Siege of Munster Anno 1534. whose Story you have in Sleiden To this Series belongs Masinello of Naples Sabbati Sevi and such as like him have endeavour'd to make any sudden Changes among the Mobile There is a Curious Medal but very rare struck with the Prince of Condi's Head about which was inscrib'd Premier Roy Chrétien des Francois as Brantome affirms in his Hommes Illustres but from what other Author Spondanus has it I know not Sunt says he Autores qui asserunt Condaeum apud Sandionysium Regem à suis Coronatum esse Monetamque auream impressam cum hac Inscriptione LODOVICVS XIII DEI. GRATIA FRANCORVM REX PRIMVS CHRISTIANVS Monsieur le Blanc affirms that he found such a Medal in a Goldsmith's Shop in London which he could not procure for any Price Lastly Not to pretermit such as among us here
Anaxarchi more tundi Nay my Author adds that when An. 1506. at Rome a Goldsmith was wont to cast little Shrines and Statues of gold and silver Medals he did often use to boast that he made none but of such precious things Such another encounter I remember the noble Busbequius Busbeq Epist tells us he met withal in his Embassy passing through Amasia to the Ottoman Court That enquiring of a Brasier whether he had any Medals or as the Truks call them Infidel Money using them for weights only the Pagan Tinker told him he had a shop-full of them a day or two before but that he had newly melted them all to make Pots and Kettles But this of old the nobler Romans as if foreseeing it took such care of that besides a Law expresly prohibiting the melting down of any Coin or Medals to preserve all other noble Monuments from being so much as any ways marr'd or injured expos'd as many of them were abroad in the streets and about the Cities they had their Curator Statuarum as well as their Tribuni rerum Nitentium especially Libraries Buildings of Magnificence and other publick Decorations and Ornaments The truth is whatever care there was of old 't is not above an Age since they were even at Rome it self so negligently Barbarous that some Harpies would have demolish'd the Arch of Constantine and so obliterated the Memory of that great Emperor and Revolution as far as in these wretches lay had not Pope Paul the Fifth taken care to prevent them They had already pull'd down the Septizonium of Severus so as there now remains no Vestigia of that noble and singular Antiquity nor of many a Triumphal Arch besides as that of Drusus over the Germans and others except it be in the Medal and were proceeding upon the only remaining Amphitheater of Titus miserably defac'd already so as that renowned City had by this time been hardly known so much as in her Ruins To resume then our Subject and at once instar omnium to shew their incomparable Use and how vastly they might contribute to the Universal Republic of Letters were it possible to make a complete Collection and uninterrupted Series of Greek and Roman Coins as doubtless they have been stamp'd and distributed upon all signal Occasions when great numbers were utter'd and dispers'd from time to time besides those which were also frequently found under the Foundations of Public Edifices on whose Reverses was usually the Model or Picture of the Fabric I affirm were such a Treasure to be met with the learned World would be furnish'd and inrich'd with a World of rare Antiquities vouchers subsidiary to good History and of what there has past of Memorable with far more certainty than from any other perishable Records whatsoever since Medals are not justified by Books and Authors but Books and Authors by Medals rather I cannot says the illustrious Scaliger but admire how many noble Records rare and recondit Mysteries are contain'd and have been transmitted to us in Medals and Inscriptions quae nos fugiunt and of what we could never else have had such clear and perspicuous Testimony But he who has a mind to see how Medals vindicate and support antient History preferrable to Books may consult the learned Spanheim's Preface and Notes on Iulius Caesar. And here I must acknowledg that I have been more confirm'd by that Bass Relieve still extant on that Triumphal Arch of Titus which at my being at Rome I caus'd to be most accurately Delineated by Carolo Morotti since for his incomparable Talent advanc'd to be the Popes chief Painter and worthily now esteem'd the first of Europe with all the Lacunae and Detritions in so long a tract of Time to prevent the being impos'd upon by most if not by all those Sculptors not excepting Francis Perrier esteem'd to be the most faithful whose Prints I have ever seen and who presume to supply what is quite worn out with their Conjectures I say I have been more edified by this undoubted Antiquity and by the Medals representing to us the sad and deplorable Eversion of that once glorious Temple and Destruction of that obstinate People for their prodigious Ingratitude and Malice in putting to Death the Son of God than by all that Iosephus and other Historians of that time or since have left us in their Books I am not ignorant that many passages of moment have been falsely grounded upon these venerable Monuments as from that known Inscription SANCTO SANCO SEMONI Apolog. 