Beaupré Bell - Nathaniel Salmon - 1729-05-19

Beaupré Bell, Trinity College, Cambridge

Beaupré Bell - Nathaniel Salmon - 1729-05-19

FINA IDUnique ID of the page ^ᵖ	15426
InstitutionName of Institution.
InventoryInventory number.
AuthorAuthor of the document.	Beaupré Bell
RecipientRecipient of the correspondence.	Nathaniel Salmon
Correspondence dateDate when the correspondence was written: day - month - year .	May 19, 1729
PlacePlace of publication of the book, composition of the document or institution.	Trinity College, Cambridge ^{52° 12' 24.80" N, 0° 6' 54.41" E}
Associated personsNames of Persons who are mentioned in the annotation.	William Camden, Obadiah Walker
LiteratureReference to literature.	Nichols 1781-1790, pp. 150-41, Burnett 2020b, pp. 394, 9162
KeywordNumismatic Keywords ^ᵖ	British Coins , Celtic , Cunobelin , Commius , Julius Caesar , Cassivellaunus
LanguageLanguage of the correspondence	English
External LinkLink to external information, e.g. Wikpedia ^ᵖ

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Grand documentOriginal passage from the "Grand document".

'Upon the unexpeded receipt of your letter, I run over what few books my own study affords upon the subject; and must confess that I do not find any reason to retract what I have offered as probable, viz. That the Britons had Impress'd Money. I would not be thought to assert, as you seem to think I do, that all the coins exhibited in Camden are British: I own I am apt to believe, that many of them are assigned to the Britons with more zeal for the honour of our country than truth. I shall instance in the three very coins you mention of princes contemporary with Caesar; which, if really so, will destroy my supposition, that Cunobeline was the first Briton who struck a coin in this island.
The tenth of the first plate is ascribed to Comius king of Arras, a man of much interest and authority in Britain, and therefore sent thither by Caesar to persuade the inhabitants to come into an alliance with the Romans. This is supposed to be of Comius, from the inscription COM. but without good reason, since, as Mr. Walker observes, it is on some coins wrote COMM. Besides, should we allow this to be his, no argument can be brought against what I have proposed, unless it can be made appear that he was king of some part of Britain, which neither Caesar, nor any other else that I know of, says.
The same answer may be given to the fifteenth. The nineteenth is supposed to be of Cassivellaunus ; with how little shew of reason I need not add, since the very letters of the inscription, and the position of them is allowed to be uncertain.
These are the only three coins supposed to be of British princes before Cunobeline. Two of them are manifestly not British and it does not appear that the third is of Cassivellaun.
...
The novelty of striking a coin at Rome with the emperor's head upon it, might, as I observed, be one reason among others for Cunobeline's imitation. When you call it a fashion young in the world your pen flipp'd: it is certain that the Greeks placed the heads of their princes on coins, even before the foundation of Rome.'

(Nichols 1781-1790, pp. 150-4; Burnett 2020b, p. 394)

References

^ Nichols, John (ed.), Reliquiae Galeanae, in Bibliotheca Topographica Britannica II.1 (London, 1781), II.2 (London, 1781), III (London, 1790).
^ Burnett, Andrew M. (2020), The Hidden Treasures of this Happy Land. A History of Numismatics in Britain from the Renaissance to the Enlightenment, BNS Special Publ. No 14 = RNS Special Publ. No 58, London, Spink & Son.