Edward III. in the reign of Henry VI. they began to be varied, their number increasing very rapidly in Edward IV.; and they were not entirely disused till Charles II. Mint marks are usually very small and very diversified, consisting of birds' heads, castles, dragons, roses, &c.; and the same Mint mark was not always adopted by the same monarch. A catalogue of those of the different kings is given by Ruding, but it is much too long for our limits.

DNS. HYB. (Dominus or Lord of Ireland) first appears on the coins of Edward I.*, as does Dei gratia and Dvx AQVT. (Duke of Aquitaine) under the three Edwards. The coins of Edward I., II., and III. are very similar to each other. Archbishop Sharp first disFig. 33.

УВ

NO

YB

[Silver Penny of Edward I.] Fig. 34.

ON

CI

tinguished them thus: -EDW. (Fig. 33) for Edward I.; EDWA., EDWAR., and EDWARD (Fig. 34), for Edward II.; and EDWARDUS for Edward III.; collectors of coins take these for the distinctions. Edward III. assumed the title of King of France on his coins; it was altered by Henry V. to Heir of France; other monarchs returned to King of France, which was finally abandoned by George III. Fidei defensor, a title first adopted by Henry VIII., is ascribed on coins to Charles I. The St. George and Dragon is borne on some of the coins of Henry VIII., and the harp for Ireland on his Irish money; the use of HYB. REX also commenced in this reign. The harp was first quartered with the royal arms in that of James I.

[Silver Penny of Edward II.]

Fig. 37

OR.

[Gold Halfpenny of Richard II.]
Fig. 38.

X

[Groat of Henry IV.—Silver.]
Fig. 39.

EX

OSVI

INTELLECTUAL PROGRESS OF THE CHINESE. We have received from Canton the First Report of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge in China,' accompanied by an interesting private letter from one of the members. The very idea of an institution whose object is, " by all means in its power, to, prepare and publish, in a cheap form, plain and easy treatises in the Chinese language, on such branches of useful knowledge as are suited to the existing state and condition of the Chinese empire," may perhaps appear ridiculous to those who take a superficial view of the character of the people. But we have the testimony of individuals who have been long resident in China, to the fact that in spite of the obstinacy of the governors and local authorities in opposing any intercourse with foreigners, excepting under the narrowest regulations possible, the feeling among the people on this subject is of a far less bigoted character. During Lord Amherst's voyage, the elders of a village, who were anxious to make friends of the English, speaking of the mandarins who are the great enforcers of restrictions, said :- "Our mandarins are rogues, but the people are your friends." The address in which they expressed their amicable feelings towards his Lordship and the English, contained the following passages:- We, the inhabitants of this village, have never before seen you foreigners*. All people crowd on board your ship to behold you, and a tablet is hung * IOHES DNS had before appeared upon the Irish pennies of up therein, stating that there is a physician for the

John.

2862

*

THE PENNY MAGAZINE.

assistance of mankind. There are also tracts against | The field which invites, by its multiplied necessities, the labours of this Society, contemplates the welfare of gambling, and other writings, besides a treatise on a third part of our species, who are scattered over a your country, with odes and books; all which manifest your friendly, kind, and virtuous hearts. This is highly vast extent of territory, stretching from the Russian *Lying and gambling are the frontiers on the north to the equator on the south; and praiseworthy." * Many thousands of Chinese, most common vices of the Chinese, and tracts on each from the Pacific ocean on the east to the mountains of of these subjects were distributed both by the expe- central Asia on the west. dition under Lord Amherst, and by Mr. Gutzlaff, a and others who speak their language, are already accesJournal of Three sible; and unless the spirit of the age and the march missionary, who has published a of improvement be checked, every year we may expect Voyages along the Coast of Cochin China in 1831-2-3.' The work on England' alluded to, was written by will bring them more into contact with the people of Mr. Marjoribanks, and translated into Chinese. It is the west." in every respect a clear and excellent little work, addressed not merely to the formal mandarin, but to the more popular sense of the majority of Chinese. The effect which it has had in promoting a friendly intercourse is acknowledged to have been beyond expectation. Mr. Gutzlaff, who also distributed copies, says that it was everywhere demanded.

