394 Trinity Church, Newington Butts, Surrey. parts of each other, as the productions of Mr. Bedford in this neighbourhood. The unoccupied Eastern wall is cold and unornamented, a pediment surmounting four slabs, inscribed with the decalogue, &c. and a small space railed in, informs us it is intended for the altar. The window above is adorned with fillets of poorly executed stained glass; and the usual crimson velvet covered communion-table stands below; but all this is not enough. Architects should know that a distinction ought to be made between the altar of a Church, and the upper end of a Presbyterian Conventicle. Surely a spot where the most solemn rites of our religion are solemnized, where an Episcopal communion is administered, to which we have from our infancy been taught to look up to as the most sacred part of the building, and which in an architectural point of view is regarded as the principal object in the edifice, should be marked by some distinguishing feature. I could wish our Hierarchy would enforce the old and almost disused practice of placing the holy table in a recess distinct from the rest of the Church. At all events, some care, some little attention should be paid to its decorations; it is discreditable to the Establishment to see the altar adorned with such inferior ornament as in the present case. The Dissenters always place their pulpit in a situation corresponding with our altar, in which respect they are consistent with their principles, which we are not. The uniformity of the building is greatly broken by the situation of the portico. A large space on the North side, is occupied by two deep recesses on each side a window, which receives a false light from the belfry story of the tower. These recesses contain additional galleries for the charity children, ranging on each side of the steeple; they are consequently hid from the view of the greater part of the congregation. This fault is not attributable to the architect so much as to the site; but it is to be lamented, inasmuch as the effect of the interior is greatly hurt by this irregular arrangement. The pulpit and reading desk are counterparts of each other, and stand on opposite sides of the Church, a fashionable arrangement among architects, but nevertheless an absurd one. They [Nov. forget that the service is read from a desk, and not a pulpit. An useless sacrifice is here made to uniformity of appearance, at the expence of propriety. If the profession would condescend to look into the older churches of the Metropolis, they might learn an arrangement in this respect far superior to their modern ideas. The font stands in the nave beneath the Western gallery; it is made of composition in imitation of stone, and enriched with honeysuckles and other Grecian mouldings. The design is an antique vase, with han dles. It should have been an imitation of veined marble, for as it at present appears, it resembles both in design and composition the vases which may be purchased for a few shillings of the itinerant Italians, who are met with in every part of the Metropolis. In this gallery is placed the organ, in an oak case, with gilt ornaments. A noble chandelier of brass depends from the centre of the roof, which diffuses a brilliant light over the greater part of the Church. The first stone was laid on the 2d of June, 1823, by his Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury, attended by the Bishop of Worcester, and the Rector, Trustees, and parochial officers of Newington. The foundations had been raised to a level with the ground, at that time having been in progress for nearly six months previous. On the 16th of December, 1824, it was consecrated by the same Primate. The service was read by the Rev. C. V. H. Sumner, the first incumbent. The Rev. A. C. Onslow, M.A. the Rector of the parish, preached an able sermon from the 93d Psalm, v. 6, "Holiness becometh thine house for ever." The parish, though situated in the diocese of Winchester, is a peculiar of the Archbishop, who was attended by Sir John Nicholl, knt. as Dean of the Arches. The present is said to be the largest of the new Churches yet erected. It contains sittings in pews for 1277 persons, free seats 519, seats for charity children 252, making a total of 2048. but a far greater number can always be accommodated without inconvenience. The tower