matter of considerable uncertainty, The art of coining, however, is said to have been introduced into this country soon after the invasion of our island by Julius Cæsar, or about twenty-five years before the birth of Christ; but though a variety of circumstances tend to prove this fact, it does not appear that any British coins are now extant prior to the time of Cunobeline, a prince who flourished in this island a short time after the commencement of the Chris tian æra. The subsequent attacks which were made upon Britain by the Emperor Claudius, and the final establishment of the Romans within its peaceful shores, A. D. 43, was followed by the introduction of Roman money among our ancestors, when the circulation of the coins which had hitherto been current in the island, was prohibited under very heavy penalties. On the departure of the Romaus from Britain, about the beginning of the fifth century, they took with them all their cash and most valuable effects; as they had long treated the native inhabi tants of our island rather as friends than enemies, and had defended them against the incursions of the Scots and Picts, and other warlike nations of the North, their return into their own country was regarded by our ancestors as a serious evil, since it left them in an impoverished and defenceless condition.

The tranquillity which the Romans had preserved throughout the island for so long a period, was disturbed very soon after their removal by the fierce and warlike Saxons, to whom Britain proved an easy prey, and our ancestors again bowed their necks beneath a foreign yoke. On the settlement of the Saxons in this country, they divided it into seven small principalities or kingdoms, each of which had its distinct ruler, who exercised the power of coinage and the various other functions of regal authority. The most ancient of the coins struck by the Anglo-Saxon princes, of which we have now any specimens, are those of Ethelbright, who began his reign A. D. 561.

I will now conclude by stating the various coins, both nominal and real, which were introduced amongst us by the Saxons; of these, the first which claims our notice is the Pound,

which appears never to have been a real coin, but to have originally implied as many of the smaller silver coins as would weigh 5400 Troy grains, or a Saxon, since called a Tower pound; the silver coinage of England was uniformly regulated by this weight till the year 1527, when Henry the Eighth substituted the Troy pound, containing 5760 grains, in its stead. The next denomination of money in use amongst the AngloSaxons was the Mark, which, like the Pound, was only a nominal coin, sig. nifying eight Saxon ounces, or 3600 grains Troy. The Mancus, which next follows, is not certainly known to have been a real coin, though it is strongly suspected as such; and whether the Ora, or Saxon ounce, was a real or only a nominal coin, is now also a matter of dispute; the former weighed 675 graius, the latter 450. The Shilling appears to have been one of the most common of the Anglo-Saxon coins, and is very frequently mentioned by the histo rians of this period; its weight was 1124 grains Troy, and four of them were equal to the Ora or Saxon ounce, six to the Mancus, thirty-two to the Mark, and forty-eight to the Pound. The Thrimsa was the next silver coin in size, a piece which bore to the shilling the proportion of threefifths, its weight being 674 grains. The penny, with its subdivisions, the halfpenny and farthing, all of silver, and the styca, or half-farthing of brass, close the list of the AngloSaxon coins; the weight of the penny was fixed at 22 grains Troy, twenty of them being equal to the Saxon or Tower ounce, and two hundred and forty to the pound; so that the term penny originally signified a pennyweight; how considerable is the reduction which the weight of this coin has since sustained! The silver penny of George the Third weighs only eight grains.

Mr. URBAN, Newcastle, Feb. 10. APPENING to be reading last night an account of the City of Florence, in which is given a splendid description of the Grand Chapel or Mausoleum erected to the me mory of the Medici family, it struck me as a good time to propose some

thing of the same sort to be erected to the remembrance of our late good old King, the venerable father of his people, George III.

We have seen, Mr. Urban, by the loyal and patriotic suggestions of Mr. Wyatt, what can be raised on an occasion of this sort, by his endeavours to erect a Cenotaph to the Memory of her Royal Highness the Princess Charlotte of Wales. If then such success attended his endeavours, what may not be expected from a wellworded address of this kind laid before the opulence of this great and mighty empire.

