ny yet discovered having
portraits; and Alexander I., who commenced his reign about B.C. 500, is
the earliest monarch whose medals have yet been found. Then succeed the
sovereigns who reigned in Sicily, Caria, Cyprus, Heraclea, and Pontus.
Afterwards comes the series of kings of Egypt, Syria, the Cimmerian
Bosphorus, Thrace, Parthia, Armenia, Damascus, Cappadocia, Paphlagonia,
Pergamos, Galatia, Cilicia, Sparta Paeonia, Epirus, Illyricum, Gaul, and
the Alps. This series reaches from the time of Alexander the Great to
the Christian Era, comprising a period of about 330 years. A perfect
and distinct series is formed by the Roman emperors, from the time of
Julius Caesar to the destruction of the empire, and even still later. The
Grecian medals claim that place in a cabinet, from their antiquity,
which their workmanship might ensure them, independently of that
advantageous consideration. It is observed by Pinkerton, that an immense
number of the medals of cities, which, from their character, we might
judge to be of the highest antiquity, have a surprising strength,
beauty, and relief in their impressions. About the time of Alexander the
Great, this art appears to have attained its highest perfection. The
coins of Alexander and his father exceed in beauty all that were ever
executed, if we except those of Sicily, Magna Grecia, and the ancient
ones of Asia Minor. Sicilian medals are famous for workmanship, even
from the time of Gelo. The coins of the Syrian kings, successors to
Alexander, almost equal his own in beauty; but adequate judges confine
their high praises of the Greek mint to those coins struck before the
subjection of Greece to the Roman empire. The Roman coins, considered as
medals in a cabinet, may be divided into two great classes--the consular
and the imperial; both are numerous and valuable. In the cabinet of the
Grand Duke of Tuscany is a set of twelve medals of Antonius Pius, each
with one of the signs of the Zodiac on the reverse, and part of another
set, eight in number with as many of the labors of Hercules.

RESTORING ANCIENT EDIFICES.

As in comparative anatomy it is easy, from a single bone, to designate
and describe the animal to which it belonged, so in architecture it is
easy to restore, by a few fragments, any ancient building. In
consequence of the known simplicity and regularity of most antique
edifices, the task of restoration, by means of drawings and models, is
much less difficult th