contains a peal of eight powerful bells, from the well-known foundry 1825.] Progress of Discovery, Navigation, and Commerce. foundry of Mr. Mears, of Whitechapel. The tenor weighs 20 cwt. The ground on which the Church is built was given by the Corporation of the Trinity House, who are the owners of considerable property in the vicinity. Yours, &c. E.I.C. Brief Historical Sketch of the Progress of Discovery, Navigation, and Commerce. GISBORNE observes, that the posISBORNE observes, that the posmanly speaking, the difference between savage life and civil society. This assertion must be received with one important limitation, that the Chaldeans, who are described as expert armourers, were rude in the extreme. Nevertheless, this remark illustrates one of Montesquieu, that discovery was formerly the result of conquest, as conquest is now of discovery 2. The latter acute writer has defined the history of Commerce to be that of the intercourse of nations, whose calamities and migrations form a material part of its. cur After the dispersion at Babel, there is no professed notice of Commerce. The purchase of a burial-ground by Abraham was made with silver coin, which is particularized as being " rent with the merchant4" (B.C. 1860); and the descendants of Ishinacl are introduced about a century after, as dealers in spices and slaves. During the same age, a miraculous famine made Egypt the staple and granary of the East, while the influence arising from its ability to supply other nations with corn, occasioned many colonial 395 removals from that country to Greece. Sidon, as appears from the expressions of Jacob, had already obtained importances; the epithet "great" is applied to it by Joshua, who also terms Tyre "a strong city';" and its quiet and security are expressly stated by the succeeding annalist”. The Phoenicians, although cooped within a narrow territory, possessed some valuable advantages: to an excellent harbour were added the forests of Lebanon, and the strong impulse of necessity. Their unfortunate brethren, in their flight from a conqueror whom they termed a "robber," lined the African coast, from Kartha-kadtha (or, in its corrupt but softer form, Car thage), to Tangier9. Yet there is a clear indication of hostility at an early period between the kindred nations. The possession of a settlement on that side of the Strait was undoubtedly alluring, though unkind treatment is the traditionary cause; however, the Tyrian chief (the Hercules of antiquity) attacked the infant settlement, reduced it by blockade, and put Antai, the founder, to death. In the true spirit of a warrior, he married the woman he had widowed, and, long after, the Kings of Mauritania adorned their ancestry with his name 10. The Pelasgi, whether Cuthites or Aborigines, first rendered Peloponnesus entirely habitable. About 1820 B. C. Enotris led the superfluous population to Italy, and settled in Lucania; subsequent establishments were made by the Arcadians, Lydians, and Thessalians, and the colonists were so nicely blended with the natives, that their descent became the undisputed property of fabulists and poets". Passing along the stream of tradition, we arrive at the voyage of the Argonauts, B. C. 1263, which derived its common name from the fleeces extended across the rivers to catch the 3 Ibid. c. 5. Natural Theology, p. 98. 2 De L'Esprit des Lois, b. xxi. c. 9. 4 Genes. xxiii. 15.-St. Augustine remarks (De Civ. 1.4), "Ut Argentinus Deus diceretur filius Esculani, quod area moneta argentum præcessisset....Jano tribuitur à plerisque origo signandæ pecuniæ, quod in alterâ fronte nummorum adscriberetur ejus caput, in alterâ vero fronte, vel navis, vel pons, vel corona. Licet alii velint navim appositam fuisse nummis Italicis, quod Saturnus navi vectus fuisset in Italiam." Suarez de Nummis, Amst. 1683, pp. 7, 8. 5 Gen. 49, 13. 6 Josh. xix. 28, 29. 7 Judges, xviii. 7. 8 Gen. x. 15-19. 9 See Bochart, and the authorities referred to in Horne's Crit. Introd. iv. 32. 