an

Perhaps the reader may feel inclined to remark that where the people are unable to read, it is of little use distributing books among them; but it is altogether error to suppose that they are destitute of this accomplishment, and indeed it is very common as well among the poor as the rich. In a junk in which Mr. Gutzlaff was once a passenger, the sailors, though could read, and took in a state of extreme poverty pleasure in perusing such books as they possessed." This favourable state of things is not sufficiently known in England, and is altogether opposed to the popular prejudices and notions which are generally entertained concerning the Chinese character. China is probably destined at some future day to become a vast mart for the productions of English industry; and any efforts calculated to render the favourable symptoms already evinced generally manifest among the masses in China, will materially hasten this new era in A vaster our commercial intercourse with the east.

The Society is scarcely yet organized. It consisted, in October last, of forty-seven members, viz., eight honorary, ten corresponding, and twenty-nine resident members. It is justly remarked that "the very exist ence of this Society is evidence of recognised obligation resting on the Christian community resident in this country, that, possessing themselves the rich fruits of knowledge, they are bound to communicate them to We must go on and meet opposition; nor others. * * * give up the contest, a contest of truth with error, till the millions of this empire shall participate in all the blessings of knowledge which we now so richly enjoy."

The difficulties which the infant institution has to overcome can scarcely be conceived. As much of the information which it is proposed to communicate to the Chinese will be perfectly new to them, it is necessary to construct a nomenclature for terms in geography, history, science, accounts of engines, machines, and implements of industry; and the type to be used is not of course quite so easily to be obtained as a set of English types. Notwithstanding the magnitude and variety of obstacles, the Report informs us that already three works are being prepared for the press: 1st, a General History of the World; 2nd, a Universal Geography; and 3rd, a Map of the World. These (it is stated) have been several months in hand, and will be field for the exertions of men who love their fellow-carried forward and completed with all convenient creatures nowhere presents itself than in China; the dispatch. They are designed to be introductory works, population comprises one-third of the whole human presenting the great outlines of what will remain to be The history will be comprised in three The map is on a race, and the results of a moral revolution in their filled up. habits and modes of thinking would be of the grandest volumes; the geography in one. and most striking character. Under the present cir- large scale-about eight feet by four, presenting at one cumstances of this great empire, and considering the view all the kingdoms and nations of the earth. The advantageous change which has thrown it more into committee expect these three works will be published in the path of English enterprise, we regard the Society the course of the ensuing year (1836); and it is hoped at Canton as a most seasonable and useful institution, they will soon be followed by others, in which the sepaand deserving of extensive support. We invite atten- rate nations, England, France, America, &c., their histion to the fifth of the Society's rules:-" Individuals tory and present state, shall be fully described." not resident in China, who, from their knowledge of the language, may be supposed able and willing to forward the objects of the Society by original works or translations, may be elected corresponding members. And any individuals unacquainted with the Chinese language, who may be willing to aid the Society by their influence or otherwise, may be elected honorary members." Individuals friendly to the objects of the Society are also invited to form auxiliary associations in aid of its funds.

The Report commences with the following allusion to the field which the Society has chosen for its operations, and the spirit in which it commences its labours: "When great enterprises are to be undertaken in unexplored fields, the first efforts are usually compassed with many difficulties and often opposed by great obstacles. Perhaps no association was ever formed under circumstances more peculiar than those of this Society. Free, pacific, and benevolent in its design, it recognises no authority, either to protect or sustain it, except those of reason and truth. The rights which it claims are simply those of putting within the reach of a great nation the richest treasures of knowledge which can be gathered from the records of past and present times.