When I reflect on the enormous fortunes made by individuals from the humbler walks of Life during the reign of his late Majesty, I trust the very idea alone would call forth a sum more than sufficient to build the largest Church in the City of London, to be dedicated to his memory.

of

"Nurse of Morality and Protectress Religion;*" which appellation it can scarcely be said to deserve, whilst duelling and many other crimes are countenanced in the manner they are.

in your Magazine for July last, you have noticed the Academy at Dijon having offered a premium for an Essay on the means for preventing Duelling. I believe the following are the terms in which the question for the Prize are offered t. What may be the most effectual means of extirpating from the hearts of Frenchmen that moral disease, a remnant of the barbarism of the middle ages, that false point of honour which leads them to shed blood in duels, in defiance of the precepts of religion and the laws of the state ?".

AN OCCASIONAL CORRESPONDENT.

Mr. URBAN,

Newcastle upon-Tyne, Feb. 4.

With the assurance of the highest consideration and respect, I remain, yours, &c. G. AF.A.S.

Mr. URBAN,

Feb. 18.

IT surely can never be reconciled to principles of Religion and Morality, that instruments for committing murder, should be publicly put up to sale by auction, or sold in tradesmen's shops. I am led to this remark by seeing in a Catalogue of Philo sophical and other Instruments to be sold this day in London," A Pair of Duelling Pistols," &c. and by having lately observed painted on the outside of a shop window "Duelling Pistols." If such open violations of Morality are permitted, we must not be surprized, however we may lament it, that the endeavours to inculcate Morality and Religion by precept have not their due effect. There is a very true adage, that example is better than precept; and well would it be if it was more attended to than

it is.

Britain has, it appears, been called lately in the House of Commons the

* Such names will readily occur to every person's recollection.

GENT. MAG. March 1820.

LXXXIX. ii. p. 609, induce me to offer a few observations to your notice.-I agree with him, that "a general opinion prevails that every person has a Coat of Arms;" but at the same time I can only conceive such an opinion to have arisen from the total want of knowledge on the

subject, as it is a rule in Heraldry,

that no man has a right to bear a Coat of Arms, unless he can prove himself a lineal descendant of one to whom that distinction was originally granted, or of one whose claim thereto has been recognized by the Heralds. I certainly conceive the bearing of another Coat of Arms without right or title to be actionable; but whether, in the present vitiated state of the public mind on Genealogical rights, a Jury would award damages for the injury, is, I am afraid, very doubtful.

At the moment I write this, it occurs to me, that there is an Act of Parliament, or a Proclamation of the Sovereign, now in force (though obsolete) which provides a punishment for the offence in the shape of a penaity of ten pounds, for the purpose of supporting the authority of the

* New Times, (House of Commons, Debates,) Nov. 24, 1819.

See Tilloch's Philosophical Magazine, Nov. 1819.

Heralds,

Heralds, which was so much impaired by the abolition of the Earl Marshal's Court, in which it will be remembered many important trials took place relative to the right of bearing the same arms, several of which are on record. (See Dallaway's Heraldry). Then it was considered a high crime and misdemeanour, but these good old days (at least so far as rights of this naturę were concerned) are goneby; and we may now see every man who has risen to any respectability in society, assume a Coat of Arms which he thinks proper to say belong to his family, merely be cause his name happens to be spelt the same as that of a gentleman whose property they are.

The same Correspondent, in p. 2, requests to be informed "whether all persons have Crests and Mottos; and, if they have, can they change them to any other, without giving notice, or receiving a grant from the Heralds' College?" To this I answer, that the various Writers on Heraldry acknowledge the right, although the custom of granting Crests has long prevailed, as I find in my own family a grant of Crest and confirmation of Arms in 1581. I believe it is the general practice in the present day to grant a Crest along with the Arms; and I should certainly think that all gentlemen who do not inherit this distinction would rather possess it through the regular channel, than take advantage of a doubtful right.

IN

NICHOLAS JOHN PHILIPSON.

Mr. URBAN, March 8. N answer to your Correspondent "G. C. B." (p. 609, of your last Supplement), who asks, whether persons can assume arms, "without incurring some disgrace, blame, or cognizance from the rightful owners;" I beg to inform him that though upstarts frequently assume arms to which they are not entitled *; yet they are liable to undergo a trial in the High Court of Chi

*Blazoners call Assumptive Arms such as are taken up by the caprice or fancy of upstarts, though of never so mean extraction, who being advanced to a degree of fortune, either assume some without having deserved them, or appropriate to themselves those of any family, whose name they happen to bear."-Pournay's Heraldry, p. 11. 4to. edit.