10 Plutarch, Vit. Sertor. Strabo, 3. Newton's Chronology, p. 198, 233, et seq. 11 Bryant, Anal. of Myth. iv. 21. D'Hancarville notices historiques sur l'origine des Pelasques, &c. apud Ant. Etrusques, vol. V. particles 396 Progress of Discovery, Navigation, and Commerce. particles of gold. Owing to their ignorance of the sea, or mistrust of a direct course, these adventurers visited Lemnos, Samothrace, Troas, Cyzicus, Bithnie, and Thrace: after beating about the Euxine, they discovered Mount Caucasus, which served them for a landmark, and anchored near Œa, the capital of Colchis. The contradictory accounts of their return indicate that they were tempted by success to embark in other expeditions. However, their exploits became so famous as to be associated, even to the name of their vessel 2, with the traditionary accounts of the Deluge. During the Trojan War, Eunæus of Leinnos, son of Jason, is related to have furnished the Grecian camp with wines, for which he received metals, hides, and slaves 13. The misfortunes which befel most of the Grecian chiefs on their return from Troy, occasioned many emigrations. Southern Italy and the western coast of Italy were the principal resort. The successful wars of David brought under Hebrew dominion Elath and Gzion-geber, two harbours on the Red Sea, but the religious institutions of the Israelites, which obliged them to visit Jerusalem thrice in a year, were unfavourable to maritime expeditions; their ships, therefore, were manned by Phoenician sailors, who brought from the Mediterranean and Ophins, precious metals and curious animals. Horses were imported from Egypt. Jehoshaphat endeavoured to .Argoz,ארגן 19 [Nov. revive the former commerce, B.C. 896, but after the loss of one fleet, he did not venture on a second attempt. The fall of continental Tyre opened a prospect of aggrandisement to Carthage, and peopled it with industrious exiles. Its mariners were familiar with the coasts of Albion, though their visits are more distinctly traced in Ierne". Their encroachments in Spain were resisted by the petty princes, who cultivated the friendship of the Pho cæans; nevertheless, on quitting their country, the latter preferred the commodious harbour of Marseilles, where, being seldom molested, and generally victorious', they maintained a respectable station, till reduced by the arms of Cæsar. Their geographer, Pytheas, is celebrated for a voyage, in which it is said he coasted Spain, France, and Britain, as far as the northern extremity of that island, whence he bore for Thule (whatever place be meant by that name) and the Baltic. The Egyptians were averse to ma ritime attempts as a nation, but the enterprising Necho achieved the first circumnavigation of Africa. He sent some Phoenician vessels from the Red Sea through the straits of Babelmandel, to discover the coast; and in the third year they returned by the Mediterranean: the shadow falling to the South, after they had passed the line; the delay of stopping to sow and reap grain for their subsistence, and the space of three years employed in the voyage, are the proofs on which it rests. In 13 Hom. Il. vii. 467-75. 14 Deut. xvi. 16. 15 "An unknown place, concerning which a great deal has been written, but which appears to have left some traces in Ofor, an Arabian district, at the entrance of the Persian Gulf." Volney, Ruins of Empires, p. 31, 1. 5. note, where the reference is made to new Researches in Ancient History, vol. I. and Travels in Syria, vol. II. 16 This was the name given collectively by foreigners to the island; in the Bardic relics it is termed Ynys Prydain," or, the Beautiful Island, whence Britain and its divisions Lloegyr, Cymru, and Alban, or England, Wales, and Scotland. Cambrian Register, 1795, p. 23. 17 In a Welsh poem composed a out A.D. 630, and entitled "Arymes Prydain Vawr," or, the Great Armed Confederacy of Britain, Ireland is termed Iwerddon; mention is also made of its capital in these lines, "A gynhell Dulyn genliyn a savant, Pan ddyfont i'r gâd nid ymwadant." "And the leaders of Dublin will stand firm in our behalf: When they come into the battle they will not desert the cause." See Cols. Vallancey and Montmorency-Morres. 18 Herod. i. 163. Camb. Reg. 1796, p. 563. 19 Thucyd. i. 23. Voltaire, in his Posthumous Observations on the French Language, has the following remark: "There are no words in the French Language derived from the Greek, but those relating to the Arts. This is a sufficient proof that the Greeks established a factory, not a colony, at Marseilles, and that the Celtic language prevailed there.”