countries and the cruel laws of despotic tyrants; historical periods of law and order, and times of lawlessness when law seemed altogether dead, though it came to life again, ut gramina sicca virescunt.

9910

Think of a book on the Aspects of Finance in Art and Caricature. The medals and caricatures relating to John Law and his financial schemes fill a volume by themselves, and the illustrations relating to the South Sea Bubble would, I suppose, easily fill another. In this connexion the medals (1753 and 1755) on the Irish Surplus Revenue Dispute have some interest (see Medallic Illustrations of English History, London, 1885, vol. ii. pp. 673, 674, and 676, 677). In regard to State Finance a specially interesting series would be the medals, coins, and tokens bearing devices or inscriptions referring to Government taxes of various countries. Such a series would, of course, include the medals of William Pitt with the words, "No Stamps," below his bust, relating to his opposition to the Stamp Act, one of the causes of the American War of Independence. I suppose that the quaint sun-dial inscription, "Mind your business,' on some early United States coins and paper money, must to some extent have originally referred to England's interference (in regard to tea-duty, &c.) with her American Colonies. Some satirical medals relating to Sir Robert Walpole's Excise Bill represent the devil leading the statesman by a rope round his neck towards the open jaws of a monster (hell); inscription: "Make room for Sir Robert No excise!" There are, of course, medals more or less relating to the Repeal of the Corn Laws in 1846, and to Richard Cobden and other statesmen connected with the repeal movement. The extraordinary" beard tax," first imposed in Russia by Peter the Great, is commemorated by tokens struck in 1705 in silver and copper (bearing the device of a beard, moustaches, and nose), to serve as a receipt for having paid the tax; there is also a larger, lozengeshaped piece with the date 1725 (the year of the succession of the Empress Catharine I). I do not know of any medals connected with the window-tax or with the hearth-tax (chimney-tax) formerly levied in England; but the hearth-tax in the Netherlands, levied in 1666 to provide money for the war against England, is commemorated by two medals, dated 1666 and 1668 respectively (G. van Loon, Histoire Métallique des Pays Bas, French edition, 1732, vol. ii. pp. 516, 517). Curiously enough, there are no medals as yet, so far as I know, relating to the laws of State insurance of the working classes in Germany, England, and elsewhere.

[Numismatic collections have, of course, been formed, and have been or are going to be described, to illustrate as far as possible various

10 See amongst the sun-dial mottoes in Charles Leadbetter's Mechanick Dialling, first edition, London, 1737, chapter xxiii. No. 17: Fugio, fuge. The English equivalent given by Leadbetter is: Begone about your Business !-that is to say, "I'm off (about my business), be off (about yours)!"

special subjects; for instance, the History of Medicine and the Sciences allied to Medicine (Medicina in Nummis), Treaties of Peace in the World's History (Pax in Nummis), the different kinds of boats and ships, especially war-ships, of ancient and modern times. A similar collection might be formed of coins and medals representing cars, carts, and chariots-real and imaginary-the biga and quadriga of Greek and Roman times, the funeral carpentum drawn by mules or elephants on Roman Imperial coins of the mortuary or consecratio kind, triumphal cars of classical and Renaissance designs, the chariot of Neptune and other imaginary marine chariots, the chariot of the Sun and other imaginary aërial chariots. The medals relating to railway engines, railways and motor vehicles, might be included; and there are already or there soon will be armoured cars and tanks" (and even caricatures of "tanks") on medals and military badges. Many foreshadowings or precursors of modern armoured cars and "tanks" have been recorded or suggested in descriptions and illustrated designs of olden times-cf. Roberto Valturio, De Re Militari (1483; third edition, printed in Paris, 1532), with woodcuts from designs by Matteo de' Pasti, notably Plate 4; also the suggestion for an armoured car in the "Secrett Inventionis" (1596) of the Scotsman, John Napier, of Merchiston (1550-1617), the inventor of logarithms. The early history balloons (the brothers Montgolfier, V. Lunardi, &c.) is illustrated by medals, and there are already medals depicting the real aërial chariots of modern times, the aëroplanes and the Zeppelin and other air-ships. Foreshadowings of modern monoplane and biplane flying-machines were represented in some prints and minor works of art of the first half of the nineteenth century, for instance, ornamental engravings at the head of note-paper, picturing a biplane flying over London, such as I have seen (a dated letter). The design on a souvenir handkerchief, showing the experimental aeroplane (monoplane) constructed by F. Stringfellow in 1818, was reproduced in the Daily Mail, London, October 13th, 1917. The remarkable point is that some of these designs appear almost exactly like real aëroplanes now in use; but Leonardo da Vinci and others had long previously considered the problem.

