Downloaded from http://pygs.lyellcollection.org/ by guest on September 28, 2021 495 auDitore. BBNJAHIN BIBAM, KSQ. | G. W. CUAMBBRS, ESQ. Uacal Creasorect anir Sc^etartes. Bii. AVif. AT.EXAKDEE, Halifax. I H. C. SORBY, ESQ., Sheffield. HENEY BKioas, ESQ., Wukofield. | E. D. BAXTEK, ESQ., Doncasiter. Mr. Ward, the Honorary Secretary, having read the financial position of the Society, which was as follows :— STATEMENT OF THE RECEIPTS AND EXPENDITURE Ol THS GSOLOaiCAL AND PoLTrEOHNIC SOCTBTV OF THE WBST tMCINQ OP YOKKgHIBX, From December 13th, 1855, to January SSnd, 1857. DR. £. e. d. CB. £. s. d. By Balanoe in Mr. Battmso's hands 8 8 e To Collectisf Snbacnptions 1 17 10 „ Balanoe in Tnuurtr's haoda.... 613 8 „ Poatagea 3 0 6 „ Snbscriptiona- „ Rent of Musenm SO 0 0 VromSUemlMntorlSSS 3 6 0 ,, Henra. Baines, on Account .... 20 0 0 „ 8 „ 185* 6 4 0 „ Adrertiain; Meet&>( 1 18 6 „ 86 „ 1836 36 8 0 „ Bxpcnxes of Meetinga 2 0 > „ H „ 1896 16 2 0 „ Bnbioriptlon to Palaeontograjih- ,, Donation from tbe Mayor of icalSociety .., 1 ' 9 Haiilki ; 10 0 „ Lithographing & Printing Plate* S 1 0 „ AB.'i8tant Secretary on Account 3^ 9 9 ..Stationery 0 4 6 „ Sundries, Oarrlage, Ac i 13 1 „ Deficiency in Mr. Battman's Accouutft 8 8 6 „ Balance in Treasurer's hands— 7 16 6 £109 1 i £109 1 2 LIABILirlEa. £. B. d. ASSETS. £. ». d. Memra.Balnes 31 8 8 Oaah in Treasurer's hands 7 16 6 Ftiiiosopbical Hal), for rent 10 0 0 Arrean of Subicriptions to oolloct.. 42 9 0 PBlteantozraitiloiil Booiety 1 } 0 Salary of AMistant Secretary 22 0 3 {664 9 11 £Mi» The Secretary announced that the Rev. John Kenrick, who was unavoidably prevented from being present, had entrusted his paper to him, which he would, therefore, now read:— REMAUKS ON SOME COINS DISCOVERED KEAR WARTEB, AND PRESENTED BY LORD LONDESBOROUGH TO THE MUSEUMS OF THE YORKSHIIIE PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETT AND THE LEEDS LITERARY AND PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY. BY THE REV. JOHN KENRICK, M.A. In the course of last year, a discovery of a large number of Roman coins was made near Methall, between Warter and Nunburnholme, in the East Riding of this county. On Mr. Jjewton's map of the Roman roads in Yorkshire, a road is Downloaded from http://pygs.lyellcollection.org/ by guest on September 28, 2021 496 laid down near this spot, passing from Market Weighton, over the Wolds, to Malton, and many antiquities hare been found at Warter, so that it has been suggested, among other places, as the site of the Delgovitia of Antoninus' Itinerary. The number of the coins was very considerable; between 1,200 and 1,300 of them have been presented by Lord Londesborough to the York Museum, and many have passed into other hands. They are all of the size called by numis­ matists, third brass; they begin with the reign of Valerian, and include the reign of his son Gallienus, and his consort, Salo- nina; the Tyrant's, Postumus, the Tetrici and Marius; the Emperor Claudius Gothicus and his brother Quintillus ; and Aurelian, Tacitus, and Probus. The time of the deposit, therefore, is probably that of Probus, who reigned from A.D. 276 to 282. Like many hoards it was contained in an earthen vessel, a mode of preservation which, from the language of the Apostle Paul—" We have this treasure in earthen vessels" (2 Cor. iv. 7,) appears not only to have been used for protection against the damp of the earth, as in Jeremiah xxxii. 14, but as an ordinary custom. When Lord Londesborough presented that part of the hoard which came into his hands to the museum of the Yorkshire Philosophical Society, he requested that any duplicates might be sent to the Literary and Philosophical Society of Leeds. This has accordingly been done by the Rev. Charles Wellbeloved, the curator of antiquities, and 262 coins have been sent. It appears due to the noble donor that they should not be consigned to the society's cabinet without some more detailed notice. It is true that none of them are rare ; they are of minute size, of coarse workmanship and debased metal; but these circumstances, which diminish their value in the eyes of the collector, do not prevent their being of historical interest. They are an index of the times in which they were produced—times of general calamify, of public and private poverty. AH such remains Downloaded from http://pygs.lyellcollection.org/ by guest on September 28, 2021 497 of antiquity give definlteness and certainty to our historical conceptions. When we merely read history, its characters pass before us very much as figures in a phantasmagoria; but when we see the armour in which the men of fifteen centuries ago fought, the household vessels in which they prepared or took their food, and the coins which passed through their hands, we feel that they were realities and of kin to ourselves. The series of these coins begins at a time of deep degra­ dation and misfortune to the Roman empire. Valerian had been made captive by Sapor, King of Persia, who made use of him aa a footstool to mount his horse; and, after death, caused his skin to be stuffed and hung up as a trophy in one of the temples. During the reign of his son Gallienus, the dis­ memberment of the empire seemed imminent j its frontiers suffered from the invasion of the barbarians, several provinces made themselves independent, and the physical calamities of earthquakes, pestilences, and inundations were added to poli­ tical misfortune. But a better time succeeded. Claudius Gothicus repelled the Alemanni from Italy, and the Goths from Greece; Aurelian re-established the Roman power in the east, subdued the factions of Rome, and surrounded the city with a wall of such strength and circuit that she seemed secure from the'attacks of the barbarians. By him and his successors, Tacitus and Probus, the unity of the empire was restored and upheld. The most remarkable result of the state into which the imperial power fell, during the reign of Gallienus, was the springing up in all parts of those whom history calls the Thirty Tyrants, though without any great propriety, since their number did not literally amount to thirty, nor did they deserve the appellation of tyrants, if that name is understood to convey the idea of usurped power, or a cruel and selfish use of it. The talents of Gallienus were by no means con- Downloaded from http://pygs.lyellcollection.org/ by guest on September 28, 2021 498 temptible, but they fitted him rather for excelling in dilettante pursuits, than in the administration of affairs. He frequently roused himself from the indolent voluptuousness in which his life was ordinarily spent; on several occasions he vigorously repelled the barbarians,* and he died the death of a soldier in the camp before Milan.t But he was not the man whom the age required, and we cannot wonder that leading men in the provinces endeavoured to set up independent govern­ ments. Gibbon contented himself with saying on their behalf, that they were much oftener driven into rebellion by their fears than urged to it by their ambition. Sir Francis Palgrave, in his English Commonwealth (ch. xi.), advances a higher claim for them. He regards them as the forerunners of the founders of the independent kingdoms of the west, and denies that they were in any sense usurpers. The cen­ tral authority was too weak to afford protection to the pro­ vinces, which were, therefore, fully justified in providing for their own security; and the legions of Gaul had as good a right to choose an emperor as the Praetorians of the capital. Probably it was with the assent of the people that many of them reigned, and there can be no question that there were among them men of superior talent and virtue. But it is equally clear that their attempts were premature. Not one of them succeeded in permanently establishing an independent power—not one of them, according to the remark of Gibbon, enjoyed a life of peace, or died a natural death. Tetricus, however, was an exception. Of the nineteen who really at­ tempted to set up independent sovereignties, or aspired to the empire, some passed so rapidly away that they have left no trace of themselves in the Roman coinage. But the coins of the Gallic aspirants to sovereignty, Victorinus, Postumus, Tetricus and his son, are very abundant, especially in Gaul and Britain. In this age, Gaul, Spain, • Tiebell, c, 4. t Zosim, i. 41. Downloaded from http://pygs.lyellcollection.org/ by guest on September 28, 2021 499 and Britain were generally united in one hand, whether in case of usurpation, or of a legitimate division of power among the Caesars. Indeed, it was hardly possible that if Gaul, which possessed all the ports opposite to Britain, was hostile, Britain could be retained by a power seated at Borne. Whether any of them ever visited this island is uncertain, but inscriptions to Postumus, Vietorinus, and Tetricus have been found in Britain,* and their presence here is not impro­ bable. The abundance of their coins is a proof of the active intercourse which was carried on between Britain and Gaul. Although, as we have already remarked, the coins of the Nunburnholme find are not very valuable in the estimation of the numismatist, they are not without interest for the historian, as throwing light upon the events and ideas of the age. Several circumstances indicate the increase of solar worship among the Romans.