es Monnoies de
la Republique. Lue dans la seance trimestrielle des
cinq classes de l'Institut, le 26 Octobre, 1870,
par M. Charles Blanc_.]

The Morgan medal, says this eminent French critic, seems to vibrate
beneath the rush of cavalry and the tread of infantry flying in the
background, indicated by the almost imperceptible lines of the metal
where the smoke of the cannonade is vanishing away in air. In the
Libertas Americana medal, which recalls, if we except the evacuation
of Boston, the two most memorable events of the War of Independence,
namely, the capitulation of General Burgoyne, at Saratoga, in October,
1777, and that of General Lord Cornwallis, at Yorktown, in October,
1781, Dupre has represented the new-born Liberty, sprung from the
prairies without ancestry and without rulers, as a youthful virgin,
with disheveled hair and dauntless aspect, bearing across her shoulder
a pike, surmounted by the Phrygian cap. This great artist, in
consequence of his intimacy with Franklin, had conceived the greatest
enthusiasm for the cause of the United States. Franklin resided at
Passy, and Dupre at Auteuil. As they both went to Paris every day,
they met and made acquaintance on the road--an acquaintance which soon
ripened into friendship. Dupre first engraved Franklin's seal with the
motto, "_In simplici salus_," and afterward his portrait. This (p. xxiii)
portrait presents an _alto-rilievo_ which is well adapted for medals
only; it is conceived in the spirit of the French school, which has
always attached great importance to the truthful rendering of flesh.
The artist has indicated the flat parts, the relaxation of the
muscles, and, as it were, the quivering of the flesh, so as to convey
an exact idea of the age of the model. He has conscientiously
represented the lines which the finger of Time imprints on the
countenance, but, above all, he has given us with wonderful fidelity
the physiognomy of the American sage, his shrewd simplicity, his
sagacity, and his expression of serene uprightness. A Latin hexameter
from the pen of Turgot became the well-known legend of this medal:
"_Eripuit coelo fulmen, sceptrumque tyrannis._"

The four pieces executed by Duvivier are no less remarkable for beauty
and excellence of workmanship. They all figured at the exhibitions of
the members of the Royal Academy of Paris, that of the Chevalier de
Fleury, as mentioned before, in t