Prospectus
OF A
GRAND SERIES
OF
FORTY MEDALS
COMMEMORATING
British Victories.
  PREVIOUSLY to the commencement of the present reign, the imitative Arts, with the exception of Architecture, were but little regarded in England. All the other civilised nations of the continent had for centuries past been rendered illustrious for their genius in the Fine Arts, while England, where the fervor of Poetic fancy as displayed by Chaucer, Spencer, Shakespeare, Milton, Dryden &c. rivalled the Poetic renown of Greece itself, had not produced a single instance of superior talent in Painting or Sculpture. But their gradual progress during the present reign up to an advanced state of excellence, sufficiently shews that uncongenial fortuitous circumstances, and not deficiency in the powers of imagination, prevented their nurture in England. From the accession of his Majesty to the present period, the public attention to Painting, Sculpture, and Engraving, has been gradually encreasing, and the introduction of the Elgin Marbles into this country, followed by the Scrutiny of the House of Commons into their merits, its purchase of them for the nation, together with the seizure and surrender by France of the great works of the celebrated Masters of the continent, have in England excited a deeper and more general regard for the elegant Arts than has ever yet prevailed. It is this more general and intense regard for works of Art, together with the just admiration excited by the skill and courage of our troops in their late defeats of the French, that has elicited the Publication of a series of Medals illustrative of those national events. The novelty of the work in this country, has also been another motive for their production. In the time of Cromwell and Charles II. Simon an English Artist, engraved Medals in a style not very remote from the perfection of the Greeks. Since that time Medal Engraving has had but a faint existence in England. A few Medals of individual persons or circumstances, and of talent inferior to Italian or French Art, have been struck, but nothing of general moment, nothing that celebrates the power or grandeur of the British empire, nothing that vibrates on the heart with emulative and patriotic effect, or fixes with delight the tasteful eye, nothing, in fine, worthy of the majesty and the renown of the British people and of the beauty and dignity of Art, has ever yet appeared from an English mint during a long period of English glory in almost every excellence that adorns, ennobles, and immortalizes a nation. The present series of Medals, therefore while it is a commencement of that new species of publication which records with elegance and unequalled durability, subjects every way worthy of commemoration, will it is trusted, recommend itself to every lover of the Fine Arts and to every species of politicians; to those who have been friendly and those who have been adverse to the measures of government which resulted in the captivity of Bonaparte and the occupation of Paris by the Allies, for British perseverance, talent and bravery must be equally admired by all.
  Mr. Mudie, the director and proprietor of the Series, is therefore confident that every class of his countrymen will hail a work which will enrich the cabinet of the Amateur with a class of Art but little known in this Country, and that will deliver down to their posterity to remote ages, and in the most lasting of materials, an elegant and energetic record of so glorious a feature of its character. Paintings, exquisite and impressive as they are, are comparatively but partial and perishable memorials, for they can be seen but in few places, and are obnoxious to the fading and destructive influence of the elements. Marble statues too are more liable than Medals to accidents, and are like Pictures, stationary in a few places. But the same subject in Medals, from their smallness, the infrangible nature of their materiel, and their cheapness, may be conveyed in numerous impressions to every part of the empire, and the admirers of one identical work of Art, be at the same time antipodes to each other. The marble group, erected in London can be viewed only by the visitor or resident there, but duplicated impressions of Medals can be seen in numerous places at once, by the inhabitants of Europe and India, by the soldier who is guarding Napoleon in Saint Helena, and those in London who sent or continue him there. There is then but one circumstance in the nature of the work of which the Proprietor thinks it necessary to be particular in explaining, it is the employing of foreign Artists to engrave a portion of the Medals. This he was compelled to do in order to confer the greatest perfection in the metallic records of incidents so highly deserving of that perfect representation. Much as are native Artists excel in every other branch of the Fine Arts, equalling and in many respects, exceeding foreign Artists, they have not yet reached the delicacy, precision and finish of the French and Italian Medallists. This is by no means attributable to any deficiency whatever in the native capabilities of Englishmen. The inbred vigor of their powers, if duly cherished is competent to the highest attainments in this and every other Art, or they would not have perfection in the works of their own native Medallist, Simon. They are however, several of our countrymen who have great and growing talents in Medal engraving. These talents shall have a share in illustrating the deeds of their brave countrymen represented in the Series, so that the Proprietor will assist to the utmost of his power, to unfold their latent energies to a degree that will altogether supersede the necessity of foreign aid. Opportunity only can be wanting to open to British genius all the paths of intellectual glory.
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  The Medals already struck may be had of Mr. WHITEAVES, No. 30, Fleet Street ; Mr. YOUNG, 46, High Holborn ; and Messrs. SOLOMON, LEWIS, and Co. No. 2, New Street, Covent Garden.
  Medals in Bronze, 10s. 6d. each, or Twenty Guineas the Series, including an elegant Case arranged for the Library or Cabinet.
  In Silver, One Guinea each, or Forty Guineas the Series.
  In Gold, Fifteen Guineas each, or Six Hundred Guineas the Series.
  Those who wish to become Subscribers are requested to give in their Names to either of the above Agents, as they will have the advantage of PROOF IMPRESSIONS.
  Those not wishing for a complete Series, may purchase single Medals.