MORELL, ANDREW, an eminent antiquary, was born at Berne, in Switzerland, on the 9th of June 1646. He had a strong passion for medals, in the knowledge of which he equalled, if not surpassed, all his contemporaries; and in the course of his travels, which were extensive, he made large collections of them. His rapid progress in history developed his taste for numismatics, which he regarded as one of the principal foundations of historical knowledge; and this taste was improved by his acquaintance with Charles Patin, author of a work on the subject, whom he had accidentally met at Bâle, and whose friendship he ever afterwards retained. In 1680, Morell went to Paris, where his reputation procured him admission into the society of the learned, and where, in 1683, he published Specimen Universæ Rei Nummariae Antiquæ, a second edition of which, corrected and enlarged, appeared at Leipzig in 1695. Soon after the publication of this essay, which was intended as a specimen of a greater work, embracing a complete collection and description of ancient medals, he was associated with Rainnart in the keepership of the royal cabinet of medals, and applied with indefatigable ardour to the classification and arrangement of the rich materials it contained. When he had completed this laborious task, the promised recompense was from some cause deferred; and having complained of the delay in a manner which displeased Louvois, he was by order of that minister committed to the Bastille, where he was confined for more than three years. By the intercession of the government of Berne, he was liberated on the 16th of November 1691, and returned to his native city, where he resumed the prosecution of his great work, but made little progress, being unable to defray the heavy expense necessary for the execution of his design. In 1694 he went to Germany, upon an invitation from the Count de Schwartzenburg-Arnstadt, who had a fine collection of medals, with the charge of which he intrusted Morell, at the same time furnishing him with the means of carrying on his great work. But he did not long enjoy the comfort and tranquillity which he found in the castle of Arnstadt. A fall from a carriage, in which he dislocated his shoulder, and a consequent attack of paralysis, obliged
him to suspend his labours, and he died on the 11th of April 1703, lamenting that he had not been able to complete the work upon which he had so long been engaged. Havercamp having collected and arranged his scattered materials, published, in 1734, Thesaurus Morellianus, sive Familiarum Romanarum Numismata Omnia, in two vols. folio, of which one consisted of plates and the other of text. Morell having also left in manuscript the numismatical history of the first twelve Roman emperors, Havercamp, Schlegel, and Gori, undertook to publish it with ample commentaries; and the work appeared in 1752, under the title of Thesauri Morelliani Numismata Aurea, Argentea, Aerea, cujusque moduli xii. priorum Imperatorum, Amsterdam, in three vols. folio, with figures. Morell also published several letters, particularly one in Latin addressed to Perezonius De Nummis Consularibus, which appeared in 1701, in 4to. (A.)