* Perhaps it is important with regard to the latter inference. after 1825.] Progress of Discovery, Navigation, and Commerce. after times, Eudoxus of Cyzicus, fly ing from the rage of Ptolemy Lathyrus, is said to have accomplished the same route. On the other hand, Sataspes, a Persian who attempted it by the straits of Gibraltar, proceeded no further than Sallee, being impeded by the periodical East wind. Hanno, the Carthaginian, who sailed on a colonising expedition about 400 B. C. did not reach the Cape. Those, observes Montesquieu, who set out from the Red Sea, had this evident advantage, the comparative nearness of the Cape; while others, on quitting the coast of Guinea, could not reach it without a compass, an invention at that time unknown 20. It is now time to advert to the changes produced in Asia by the superfluous population of the North. About 630 B.C. the Massageta of Turkistan moving westward, dislodged the Nomadic Scythians, who crossed the Araxes, and occupied the territories of the Cimmerii. These latter, after a protracted debate, in which a considerable number perished, fled along the sea coast; part of them settled on the site of the modern Sinub, while others possessed themselves of Lydia, during the reign of Ardys, by whose grandson, Alyattes, they were expelled. The Scythians missed the course of the fugitives, and leaving Mount Caucasus on the right, entered Media by the Upper route: after an ascendancy of 28 years, in which they penetrated Palestine, having rendered themselves odious by their rapacity, they were destroyed by Cyaxares 21. In the poetical relics of Persian history, this migration may be traced in the various invasions of Afrasiale, or the Asiatic Tartar, during the Seventh Century, which were terminated by the illustrious Rustem, about 600 years before Christ. From their veneration of the elements, the Persians were averse to maritime expeditions, and the same superstition exists at this day. Darius, whose attention to his revenue procured him the surname of broker 22, seems alone to have turned his thoughts to commerce, to which he was probably 20 B. xxi. c. 10. 397. instigated by the measures of his Indian neighbour, Maraja. This monarch, who was contemporary with Hystaspes (father of Darius, and Governor of Turkistan), having reduced Guzerat, "built a port in that country, where he constructed vessels, and carried on commerce with all the states of Asia." Darius, whose dominions are extended by geographers as far as Moultan, sent Scylax, a Greek, with a fleet, eastward down the Indus, who arrived at the Red Sea after a voyage of 30 months. Whatever may be thought of this story, its geographical inaccuracy, the coasting of the Gedosian shore, when compared with the difficulties encountered by Alexander's mariners, the object appears rather to have been political, and an acquisition of territory was the result 25. The disastrous expedition of Darius to Scythia was attended with beneficial. consequences to geographical knowledge; having crossed the eastern divisions of the Danube, and the Don, he proceeded through Podolia to the banks of the Wolga, whence he was led by the retreating inhabitants in the direction of Vologhda. Fortunately for his army, he returned by the same indirect course. Whatever was known of this region, observes the illustrator of Herodotus, was evidently the result of this expedition. One of the most valuable geographical remains is the Melpomene of Herodotus: this inquisitive and judicious historian visited a considerable portion of the space he describes, which portion may be comprised within Syrene, Italy, the Danube, and Babylon. Eudoxus of Cnidus, as a geographer, and Pytheas of Marseilles, as a voyager, illustrate the period between Herodotus and Alexander the Great. Selden remarks, "there never breathed that person to whom mankind was more beholden" than Aristotle; yet much of this eulogy belongs to his enterprising pupil. Previous to the battle of Gaugamela he had traversed Egypt and Libya, visited the Red Sea, and explored the countries on the Caspian and Sea of Azof. From that 21 Herod. i. 15, 16, 103. iv. 11, 12. There is some confusion in his narrative with regard to the two continents; but his account of the massacre of the Scythians is confirmed by the policy of Shah Abbas, who took off the Curdish chiefs at a feast. 22 Herod. iii. 89. 23 Dow's History of Hindostan, i. 8. The course of the Indus is South-west. 25 Herod. ii. 44. 