of

In regard to medical medals I do not think that the numismatic field has yet been searched for specimens illustrating mental abnormalities and mental peculiarities of various kinds. So many persons (some would say, all) are mentally peculiar in one way or another, that numerous numismatic illustrations ought to be forthcoming, but in regard to judging the psychical condition of persons by their coins and medals it must be remembered that though "the image and superscription" on a coin or medal may be, say, Caesar's, it does not follow that Caesar had much hand in selecting the design and inscription for either the obverse or the reverse. Indeed, medals are often designed after the death of those (whether "Caesars" or private individuals) whose image and superscription they are made to bear. A man is often no more responsible for the design and inscription on a medal of himself than he is likely to be for any bad taste that may be shown in his epitaph or sepulchral monument (cf. Part II. iii.). A collection on mental abnormalities might (as Dr. H. R. Storer partly suggests to me) include epigrams, medals, &c., relating to famous alienists and institu

tions or societies for the study and treatment of those afflicted with mental diseases; also perhaps relating to "Christian science," faithhealers and faith-healing, hypnotism, mesmerism, clairvoyance, &c., "epidemic" hysteria, popular delusions and "insanity of crowds," "herd-crimes" committed by mobs, insane and "epidemic" copying of crimes, the origin and growth of baseless rumours, the enthusiasm of the Crusades, the recurrent cruelties of the witch-mania, the fantastic ideas and aspirations of the Mediaeval and later alchemists, the religious ascetic extravagances of the "Flagellants," the spreading of the various epidemic" waves of "dancing mania," the Mississippi scheme of John Law, the South Sea "bubble," the "tulip mania," the modern aberrant so-called "cubist" and "futurist" art, &c.

86

An instance of an alienist having chosen an illustration from numismatics seems to me an unfortunate one. Dr. W. W. Ireland (The Blot upon the Brain, second edition, Edinburgh, 1893, p. 116) refers to the forced currency of Muhammad ibn Taghlak, Sultan of Delhi, 1324-1351 A.D. The Sultan "had heard of the paper notes used for money in China, and thought that he could enrich the imperial treasury by fixing an arbitrary value on copper tokens. The result was that they were only accepted through fear, and could not be passed in the remote provinces," &c. Stanley Lane-Poole, however (The Coins of the Sultans of Delhi in the British Museum, London, 1884, Introduction, p. xxi), explains that Muhammad ibn Taghlak's forced currency was in reality a kind of promissory currency in brass, and could easily have been redeemed at nominal prices. "Indeed, when, after about three years, the trial proved unsuccessful, in consequence of innumerable imitations, against which the Sultan had organized no regal protective marks, Muhammad ibn Taghlak took up the whole brass currency, genuine and forged alike, at the values for which they were intended to pass. In such circumstances there can be no question of dishonesty on the part of the ruler."

A rather curious subject on which every numismatist knows something, but which has not yet been adequately dealt with, is that of medals relating to events which were expected to occur, but which either never occurred or came off much later than the making of the medal designed to commemorate them. For English collectors the most interesting example of "medallic anticipation" is the medal (by R. V. Jeuffroy) of Napoleon I, made (under Denon's direction) in 1804, to commemorate the projected French "Descente en Angleterre," with the inscription in the exergue of the reverse: Frappée à Londres en 1804." The British Museum now possesses an example in lead struck from the original dies, but the reverse dies were afterwards altered to be used for the reverse of the Napoleonic medal of 1806 commemorating the blockade of the British Isles. For the inscription, "Descente en Angleterre," on the original medal, was substituted, "Toto divisos orbe Britannos" (Virgil, Bucolica, i. 66); and the signatures of Denon and Jeuffroy, with the date 1806, took the place of the exergue-reading, "Frappée à Londres en 1804." In the specimen in my former collection, however, and probably in all others, remains of the two last E's of DESCENTE could still be distinctly made out (see F. P. Weber, Medals and Medallions of the Nineteenth Century relating to England, by Foreign Artists, London, 1894, pp. 41 and 42, Medals 114 and 115).

11

11 But the silver and bronze coin-like medals with the head of the Emperor Napoleon III on the obverse, as on a five-franc piece, and bearing on the reverse the inscription, FINIS GERMANIAE, 1870, within an oak and laurel wreath, were certainly not made in France or by the French. Yet a London journal, Tit-Bits, for September 22, 1888,

Almost equally interesting are the numerous English medals, of the popular "toy-shop" class (cf. Part II. v.), struck (owing to a premature dispatch) to commemorate the capture of Carthagena by Admiral Edward Vernon, in April 1741, though in reality the attack ended in failure (Medallic Illustrations of British History, London, 1885, vol. ii. pp. 548 to 554).

