recourfe to this mode, fince there are medals which bear all the marks than can be denominated fatirical. "Such are thofe medals called Spintrian, infamous medals ftruck upon the debaucheries of Tiberius in the island of Caprea, the accounts of which given by Suetonius are fufpected of being exaggerated beyond the truth of history. 66 The opinions concerning thefe Spintrian medals are extremely various; fome attribute them to Tiberius, others deny that to have been the cafe: fome look upon them to have been the coins ftruck for the festivals of Venus mentioned by Clemens Alexandrinus, and laftiy, others are perfuaded that they should be distributed at the reprefentation of lafcivious fubjects in the rank of thofe prefents which were mutually made during the Saturnalia. The numeral letters marked upon one fide of thefe medals have often exercifed the fag.city of the learned, and have occafioned cifierent conjectures. "It is more probable that they were intended to expofe to the people at large the debaucheries of their prince, and that there were numbers of like theatrical tickets to circulate them more eafily without fuf picion, or this not fuccceding, they might be thrown among the crowd. Martial (viii. Ep. 79.) fays they fell from the clouds. Abbé Orlond ranks thefe medallions of a fize between the large and middle bronze. "To thefe medals we may add fome others of a more decent fatire. 1. A Maximinus, on the reverfe of which are the three ftandards of legions with this infcription: S. P. Q. R. OPTIMO PRINCIPI. Is it probable hat they would give to one of the most wicked of men, the title of the best of princes, that it hould be the fenate and people who give him this title, and that at a time when he was not at Rome? "2. A Salonina with thefe words; AUG. IN PACF, at a time when the whole empire was involv ed in war. "3. Another of the fame; on the reverfe, Rome fitting prefents a Victory to Gallienus who is ftandig, ROMAE AETERNAE, when all the provinces were intefted by the Batbarians, and occupied by the thirty tyrants. "We might cite the coin of Commodus, on the reverfe whereof uninfcribed is a figure of the emperor advancing to the right, while a figure, like Minerva, as if flying away, to the left, holds a little be hind his head a crown which fhe feems to take off. It is remarkable that the refpective position of these two figures leaves no room for the equivoque of an dat an tollit, in the fatue of Louis XIV. in the Place des Victoires. In order to be convinced hereof we need only compare this medal with another of the fame emperor, on which a Victory crowns him, and in general with all where the like type occurs. "It would be cafy to enlarge the lift, and take into it the medals of Fauftina infcribed PUDICITIA, those with VENERI GENETRICI and MATER CASTRORUM, to which Triftan (Comment. I. p. 556) applies that paffage in Arnobius, b. iii. Etiamne militaris Venus caftrenfibus flagitiis præfulet, as fo many cenfures of Faustina's conduct. "But we need only examine what fhould be the characters of a medal to lead us to deem it fatirical They are the following. "First, it fhould bear no mark of its author: for though the authors of fatirical pieces have fome times concealed themselves under refpectable names, we are not ta conclude that the author or engra wer of an injurious medal would ever have dared to put on the name of the fenate, a municipal town, or a colony. "It should never be of different fizes, though of different metals: there could be no reafon for different fizes. "It should be a very rare one: first, because at their origin they could be by no means common : and, zdly, because it was the intereft of the prince to feek them out, and caufe them to be deftroyed: and 3dly, in fucceeding ages its fting being loft, it would be melted down like many others. "It fhould alfo, at leaft on the reverfe, naturally prefent a malicious allufion, or a ftroke of raillery confirmed by the infcription. "Its explanation fhould be fimple, eafy, and firiking, have a strict agreement with hiftory, to paint the manners of him who was the object of fatire, and be fo eafy to explain as to offer no violence to sense by an interpretation doubtful or inconclufive. Without having all thefe feveral marks united by which we may diftinguish it, we cannot think it prudent to affert that fuch a medal is or is not a fatirical one. "It should further be confidered, that the raillery, to be good, fhould be feafoned with a certain falt, and In pleafe by being concealed. its own time fuch a medal fhould be a kind of enigma of which fome circumstances little known from the motto, and the circum. ftances not having always been tranfmitted to us, it is hardly poffible for us to guess them. Some. times too the author intending to be known only by his initials conceals his thoughts under the ambiguity of the meaning, and the equivocality of the terms. "Before we determine, we should first be fure that the medal is really antique, and has not been retouched. The Italians have practifed this trick to make common medals pafs for rare. Thus, fays an Euglish author, a Claudius ftruck at Antioch may be made an Otho; a Fauftina, a Titiana; Marcus Aurelius, a Pertinax. 