Page:Archaeologia Volume 13.djvu/41

Rh shews the royal infant in a superb chair, with Mars and Mercury holding a wreath over him. The motto is. In the Exergue the date of his birth 29, 1630.

The medal is the size of king Charles I.'s twenty shilling piece of gold, and weighs 6 dwts. 18 gs. It is in very fine preservation, and was shewn to me by its owner, my relation, Mr. William Beck, of Fish-street-hill, and of Hackney; judging it to be of very great value, I requested his permission to have a drawing taken of it, and his leave to shew the medal itself to this society.

It is well known how much king Charles I. loved the arts, and what care he took to have his coins more beautiful than any of his predecessors. His money is more varied in type than that of any of our sovereigns. He was extremely pleased in diversifying the type or fashion of his coins, and he excelled all our monarchs in the number and variety of his medals, which he continued occasionally to strike until the unhappy civil wars; and even after that time his coins, from their beauty, their reference to events and places, and their dates, may be almost ranked with medals.

We cannot, therefore, wonder that his majesty should in his happier days strike medals to commemorate the principal events of his reign; of these we have many.

As every thing relative to an heir apparent to the crown is peculiarly interesting both to the sovereign and his subjects, Charles I. issued a medal upon the birth of Prince Charles, and another when he was created Prince of Wales.

There is a small silver medal or jetton struck to commemorate the nativity of Prince Charles, which is common enough: it is inscribed on the obverse,. The reverse has the royal arms in four shields. England and France in the first, Scotland in the second, France in the third, and Ireland in the fourth. In the center is Rh