when nations are developing into civilization. While the general type is preserved in its meaning, the word itself becomes applicable only to a lower state of the same thing. The idea still pervades the expression, but its old intensity and beauty are reduced and diminished. The ambactus of Cæsar, disdainful of the useful drudgery of the artizan, proffered only the pledged service of the warrior. The ambiht of Hengest was his companion in arms; but his successor in that name at the court of Æthelbyrht or Ine was but a domestic servant, privileged by his access to the person of royalty. Thus the etymology of the word, combined with its pertinent application in Gaul, compels us to regard its use at the historic period of AngloSaxon history as a degradation of the original significancy.* About this period, however, we discover other substitutes to express the old idea of vassalage, which it can easily be shown was as fresh and vigorous as in the days of Tacitus. Gesith,† or companion, and thegn, or minister, are now in general use. For a long period these terms are found side by side, and there is nothing to show a difference of meaning between them. Ambiht, in its full and honourable signification, had yielded to them its place. But they were not destined to keep a firm hold upon the vocabulary of the nation, and the vicissitudes of language affected them both. Gesith does not appear beyond the age of Alfred. Thegn, however, still remained; but in the tenth century of our Christian era it received a complex meaning which it did not possess before. For, † Dr. Bosworth, in his Dictionary, says, "When gesith' fell into disuse, 'thegn' was used with the same meaning.' See vol. XXII. p. 365, " On the Feodality of the Anglo-Saxons." I may also adduce the rules of the "Thegna gild of Cambridge" (Hickesii Diss. Epist. p. 20); when these rules were framed (viz. about the tenth century) all who ranked as in addition to the paramount idea of vassalage, a further element had entered into its signification; the thegn became the expression of the proprietor holding lands on condition of vassalage; he was no longer the mere companion of the household or of the campaign. That the old condition of vassalage, however, still existed simultaneously with that complicated form which was to raise the new feudal order of aristocracy,* history, and, better still, thegns were landed proprietors, for the former are not only inapplicable to any other condition of life, but also they imply it necessarily by the nature of their provisions. *The pathetic lament of the "Wanderer" in the Codex Exoniensis, p. 288, (composed about A.D. 1000) refers to the change of condition which had overwhelmed a landless vassal on the loss of his lord. Gemon he sele secgas hu hine on geoguthe, Forthon wat se the sceal thinceth him on mode, There are other passages in the same collection of poems which treat the subject in a similar manner. (Vide the Lay of Saint Guthlac, the Exile's Lament, &c.) The following gnome illustrative of vassalage, also found in the Codex, p. 339, reminds us of Tacitus. The eorl (or noble), it says, shall, rumheort beon mearum and mathmum, meodo redenne for gesith mægen. The ballad of Byrhtnoth (A.D. 991) well shows the position in war of the lord and his vassals. After the eorl (Byrhtnoth) the ballad poetry of the age, shew. To distinguish therefore between these two aspects of the same idea, the old word lacked sufficiency, and the precision of ordinary parlance required a distinction of naine; that name was cniht. The traces of this word in the Anglo-Saxon Remains will clearly prove my assertion. Alfred, in translating Beda's History, makes use of the word in its primitive sense of servant; but this general and unprecise signification was not to last long. In the following age the word became restricted to the military and more honourable form of retainership alone. Ælfric,* in his abstract of the Old Testament, translates the word miles by cniht, in the Apostle's expression miles non portabit gladium. The Ballad on the Death and last Exploits of Byrhtnoth, the ealdorman (or as he was then beginning to be called the eorl) of East Anglia, which was evidently composed by a contemporary poet, affords also the most interesting and satisfactory testimony on the point. That hero, though an eorl, is himself called a cniht. Be thæm man mihte oncnawan, wacian æt thæm wige tha the he to wæpnum feng. The same appellation is afterwards applied to one of his thegns. Him be healfe stod hyse unweaxen, cniht on gecampe.