398 Progress of Discovery, Navigation, and Commerce. time his expedition ought to be considered as one of discovery; at the East of the Penjab his soldiers refused to proceed further, but their return was made beneficial to science, being conducted by a different route. Having explored the mouth of the Indus, where he was struck with astonishment at the tides, he returned through Gedrosia (the modern Neckran) to Babylon. The Indian ocean and Persian gulf were, in the meanwhile, successfully navigated by Nearchus ; and other voyages were projected, when Alexander was carried off by a fever, which in the hands of later writers has been exaggerated into debauchery. The motives of Alexander were as honourable as his views were liberal; but his successors degenerated while his empire decayed: "thus (says an eloquent historian) did the growing dishonesty of the Greeks, the proud tyranny of the Romans, the barbarous despotism of the Parthians, and all succeeding Asiatic dynasties, conspire to defeat the sanguine hopes concerning the improvement of the Eastern world, that had been entertained by Alexander, and by him partly realised. In his military chlamys Pompey delighted to triumph: Augustus spared Alexandria for the sake of its founder: his life was read by Trajan, as his statue had been contemplated by Cæsar, with a sigh of humbled ambition. All conquerors admired Alexander; but none ever united the will and the power to imitate his example 26" Of Alexander's generals, Seleucus inherited the greater portion of his spirit, but the wars in which he was engaged thwarted his designs. That valuable portion of territory which he possessed between the Indus and the Ganges, was wrested from him by the usurper Chandragupta, whose alliance he preferred to hostilities in a quarter so remote from his capital. Under his successors, this vast empire dwindled to the province of Commagene, which retained a nominal independence: the migration and invasion of the Gauls, the conquests of the Ronans, and the Parthian and Jewish revolts, are the principal events which mark its decay. Under the Ptolemies, Alexander succeeded to the traffic of impoverished Tyre and declining Carthage. They united the Red Sea to the Me 26 Gillies, Hist. of Greece, part 2. iv. 552. [Nov. diterranean, by a canal; and established a caravan between Egypt and Abyssinia. But the rapid progress of Rome disappointed their extensive views; the Carthaginian colonies on the West of Africa perished, or were blended with the savage nations; while the liberty of Greece languished from the death Philopamen to the capture of Athens by Sylla. A survey of the Roman dominions was planned by Julius Cæsar, and finished under Augustus, by Greek geographers. In the reign of the lat ter, Arabia was partially, and Ethiopia successfully explored. Reverting to the West, we learn from Diodorus, that tin was carried from Cornwall to St. Michael's Mount at low water, and thence to the northern coast of France, and transported on horses to Marseilles, being a journey of 30 days. The same author mentions Orcas as the northern extremity of the island, which was first circumnavigat ed by Agricola. While Justinian possessed a numerous fleet, and effected maritime conquests, the naval history of the West presents little but piracy. The adventures of the Saxons and Normans are well known. The Welsh triads mention several heroic freebooters, and one of them named Coroi (who was slain in a sea-fight with another called Cuchullin), is celebrated in an elegy by Taliessin. Llywarch, the bard, describes Rodri, son of Owain Gwynnedd, as going "on the steeds of the torrent," and hints that he perished in an engagement. The Triads also mention Ysgewyn in Gwent (Ysgewydd in Monmouthshire), Gwygwr in Môn (Beaumaris) and Gwyddno in the North (?) as the three principal ports of Britain. Alfred devoted his attention to naval affairs, and has left behind him a geographical description of the North of Europe. Athelstan passed an enlightened law, that every merchant who should perform three voyages with his own manufactures, should enjoy the privileges of a Thane. The capture of Alexandria by the Saracens, A.D. 640, threw the Oriental trade into the hands of the Venetians, from whom it dropped on the discovery of the Cape. The same age "gave a new world to Castile and Leon," as 27 Camb. Reg. 1793, p. 817. the |