Numismatics.—My thanks are due to Mr. J.C. Witton (Vol. ii., p. 42.) for his replies to my Numismatic Queries, though I cannot coincide with his opinion on Nos. 1. and 3.
No ancient forger would have taken the pains to cut a die to strike lead from; and my specimen, from its sharpness, has clearly never been in circulation: why may it not have been a proof from the original die?
Of No. 2. I have since been shown several specimens, which had before, I suppose, escaped my notice.
On the coin of Macrinus, the letter below the S.C. now clearly appears to be an η, but the one above is not a Δ, but rather an L or inverted T. It cannot stand for [Greek: Lykabas], as on the Egyptian coinage, as Macrinus was slain by his soldiers the year after his accession.
The Etruscilla, even under a powerful magnifier, betrays no trace of ever having been plated and has all the marks by which numismatists determine the genuineness of a coin. The absence of S.C., I must remind Mr. W., is not uncommon on third brass, though of course it always appears on the first and second.
I need go no farther than the one just mentioned of Tiberius, which has no S.C., and I possess several others which are deficient in this particular, a Severus Alexander, Elagabalus, &c. After Gallienus it never appears.
E.S.T.
Querela Cantabrigiensis (Vol. ii, p. 168.).—Dr. Peter Barwick, in the life of his brother, Dr. Jno. Barwick (Eng. Edit. Lond. 1724, 8vo.), after describing the treatment of the University by Cromwell, adds (p. 32.) "But Mr. Barwick, no inconsiderable part of this tragedy, together with others of the University, groaning under the same yoke of tyranny, and each taking a particular account of the sufferings of his own college, gave a distinct narrative of all these barbarities, and under the title of Querela Cantabrigiensis, or the University of Cambridge's Complaint, got it printed by the care of Mr. R—— B——, bookseller of London who did great service to his King and country, by printing, and dispersing in the most difficult times, books written in defence of the royal cause." See also Biog. Brit., article "Barwick".
John I. Dredge.
Ben Johnson (Vol. ii., p. 167.)—So the name was spelt by most of his contemporaries. The poem mentioned by N.A.B. is printed in the Underwoods, Gifford's edition, ix., 68; but the MS. may contain variations worthy of notice. I should doubt its being autograph, not merely because the poet spelt his name without the h, but because the verses in question are only part of his Eupheme.