+ There is also diplomatic evidence of has arranged the fyrd, or general body of his army, he places himself in the midst of his own retainers. He lihte tha mid leodon, * De Lisle. + The details of this very beautiful poem, which in some respects is almost Homeric (sit verbo venia), form a strikingly illustrative picture of early feodality. The devotion of the comites is vividly portrayed throughout, and particularly in the passages descriptive of the scorn which the flight of his thegns Godrine and Godred excites, and in the oration of Elfwine. GENT. MAG. VOL. XXXI. the same fact. A charter of the tenth century first records the presence of Bishop Ethelstan, and several other attestants, who, with the exception of a few priests, have no additions to their names; and then the document goes on to say-" and mænig god cniht to eacan thysan.' Oswald (Episc.), in a diploma, of the date of A. D. 969, gives certain land, " sumum cnihte, them is Osulf nama."† Again, in another document of the same kind, (without date, but belonging to the same period,) Oswald (Archiepisc.) makes a similar grant, sumum cnihte, them the is Wulfgeat noma."+ 66 Elfled's will (of no date, but referable to the close of the tenth century,) contains the following bequest : "Ic geann Brihtwolde minum cnihtæ, &c." Æthelstan Ætheling, in a diploma of no formal date, but which may be with certainty attributed to the beginning of the eleventh century, uses the following expressions:-"Butan thæm viii. hydum the ic Ælmære minum cnihte geunnen hæbbe. Aud ic geann Ethelwine minum chnite thes swyrdes the he ær me sealde."§ If William of Malmesbury can be believed to have used the word "miles" convertibly for "cniht," in a well-known passage of his History, the identity of the idea which dominated in each order is proved by the use of the same symbolism in both. That historian recounts that King Alfred made his grandson Ethelstan a miles, by giving him a scarlet mantle, a Men from other parts (e. g. Mercia and Northumberland) were amongst his vassals, whom the ballad styles by the various names of heorthgeneatas, geferan, and hyredmen. The abundant phraseology of the magnificent West Saxon dialect overflows through this poem, which is even more valuable than the epic of Beowulf, when regarded under one aspect. It is the pure product of our own soil, while the other is the record of a mythic warrior of the Anglic continent. * Hickes's Thesaurus, præfatio, vol. i. p. xxi. + Kemble's Cod. vol. iii. Dipl. 557. Ibid. Dipl. 680. jewelled belt, and a Saxon sword with a golden sheath.* In The effective symbol here is clearly the ornamented sword: the other attire, if not an addition of the Norman ecclesiastic, may have been the superfluous paraphernalia of the court. an Anglo-Saxon, and therefore more authentic, record it is stated that the appropriate and distinctive arms of the thegn were the helm, the cuirass, and the gold-scabbarded sword.† It may also be confidently asserted that the Anglo-Saxon "cniht" could never have been promptly adopted and universally applied as the synonym of the Romance "chevalier," as it, in fact, was, unless each had contained the same idea. More authorities, I have no doubt, could be quoted in proof of what I have advanced; but there is a sufficiency for the present purpose, my only aim in the preceding remarks having been to put into a simple and connected form a few arguments which might throw light upon an obscure but interesting unit of our ante-Norman institutions; and my purpose is answered if I can be considered to have shown that when the thegn became feudal the "cniht" remained the sole expression and representative of the primitive and pure Germanic vassalage. Yours, &c. H. C. C. Doctors' Commons. MR. URBAN, Bydew's, near Maidstone, Jan. 11th. IT is sufficiently known that certain coins, two in number, have been applied by some of our old historical * Will. Malmes. (lib. ii. p. 210. T. D. Hardy's edition.) Quem etiam premature militem feceret, donatum chlamyde coccinea, gemmato baltheo, ense Saxonico cum vaginâ aureâ." The word "fat" must be rendered "scabbard." The poet, however, speaks of the "fealo hilte swurd" of the Eorl Byrhtnoth. The only exception to the use of the Anglo-Saxon expression is contained in the Saxon Chronicle (post Conquestum), where "ridere" is used. This, however, is evidently nothing more than an attempt at translating the fashionable term of "chevalier." The English term afterwards re-appeared, and the other became utterly extinct. writers to Caractacus. There appear, however, to be several more attributable to him hitherto unappropriated. As Caractacus is justly considered one of the greatest of our British heroes, I trust my endeavours may meet both with favour and indulgence in elucidating the various types assignable to him; to which may now be added one of the two interesting British coins discovered by H. Drummond, esq. M.P. in his excavations at Farley Heath, near Guildford. The two coins hitherto attributed to this most illustrious British hero are that in Camden's Britannia, with the legend CEARATIC, often read as ARATICCE, from the scattered position of the letters, and that other in Speed's history, of the same type, but with the variation of the legend AEPATIC, which there was evidently some trouble according to the usual reading to accommodate to the name Caractacus. To these it seems there are now to be added two other types