viency, singularly fitted him to be the tool of a tyrant. He wanted indeed the aid of hypocrisy, but he was free from its restraints. He had that reputation for boldness which many men preserve, as long as they are personally safe, by violence in their counsels and in their language. If he at last feared danger, he never feared shame, which much more frequently restrains the powerful. Perhaps the unbridled fury of his temper enabled him to threaten and intimidate with more effect, than a man of equal wickedness with a cooler character. His religion, which seems to have consisted in hatred to nonconformists, did not hinder him from profaneness; his native fierceness was daily inflamed by debauchery; his excesses were too gross and outrageous for the decency of historical relation, and his court was a continual scene of scurrilous invective, from which none were exempted but his superiors. A contemporary† of amiable disposition and tory principles, who knew him well, sums up his character in a few words," He was by nature cruel, and a slave of the court." * CHARACTER OF THE QUEEN. Mary d'Este, the consort of James, was married at the age of fifteen, and had been educated in such gross ignorance, that she had never heard of the name of England, until it was made known to her on occasion of her marriage. She was trained to a rigorous observance of all the practices of her religion, which sank more deeply into her heart, and more constantly influenced her conduct, than was usual among Italian princesses. On her arrival in England, she shewed a childish aversion to James, which was quickly converted into passionate fondness. But neither her attachment nor her beauty could fix the heart of that inconstant prince, who reconciled a warm zeal for his religion, with an habitual indulgence in those pleasures which it most forbids. Her life was embittered by the triumph of mistresses, and by the frequency of her own perilous and unfruitful pregnancies. Her most formidable rival, at the period of the accession, was Catharine Sedley, a woman of few personal attractions, who inherited the wit and vivacity of her father, Sir Charles Sedley, which she unsparingly exercised on the priests and opinions of her royal lover. Her character was frank, her deportment bold, and her pleasantries more amusing than refined. Soon after the accession, James was persuaded to relinquish his intercourse with her, and though she retained her lodgings in the palace, he did not see her for several months. The connection was then secretly renewed, and in the first fervour of a revived passion, the King offered to give her the title of Countess of Dorchester. She declined this invidious distinction, assuring him, that by provoking the anger of the Queen and of the Catholics, it would prove her ruin. He See Evelyn's Diary, 1. 531. Reresby, 231. and Roger North, p. 250. These defects were probably magnified in the verses of Lord Dorset: Dorinda's sparkling wit and eyes Which blazes high, but quickly dies, Pains not the heart, but hurts the sight. Love is a calmer, gentler joy, Smooth are his looks, and soft his pace, Her Cupid is a blackguard boy, That runs his link full in your face. however insisted, and she yielded, upon condition that, if he was ever again prevailed upon to dissolve their connection, he should come to her to announce his determination in person. The title produced the effects which she had foreseen. Mary, proud of her beauty, still enamoured of her husband, and full of religious horror at the vices of Mrs. Sedley, gave way to the most clamorous excesses of sorrow and anger at the promotion of her competitor. She spoke to the King with a violence for which she long after reproached herself as a grievous fault. At one time she said to him, "Is it possible that you are ready to sacrifice a crown for your faith, and cannot discard a mistress for it! will you for such a passion lose the merit of your sacrifices?" On another occasion she exclaimed, "Give me my dowry, make her Queen of England, and never let me see her more." Her transports of grief sometimes betrayed her to foreign ministers, and she neither ate nor spake with the King at the public dinners of the court. RARE AND UNPUBLISHED COINS OF ROMAN EMPERORS, CESARS, AND EMPRESSES, STRUCK IN GREEK CITIES. LETTER I. Mr. URBAN, Camberwell, Nov. 10. THE series of Imperial Greek Coins, or coins of Roman Emperors struck in the provinces, has, until within these few years past, been strangely neglected by English numismatists; a neglect which may be attributed to a feeling similar to that of the late Mr. Payne Knight, whose enthusiastic fondness for what he termed the legitimate remains of Greek art, led him to exclude from his cabinet all coins struck by Greek cities after they had become tributary to the Romans. A fine and matchless series of the coins of the Kings of the Bosphorus in electrum, is said to have passed from this gentleman's collection to that of a northern Sovereign, Mr. Knight alleging that they