As it would be absurd needlessly to excite the jealousy of the Chinese authorities, the Society purposes establishing its printing-press in one of the British settlements in the Straits of Malacca. The private letter which we have received along with the Report, shows the expediency of this arrangement. This letter is dated December 30th, and says:-"Some difficulty has been experienced in getting printers and pressmen at Macao, on account of the jealousy of the Chinese government, who have denounced as traitors all who assist the "barbarians" either in printing or disseminating their books. The consequence of this has been that the work has hitherto been done covertly, and by stealth, At times no work whatever can be under the immediate protection of the superintendent in his own house. done, through fear of the Chinese authorities, either at Canton or Macao. We shall, however, remedy this very shortly by setting up a press ou board one of the stationary receiving-ships at Lintin, about twelve miles from Macao, where the printers will be out of all danger of molestation, fines, or bambooing."

We learn from this letter that "the Americans, to their praise be it spoken (says the writer), have not only taken the lead in this good cause, but have hitherto

had, what the English have never had, a missionary at their own sole expense, whose week-day labours are employed in teaching Chinese children the English language gratuitously. They have just sent two others from the episcopal establishment for the same object: they are now studying the language at Singapore."

The intercourse with the eastern and northern coasts of China is fast extending, and they are now regularly visited by the opium ships several times every year. Through this medium the Society will be enabled to distribute a number of its treatises.

ON THE TROGONS.

THE trogons constitute a family of birds, the members of which are peculiar to the hotter regions of America, and of India, and its adjacent islands, Ceylon, Java, Sumatra, &c., one species only having as yet been discovered in Africa. Among the most conspicuous of the feathered tribes for beauty and brilliancy of plumage, the trogons stand confessedly pre-eminent. The metallic golden green of some species is of dazzling effulgence; in others less gorgeous: the delicate pencillings of the plumage, and the contrasted hues of deep scarlet, black, green and brown, produce a rich and beautiful effect. Nor is their shape and contour unworthy of their dress; were they far less elegantly arrayed they would still be pleasing birds.

It is difficult to convey the idea of a bird, or indeed of any natural object, by description solely; the annexed cut, however, will render the details connected with the family features of the present group easily intelligible. The trogons are zygodactyle, that is, they have their toes in pairs, two before and two behind, like parrots and woodpeckers; the tarsi are short and feeble, the beak is stout, and the gape wide; the general contour of the body is full and round, and the head large; the plumage is dense, soft, and deep; the wings are short but pointed, the quill-feathers being rigid; the tail is long, ample, and graduated, its outer feathers decreasing in length; in some species, and especially in that brilliant bird the resplendent trogon (trogon resplendens, Gould), the tail-coverts are greatly elongated, so as to form a beautiful pendent plumage of loose wavy feathers.

in the hollows of decayed trees, the eggs being deposited on a bed of wood-dust, the work of insects; they are three or four in number, and white. The young, when first hatched, are totally destitute of feathers, which do not begin to make their appearance for two or three days; and their head and beak appear to be disproportionately large. They are said to rear two broods in the year.

Azara, speaking of the Surucua trogon, a native of Paraguay and the Brazils, informs us that it is seen only in the largest woods, and that it "generally remains on the upper portions of the trees, without descending to the lower branches or to the earth; it sits a long time motionless, watching for insects which may pass within its reach, and which it seizes with adroitness; it is not gregarious, but dwells either in solitude or in pairs; its flight, which is rapid and performed in vertical undulations, is not prolonged. These birds are so tame as to admit of a near approach; I have seen them killed with a stick. They do not migrate, and are never heard except in the breeding season; their note then consists of the frequent repetition of the syllables pee-o, in a strong, sonorous and melancholy voice; the male and female answer each other. They form their nest on the trees, by digging into the lower part of the nest of a species of ant, known by the name of cupiy, until they have made a cavity sufficiently large, in which the female deposits her eggs, of a white colour, and two, or as some assert, four in number. I have seen the male clinging to a tree after the manner of woodpeckers, occupied in digging a nest with his beak, while the female remained tranquil on a neighbouring tree."

The American trogons have their beak of moderate size, with serrated (or saw-like) edges, and furnished at its base with bristles; the upper surface (of the males at least) is of a rich metallic green, the under parts being more or less universally scarlet or rich yellow. The outer tail-feathers in the majority of the species are more or less barred with black and white.