in the British Museum, applicable to the same person, both in the Greek character, and imperfect of the first letter. Mr. Drummond's late discovery, also in the Greek character, except the first letter, which is supposed to be in the Celtiberian form, and to express the K, completes the interesting series, and indeed is explanatory of the rest. Having thus made this short preliminary, the description of the coins may be now given, after which two or three explanatory remarks may follow. I. In silver, in the British Museum. Obverse, head of Hercules enveloped in a lion's skin, to the right; considered to be copied from a Greek coin of Alexander the Great, struck at Dardanus, on the Hellespont. Inscription, ERAT, in Greek letters, with room for another letter or letters which might have formed the commencement of the word behind the head where the rim is de-. fective. This head, being copied after a fine Greek coin, partakes much of the good execution of the original, and is nearly in mezzo-relievo. Reverse, an eagle standing, fronting towards the right, but the head turned to the left: no legend. Engraved by Taylor Combe in his Numi Populorum et Urbium, 4to. 1814, pl. i. fig. 10, and by Lelewel in his Type Gaulois, 8vo. 1841, pl. viii. fig. 10, weight 18 grains. The imperfect legend of this coin will be explained by that of the following one. II. In silver, Mr. Drummond's, a copy from the former coin, but with one letter more at the end of the inscription, and at the commencement, in the place where in the preceding coin are the folds of the lion's skin across the throat, is a character not known either in the Greek or Roman orthography in the form of a broad arrow head. This, according to the Celtiberian alphabet, stands for the letter K or CH, and may be considered to be so meant in the present instance; letters of anomalous forms being sometimes introduced on British and Gaulish coins. This makes the legend of this coin KERATI, and the full reading intended may be considered to have been KERATI(K), by which we may easily understand the name Caractacus to have been intended, and by this reading we may supply the deficient commencing letter of the former coin. Reverse the same as the preceding. Weight 17 grs. Engraved in the Numismatic Chronicle with several other newly-discovered and interesting British coins, vol. xi. p. 92. III. In silver, in the British Museum. Obverse, an eagle standing, to the right, its wings raised. Legend in Greek letters, ERR: the full legend intended apparently (K)ERR(ATIK), the rim of the coin being imperfect before the E. Reverse, a crescent with six pellets on either side, inscription REX CALLE, i. e. "king of, or at Calleva." Weight, 18 grs. Engraved in Mr. Akerman's Coins of Cities and Princes, pl. xx. fig. 9; also by Speed and Lelewel. The inscription REX CALLE on this coin is not necessarily Latin, there being four forms of the word REX, which have the same signification in the Latin as in the Celtic, i. e. rex, rix, reix, and rixs. See De la Saussaye's Monnaies des Eduens, 8vo. 1846, and other authorities. Add to this, CALLE for Calleva does not seem quite in a Latin dress. Antoninus, who mentions this city several times in his Itineraries, has it always Calleva, and the corrupt form in which it stands in modern copies of Ptolemy, Naλkova, seems to be evidence that it originally stood in the work of that geographer as Kaλnova, which would have been the Greek form of Calleva. This legend seems therefore most likely to be Celtic, with the meaning before given it; but if Latin it would not be wholly unwarranted, as there is extant a Gaulish coin with a Celtic or Latin name on one face (SOLIMA), and the same name in Greek on the other (COAIMA). See Lelewel, Type Gaulois, p. 265. Next come in order the two coins given by the old writers, which, singuTarly enough, supply the gold types of this coinage, the preceding three being in silver. IV. Engraved by Speed, pp. 176 and 195. Size referred to by him the same as that of the coin reading REX CALLE. Obverse, a figure on horseback galloping to the right, his right hand raised and brandishing some weapon, much in the style of the horsemen on the British coins attributed to Comius, or those of Verulam. The legend on the obverse of this coin used to be read in Roman letters AEPATIC, but now, regarding the characters Greek, except the last, we have AERATIC, and the instance of the Roman C used with Greek letters occurs on the coin of Corilissus in Gaul. See Duchalais, Medailles Gauloises, 8vo. 1846, p. 157, where we find given the legend CORIAICCOC. Further, with the supposition that Speed's engraver read the arrowheaded character as an A, to which it approximates, and which is a mistake extremely easy to have been made, we should have the reading KERATIC or CHERATIC, i. e. Caractacus, which, there is little doubt, was the one intended, and thus, after nearly two and a half centuries, Mr. Drummond's discovery acquaints us with what we have great