The first is of gold, and was deposited in the Cabinet du Roi at Paris. "Those who apply themselves to the study of ancient history," says M. Pellerin, " may perhaps discover on this golden medal some character or feature which shall enable them to ascertain the king and queen whose heads it exhibits, closely touching, or joined one to the other, with the bust or half-figure of a young man opposite, who offers them a crown *."

Of this very curious medal M. de Sacy informs us that the legend is composed of characters so small and badly expressed, that his endeavours to decypher it were vain t. My own attempts on this subject would no doubt have proved equally fruitless, had not the silver Hunterian medal, which bears the same device, and incontestably belongs to the same king, presented the following inscription in characters distinct and legible.

On the obverse,

מודיסן בה ורהראן מלכאן מלכאן איראן מנוגתרי

מן יזדא

Mazdiesn beh Varharan malkan malkan airan minochetri men Yezda (n)‡. "The worshipper of Ormuzd-the excellent Baharam, king of kings-of Iran-celestially descended from the Gods."

On the reverse,

Varhar (a) n Tesdani," or, Baharam the divine §,"

The reader will perceive that the letter n in the second maikan is superfluous: the Sassanian medals afford many instances of similar inaccuracies and mistakes; some of these M. de Sacy has pointed out, and others shall be noticed in my future publication: the last word of the inscription on the obverse (Tezdan) wants the final n; and in this respect the gold medal agrees with the silver, if M. Pelleria's engraving of the former has been executed with fidelity.

"Ceux qui s'appliquent à l'étude de l'histoire ancienne pour. ront peut-être aussi y trouver quelque trait propre à donner connoissance du roi et de la reine dont les têtes sont accolées sur la médaille d'or au devant desquels est la figure d'un jeune homme à mi-corps qui leur présente une couronne."-Trois. Supplém. aux Recueils des Méd. p. 36.'

+ 66 mais les caractères sont si petits et si informes que je n'ai rien pu y distinguer, &c."-Mém. sur diverses Antiq. 193.'

Although we are enabled to assign these medals to Baharam, yet they furnish no information on the subject of the queen and youth whose portraits they exhibit. The king appears wearing his winged tiara, as one supporter of the fire-altar on the reverse; whilst a female (most probably the queen) is represented as the other. On the Hunterian medal the sex of this figure is perfectly discernible, and particularly marked by the projecting head-dress, which resembles that of the queen on the obverse: but Mr. Pinkerton's engraver *, like the artist whom Peilerin † employed, has metamorphosed the female supporter into a bearded man, and omitted the wing, which on the other supporter's head is evidently one of the regal ornaments.

My reasons for attributing those coins to Baharam the Fifth, rather than to any other prince of that name, shall be hereafter mentioned.

I cannot however proceed to the next section without remarking that a gold medal of the Sassanidæ is in itself a numismatic treasure of uncommon value; because, according to Procopius, "it was not lawful for the Persian kings, or any other monarch of the Barbarians, to stamp their images on pieces of gold, whatever quantities of that metal they might possess, since money of such a description was not used in the commercial dealings even of the Barbarians themselves +."

• The reader must determine whether the discovery of a single medal should invalidate the evidence of Procopius. I know not of any other exception to the general rule; and even this may perhaps have been stricken as a proof-piece, and never intended for general circulation.

• I shall examine, in another place, all that can be collected from the works of Tabari, Ferdusi, and Nizami, respecting the Sassanian as well as the more early coinage of Persia: but I cannot here suppress, although by quoting them I encroach on the materials of my future work, one passage from a very ancient and excellent historian, Aseim of Cufa, and another of much greater strength, from Tabari. In relating the conquests of the khalif Omar, Assim informs us that Hormuzan, prince or governor of Ahwaz, and a general of the Persians, having been taken prisoner by Abu Musa Alashari, the Arabians entered his palace, and one of them perceived a statue of marble, representing a human figure pointing with both hands to a certain spot on the ground. The sagacious mussulman soon conceived that this attitude of the statue indicated the concealment of some treasure

See Essay on Medals, vol. i. pl. 1. fig. 10.'

See Troisième Supplem. aux Recueils des Méd. pl. 2. fig. 1.' • Η σε χαρακτήρα δε ίδιον εμβάλλεσθαι στατηρι χρυση ετε αυτόν θεμίς, ετε δε άλλον άνινα εν βασιλέα των πάντων βαρβαρων και ταύτα, μάλλον οντα χρυσε κυριον επει δε τοις ξυμβάλλεσι προϊεσθαι το νόμισμα τετη οίοιτε εἰσιν, καν βαρβαρος της ξυμβάλλοντας είναι Eutawa." Procop. de Bello Gothico, lib. iii. c. 33. or, according to some copies, cap. 17.'

"Awhile he contemplated the statue, and thought within himself that since it was so fixed against the wall as to point with its hands towards the ground, there must, by all means, have been something hidden there. He hastened to Abu Musa, and informed him of the circumstance. Abu Musa immediately sent some trusty persons to dig up the ground;-they discovered a great basket fas tened by a very strong lock; and Abu Musa having ordered them to lift up the cover, they found in it money coined in the name of the Kesri, with many trinkets of gold, such as ear-rings or pendants, collars or necklaces, ornaments + for the feet of every kind, all set with jewels, besides a considerable number of beautiful rings, &c."