In Dr. Radcliffe's Life (p. 3, fourth edit.) is the following passage-"Notwithstanding the Heralds, as appears by their books, thought fit to disclaim his father's pretensions to bear arms as a descendant from the Radcliffe's of Dilston, co. Northumber land; yet the late Earl of Derwentwater, Sir Francis Radcliffe, acknowledged him for a kinsman, and suffered the son to wear a Bend engrailed Sable, field Argent, on his coach, which none of the college belonging to the Earl Marshal thought fit to animadvert upon during his life; though they have admonished the University of Oxford not to erect any such escutcheon over, or upon his monument, since his decease."

The arms born by Sir Henry Blunt, baronet (Barry nebule of six, Or and Sable,) were the same as those of the antient family of Blount; but the legality of Sir Henry's right to bear then was controverted, and after a long trial in the High Court of Chivalry, sentence was given against him in that Court by the Deputy Earl Marshal of England. Sir Henry appealed to the Court of Delegates; but how the cause was determined I know not. Possibly Sir Henry established his right to bear the_arms above-mentioned. R.U.

Mr. URBAN,

Feb. 7.

IN looking over your Volumes for

the last Year, your Readers have much to regret in the loss of your very agreeable Correspondent, the "Leicestershire Clerical Traveller.+" But they have to congratulate you on the acquisition of such excellent papers as have been communicated by "E. P." which they hope to see very often in your future Numbers,

P. 580. I agree with much of what "O. P. Q." says of the manner of building New Churches; but he does

*"State Worthies," p. 67. 2d edit. 1670.

The Rev. Aulay Macaulay: see our last Volume, i. 276.

not

not notice the enormous expenditure of money on the New Church in Marylebone; by some said to be 60,0007.; by others, much more; an expense at which two extensive Churches might have been built. What Paneras is to cost I have not heard; but a few years ago it was said that the then intended New Church was to have had a Steeple at the cost of 15,000. Surely, when New Churches are so much wanted, frugality in building is a great object.

P. 593. S. P." is perfectly right about the unnecessary expence of witnesses; but an Attorney of reputation never refuses to admit such things as the execution of deeds, and many other things which he knows to be capable of proof, and the admission of which will not affect the merit of the case. Another cause of complaint as to the expence of witnesses is, that the party who succeeds is not allowed a sufficient remuneration for his witnesses-much of what he must pay them is struck off from what the losing party is to pay, and remains to be paid by him who gains his cause. Another serious complaint arises from the great expence of obtaining a Special Jury, and their non. attendance. If a poor farmer summoned on a common jury does not at tend, though in the middle of harvest, and in a critical season of the weather, he is fined-but a special juryman is not fined (I believe never, or so seldom as to justify the term,) though perhaps the cause is deferred to the next assizes for want of his attendance. This subject 'deserves to be much enlarged upon.

P. 596. No one need be surprized at the increase of Sectaries, who recollects the number of nou-resident

there was an attempt to obtain such meetings, an outcry would be immediately raised against Methodists or Fanatics. An Archdeacon is supposed to be the link in the chain which unites the Bishop and his Clergy; but if there should be an Archdeacon of a very extensive circle, who has never visited a single parish (and such there is) how should he know any thing of a poor Curate? A respectable Curate, however, seldom has this cause of complaint against his neighbouring Rectors or Vicars.

P. 599. The detection of Turpio I have always heard attributed to his stealing, not shooting, a game-cock.

P. 600. Two large cedar trees were blown down at Hillingdon a few years ago in a gentleman's garden on the right hand just before coming into Hillingdon-street. I wish I could find their admeasurements, of which I have a memorandum.

P. 602. The ruinous scheme of impowering vestries, or some set of men, to buy ground, build houses, &c. was lately attempted, and I believe something like it was introduced into an Act; but happily so clogged as to give little expectation of any parish adopting it. Accord ing to my idea, a more mischievous power could hardly be given. Tho objections are too many to enter into a detail of them.