2. << We fhould fee if the medal has not been re-ftruck. We frequently meet with coins of Fauftina, Antoninus, M. Aurelius, half effaced on which the head of Poft humus has been ftruck. 66 We fould confider if the 3. medal be not made up of two others foldered together. 4. We thould examine if the devife has not been altered, and another fubftituted. This kind of trick, fays the fame author, may be concealed with fo much art as to impofe on antiquaries, and require experienced eyes to detect them. 5. It is right to obferve that af ter Gallienus, the tyrants who ufurped the empire fucceeded one another fo rapidly that the mintmasters had fcarce time to finifh their medals, and have in more than one inftance given the fucceffor the re verfe graved for his predeceffor: thus we have PACATOR ORBIS on the reverfe of a Marius, who reign ed but three days. "All thefe obfervations may be concluded by obferving that in fpite of the affertion of Klotzius, antiquity offers more than one example of fatirical medals, as Profper Marchand hath very well fhewn, and yet, allowing that it is frequently fo difficult that it is by no means furprising that the moff able antiquaries have been fometimes divided in opinion whether fome particu lar medal was or was not intended to convey a fatirical meaning. OBSER OBSERVATIONS on the ROUND TOWERS in IRELAND, by the late Reverend THOMAS HARMER, of Watesfield in Suffolk; in a Letter to the Rev. GEORGE ASHBY. B. D. F. R. S. REV. SIR, You From the fame Work. OU doubtless remember the papers in the first volume of the Archeologia relating to thofe antique flender towers which are found belonging to fome old churches in Scotland and Ireland, but generally at fome diftance from them, and which, though lofty, were not capable of holding bells of any fize. Very different fentiments were entertained of the ufes they were defigned for: fome fuppofing they were intended for watch-towers; fome, for places of refuge to which the people might repair on any fudden alarm; fome, as places of penance. The conjectures of others differed from all thefe. The enquiries of the learned, after all, terminated in uncertainty; and I found the uneafinefs of fuch a state, without expecting ever to meet with any thing fatisfactory upon the point. land, and published an account of Ali's revolt fome time fince), I there found a paffage, in an Appendix to thofe letters, giving a defcription of the Holy-land, which afforded me more fatisfaction concerning thefe towers than, I confefs, I ever expected to find. "In that Appendix he tells us, that the brook Cedron runs along a valley S. E. from Jerufalem; and winding with a ferpentine course, between many rocky hills, ends in the Dead Sea. That about fix miles distance from Jerufalem, on each fide of the brook, are large caves, either formed by nature, or hewed out of the folid rock, formerly inhabited by hermits, which grottoes continue to the end of it, about twelve or fourteen miles from Jerufalem. That among thefe is a grotto (in which the three wife men are faid to have taken up a temporary abode in their return from Bethlehem), which, in the latter end of the 4th century, was inha The only fure way of determining the matter feemed to be, either fome authentic account of the ufes now made of fuch buil-bited by Theodofius, chief of the dings, by fuch as entertain the fime, or nearly the fame, apprehenfions of religion, which the Scotch and Irish did, when thefe towers were built; or a clear description of the ufe formerly made of them, by the ancient hiftorians of eftablished reputation of thofe times, and those countries. I did not expect to meet with either of these; but lately, running over two volumes of letters, giving an account of feveral foreign parts, publifhed this year by fignior Lufignan, a Greck, (who, after the affair of Ali Bey took refuge in Eng hermits, and at length became a convent, which is now in ruins. That to the S. E. of this place, about a mile diftant, is the prefent monadery of St. Sabba, built on the clift of a hill clofe to the brook, furrounded with a stone-wall, 8 feet thick, aud 26 high, in circumference above a mile. "On the outfide of the wails, and on the weft, is a fquare tower of three flories, and twelve yards in diameter, in which two or three hermits fhut themfelves, who live in a very auftere manner. On the upper ftory is a bell bell, which, whenever any vifiters come from Jerufalem, is rung to give notice to the door keeper of the convent for their reception. On the fame quarter is the gate of the monastery, which is kept always locked, on account of the Arabs, who are very troublesome