tam en na sca tu r o p o r t e t . (Still it m u s t n e e d s b e b o r n .) Ex.
MDCLXXXVIII.
1'95. Med. Hist, xxxix. 4. Yan Loon, I I I . 346.
MB. j i t . Bibl. Paris, jR . Gotha, j i t . Munich, At.
Stockholm, lead. Rare.
Pallas committed to the care of the three daughters of
Cecrops a basket, with a special injunction not to open it.
Opened however it was .by Aglauros, and out rushed Erichtho-
nius, a progeny of Yulcan, half man, half monster, not born
of woman. The roses and thistles point the application of
the fable to Great Britain. The three daughters are England,
Scotland, and Ireland. Erichthonius, hideous and deformed,
could not be of royal blood, he must be a pretender, and as
the Queen was considered incapable of bearing children, he
must have been produced without a mother.
The rosebush represents the King and Queen, who, it was
generally believed, would never have any children ; it was
however necessary that one should be born, and therefore a
young Prince or sucker is seen springing up at such a distance
from the parent stock, that it may be doubted from what plant
it is produced.
54. A n t ic h r is t ia n C o n f e d e r a c y . 1688.
Suleyman III., Sultan of Turkey, Louis XIV., Mezzo.
Morto, Dey of Algiers, and James II., with their swords
drawn, stand round the altar of Discord swearing alliance. On
the blazing altar is the presiding genius, the snake, and on its
side, the crescent above the Christian monogram. Leg.
SOLIMAN I I I . LVDOV : XIIII . MEZOMORTO ' . IACOBVS I I . E t V,
CONTRA c h r i s t i a n im um . (Against the spirit of Christ.)
Rev. Three lilies supporting a crescent. Above, hovers an
imp wearing a Jesuit’s cap, and holding a sword and thunder.
Leg. IN fc e d e r e QUINTUS. (The fifth in the confederacy.) Ex.
1688.
P5. . Yan Loon, II I. 347.
MB. jR. Hague, jR. Gotha, At. St. Petersburg, At.
Rare.
This medal is Dutch, and was executed by Jan Smeltzing.
The same four Potentates ; the altar has the additional
ornament of a wreath of flowers. Leg. so l iman . r a . lu d o v .
XIV . MEZOMORTO . IACOB . I I . Ex. CONTRA CHRISTIANISMUM.
(Against Christianity.)
Rev. Three lilies, &c. ; similar to the preceding, but issuing
from a scroll ornament, in which is the date, 1688.
1’9. Med. Hist, xxxix. 8. Yan Loon, III. 347.
MB. At. lead. Advocates, lead. Brussels, lead. Stockholm,
lead. Very rare.
Cast and chased.
56. A n t ic h r is t ia n C o n f e d e r a c y . 1688.
There is a third specimen of these medals differing from the
second, only in the size, and in the inscription on the exergue
on the obverse, which is the same as on the first.
,2-25. Yan Loon, I I I . 347. Menestrier, Dutch Ed.
PI. 40.
Bibl. Paris, M . Extremely rare.
This medal is cast. All these medals were executed in
Holland. The last two are only enlarged copies, but slightly
varied, of No. 54. The French Ambassador, Count d’Avaux,
in a memorial to the States of Holland, declared that Louis
XIY. and James II. were bound to each other by the strictest
ties of friendship and alliance. I t was universally believed
that a secret treaty existed, notwithstanding the denial of
James. The treaty was called “ The French league to cut
Protestants’ throats in England.” James was said to have
permitted some Algerine Corsairs to carry Dutch prizes into
English ports; and Louis was charged with having excited
the Turks to hostilities with Germany. In allusion to these
circumstances these four potentates are represented as leaguing
together against Christianity, the Devil himself being the fifth
in the confederacy.
The w o rk a b o v e m e n t io n e d , e n t i t l e d “ H i s t o i r e Du Roy