b o o k the coins; and perhaps the Tartars who over-ran Ruffia ufed,
v' ..i inftead o f them, the fwan, the harpy, and the iiren, whofe
reprefentations áre occafionally obferved. The coins which
are imprefled with the figures above-mentioned were probably
ftruck in the correfponding years o f the cycle. The
fame hiftorian alfo advances, that the annual tribute paid by
the Ruffians to the Tartars was marked by the animals which
denote the particular year o f the cycle ; and, as in fome
coins two o f thefe animals are reprefented at the fame time,
probably the tribute o f two years was delivered at once: he
fupports this conjecture with great appearance o f argument.
2. Coins with a Tartar infcription exhibit images o f men
on foot, or on horfeback, holding in their hands a fabre, a
lance, and a falcon ; alfo o f griffins, goats, fowls, and fwans.
3. Coins that have jointly both Tartar and Ruffian in -
fcriptions.'
4. Coins with only Ruffian characters without date; and
as the name o f the prince in whofe reign they were ftruck
is not expreffed, their age cannot be determined.
We may remark upon the three laft clafles, that from the
time the coin bore any infcription, the Characters were fome-
times Tartar, fometimes Ruffian, and fometimes both, as the
ibvereigns o f this empire were more or lefs fubjeCt to the
Tartar yoke.
5. The coins o f the great-dukes, beginning from Vaffili
Demitrievitch, and ending with thofe o f Vaffili Ivanovitch.
The year in which the great-d uke firft ftruck money at
Mofcow is not afcertained; but from the Ruffian infcription
upon the moft antient pieces o f this clafs, Knaes
Veliki Vaffili, the gréat-duke Vaffili, probably about the year
1424, when Vaffili Demitrievitch obtained a complete victory
tory over Kundal, khan of-the Tartars. The year before the chap.
death o f Ivan Vaffilievitch I. a coin was ftruck by Ariftotle1— A-»
o f Bologna, who, among other foreign artifts, was drawn by
that prince to Mofcow.
6. The coins o f the princes o f the blood who held independent
principalities, namely, thofe o f Galitz, Svenigorod,
Moihaiik, Bielofero, Sufdal, Refan, Tver, &c.
i 7= Thofe o f the principal’towns, which had the right o f
coining, namely, Novogorod, Plefcof, Mofcow, Tver, &c.
The moft ancient are thole o f Novogorod, in which city the
Tartar money had no currency, as the commercial intercourie
with foreign nations had introduced the Lithuanian and
Swediffi fpecies.
8. The coins from the tzar Ivan Vaffilievitch II. to the
majority o f peter the Great. T h e firft gold piece was made
in the reign o f Ivan, and the impreffion was at the fame
time greatly improved.. Upon fome o f tbefe pieces I obferved
on one fide the fpread-eagle and an unicorn; and on the re-
Verfe the fpread-eagle, with a St. George and the dragon on
its breaft. The firft introduction o f the fpread-eagle is fup-
pofed to be owing to the marriage o f Ivan Vaffilievitch I.
with the Greek princefs Sophia ; in whofe right he is faid to
have founded pretenfions to the Greek empire, and to have
borne that device upon his arms. But we have no proof o f
the fadt, either from the coins o f this monarch, or from the
accounts o f Herberftein and Poffevinus ; and Ivan Vaffilievitch
II. was undoubtedly the firft prince under whom the
device of the fpread-eagle was ftamped upon the coin ;
but hiftory is filent on what occafion' it was affirmed. T h e
firft rouble, which before was only ufed like our pound fter-
ling in computing, was coined by Alexey Michaelovitchl In
t is clafs are three coins remarkable in the hiftory o f the
empire: