[233] Boece assigns the earliest native Scottish coinage to an apocryphal king Donald, _circa_ A.D. 200. This account, however, includes some interesting notices of hoards discovered in his own day: "King Donald was the first king of Scottis that prentit ane penny of gold or silver. On the ta side of this money was prentit ane croce, and his face on the tothir. The Scottis usit na money, bot merchandice, quhen thay interchangeit with Britonis and Romanis, afore thir dayis, except it war money of the said Romanis or Britonis, as may be previt be sindry auld hurdis and treasouris, found in divers partis of Scotland, with uncouth cunye. For in the yeir of God M.DXIX. yeris, in Fiffe, nocht far fra Levin, war certane penneis found, in ane brasin veschell, with uncouth cunye; sum of thaim war prentit with doubill visage of Janus; otheris with the stam of ane schip; otheris had the figure of Mars, Venus, Mercurius, and siclike idolis; on otheris war prentit Romulus and Remus soukand ane wolf; and on the tothir side war prentit S. P. Q. R. Siclike, in Murray-land, beside the see, in the ground of ane auld castill, the yeir of God M.CCCCLX. yeris, was found ane veschell of merbill, full of uncouth money; on quhilkis was prentit the image of ane ganar fechtant with edderis,"--_i.e._, a goose fighting with adders.--Bellenden's Boece, book iv. chap. xvi. [234] Sylva Antiqua Iscana, p. 79, Plate VI. [235] Ibid. p. 90, where a minute account of the coins is given. Also pp. 76, 88, 91, 93, &c. [236] New Statist. Acco. vol. iv. p. 292. [237] Archæologia, vol. ii. p. 92; vol. iii. pp. 234, 332. A monumental tablet, dedicated to the memory of Antiochus Lysimachus, now in the Museum of the Scottish Antiquaries, is engraved and described by mistake in Stuart's "Caledonia Romana" as _the only Greek inscription which has been met with north of the Tweed_. It was found, along with a statue of Esculapius and other fine marbles, near the fountain of Cyrene, on the site of an ancient Greek colony in Africa. [238] Gibson's Camden, p. 926. [239] Primeval Antiquities, p. 135. [240] Primeval Antiquities, p. 45. [241] Layard's Nineveh, vol. ii p. 418. [242] Natural History of Man, p. 191. [243] Archæologia, vol. xxx. p. 248. [244] Schlegel's Philosophy of History, Lecture II. [245] Archæol. Journal, vol. vii. p. 68. [246] Pennant, vol. ii. p. 250. [247] "It seems our ancestors had more gold than silver, and indeed there are several places in Scotland where there has been much digging for gold. I have had the curiosity to consider the nature of them, and always found them just the same with those the Emperor has on the borders of Hungary, at two places, Nitria and Presburg. Those, like ours, consist of a vein or stratum of sand and gravel, which being brought up some fathoms from below ground, and washed, produce gold in very small particles."--Sir John Clerk to Mr. Gale, August 6, 1732; _Biblo. Topog. Brit._ vol. ii. p. 299.