INDEXES:— I. ARTISTS 143 II. INSCRIPTIONS 146 III. GENERAL 158 INTRODUCTION. [Sidenote: ARRANGEMENT.] MEDALS serve for two purposes, for the illustration of history and as records of the contemporary state of art. Some series, like that of Italy, have more interest for their artistic merit than their historical import. This may also be said in a great degree of the French medals; but in the English and Dutch series the interest lies rather in the historical value than in the artistic qualities, the medallic art of neither country attaining at any time any high degree of excellence. The medals which are described in this Guide, although to some extent examples of contemporary art, must therefore be considered interesting chiefly as records and illustrations of the history of England for a period of over three hundred years. For this reason a classification of the medals by artists has not been attempted, and a simple chronological order has been preferred. This, however, has been relaxed in a few instances, as in that of the personal medals, which for the most part are placed at the end of the reign in which the persons portrayed flourished; and in a few cases where it has been considered advisable to class together the medals of a particular artist, in order that the merit of his work could be better studied and compared. This has been done in the case of the medals by Stephen of Holland, Simon Passe, and some of those by Thomas and Abraham Simon. The military and naval decorations form a separate series, and are therefore described at the end of the Guide; by this means making the arrangement more useful to those who take special interest in this particular branch. A small selection could, however, only be made from the series in the Museum collection, on account of the limited space for exhibition. In many cases where English medals fail to illustrate important events, selections have been made from the Dutch and other series in order to render the historical record as complete as possible. [Sidenote: HISTORICAL SERIES.]