• The word which I have here equivocally translated money, signifies, in its primitive and proper sense, gold; but as it is often used, in familiar conversation and writing, to express coin of silver as well as of gold, I shall not infer more from this passage than a very strong probability that it alludes to money of both metals-an inference sufficiently justified by the following extract from Tabari, who, describing a great battle in the time of Omar, between the Arabs and Persians, introduces the following anecdote:

"And the Persians waited until the day became warm, and after that a breeze arose from the west, and blew upon the faces of the Persians, so that they could not discern one another—and Rustam (their general) had placed his throne on the brink of a rivulet, and a thousand camels faden with direms and dinars (silver and gold money) were standing near his throne; and above his head was suspended a curtain or awning to yield him shade: this curtain the wind carried off, and it fell into the water. The sun's heat being very powerful, Rustam arose from his golden throne, and sheltered himself at the feet of a camel, and the Arabs had penetrated to the

*This word, although originally applied by the Arabian authors to Nushirvan, must be here translated the Persian king; for in this sense it frequently occurs in other parts of Assim's Chronicle. Thus, speaking of Shad the son of Azad, one of king Yezdegerd's offcers, he styles him

"a

find

general of the generals of the Kesri.”.

-

In Tabari also we

از سرهنگان كسري

كسري يزدجرد

(o) و the - برنجن is sometimes writen و رنجن

+ The word

being changed into

Kesri Yezdegerd.

(b), as in many other examples. Verenjin, according to Ferhungs Jehangiri, and Borhan Kattea (see article

9) signifies the clasps or rings of gold or silver which women

wear upon their wrists and ankles.'

, centre: and a certain man of the Arabs, named Helal ben Alkamah' came towards that camel, and, knowing that it was laden with direms and dinars, he cut the camel's rope with his sword, and a sack of dinars fell from the camel's load upon the back of Rustam, and broke his back-bone-and in his agony he threw himself into the water: but Helal knew that this was Rustam, and he took him by the feet and drew him forth from the water, and cut off his head, and stuck it on the point of his spear, &c."

I shall close this section by observing that the word

درم

(dirhem) although it may be translated accord

مہر زر

ing to that excellent dictionary, the Kashif al loghat, "coin of gold, silver, or copper;" yet when (dinar), as in the passage above quoted, it must

used with

نقره و

rather signify silver, dinar being the proper term for gold *. Thus

.Dinar, that is, gold » الدينار الي الذہب explains the word " “

دینار مهر

The Ferhung Abdurrahim says,

"Di

nar-coin, that is, of gold"-and the Borhan Kattea defines it "red money or gold" in contradistinction to white or silver money. The Old Ravayet, a curious manuscript containing many traditions of the Parsis, speaks of this red or golden coin, and of

Imperial دينار خروي Egyptian dinars, and دينار مصري

dinars, or dinars of Khosru in the time of Nushirvan. We also find mention of dinars in Ferdusi's History of Baharam the First, Khosru Parviz, Shirouieh, and other Sassanian kings; and we read in the Acts of the Eastern Martyrs †, that Shapour sent to Barshemin a vase or cup filled with a thousand golden sincas. The learned editor Assemanni, who gives the original Syriac of this passage, remarks that the sinca, or half-drachm, is the name of a coin still used in the east .' P. 7.

«Aureum, (dinar) denarium; argenteum

درهم

(fuls) follem appellans.'

O. G. Tychsen, Introd. in Rem Numariam Muham. p. 8.'

"Acta Martyrum Orientalium." Tom. i. p. 114.'

"Sinca, i. e. semi-drachma, monetæ id nomen est quæ etiamnum apud Orientales viget." p. 117-'

Upon the whole, this tract is another favorable specimen of sir William Ouseley's well-known abilities in oriental literature; and we shall be glad to see the publication of the Miscellaneous Antiquities of Persia, which he has here announced.

MONTHLY CATALOGUE.

POLITICS.....POLITICAL ECONOMY.

ART. 14.-The immediate Causes, and remote Consequences of the Peace, considered. 8vo. 25. Thurgood. 1801.

THE language of Mr. Pitt's administration on the object of the late unfortunate war is contrasted with that of the opposition on the same subject; and the empty boastings of the former are treated with a considerable degree of severity.

The nation was cajoled, and its representatives influenced, to support the minister in a war for an indefinite object, and incomprehensible term-as long, it may be said, as his ingenuity could devise ways and means for carrying it on, or till his pride or his private revenge should be satisfied; and it is not easy to say which of these predominated at times, or most contributed to make up his concealed and implacable motive.' P. 30.

What led the minister to desist from his mad enterprise is, in different circles, ascribed to various causes; but our author is positive that—

Nothing less than a consciousness that the whole fabric was about to fall, and, like another Samson, crush him in its ruins, could force this obstinate man to quit his hold of the pillars of the temple.' P. 31.

The causes of the peace then were the failure in obtaining any one of the objects contended for by the abettors of the war-the defection of all our allies-the inevitable ruin of the country by the paper system. Yet the consequences of the peace are represented as very dangerous. A spirit of disaffection, from a comparison of the degree of liberty gained by France with that lost in England; the difference of taxation in the two countries, in one of which each individual pays little more than four shillings, in the other little less than four pounds annually; the cheapness of living in the former country, and encouragement to emigration-all these are said to be calls on persons in power for a restoration of the old maxims of government; and a peaceable reform is recommended to prevent the ne