PHOENICIAN MERCHANTS. 13 are then pounded, sifted, and boiled in coppers for a long time; as the water wastes in boiling, the liquid grows thicker, and at length a kind of salt begins to be formed, and to shoot forth little crystals These are taken out of the copper with ladles, put into vessels to drain, and afterwards coarsely pounded and dried in an oven. The salt is then ready to be mixed with sand; and being freed from all its impurities, the application of sufficient heat will produce clear glass. Let us now observe the situation of the Phonicians who had made this grand discovery. They lived here on the shores of the Mediterranean, and Tyre and Sidon were their chief cities in the interior of the country was that extensive chain of wooded hills called Mount Lebanon, whence they were abundantly supplied with timber. The Phoenicians employed it in building ships; they were the first navigators, and also the merchants of those ancient times-sailing from one country to another, and exchanging their own commodities for the pro 14 PHOENICIAN MERCHANTS. ducts of other lands. They possessed the materials and the knowledge necessary for building ships; and they were masters of the art of writing, which enabled them to send orders to their agents at a distance. This map shows how favourably they were situated for becoming merchants. The other nations who were beginning to be civilized, also lived on the shores of the Mediterranean. Here were the inhabitants of Asia Minor-here the Greeks-here the Romans: on the African side were the Egyptians and Carthaginians: with all of these the Mediterranean, that sea in the middle of the earth, afforded a ready communication, but the adventurous Phoenicians did not confine themselves within its limits; they passed the Straits of Gibraltar, and pursued their course to the southern shores of England, where they opened a trade with the natives, for the tin found in the rocks of Cornwall. The Britons were then very ignorant, and could do but little for themselves; the Phoenicians supplied them with earthen vessels, and very probably with trinkets of glass. GLASS ADDERS. 15 Thick rings of glass, of different colours, and sometimes curiously streaked, were common in Britain at the time it was invaded by Julius Cæsar. The Britons called them glass adders; and they are supposed to have been worn as amulets, or charms, to preserve the wearer from sickness or misfortune. From the circumstance of their possessing these rings, it has been conjectured by some, that the Britons themselves were acquainted with the art of making glass; but their ignorance at that period renders this highly improbable, and I cannot find that our best historians mention the circumstance. It is more likely that the glass rings were given by the Phoenicians, in exchange for the native tin ore of England.* In the same way it is probable that these primitive merchants exchanged their glass toys for the linen of Egypt, as the mummies found in the catacombs of Memphis are adorned with glass beads. Some of you perhaps do not know that those mummies are the bodies of ancient * Ency. Brit. 16 EGYPTIAN MUMMIES. Egyptians, preserved from decay by a curious process; and which, after being carefully wrapped up in many bandages, were placed in catacombs, or subterraneous galleries, of which there are vast numbers in Egypt. I have heard that the mummies of Memphis are supposed to have been deposited there before the birth of Moses;* i. e. between three and four thousand years ago. If you have not read, you would be amused by some verses addressed to one of these mummies, in which the poet rapidly enumerates many historic events and revolutions, which have taken place since the period when it may be supposed that this Egyptian was embalmed, and placed in the catacomb among his deceased ancestors.† *Gray's Op. Chemist, p. 554. TO THE MUMMY AT BELZONI'S EXHIBITION. AND thou hast walked about (how strange a story) Those temples, palaces, and piles stupendous, LAVER OF BRASS. 17 If the Phoenicians brought any of their glass manufactures into Egypt so early as has been conjectured, we may conclude that vessels, or ornaments of this substance were not in common use, or they would most likely have been mentioned by some of the writers of the Old Testament. There is, indeed, one passage in Exodus, where Moses is said to have made the laver of brass of the looking-glasses of the women. Speak! for thou long enough hast acted dummy! Not like thin ghosts, or disembodied creatures, Tell us, for doubtless thou canst recollect, To whom we should assign the sphinx's fame: Was Cheops or Cephrenes architect Of either pyramid that bears his name? Is Pompey's pillar really a misnomer? Had Thebes a hundred gates, as sung by Homer? Perhaps thou wert a Mason, and forbidden, By oath, to tell the mysteries of thy trade;- In Memnon's statue, which at sunrise played. |