By the Society of Arts a still higher degree of perfection has been attained.A choice is commonly allowed between a sum of money and a medal.Thus all conditions and tastes are satisfied: the mechanic or peasant pockets the money; the peer or gentleman ornaments his cabinet with a medal.
The apparent value of medals is in some cases augmented, by rendering the design,upon them characteristic of the service on account of which they are bestowed.By the addition of the name of the individual rewarded, an exclusive certificate is made in his favour.The ingenuity displayed in the choice of the design has sometimes been extremely happy.
A British statute gives to the person who apprehends and convicts a highwayman, amongst other rewards, the horse on which the offender was mounted when he committed the offence.
Possibly the framer of this law may have taken the hint from the passage in Virgil, in which the son of Æneas promises to Nisus, in case of the success of the expedition he was meditating, the very horse and accoutrements which Turnus had been seen to use.
It is equally possible, that the same knowledge of human nature, which suggested to the Latin poet the efficacy of such a reward, suggested it at once to the English lawyer.Be this as it may, this provision is commendable on three several accounts.In the assignment of the prize, it pitches upon an object, which, from the nature of the transaction, is likely to make a particular impression on the mind of the person whose assistance is required; acting in this respect in conformity to the rule above laid down, which recommends an attention to the circumstances influencing the sensibility of the person on whom impression is to be made.
It also has the advantage of being characteristic, as well as exemplary.
The animal, when thus transferred, becomes a voucher for the activity and prowess of its owner, as well as a trophy of his victory.
An arrangement like this, simple as it is, or rather because it is so simple, was an extraordinary stretch in British policy;in which, though there is generally a great mixture of good sense, there reigns throughout a kind of littleness and mauvaise honte , which avoids, with timid caution, everything that is bold, striking, and eccentric, scarcely ever hazarding any of those strong and masterly touches which strike the imagination, and fill the mind with the idea of the sublime.
Examples of rewards of this nature abound in the Roman system of remuneration.For every species of merit, appropriate symbolic crowns were provided.This branch of their administration preserved the ancient simplicity of Rome in its cradle; and the wreath of parsley long eclipsed the splendour of the crowns of gold.I was about to speak of their triumphs, but here I am compelled to stop: humanity shudders at that pride of conquest which treads under its feet the vanquished nations.The system of legislation ought no doubt to be adapted to the encouragement of military ardour, but it ought not to fan it into such a flame as to make it the predominant passion of the people, and to prostrate everything before it.
Honorary rewards are eminently exemplary: they are standing monuments of the service for which they have been bestowed;they also possess the desirable property of operating as a perpetual encouragement to fresh exertions.To disgrace an honorary reward, is to be a traitor to one's self; he that has once been pronounced brave, should perpetually merit that commendation.
To create a reward of this nature, is not very difficult.The symbolical language of esteem is, like written language, matter of convention.Every mode of dress, every ceremony, so soon as it is made a mark of preeminence, becomes honourable.A branch of laurel, a ribband, a garter---everything possesses the value which is assigned to it.It is however desirable, that these ensigns should possess some emblematic character expressive of the nature of the service for which they are bestowed.With reference to this principle, the blazonry of heraldry appears rude and unmeaning.The decoration of the various orders of knighthood, though not deficient in splendour, are highly deficient in respect of character:
they strike the eye, but they convey no instruction to the mind.A ribband appears more like the finery of a woman, than the distinctive decoration of a hero.
Honorary titles have frequently derived a part of their glory from being characteristic.The place which has been the theatre of his exploits has often furnished a title for a victorious general, well calculated to perpetuate the memory of his service and his glory.At a very early period of their history, the Romans employed this expedient in addition to the other rewards which they conferred upon the general who completed a conquest.---Hence the surnames of Africanus , Numidicus , Asiaticus , Germanicus , and so many others.
This custom was frequently been imitated.Catherine II.revived it in favour of the Romanoffs and Orloffs.Mahon, twice in the eighteenth century, furnished titles to its conquerors.The mansion of Blenheim unites to the eclat of the name, a more substantial proof of national gratitude.[5]
The Romans occasionally applied the same mode of reward to services of a different description.The Appian way perpetually recalled to the memory of those who journeyed on it, the liberality of Appius.[6]