were not genuine Greek coins, and therefore unworthy a place in his cabinet. Such caprice in an unlettered man, who collects ancient coins merely for their beauty, and cares not whether they illustrate the manners and customs of the ancients, so that they please the eye, would not excite our wonder; but that the scholar and the man of taste should adopt such notions, is strange and inexplicable. The series of which the following are hitherto undescribed specimens, is particularly rich in historical information. The Imperial Greek coins are in execution, for the most part, far inferior to those struck at Rome; still there are many of very elegant fabric; but the instruction to be derived from their endless variety of type and legend, certainly exceeds that of any other series. The names and portraits of Emperors, Empresses, and Cæsars; the whole mythology of the Greeks, with the representation of their deities in the most ancient form-the cone-shaped stone and the terminus; the names and titles of Magistrates; the privileges of cities, their sites, and the various games instituted by the Emperors, are all presented on these remarkable monuments of the Roman power. The following coins are not mentioned by Vaillant, Eckhel, or Mionnet, and are therefore presumed to be unique. The descriptions, as well as the drawings, have been made with the greatest attention to accuracy: the obsertations are addressed only to those who have not made the science of medals their study. GENT. MAG. VOL. III. E I. LUCIUS VERUS. CYZICUS IN MYSIA. ΚΥΖΙΚΗΝΩΝ ΝΕΟΚΟΡΩΝ Obverse. ΑΥ. ΚΑΙ . Λ . ΑΥΡΗΛΙΟΣ . ΟΥΗΡOC. Αὐτοκράτωρ Καίσαρ Λούκιος Αυρήλιος Ούῆρος. The Emperor Cesar Lucius Aurelius Verus. Bust of Verus to the right, bare-headed. - Reverse. (money) of the people of Cyzicus, Neocori. Victory in a biga to the right. [In the cabinet of Dr. J. Lee.] This elegant coin is of large brass. Its fabric is quite equal to that of the brass coins of this Emperor struck at Rome. We have many fine autonomous coins of Cyzicus, the execution of which attests the state of the arts in this city, whose citadel, walls, harbour, and marble towers are eulogized by Florus. The inhabitants of Cyzicus were deprived of their privileges by Augustus, who was incensed against them on account of their neglect of the ceremonies in his honour, as also for the violence which they had offered to some Roman citizens. II. BARBIA ORBIANA. CIUS IN BITHYNIA. Obverse. Γ.ΓΕΙ . ΕΡΕ . ΓΑΛ . ΒΑΡ. ΟΡΒΙΑΝΑ. Γνία Σεία Ερευνία Σαλλούσ τία Βαρβία Ορβίανα. Gnea Seia Herennia Sallustia Barbia Orbiana. The bust of the Empress to the right. Reverse. KIANON. (money) of the people of Cius. A youthful male figure seated on a rock, to the right. [In the cabinet of Mr. Thomas.] It is only on her Greek coins that we find the long list of names borne by this Empress, who is not mentioned by ancient historians. Before the discovery of a brass medallion bearing the head of Orbiana and that of her husband Severus Alexander, she was supposed to be the wife of Trajanus Decius. The foundation of Cius is attributed to various persons. It was destroyed by Philip V. King of Macedon, and rebuilt by the first Prusias, who gave it his name; but it subsequently resumed its ancient one of Cius. A coin of Domitian of this city, described in the Mus. Theupoli, bears the name of Prusias, while others of the same Emperor, quoted by Mionnet, have that of Cius; so that, in all probability, the change took place about this time. The reverse of the coin under notice, presents us with the representation of Hylas, the youthful companion and favourite of Hercules, who, landing with the Argonauts on the coast of Asia, for the purpose of obtaining a supply of water, was drowned in the river Ascanius. Hercules abandoned the Argonauts to go in search of him. Others say that he was carried off by the nymph Dryope who was enamoured of his extreme beauty. A coin of the Empress Tranquillina struck at Cius has the figure of Hylas with a vase or pitcher in his hand. As this title will not exactly admit of a literal translation, it may be necessary to give, once for all, a description of its import. The word is derived from ves, for vaos, a temple, and xope to cleanse; and in its original sense answered to our Sacristan; but, in process of time, it became a title of great consequence. Cities thus styled had the privilege of erecting temples and celebrating festivals in honour of the Gods and the Augusti, at which games were introduced, with musical, poetical, gymnastic, equestrian, and naval contests. At these festivals the Emperor was sometimes present, when the city was, at his command, proclaimed neocora, as a mark of especial favour and distinction. Some cities boasted the repetition of this honour ; and thus we find ΔΙΣ ΝΕΟΚΟΡΩΝ and ΤΡΙΣ ΝΕΟΚΟΡΩΝ. Ephesus and Smyrna, of which I shall have occasion to speak on another occasion, gloried in the title of neocora. b B. iii. c. 5. Eckhel, Doct. Num. Vet. ii. 434-437, and Sestini's Lettere, &c. d Vol. II. p. 493. |