2. c. by the Holy Martyr S. Iustin and others since whilst prejudice and superstition make others to mistake the most grosly as the learned Dr. Spon clearly shews in his Letter to Father Chaise who pretended to derive and prove the Antiquity of the Popish Mass from a Medal stampt in the time of Constantine the Great because forsooth in a certain Reverse of that Emperor one sees a little round thing upon an Altar which being more heedfully inspected without the aid of Microscopes evidently appear'd to be a Mund or Imperial Globe only but which the zealous Iesuit took for a Consecrated Wafer Thus quod volumus facile credimus But the instances we have hitherto produc'd are Authentic and without Reproach evincing and establishing what is pretended from them beyond exception And for the Historical Part by what is already among the Curious and lovers of this Study we cannot reasonably question but those Kingdoms and flourishing States who took such care to preserve and trasmit those noble and worthy Actions to Posterity were not less diligent and curious not to suffer any thing of Signal and Illustrious to escape them than a very Modern State and Commonwealth near us have to this day to our reproach or neglect at home be it spoken in their most laudable Imitation of the wisest most renown'd and prosperous Commonwealth we find Celebrated for their Wisdom and Virtue An egregious Instance of this may be seen in what Monsieur Bizot and his Continuator have Publish'd in the Histoire Metalique de la Rep. d'Holland Printed first in Folio since in three elegantly Design'd and Insculp'd Octavo's where one has the intire History of whatsoever has passed of Public and Memorable by Sea or Land in Peace or War of any sort relating to that wonderful Commonwealth All of it deduc'd represented and supported by and from the Records of Medals Stampt and Publish'd in the year and at the times when such and such Actions happen'd to be done and were fresh in memory and that from the very Infancy of that State and defection from the Crown of Spain to this day together with apposite Devises and Inscriptions both of Things and Persons Monumental and highly conducing to divers Passages of our Modern Histories and Revolutions abating of some Liberties which perhaps might decently have been pass'd by not so well becoming the gravity of Medal but which are yet Matters of Fact namely their Wars
Publick and dishonor of the Prince and Government the mixtures being two third-parts of Copper to one of Silver so as three Deniers of the New Money was not worth above one of the Old and the Effect was accordingly namely an universal Decay of Trade throughout the Nation and so very odious was the Practice that within little above an Age past there being but a very small part of Coin decried in Aquitain the Detriment was so grievously resented by the People that they no more computed from the Year of the Lord but from their Decurtata Moneta and debasement of the Coin What prodigious Confusion this unworthy Shift and false Polity of Raising and Sinking has several times wrought in Spain and Portugal notwithstanding all that affluence of immense Treasure from both the Indies the lamentable and astonishing sudden Ruin of that late formidable Monarchy shews as well as of many private Persons within our remembrance and may in great part be imputed to it whilst their unsatiable Avarice Ambition Cruelty and Injustice may and ought to be a Document to other Princes and Potentates who think to establish their Grandeur by indirect Policies however for a time they seem to flourish and carry all before them But to return to those Corrupters once more Henry the Fourth of France began to Reform this Evil but soon they relaps'd until the Father of the present King attempted the Regulation and at last not without exceeding Clamour and seditious Commotions hardly and with difficulty effected it We meet indeed with some fair Pieces of Henry the Second by some Invention imitating the Press which were Coin'd in the Iardin des Estuves An. 1553. But it never arriv'd to perfection till Mons. Varin Intendant of the Mint whom I knew and who was himself the most Excellent Artist any Age since the Greek and Roman has I think produc'd took in hand and us'd the Mill effectually as we had in some sort before witness those Pieces of our Edward VI. and his Glorious Sister Queen Elizabeth which we may esteem as Medals And happy happy I pronounce that State and Kingdom whose Princes as both these especially the latter make it their early Care to preserve the Standard intrinsically valuable by a Law as Sacred and Inviolable as that of the Medes and Persians This le Blanc himself acknowledges to have been done in England only of all the Kingdoms not of Europe alone but of all the World besides And undoubtedly Money which is All things in Power and Effect should be made as near as is possible of such proportion of Alloy Weight Value and Security from Diminution as the Species is worth in Metal what 't is pretended to be in Payment exclusive to the Fabrick c. as near as may be and as when of old it was cut from the solid Lingot and then let Men in God's Name traffick freely with it as with other Commodities it will never prejudice the State Where this is honestly observ'd there will ever be most plenty of Money and that State and Kingdom the most flourishing What People then would defile their Fingers with their Monnoy Noire Nigra Moneta Mart. and other fictitious trash light and vitiate however blanch'd with adulterate Mixtures or endure the genuine Metal should be stretch'd beyond its real Value The pernicious Consequences of which is abundantly made out by that our Learned and Judicious Antiquary the late Sir Robert Cotton both before Queen Elizabeth and King Iames the First and the Lords of the Council and since by Sir William Petty whose Catechism as I beg leave to call it and Thoughts about this Matter coincident with that of Sir Christopher Wren and lately since the writing of this the incomparably Judicious and Learned Mr. Lock with the worthy Author of the Review I prefer to any thing I have hitherto met with pretending to answer the present ill-boding Exigences under which we suffer It were easie to deduce the Original and Cause State and Progress of Money it self from the Rising Culminating and Meridian to its decline and almost setting in our Hemisphere as to Goodness and Integrity For so it first shone brightest in the East as we learn from Sacred Writ when they dealt by Weight and the most antient Records of History where there is any Record of Credit from the first and middle Ages and of the latter for Species Character Value Fabric c. out of Budaeus Agricola our Brerewood Malines Sir Thomas Roe Mr. Vaughan an Excellent Piece and Instar Omnium the most laborious Klockius de Aerario whither the Curious of Antiquity may resort for the Metal Standard Coin Laws Abuses and Remedies together with the Charge of the Treasurer and other both high subordinate and Inferior Offices and Officers relating to Money the Consultations of the most politick Princes and States upon the greatest Emergences and in general for whatsoever else falls under this ample Subject in I think all the possible Difficulties which usually arise incident to this imortant Branch and Nerve of the Power Justice and Prosperity of a Nation Historically deduc'd and that with German Industry But as it suits not altogether with my purpose to compile a pompous Volume out of so many Authors as have discuss'd this Argument and which were easie to do by Men of leisure so should I not have nam'd them here but for this Observation that by the universal Suffrage of them all I am sure of the most Learned Judicious and Able of them all I dare appeal to all the Politicks from Aristotle to Bodin and so forth for Two Thousand Years the raising of the Value of Money at any time beyond its real Worth has been almost equally decried and condemned with the very worst of Sophistications Debasing and Diminution of it and from the constant Experience of the fatal and destructive Consequences which have ever attended it One needs but to read the Story of Livius Drusus the Disorder caus'd by those Practices until Marius Gratidianus who had his Statue erected by the Commons to which in Veneration they burnt Incense for his Care and Regulation about the Mint On the other hand how foul a Stain it left on the very best of the Roman Princes as oft as they yielded to these false Expedients their best Historians have acquainted us nor indeed was it at all to their Credit that even in their greatest Extremity of the Punic War they had recourse a while to this ignoble Shift seldom or rarely practised but by Tyrants the negligent vicious and profuse of all that Government and never failing fore-runners of Calamities ensuing both in the West and Eastern Empire also from these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and debauchers of the Species soon after Constantine to so many Ages until it was broken at last in Pieces like the Fragments of their antient Coin The Divisions and perpetual Quarrels about Religion between the Orthodox Arians and other Sects as now afresh reviv'd