In the Indian trogons the beak is larger and stouter, with smooth edges, having a tooth near the tip of the upper mandible. The eyes are encircled by a large bare space of richly-coloured skin; the upper surface is brown, the lower more or less scarlet, and the outer tail-feathers exhibit no tendency towards a barred style of marking, excepting in one species, Diard's trogon, which the three outer tail-feathers are finely powdered with black.

Of solitary habits, the trogons (or coroucui) frequent the most secluded portions of dense forests, remote from the abodes of man. For hours together they sit motion-in less on some branch, uttering occasionally a plaintive melancholy cry, especially while the female is brooding on her eggs. Indifferent during the day to every object, listless or slumbering on their perch, they take no notice of the presence of an intruder, and may indeed be often so closely approached as to be knocked down by a stick; the bright glare of the sun obscures their sight, and they wait for evening, the dusk of twilight being their season of activity.

The African species (trogon narina, Levaill.) closely approximates to its American relatives; but its three outer tail-feathers are unbarred. This species inhabits the dense forests of Caffraria; during the day it sits motionless on a low dead branch, and it is only in the morning and evening that it displays activity. Locusts and other insects are its principal food.

Of all the trogons none are so magnificent as the trogon Fruits, insects and their larvæ, constitute their food. resplendens, lately introduced to the knowledge of the Formed, most of them at least, for rapid but not scientific world, as a distinct species by Mr. Gould, and protracted flight, they watch from their perch the admirably figured in his splendid Monograph' of the insects flitting by, and dart after them with surprising family trogonida. This bird, as stated by Mr. Gould, velocity, returning after their short chase to the same point" is to be found only in the dense and gloomy forests of observation. Some, however, are almost exclusively frugivorous, we allude more especially to those whose flowing plumes impede the freedom of their flight; such seek for fruits and berries. Many species are certainly migratory. M. Natterer observes, respecting the pavonine trogon (trogon pavoninus, Spix), which inhabits, during a certain season of the year, the high woods along the upper part of the Amazon and Rio Negro, that he found the contents of its stomach to consist principally of the fruit of a certain species of palm, and that it arrives in those districts when its favourite food is ripe, but that when the trees no longer yield an adequate supply it retires to other districts.

Like the parrots and woodpeckers, the trogons breed

of the Southern States of Mexico." Little known to Europeans, except within the last few years, the brilliant plumes which fall over the tail (and which, as is the whole of the upper surface of the body of this bird, are of the richest metallic golden green) were made use of by the ancient Mexicans, as ornaments on their headdresses; and gorgeous must a head-dress be, composed of such feathers-soft, flowing, of dazzling lustre, and three feet in length. In later times they have occasionally been transmitted as curiosities to Europe. Mr. Gould observes that M. Temminck is the first who figured the present species; but that celebrated naturalist confounded it with the trogon pavoninus of Dr. Spix, a Brazilian species to which it is nearly allied,

but from which it differs in having a soft silky crest, of No group of birds offers a clearer proof than the long full feathers, and the plumes of the tail-coverts trogonidæ, of the rapid advancement of ornithological extremely long, whereas in the pavonine trogon there knowledge, and of the great researches which have been is no crest, and the tail-coverts do not extend above an made in this department of natural history. In the inch or two at most beyond the tail. time of Linnæus, who enumerates only three species, the existence of these birds in India and Africa was not known. Levaillant added the Narina; and of late years, Vieillot, Spix, Temminck, and Swainson, have each contributed to enlarge the catalogue. important labours on the subject, however, are those embodied in Mr. Gould's Monograph,' in which he has established seven or eight species, hitherto unknown; the description being accompanied with admirable figures. Our group is copied from figures in Mr. Gould's work.

Of the New World trogons, those of Mexico possess in the length of the tail (at least in many instances) a feature distinguishing them from all their congeners; as an example in point we may refer to the trogon elegans (Gould), a new species, received by the author of the Monograph,' together with the trogon resplendens from Guatimala, a country rich in zoological stores, and constantly affording new treasures for the contemplation and study of the naturalist.

The most