In a somewhat similar way one or two instances could be adduced of a statue originally made to commemorate some event or personage having been afterwards, for political or personal reasons, altered so as to represent quite a different event or a different personage. For instance a statue now standing in the park of Gautby Hall, near Horncastle, in Lincolnshire, was originally intended to represent John Sobieski (who was afterwards King of Poland, and saved Vienna from the Turks in 1683), but Sir Robert Viner (Lord Mayor of London in 1674) obtained the statue and set it up in the Stocks Market of the City of London in 1672, after having the head of Sobieski replaced or transformed so that the statue might pass as one of King Charles II of England. There is a story of the same kind, I believe, about a statue of King Louis XIV, of France. There are also numerous poetical allusions to the subject. An anonymous Greek epigram

published the following paragraph from a foreign source: "NUMISMATIC CURIOSITY.-With what perfect assurance of victory the French entered upon the war with Germany in the year 1870 is seen by a medal struck about that time, of which very few specimens are now in existence. The reason for this scarcity probably lies in the fact that the Government tried to suppress it after their disasters in the field. The medal, which was evidently coined at the Mint, is of the size and value of a five-franc piece, and displays on its face the laurel-wreathed head of the Emperor with the inscription: Napoleon III, Imperator. On the reverse we read: Finis Germaniae, 1870. One of these medals was lately sold at Leipsic for a hundred marks." A specimen (in silver), formerly in my collection (now in the British Museum), bears the legend on the obverse: NEAPOLIO III IMPERATOR, with the laureate head of Napoleon III to left. On the truncation are marks showing that some letters (? artist's signature) have been erased in the die. I bought the specimen from an Italian coin-dealer in 1888. According to R. Nadrowski ("Anticipationen auf Münzen und Medaillen," Monthly Numismatic Circular, London, June, 1894, column 716) pieces of this type were originally produced by the medallist, Ferdinand Korn; but this has been denied. Similar pieces were afterwards, to my knowledge, produced in silver and bronze by the medallic establishment of Mayer, of Stuttgart; but on these the letters on the reverse are slightly smaller, and there is no mark of any erasure on the truncation of Napoleon's head on the obverse.

Some of the medals produced in Germany during the Great European War might be mentioned in this connexion, for instance, the large cast medal, by F. Eue, relating to the supposed results of a Zeppelin air-ship raid (August 17 to 18, 1915) on London, with Count Zeppelin's portrait on the obverse, and, on the reverse, a scene of London in flames, with Zeppelin air-ships near the Tower Bridge. A medal of General von Kluck (1915) has on the reverse (by A. Loewental) a distant burning city, and a fury on horseback holding a torch; with the inscription, NACH PARIS 1914. But the latter medal does not claim that Paris was reached, and its reverse design was caricatured in England (Reality, 1917, No. 83).

(Anthol. Graec. Palat., xi. 269) refers to a statue of Heracles from which the Roman Emperor Commodus had removed the head and substituted his Own features. A chapter might perhaps be written on "metamorphoses of statues." In 1871, during the very severe illness of the Prince of Wales (afterwards King Edward VII), Sir John Tenniel is said to have drawn a cartoon for Punch, representing Britannia mourning. Fortunately this was not required then, but was published thirteen years later (in 1884), on the death of the Duke of Albany (Prince Leopold). Tenniel's cartoon showing the relief of General Gordon (with the words "At last!") was actually published prematurely in Punch, in February, 1885, just before the unfortunate news arrived of the fall of Khartoum. A week later (in Punch for February 14, 1885) appeared his cartoon entitled "Too late!" The medals (Medallic Illustrations of British History, London, 1885, vol. ii. pp. 505, 506) commemorating the projected marriage of William, Prince of Orange, and Princess Anne, the eldest daughter of King George II of England, in November, 1733, has a certain kind of medical interest, for on the evening preceding the day fixed for the wedding the Prince was attacked with pleurisy, and the marriage did not actually take place till March, 1734.]

Largest of all would be a work endeavouring to deal with the Aspects of Love in Art and Epigram. From the dawn of literature and art poets and artists have watched the wanderings of Love like American reporters and "snap-shot" photographers. Love has been followed in all his ups and downs, in the palaces of luxury and splendour, through enchanted scenes in mountains, valleys, forests, and meadows, and at the homely fireside, drunken, sober, in brothels and ribald taverns, playing in the gutter, sleeping on dunghills, in justly deserved durance vile and undeservedly in dungeons whose "stone walls do not a prison make." Everywhere his doings have been closely spied upon, and his resplendent aspects have formed an endless subject for classical poets, painters, and sculptors, whilst "love in the gutter" has formed a favourite theme for the satirist in literature and the caricaturist in art. But we have "moving pictures" too; for what is not almost every romance ever written but a "love story," a kind of kinematographic show in words, of one of the innumerable up-and-down episodes in Love's long career? All this makes it practically certain that no one with any conscientious idea of completeness will ever attempt to treat the theme of love as I (however imperfectly) have treated the theme of Thanatos. But the last word has not been said on either subject. Both subjects remain incomplete. Love has still a long career before him in the world's history, with many ups and downs. His aspects may yet change greatly, as indeed they must have already done since his birth amongst the savage ancestors of mankind. But there would be still greater difficulties in treating the theme of love in the way suggested. No scheme would be complete unless Psyche were likewise taken into consideration. Psyche has always been following Love in all his up-and-down career (may I be pardoned for altering the classical