there are several important personal pieces, but there are none
which point to the early struggle between the King and the
Parliament. After the Declaration of Parliament in 1642,
when the country was divided into two great contending parties,
a new era in its medallic history begins. By far the greater
number of the pieces issued at this time are badges, that is,
medals of an oval form, furnished with a ring for suspension,
and having the portraits of the leading statesmen and
generals of the period. These served as military rewards,
to he worn by partisans of either side. They may he considered
as the inauguration of the custom of granting military
and naval decorations, so general in the present century. An
especial interest is, however, attached to these badges of the
seventeenth century, when we consider the circumstances under
which they were issued, by whom they were worn, and the
eminent men whose portraits they bear. I t is a gallery of
contemporary portraiture of such men as Essex, Fairfax, Poyntz,
Waller, the Earl of Manchester, and Prince Kupert. The
loyalty of the Royalists is more particularly evinced in the large
number of badges hearing portraits of the King, the Queen,
and Prince Charles. These pieces are of various sizes, always
cast, and are provided with loops, so that they might he worn
openly or in secret, as the state of the times permitted.
For the period of the Commonwealths there are a considerable
number of medals of Cromwell and his family, and
also of the most conspicuous amongst the opponents of the
King—Ireton, Lilburn, Lambert, and Thurloe. To this time
also belong the various military and naval rewards struck by
order of the Parliament. One of them is the Dunbar medal,
in two sizes, with the portrait of Cromwell on the obverse, and
on the reverse the Parliament assembled in one house with the
Speaker, which was presented to every man of every grade of the
army who had been present in that engagement. The portrait
of Cromwell on this medal was a special and unprecedented
honour paid to that general by the Parliament itself. The
famous medal for Blake’s victories over the Dutch was only
awarded to officers; but there was a smaller piece which
appears to have served for general distribution.
It was fortunate that the demand for these badges and memorials
was well responded to by several artists of considerable
merit. These were the brothers Abraham and Thomas Simon,
who were engaged by the Parliament; Thomas Rawlins and
Nicholas Briot, who were in the service of the King. Of the
two Simons, Abraham was the modeller, Thomas the engraver.
Numerous medallic portraits of Parliamentarians and some
few Royalists were first modelled in wax by Abraham, and
when cast into metal were in many instances chased by Thomas,
who often appropriated the credit of the entire work to himself
by placing his signature on them. It has been a question
whether Thomas did not make some of those models himself,
as in his Will he speaks of certaip models in wax, which he
bequeathed to his son. Yertue says that he did not. As models
of casting these pieces have scarcely found equals in this country,
and as portraits they have the credit of being both faithful and
expressive. Thomas Simon, who is especially known through
his connexion with the Mint, of which he was Chief Engraver
during the period of the Civil War and the Commonwealth,
produced most of the military and naval rewards above mentioned,
the fine set of coins which bear the portrait of the
Protector, a large series of patterns for coins, and also the new
seals for various offices of State. In technical delicacy of execution
many of Simon’s works are unequalled. Thomas
Rawlins, the Royalist medallist, cannot be mentioned in such
high terms. He produced nearly all the numerous badges of
the Royal Family, and his best work as an engraver is the
“ Oxford Crown,” which, though possessing great merit in point
of execution, fails to attain the sharpness and high finish
which characterize the work of his rival. Nicholas Briot was a
Frenchman, who came here early in the reign of Charles I.,
and set up at the Mint his improved balance, the use of which
he restricted to the production of coins and medalets. His
medals are always cast, and from this circumstance it is evident
that this artist was fully aware how unsuitable any mechanical
process was for pieces of large dimensions. Bof^voon the above
artists and another Frenchman, Yarin, noted for his portrait-
medals, the medallic work of this period in England was divided.