reason to suppose is the true reading of Speed's coin, who, as he had the great seals of the realm engraved for his work, requiring a certain amount of skill and correctness, seemed deserving of some credence in the first instance, which Mr. Drummond's type much confirms. To continue, however, the description of this coin: the reverse has an ear of wheat the same as on Cunobeline's coins of Camulodunum, with the inscription TASCIF, being, as is believed, the earliest coin engraved with the F connected with the word tase, tascio, or tasciovanus. The interpretation of TASCIF is tasciovani filius, "the king's son,” or, tasciovanus fircobretus, "king and lawgiver." We seem here to have no occasion to go further than the first signification; the reading, therefore, together of the obverse and reverse will be KERATIC(VS) TASCICOVANI) F(ILIVS), i. e. "Caractacus, the king's son," and this would have been the British hero's coin for his own provincial government during his father's life, the prerogative of coining not having been in ancient times limited solely, as now, to royalty, but often in all ancient nations conceded to persons of eminence. It may be added that the Greek inscription on the obverse and the Latin on the reverse, if such it be, are shewn to be not incompatible on a Celtic coin by the instance before referred to. A remark or two on the characters occurring on Celtic coins will follow presently. V. Camden's coin. Same obverse apparently, but the hand not so much raised. This coin differs from the others, in having the legend entirely in Roman letters. It reads CEARATIC. There was some doubt formerly whether it might not read ARATICCE, with a different division of the letters, some of which are much scattered; but this doubt seems now effectually dissipated. Reverse the same Speed's; but, instead of TASCIF, the legend is given as TASCIE, a very easy mistake. as We thus have these five types, three unknown before, and two hitherto disputed, but now confirmed, of one of the most magnanimous heroes that ever existed, and that hero a native of our isle. The key to the verification of these types was wanting till Mr. Drummond's discovery enabled it to be done beyond dispute. To revert to the characters in use on Gaulish and British coins. The Greek language was used altogether on the Gallo-Greek, Massilian, and a few other coins. These are not to the present purpose. On other miscellaneous coins of Gaul and Britain, expressed, for the most part, in Roman letters, Greek, and sometimes charac ters of a rather barbarous class, appear, approximating to those styled Celtiberian, if they are not actually the same. In particular, we seem to have one of the forms of the Celtiberian P. In regard to the admixture of Greek letters, the eta is so commonly used along with Roman characters as almost to escape observation. The gamma is likewise used, as well as one or two other letters of the same language. Two peculiar forms of the R are used, as may be seen on some of the types of the Gaulish chiefs Togirix (Lelewel, pl. iv. 48, 49) and Cricirus (ibid. iv. 56, and vi. 40). The Greek rho (P), however, mixed with the Roman letters, it so happens, is rather rare. Nevertheless, we have it on the coin of the Rigomagenses of Gaul in the legend PICOM, i. e. RICOM (Duchalais, p. 92); and Lelewel, p. 226 of his "Type Gaulois," discusses the case, whether the legend DIAOVLOS might not have been imperfectly written DIAPVLOS for DIARILOS. While on the subject of this mixed orthography, we may observe, that the Gauls had almost an equal custom of introducing vice versâ Roman letters into Greek words; as HRATOS for HPATOS, HPOMILAOS for HPOMIAAOS, and ATПILOS for ATIIAOS. (Ibid. p. 223.) It will of course be observed that in the readings here proposed there are the two discrepancies to be encountered of the Celtiberian letter, used, as before has been considered, to commence the name KERATIK, in No. II. Mr. Drummond's coin: again, of the name KERATIK being expressed in Nos. I. II. IV. and V. with one R, and in No. III. with two. These irregularities, particularly the first, would be sufficiently startling in the coinage of a country which had more established rules, or where one idiom was adopted; but in the present instances these anomalies by no means affect the point at issue, and are only such as an investigator of the British or Gaulish coinages must expect to meet with; to show which, instances in abundance, and cases in point, could be adduced if required. The evidence of the whole five coins, taken collectively, seems very strong as to their due appropriation, and may be pronounced such as to carry conviction with most persons. Appearances, indeed, must be very fallacious if these coins do not apply to our celebrated British hero; and it would seem rather unwarrantable to overlook the various arguments which connect them with him, and give them any other attribution. In regard to the name Caractacus. It is in that form in Tacitus. Our |