2'>'» S. VII. jAif. 1. '69.3 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



a Compleate Collection of all the other most delight- 

 ful Wo7^hs, translated and written by that famous 

 Philomusus, Josnah Sylvester, Gent. Fol. 1621 ; 

 lb. 1633 ; lb. 1641. The first folio edition con- 

 tained the following additional poems, namely : — 

 Micro- cosmo-graphia ; The Maiden's Blush, or 

 Joseph ; Panaretus ; Job Triumphant ; Hymn of 

 Alms ; Memorials of Mortalitie ; St. Lewis ; Selfe- 

 Civil-War; All's not Gold that Glisters; New 

 Jerusalem ; Christian Conflict ; Honors Farewell ; 

 Elegy on the Death of Sir W. Sidney ; Elegy on 

 the Death of Mrs. Hill ; A Briefe Catechisme ; 

 Spectacles ; Mottoes ; The Woodman's Brare ; A 

 Preparation to the Resurrection ; and A Table of 

 the Mysterie of Mysteries. The last folio edition, 

 or that of 1641^ contained, besides all the poems 

 which I have already enumerated, Posthumi, or 

 Sylvester's Remains ; containing divers Sonnets, 

 Epistles, Elegies, Epitaphs, Epigrams, and other 

 delightfal devises, revived out of the Ashes of that 

 Silver-tongued Translator and divine Poet Laureat, 

 Master Josuah Sylvester, never till now Imprinted. 



/3. 



SUPPOSED VOYAGES OF THE PHOENICIANS IN THE 

 NOETHERN SEAS. 



In reference to the reality of the voyages sup- 

 posed to have been made in remote times by the 

 Phoenicians to the southern coast of the Baltic, in 

 search of amber, it may interest some of the 

 readers of "N. & Q." to read the opinions ex- 

 pressed on the subject by Dr. Redslob, in a pro- 

 gram of the Hamburg Academic Gymnasium, 

 entitled Tartessus, and published in 1849. In this 

 program. Dr. Redslob, having occasion to treat of 

 the northern trade of Tartessus, makes the fol- 

 lowing remarks : — 



" It is unpleasant to be obliged to apply the epithet 

 ridiculous to the opinions of distinguished men ; but the 

 speculations concerning the vo3'ages of the Phoenicians 

 are in truth deserving of this appellation. It has even 

 been thought possible that they may have reached Ame- 

 rica ! Heeren thinks that they maj' have sailed as far 

 as the Baltic coast of Prussia in quest of amber; and 

 he sees nothing in this coasting voj'age which was be- 

 yond their power. But the currents in the Bay of Biscay, 

 which he considers the main difficulty, would have been 

 in fact one of their least obstacles. Living, as T do, in a 

 port which sends out ships to all these waters, and main- 

 tains an active intercourse with Bilbao, I have never 

 heard any complaints as to the currents of the Bay of 

 Biscay. But one maj' hear every day that the channel 

 between France and England is a highly dangerous sea, 

 in which a number of ships commanded by the most ex- 

 perienced captains are annually damaged or lost. The 

 German Ocean is likewise a dangerous sea, with shallows 

 running into it for miles, from the flat shores of Holland 

 and Germany, and with narrow channels which form the 

 entrances of the rivers. The same is the character of 

 the long coast of Sleswig-Holstein and Jutland. Next 

 comes the Cattegat, a difficult sea ; and the Belt, a 

 dangerous strait ; the Baltic in general is bad for navi- 

 gation, as may be seen by the inspection of a chart on 



which the shallows, rocks,.and various securities against 

 danger are marked. It must be borne in mind that these 

 dangers exist at present, when the captains are all well 

 acquainted with these seas, are provided with far more 

 perfect vessels and better crews, and steer by the com- 

 pass and the chart ; when all the coasts and the dangerous 

 places in the water are marked with signals of all sorts 

 both by daj and night, and preparations are made for the 

 assistance of ships in case of actual danger. On the other 

 hand, let us image to ourselves a solitary Phoenician na- 

 vigator in a craft fitted for his coasting voyage, feeling 

 his way by means of the lead, without any knowledge of 

 these dangerous shores, more than 1200 miles in length, 

 occupied by rapacious barbarians accustomed to a sea-life ; 

 in a course where, if he is driven before any wind for 24 

 hours, he is either wrecked on sand-banks or rocks, or 

 carried out into the boundless ocean. The difficulties of 

 the climate must likewise be considered ; the storms, fogs, 

 and clouds which prevail in these seas during half the 

 vear, the shortness of the days, and the ice in winter. 

 However he timed his voyage, and whenever the winter 

 fell, he must have twice encountered the equinoctial 

 gales. Wherever he might land, he was exposed to being 

 plundered or killed. Heeren, like other persons ignorant 

 of navigation, evidently believes that a coasting voyage 

 is easy in comparison with a voyage in the open sea ; 

 whereas the reverse is the fact. Without pretending to 

 professional knowledge, but judging only from the im- 

 pressions made by the accounts of these seas which I 

 have heard during a long series of years, I cannot but 

 regard the difficulties opposed by nature to the Phoe- 

 nician navigation, under the supposed circumstances, 

 as simply insuperable. I do not believe that out of a 

 hundred ships sailing from Tyre to the southern coast of 

 the Baltic, two would have returned home. The pre- 

 miums for marine insurance affiard a standard for measur- 

 ing the dangers of this voyage. From the prices in the 

 Hamburg Exchange List it may be seen that the rates of 

 insurance from Hamburg to the Mediterranean in general 

 are as high as those to the western coast of America, and 

 even to China, and sometimes even higher. 



" Even if it is admitted that the merchant fears no 

 dangers, yet he does not undertake the easiest and safest 

 voyage without the prospect of profit. Now it is certain 

 that voyages of the Phoenicians to the German Ocean 

 and the Baltic must from their long duration have been 

 most costly, and therefore must have yielded a very high 

 profit, if they were carried on systematically. If, how- 

 ever, we consider the slowness of the voyage, the necessity 

 of taking a large crew for purposes of defence, and the 

 probability that not above one out of three, four, or perhaps 

 ten ships could return in safety, it may be doubted whe- 

 ther the profit to be made on a box of amber would hav* 

 repaid the merchant for his enterprise." 



G. C. Lewis. 



Milton's autogeaph, in the album of cheis- 

 tophee arnold. 



In the edition of Milton's Works by the Rev. 

 John Mitford, 1851, he refers (vol. i. p. clxxx.) 

 to a letter from Christopher Arnold to George 

 Richter (printed among Geo. Richteri Epistola 

 Selectiores, Norimb., 1662, p. 483.), written from 

 London, 7th Aug. 1651, in which he speaks of 

 Milton and his writings, and characterises him as 

 the " strenuv^ defensor " of the Republic. The 

 fact of the acquaintance of Arnold with Milton 

 is confirnjed by the Album of the former, which 



