the Queen of Scots was dead, and France and the Vatican had
been baffled. Many of the pieces issued in Holland on this
event, and on the defeat of the Spaniards in the Low Countries,
are not wanting in that severe satire so characteristic of Dutch
sentiment of this and later times. On one piece is represented
the Pope seated in council with kings, prelates, and others,
their eyes bandaged and the floor filled with spikes, and warned
by the legend, “ Durum est contra stimulos calcitrare ” ; on
another the Church remains firmly founded on a rock, whilst
the fleet which threatened its destruction is dispersed and
wrecked; and on a third the Spaniards in their distress are
made to eat out of a manger with the horse and the ass.
- In the execution of many of these pieces the artists adopted
the process introduced by their predecessors in Italy. The
art of making dies, as it was understood at the time, and the
imperfect state of the machinery used, would only permit the
striking of pieces in very low relief. I t was altogether unsuited
to the production of medals, so that those were generally
cast. The method adopted seems to have been very simple.
The model was executed in wax, and from this a mould was
made, either in charcoal or in very fine moulding earth or
sand this mould was then stiffened with a kind of lye, and
when hard the metal was poured into it. The original model
•was in this manner not destroyed, and could be used for subsequent
castings. This process, however, would often leave the
surface of the mould somewhat rough. To correct this the
whole medal was worked over with sand-paper, or some fine
instrument, and in many cases a graving tool was used to
emphasize the outlines, or to reproduce the finer lines, such
as the indications of hair, which could hardly be left distinct
after the casting. When this additional process has been
used, the medal is described in this work as cast and chased.
The undisputed accession of the House of Stuart to the
throne of England, and the peaceful reign of its first king,
limited the subjects for medallic illustration. The medals of
the reign of James I. are personal, with few exceptions,
such as those commemorating the Treaty with Spain of
1604, the Gunpowder Plot, of which there is an interesting
medalet struck in Holland, and the alliance between England,
France, and the United Provinces for the protection of the
latter against the power of Spain. The personal medals present
us with several portraits of the King, and of various
members of the Royal Family, and of some leading men of
the time, amongst whom are the Marquess of Buckingham,
Richard Sackville, Earl of Dorset, Sir Thomas Bodley, founder
of the public library at Oxford, and Nicholas and Dorothy
Wadham, founders of the College of that name in the same
city. The medals relating to Shakespeare are not of the time.
As historical records, those of Frederick, Count Palatine, and
Princess Elizabeth are perhaps the most interesting. They
were executed chiefly by German artists, and refer to the
marriage of the Prince and Princess, and to their subsequent
unsuccessful struggle for the crown of Bohemia.
The majority of these pieces, like many of an earlier date,
have the defect that they do not bear the artists’ signatures; to
this rule the series of medallic portraits by Simon Passe is an
exception. These deserve especial notice, as they were executed
in a manner till then little practised. Passe was an engraver
of frontispieces and plates for books, consequently his portraits,
which are always on thin silver plates, have also generally
been supposed to have been engraved. Were this so, we
should expect to meet with one specimen only of a portrait.
As many examples of the same portrait are known, it is
evident, as they do not vary in a single line, that they were not
engraved, but struck from metal-dies produced from very finely
line-engraved punches. This is confirmed by the existence of
many counters in use at the time, which were executed in the
same manner. Passe’s portraits were often taken from life, and
are very pleasing, his style being clear and neat, and remarkable
for sharpness of outline.
The chief events recorded during the early part of the reign
of Charles I. are tho claims of England for the Dominion of
the Sea in 1630 and 1639, the Scottish coronation of 1633,
and the settlement of the Dutch Fishery question, which
before 1636 had been the cause of frequent collisions between
the fishing communities of the two countries. Beside these