nia aurum et argentum, et alia metalla pretium victoriae
These metals have, in later times, been got in qualities sufficient to prove, that they might, at an earlier period, have been an object worthy of conquest. In the reigns of James IV. and Y. vast wealth was procured in the Lead Hills, from the gold collected from the sand washed from the mountain. In the reign of the latter, not less than to the value of three hundred thousand pounds sterling. In another place, a piece of thirty ounces weight was found. Much also was obtained in the time of the Regent Morton7,. The search is now given over; but bits are still found accidentally. Lord Hopton, owner of the Lead, Hills, is in possession of a specimen that weighs an ounce and a half^).
Gold is to this day found in Cornwall, mixed with tin and other substances*. The largest piece that has been yet discovered, is equal in weight to three guineas. It is probable that it was the Cornish gold which proved the lure to the Romans; for it was impossible they or the Phoenians cians could be ignorant of it, who had such long commerce with the country, and who were acquainted with the manner of obtaining it in other places. Pliny, speaking of tin, says, that there is found in the gold mines of Spain and Portugal, a sort called Elutiah (which a Cornish man would call stream tin), being washed from the vein by water, and gathered up in baskets along with the gold0.
Strabo and Tacitus agree, that we had mines silver. of silver. In the reigns of Edward I. and III. there were very considerable works at Combmar-
The Britons were acquainted with the uses of gold and the art of coining before the arrival of the Romans; witness the golden sickles of the Druids, the coins found at Carnbre in Cornwall,
b Alluvial. Ed.
" liili. xxxiv. c. 16. To prevent antiquaries being further misled about the A mpthill gold mine, I must inform them, that it proved only a bod of mica aurea; or, to speak like a punster, turned out nothing but tale. A Camden, i. 47.
and the coins of Cassivelaunus(l). They made use of different sorts of metals for the purpose of coining; but chiefly gold, as being the easiest fused, and most capable of an impression. Doctor Borlase has preserved a series of these very early coins, from the rudest and most unintelligible impressions, to the period when the Britons made an attempt to form a face on their coins. All these are unlettered; a proof of their antiquity, and of their having been struck before their intercourse with the Romans. The first we know of, which is inscribed, is that of Caissvelaunus, cotemporary with Caesar. The next is of Cunobeline, who had even been at Rome. As soon as the Britons became acquainted with the Romans, they made an essay to imitate their manner of coining; they put letters on them, elephants, and gryphons; things they were before unacquainted with. They were not suffered to make any progress in the art; for as soon as their conquest was effected, their coin was suppressed. The learned have endeavoured *
(*) The gold sickles do not seem to have had anything to do with coins, and they belonged to the Druids of Gaul, not Britain; and as to Cassivollaunus, his name is not known on any coin. The coins of the Britons, like those of the Gauls, wore imitations of money current among the Greeks of Marseilles, and more especially the gold stater of Philip II. of Macedon. It is remarkable that the Dumnonii and the people of the tin country had no coins of their own minting. The work to be consulted on the subject is Evans’s ‘Coins of the Ancient Britons.’ j.r.
to trace these antient monies from the Phoenicians; but the comparison would not hold. The Gauls alone had some pieces similar: nor is this to be wondered at, since they and the Britons had a common origin, were neighbors, and might as well agree in the few arts they had, as in religion and language6.
I now return to the subjects which occasioned this digression; and to give some account of the various antique instruments and coins found near Flint; and accompany the same by the more expressive description, a print.
N° 1. tab. v. is a rich ornament of gold, in form of a button with a shank. It is composed elegantly with twisted wire, and studded with little globular bits of solid gold. This seems to have belonged to the bracelet or necklace (it is uncertain which), whose fragment is represented at No 2. This is also composed of gold links, with round beads of a rich blue glass placed between every second link. Something similar to this is preserved by count Caylus, which is entire, and appears to have been a necklace'.
No.3. is a cylindric fragment of glass, probably part of some ornament, being of a rich blue color, and perforated as if it was designed to be strung. With it was found a thick piece of sea-
* Borlase's Antiq. Cornwall, 242. tab. xix.
1 Tom. iii. 312, tab. Lxxxv.
part of a vase. Glass was among the earlier imports into Britaing, when the wild natives were as much captivated with toys as the Indians of new-
N° 4. is a small brazen head, with the back pstrt affixed to iron. Perhaps this was one of the Sigillaria, or little images sold at the fairs, and presented usually to children11: the fairs where these toys were sold went by the same name. A learned friend also supposes these to
g Strabo, lib. iv. p. 281.
h Non cognoscis me? ego sum Felicio, cui solebas sigillaria afferre. Seneca, Epist. 12.
be miniature likenesses, which friends presented to each other as memorials.
N° 5. is a Stylus, or instrument for writing on the ceratae tabellae, or waxen tablets; which were made of thin leaves of lead, brass, or ivory, and covered with a thin coat of wax. The pen, if I may call it so, was usually of brass; one end pointed, in order to write; the other flat, in order to efface what was wrong, by smoothing or closing the wax. Horace gives every writer most excellent advice, in alluding to this practice:
Saepe Stylurn vertas, iterum quae digna legi sint,
Scripturus.
Oft turn your style, when you intend to write Things worthy to be read.
N° G. is an instrument of very singular use: a narrow species of spoon, destined to collect, at funerals, the tears of the relations of the deceased, in order to deposit them in the little phials which were placed with the ashes in the urn, memorials of their grief. Such are very frequently found: but the custom is far higher than that of classical antiquity,; for the Psalmist, in expressing his sorrows, alludes to it; Thou tellest my flittings ; put my tears into thy bottle.
N" 7. is an instrument seemingly designed for I lie purpose of dressing the wicks of lamps.
N" 8. may possibly be destined for the same
uses.
(!) One of the most productive gold mines in old times may be supposed to have been Ogofau near DolauCothi in Carmarthenshire, where extensive traces of the mining are still well known; and gold mining has been carried on lately in the neighbourhood of Dolgelley. J.B.
“ Borlase, Nat. Hist. Cornwall,
Donaghmore High Cross, Co. Down, Northern Ireland
Moone High Cross, Co. Kildare, Southern Ireland
St Robert’s Cave-
Saxon Cross in St Peter’s Minster Church, Leeds, West Yorkshire
Chysauster Ancient Settlement, Near Gulval, Cornwall
Gop Hill Cairn, Trelawnyd, Flintshire (Sir y Fflint), Wales
Farnhill Moor Cup-
The Potteries Museum And Art Gallery, Hanley, Stoke-
Panorama Stones, St Margaret’s Gardens, Ilkley, West Yorkshire
Haystack Rock, Ilkley Moor, West Yorkshire
St Nicholas’ Round Church, Orphir, Orkney Isles.
The Mineral Well, Near Brinkies Brae, Stromness, Orkney
Castle Haugh, Paythorne Bridge, Newsholme, Lancashire
Winckley Lowes I, Near Hurst Green, Lancashire
The Blarney Stone, Blarney Castle, Co. Cork, Southern Ireland
Dyffryn Ardudwy Burial Chamber, Gwynedd, North Wales
Pinder Hill, Waddington, Near Clitheroe, Lancashire
High Wall Well, Bramley Meade, Whalley, Lancashire
St Peter’s Church, Prestbury, Cheshire
Churchyard Calvary Cross, Great Mitton, Lancashire