to the fociety of this convent. Now by this account it appears, that the great defign of this detached tower was to give timely notice of the approach of ftrangers, in a country very much harraffed by the Arabs that live in it under tents, and who are very troublefome to the more fettled inhabitants; which is done by a bell from the upper ftory, from whence was the mott extentive profpect. But along with this it feems to be put to another ufe, being inhabited by perfons who live in a very auficre manner, in other words doing penance. But it appears not to be used as a place of refuge, for people to retire to in times of danger; nor could it be wanted to that purpose, the monaf tery, which is near it, being fo ftrong, and at the fame time fo capacious; nor could it be wanted to call people to their devotions, there being no other perfons, it feems, to be fummoned, but thofe inclofed within the walls of the convent, in this retired place. "Satisfactory, however, as this account appears to be in general, a a more diftinct and particular one as to fome circumstances being wanted, I thought it might be right, as I have fome little knowledge of the author of this account, to confult him as to fome circumstances; and he very obligingly communicated to me the following eclairciffements, in two let:ers which I received from him. He tells me that the mode of living of the hermits, as he calls them, in the tower, is more fevere, as to dict, than of thofe in the con- fignior fignior Lufignan's account: probably their retirement to the tower might be fometimes owing to the one caufe, fometimes to the other. It muft certainly be voluntary in one fenfe, fince they could have left the tower when they pleased. "This tower, the letter farther informed me, is built on rocky ground, and higher than that on which the monaftery ftands. Its diftance more than 50 yards towards the W. of it. The height of the door of the tower belonging to St. Sabba is a circumftance, in which it appears to agree with the Scotch and Irishtow. ers; for he fays, in this letter, the entrance to it is by a ftone ftair-cafe of 14 fteps, and is diftant from the walls of the tower about 12 feet. On the top of the ftair-cafe is a drawbridge, which communicates with the door of the tower, to which are chains fixed on each fide, and it is hoifted up from the infide of the door, and never let down except neceffity requires. "In his printed account he obferves, that, in the 7th century, the nation called Abares, a Saracen tribe, maffacred fourteen thoufand hermits, who inhabited the banks of this brook. He enlarges the account of this matter in this letter: "The monastery was built in the beginning of the 6th century, as likewife the tower, which, I think, in former times ferved as a guard-houfe to this convent, as the tribe of Abares were very troublefome in that time to the fociety. The Arabs at prefent, though troublefone in afking daily food from the fociety, which yet as they obtain their request, never attempt to moleft the walls to break in." But though they do not attempt to scale the walls, they may be very perplexing fill, by intercepting the caravans that bring them corn or bifcuit, and other provifion, and might feize on the religious whenever their occations led them beyond the walls of St. Sabba, as the Arabs about Mount Sinai are wont to behave towards the celebrated monaftery there." "One would be apt to think, from what is faid in the printed ac count, p. 163, that there was a bell in the upper ftory of the tower, which was rung to give notice of the approach of ftrangers; but Lufignan, explains the matter other wife. In this letter, he fays, that "from one of the uppermost windows of the towers is a wire which communicates to the monaftery; on the end of it is a bell. When the hermits fpy any company coming from Jerufalem, they pull it to give notice to the fociety to open the gate, as it is always bolted up, and they never open it except on fimilar occafions." Nor is this bell, ufed, it feems, for any other purposes, at least not to call people to their devotions there, as he has told me in another letter, which I received after that of Sept. 11. "The monafteries of St. Sabba are called to prayers by the cleik, not by the found of the bell, as it is not permitted in those parts of the Turkish dominions, but by knocking at [on] a long board made on purpose, in which time all are gathered into the Cyriacon, or great church, and not in the chapels," except on the days of the different faints, to which, as he informed me in very broken English, the chapels were dedicated. The tower then is not now made use of for the calling a congregation to worship by the found of a beil, or any other inftrument of mufic, or by an human voice, for which laft purpofe the Mohammedans built their minarets. It could not have been defigned for such a purpose at firft, (which, if it was in the begin ning |