of London, was proved in the Consistory Court of Canterbury on 23 Aug. 1665. He left his son Samuel his farm in Shorne, near Gravesend, Kent, and also his paintings, drawings, and medals. To his nephew William, son of his brother Nathaniel, deceased, he left his punches and graving tools. Simon's widow petitioned the king about 1669 for the sum of 2,164l., claimed by her as arrears of payment due to her husband.
A portrait of Simon occurs on an oval medal, cast and chased by Stuart in the eighteenth century, from an unknown original probably executed by Abraham Simon circ. 1660. A seventeenth-century miniature, formerly in the possession of Sir A. W. Franks, has been identified as probably a portrait of T. Simon.
In the preparation of many of his portrait medals Simon had the advantage of working from the admirable wax models of his brother Abraham, but his own work on coins and seals proves that he was an accomplished designer, endowed with a keen sense of what was appropriate for the circular ‘flan’ of the coin and the seal. His technical skill is triumphantly evinced by his petition crown, and, taken altogether, he must be pronounced the finest medallist who ever worked in England. His usual signature is T. S.
The following is a list of his principal medals, many of which are not struck but cast and chased: 1. Scottish Rebellion, 1639. 2. Sir John Hotham, 1644. 3. Sir Thomas Fairfax, 1645. 4. Baron de Reede, 1645. 5. Death of Earl of Essex, 1646. 6. Edward Rossiter, 1646. 7. Cromwell, Lord General, 1650. 8. Henry Ireton, 1650. 9. Battle of Dunbar, 1650. 10. Naval Reward, 1650. 11. Naval Reward, 1653. 12. Cromwell, Lord Protector, 1653. 13. Saving the Triumph (Blake's flagship), 1653. 14. Henry Scobell. 15. John Thurloe, 1653. 16. Sir James Harrington, 1653. 17. Bulstrode Whitelock, 1653. 18. Death of Cromwell, 1658. 19. General Monk, 1660. 20. Restoration, 1660, a. obverse, Moses; reverse, inscription; b. rev. ‘Magna opera Domini;’ c. ‘Probasti me;’ d. ‘Magnalia Dei.’ 21. Solicitor-general Cooke, died 1660. 22. Coronation, 1661; rev. Charles on throne (struck for official distribution; Simon's charge was 110l.). 23. Coronation, 1661, ‘Jam florescit.’ 24. Earl of Clarendon, 1662. 25. Earl of Southampton, 1664. 26. Dominion of the Sea, 1665.
[Hawkins's Medallic Illustrations, ed. Franks and Grueber; Grueber's Guide to English Medals in Brit. Mus.; Henfrey's Numismata Cromwelliana; Vertue's Medals, Coins, &c., by T. Simon (with numerous engravings of his seals and medals); numismatic works of Ruding, Hawkins, and Kenyon; Wheatley and Cunningham's London; Notes and Queries, especially 2nd ser. ii. 115, 276, xii. 2, 3; Numismatic Chronicle, iv. 211 ff., v. 161 ff. (Simon's will), vii. 22 f.; Calendars of State Papers, Domestic, 1649–65.]
SIMONS, JOSEPH (1594–1671), jesuit. [See Simeon.]
SIMPSON. [See also Simson.]
SIMPSON or SYMPSON, CHRISTOPHER (1605?–1669), violist and writer on musical theory and practice, was son of Christopher Sympson, a Yorkshire yeoman, who was descended from a Nottinghamshire branch of the Sympsons (Harl. MS. 5800). On the outbreak of the civil war he took arms in the king's service, joining the forces commanded by William Cavendish, duke of Newcastle (1592–1676) [q. v.] When at length ‘the iniquity of the times had reduced (Simpson) with many others, in that common calamity, to a condition needing’ support, Sir Robert Bolles, a member of a family devoted to the crown and a distinguished patron of music, afforded him ‘a cheerful maintenance.’ Simpson lived under his patron's roof at Scampton, Lincolnshire, and gave lessons to John Bolles, the heir, and to Sir John St. Barbe. While thus employed he wrote the works which made him famous. He accompanied his pupil, Bolles, an accomplished musician, on a visit to Rome in 1661. In 1663 Simpson witnessed Sir Robert Bolles's will, by which he received a legacy of 5l. He at the same time profited greatly by his publications. Before his death he acquired Hunthouse, a house and farm near Pickering in Yorkshire, and settled it by deed upon his nephew, Christopher, the son of Stephen Simpson. Simpson died at Lincoln (or in London) between 5 May and 29 July 1669. He bequeathed his music-books ‘or whatever is of that concernment’ to Sir John Bolles. Simpson's memory was respected by musicians of various schools. Lock, Salmon, Mace, and Sir Roger L'Estrange all bear witness to his exemplary life, musical skill, and the noble influence which he exerted through his music.
Simpson published: 1. ‘Annotations upon Campion's “Art of Descant,”’ 1655; they were incorporated with Playford's ‘Brief Introduction,’ 2nd ed. 1660, and later editions, until superseded by Purcell's ‘Art of Descant,’ 1684. 2. ‘The Division Violist, or an Introduction to playing upon a Ground,’ dedicated to Sir Robert Bolles, bart., 1659; the division viol or viol da gamba was a favourite
