contemporary with the events recorded, and of which originals
are preserved in the National Collection.
The work has been brought to a close at the end of the reign
of George II., for the reason that the medals of the following
reigns do not call for ,such elaborate descriptions and historical
references as the earlier pieces; and, moreover, the space which
they would occupy is considerable, as the medals of the reign of
George III. are almost as numerous as all the preceding series.
It will be seen that the British Museum possesses an unrivalled
series of English medals, and it is hoped that the
publication of this work may lead to the supplying of the
deficiencies in the National Collection, now that they are made
known.
I t will be well to give some account of the origin of this
work and of the vicissitudes through which it has passed. It
was compiled by the late Mr. Edward Hawkins, F.R.S.,
F.S.A., who became, in 1826, Assistant-Keeper of Antiquities
and Coins in the British Museum, and shortly after was advanced
to the rank of Keeper, an office which he held till his
retirement in 1861. He died in 1867.
From early life Mr. Hawkins had paid great attention to the
medals and political caricatures of this country, of both of
which he formed large collections, now the property of the
nation, the former having been acquired in 1860, and the latter
in 1868. Even before entering the service of the Trustees,
Mr. Hawkins had prepared and had intended to publish a catalogue
of medals as a private undertaking, but it was ultimately
decided that this work should appear as a Museum publication.
The portion of it terminating with the end of the reign of
William III. was printed in 18-52, but on its being submitted
to the Trustees they observed in it some strictures upon public
characters, which, though admissible in the work of a private
individual, they felt could not appear in a publication issued by
Government, and the volume was therefore not published (See
Hansard, 8 July, 1854). In 1864 the matter came again
before the Trustees, who, regretting that a work so useful to
the students of history and to the numismatist should not
appear, obtained the consent of Mr. Hawkins to a revision
of the historical notes by Mr. W. S. W. Vaux, then Keeper of
Coins, and myself, which was duly made.
In making this revision I noticed that Mr. Hawkins had had
few opportunities of examining foreign collections, the only
continental cabinet to which he referred being that of the
Bibliothèque at Paris. I felt sure that on examining the rich
collections on the Continent a number of medals would be
found, which Mr. Hawkins had not had an opportunity of
seeing, and with the consent of the Trustees I devoted a portion
of my vacation for some years to visiting the collections, both
public and private, in France, Belgium, Holland, Germany,
Denmark, Sweden, and Russia. The result was, as I anticipated,
the bringing to light of a great many medals, which
Mr. Hawkins only knew of from published works, as well as
a certain number of pieces not hitherto described. These
researches also led to a considerable modification of the estimated
degrees of rarity. The additions in this portion of the
work from these and other sources number in all 446, and
may be briefly enumerated as follows : to the end of the reign
of Mary, 68; in the reign of Elizabeth, 82; of James I., 37 ;
of Charles I., 58 ; during the Commonwealth, 17 ; in the
reign of Charles II., 47; of James II., 5; and of William
and Mary, 137.
As it was at first intended that the work should end with
the death of William III., my researches were not so full as
regards the medals of the subsequent reigns, and I contented
myself with seeking for specimens known to Mr. Hawkins but
wanting in the National Collection. The additions, therefore,
to these reigns have been less numerous, and there are fewer
references to foreign collections.