P. 609. It is very true that any taylor or shoe-maker, &c. who sees a coat of arms belonging to one of his name, assumes it as his own; and he does it with impunity, for the power of the Heralda' College to prosecute is lost. S. I.

NUGE CURIOSE ET ANTIQUA. ROM Adam to Christ, exclusive of both, there were ouly 74 generations;-from the birth of Christ to that of the present King, were 1756 years if every one of his pro genitors was born when his father was 25 years of age, one with another, and there were four such generations in every century, that is 70 generations; which being added to the above 74, it will yield not more than 144 generations between Adam and the present King;-and many, from the distance of time, would guess them at thousands.

The

The improvements made in all arts and sciences within the last 200 years have nearly doubled the present limitation of life, in that we live more in less time.

The Egyptians were so ignorant of medicine, that, when any one was sick, they called in as many persons as pos sible to see him, that, if any one of them had had the like distemper, he might say what was fit for his cure. Shuckford, Con. 9. 367.

Surgery was much the oldest branch of physick which they practised.

Diod. Sic. I. 1.

Esculapius was followed by a dog and a she-goat. The dog was taught to lick all ulcerated wounds, and the goat's milk was given for all diseases of the stomach and lungs.—Temple, i. 180.

The Chinese were so ignorant of geography, that their Literati seeing a map of the world in the hands of the Jesuits, took one of the two hemispheres which contained Europe, Asia, and Africa, for the Empire of China-and in mechanics it was the same, for one mistook a watch for a living creature.-Jesuits' Travels, II. 304; Boyle, Final Causes, 230.

The Chinese can never acquire a knowledge of other languages, because they have no idea of method in the construction of their own, having no alphabet.

The common cubit, which was formerly supposed equal to 18 of our inches, is now allowed to contain almost 22 inches; according to which measure, the Ark must have been about 547 English feet long, 91 broad, and 54 high. Bp. Wilkins has made it plain that these dimensions were sufficient for all the uses for which

the Ark was designed. It contained 72,625 tons. There are not above 100 species of quadrupeds known in the world; nor above 200 of birds.Bp. Wilson; Hewlett on Gen. 6. 15.

Noah was the first husbandman, and planted the first vineyard.-Gen. 9.20.

Divine honour and deification were formerly paid to men who invented improvements in agriculture, arts, &c. such as Jupiter, Bacchus, Minerva, Ceres. But there is not a modern ploughboy who would not have become a god, with his present skill in husbandry. Had the mystery of Printing been invented in antient times, Guttenberg of Mentz might have been a god of higher esteem in

Germany than Mercury or Jupiter.— Worth. Ep. 169. This cannot be thought improbable, since his assistant Fust, or Faust, attained the title of Conjuror for it, in so late times and such a place as Paris.-Bp. Law, Confid. 220. n.

If the antients could come back to the world, and see and read modern Sciences as we read of theirs, they would suppose themselves transplanted into some planet appointed for their progressive improvement, before they could be admitted into Heaven.

It was an antient custom in the East, and in Palestine, to sprinkle salt upon newly-born infants, by which their skin was rendered more dense and solid. This practice is still continued in Tartary. The prophet Ezekiel (xvi. 4) charges Jerusalem with not having been salted.—Hewlett, in loco.

An antient painter having been ordered to paint the portrait of his prince, who had only one eye, adopt. ed the conciliatory expedient of painting him in profile. And this i take to have been the origin of that mode of painting, now become so general, and so much more interesting thau the full face.

The opposite extreme to what is wrong, is commonly wrong also.H. More.

A King of England, said Gourville, who acts according to the laws, is the greatest of all monarchs!

The Works of Tacitus were condemned to the flames from the Papal Chair, because the author was not a Roman Catholick.-H. More.

Pope Gregory the Great expelled the Works of Livy from every Christian Library on account of his superstition. Ibid.

Christina of Sweden complimented the celebrated Vossius, by saying that he was so well learned, as not only to know whence all words came, but whither they were going.-Ibid.

The great use of increasing light and liberty, in any age, is to enable man to see vice in its own feature, and power to renounce its bondage.

The negligence in which the French lived in regard to truth, was one of the leading causes of their infidelity; and the same habitual neglect will operate in the same effect with any other nation or individual.

The