without fearing the imputation of pedantry or ill-breeding.

They were one evening taking a walk together in the fields when their discourse accidentally fell upon feveral unprofitable parts of learning. It was Cynthio's humour to run down every thing that was rather for oftentation than ufe. He was ftill preferring good fenfe to arts and fciences, and often took a pleasure to appear ignorant, that he might the better turn to ridicule thofe that valued themselves on their books and ftudies, though at the fame time one might very well fee that he could not have attacked many parts of learning fo fuccefsfully, had not he borrowed his affiftances from them. After having rallied a fet or two of Virtuofos, he fell the medallifts.

upon

These gentlemen, fays he, value themfelves upon being critics in rust, and will undertake to tell you the different ages of it, by its colour. They are poffeffed with a kind of learned avarice, and are for getting together hoards of fuch money only as was current among the Greeks and Latins. There are feveral of them that are better acquainted with the faces of the Antonines, than of the Stuarts, and would rather choose to count out a fum in fefterces, than in pounds fterling. I have heard of one in Italy that ufed to fwear by the head of Otho. Nothing can be pleasanter than to fee a circle of thefe

4

Virtuofos about a cabinet of medals, defcanting upon the value, rarity and authenticalnefs of the feveral pieces that lie before them. One takes up a coin of gold, and after having well weighed the figures and infcription, tells you very gravely if it were brafs, it would be invaluable. Another falls a ringing a Pescennius Niger, and judiciously diftinguishes the found of it to be modern. A third defires you to obferve well the Toga on fuch a reverfe, and afks you whether you can in confcience believe the fleeve of it to be of the true Roman cut.

I must confess, says Philander, the knowledge of medals has most of those disadvantages that can render a fcience ridiculous, to fuch as are not well verfed in it. Nothing is more easy than to reprefent as impertinences any parts of learning that have no immediate relation to the happiness or convenience of mankind. When a man fpends his whole life among the stars and planets, or lays out a twelvemonth on the fpots in the fun, however noble his fpeculations may be, they are very apt to fall inco burlefque. But it is ftill more natural to laugh at fuch studies as are employed on low and vulgar objects. What curious obfervations have been made on fpiders, lobsters, and cockle-shells? yet the very naming of them is almoft fufficient to turn them into rallery. It is no wonder therefore that the B 2 fcience

science of medals, which is charged with fo many unconcerning parts of knowledge, and built on fuch mean materials, fhould appear ridiculous to thofe that have not taken the pains to examine it.

Eugenius was very attentive to what Philander faid on the fubject of medals. He was one that endeavoured rather to be agreeable than fhining in converfation, for which reafon he was more beloved, though not fo much admired as Cynthio. I muft confefs, fays he, I find myfelf very much inclined to fpeak against a fort of study that I know nothing of. I have however one ftrong prejudice in favour of it, that Philander has thought it worth his while to employ fome time upon it. I am glad then, fays Cynthio, that I have thrown him on a fcience of which I have long wifhed to hear the usefulness. There, fays Philander, you must excufe me. At prefent you do not know but it may have its ufefulness. But should I endeavour to convince you of it, I might fail in my attempt, and fo render my science still more contemptible. On the contrary, fays Cynthio, we are already fo perfuaded of the unprofitableness of your fcience, that you can but leave us where you find us, but if you fucceed you increase the number of your party. Well, fays Philander, in hopes of making two fuch confiderable profelytes, I am very well content

to

to talk away an evening with you on the fubject; but on this condition, that you will communicate your thoughts to me freely when you diffent from me, or have any difficulties that you think me capable of removing. To make use of the liberty you give us, fays Eugenius, I must tell you what I believe furprifes all beginners as well as myself. We are apt to think your medallifts a little fantastical in the different prices they fet upon their coins, without any regard to the ancient value or the metal, of which they are compofed. A filver medal, for example, fhall be more esteemed than a golden one, and a piece of brafs than either. To answer you, fays Philander, in the language of a medallift, you are not to look upon a cabinet of medals as a treasure of money, but of knowledge, nor must fancy any charms in gold, but in the figures and infcriptions that adorn it. The intrinfic value of an old coin does not confift in its metal but its erudition. It is the device that has raised the fpecies, fo that at. present an As or an Obolus may carry a higher price than a Denarius or a Drachma; and a piece of money that was not worth a fifteen hundred years ago, may be now rated at fifty crowns, or perhaps a hundred guineas. I find, fays Cynthio, that to have a relish for ancient coins it is neceffary to have a contempt of the modern. But I

penny

you

am afraid you will never be able, with all your medallic eloquence, to perfuade Eugenius and myself that it is better to have a pocket full of Otho's and Gordians than of Jacobus's or Louis-d'ors. This however we fhall be judges of, when you have let us know the feveral ufes of old coins.

The first and most obvious one, fays Philander, is the fhewing us the faces of all the great perfons of antiquity. A cabinet of medals is a collection of pictures in miniature. Juvenal calls them very humorously,

Concifum argentum in titulos, faciefque minutas.

Sat. 5.

You here fee the Alexanders, Cæfars, Pompeys, Trajans, and the whole catalogue of heroes, who have many of them so distinguished themselves from the rest of mankind that we almoft look upon them as another species. It is an agreeable amusement to compare in our own thoughts the face of a great man with the character that authors have given us of him, and to try if we can find out in his looks and features either the haughty, cruel, or merciful temper that discovers itself in the history of his actions. We find too on medals the reprefentations of Ladies that have given occafion to whole volumes on the account

only