Both will be of equal circumference to that of the Queen. Both are to have on the edge the words JUSTITIA ET PAX,* and each will represent on the obverse the figure of the Republic with majestic face, with the royal robe of ermine, and with the words "RESPUBLICA VENETA."

The variety of the designs consists in the figures on the reverse; on each are to be the words of the name of the most serene reigning Doge, and at same time the date of the year of coinage.

Both the designs represent the winged lion, with the crown upon the head, but one with the book of the gospel open on the breast. Similar figure of the lion is contained in the second design, substituting, however, for the book, a shield and a branch of olive.

If we do not know any reasonable motive for hesitating to offer the sentiments of our complete conviction to the authority of the most excellent Senate, the plan of economy and discipline above expressed by the successive labour and affair of the Venetian tallero, we do not find opposing arguments, for each of them appears to us delineated with masterly elegance, and the symbols to be of a description not repugnant to political considerations. But we would humbly point out that the lion bearing upon the breast the book of the gospel is the coat of arms peculiar to the Republic, shown also on the Venetian ducats accepted in external Ottoman commerce.

Such rules having been observed by the conference with regard to the figures on the coin, and having kept the quality and the quantity of real silver in higher grade than the thalers struck in other mints, we consider it our duty to present to the public wisdom both the designs, so that from its mature authorisation may result the most innocent in the symbols and in the expression.

The inquisitors over gold and money submitting themselves as well for the execution of the plan as also for that of the design, and our purveyors to the mint and deputies and assistants for the provision of silver to the All Sovereign deliberation.

At the Conference, the 28th January, 1767.

The experiments having been carried out with this intention, it was finally decided that the first design should be the one to be carried out.

Establishment of the Screw Press for the Venetian Mint.

It is known that the process of producing money made great progress from the middle of the seventeenth century. In 1645, at first in France, then soon after in England and elsewhere, the hammer was abolished and supplanted by the press, and finally by the screw press.

The Republic of Venice, rooted in this respect tenaciously to old custom, for a hundred years was almost the only state to preserve it. Nevertheless the needs of its commerce and the preference which the Levantines accorded to the money termed thalers of the queen, with the bust of Maria Theresa, induced it to alter its course and to keep pace with the other civilised states. It procured

* On the outside edge of the Austrian thalers were the words JVSTITIA ET

CLEMENTIA.

first of all from London, by means of its own ambassador, the description of the machines; these were provided after January, 1754, to a prepared arrangement. However, having workmen badly disposed if not opposed to the novelty, and but little instructed in the knowledge necessary to carry out their intention, it requested in June of the following year, through the mediation of the Duke of Montealegre, the Spanish ambassador from Don Philip the Infant of Parma, and obtained liberally without delay to have in its own mint for a time Michael du Bois, director of his mint, and very skilful in new undertakings.* According to certain arrangements with regard to his pay and the employment of suitable men, materials, and fittings, he was established in Venice during July, 1755. He remained seventeen months, and in the course of this time, thanks to his zeal and to his special ability, the tallero for the Levant was produced.

Struck in the same way was issued in 1770 the ninth osella of Francesco Loredano, that represents the clock tower on our piazza restored from its ruined condition and which during this year was finished by Angelo Camerata.

* Note by Vincenzo Padovan.-The Prince of Parma not only accorded him the person of Du Bois, but also the tools from his mint (made in France), on the model of which it would be easy for the Venetian artificers to construct others like them.

IN

WYCOLLER HALL.

BY MAJOR-GENERAL C. H. OWEN.

Na sequestered valley at the foot of the moors, and about three and a half miles from the small manufacturing town of Colne, in Lancashire, one of the most picturesque villages in England is to be found; and at the further end of the village are the remains of the hall, a good specimen of the residence of a squire of the olden time.

This hall was for generations the home of an old English family, the Cunliffes, who obtained it by marriage with another old Lancashire family, the Hartleys of Winewall, a small village between Wycoller and Colne. It is a curious circumstance that the hall, having been lost to the Cunliffes through the extravagance of the last owner of that family, has, with some land adjoining it, been recently purchased by Mr. Richard Hartley, a descendant in all probability of the Hartleys who originally owned the estate. Wycoller Hall was inhabited until the death of Mr. H. O. Cunliffe, in 1818, when his wife and niece, who had lived there with him, were obliged to leave, being unable to afford to keep up the necessary establishment.

Mr. Henry Owen Cunliffe, the last squire, spent a great deal of money on the place, modernising part of the hall, increasing the stabling, and making large gardens. On his death, the Rev. John Oldham, the husband of his wife's