2nd s. NO 115., Mar. 13. '58.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



219 



a 



I 



the metal therefore in Greece and Asia is a proof that 

 the intercourse was established in some sense or other." 

 (Vol. i. p. 308.) 



In another place he remarks that — 



" Tin has continued an article of commerce brought 

 out of Britain in all ages, conveyed to all the countries 

 on the Mediterranean, by the Phenicians, Greeks, and 

 Komans, and carried into the Eastern Ocean, from the 

 origin of the commerce, (/i. vol. ii. p. 716.) 



In commenting on the passage of Ezekiel, how- 

 ever, he considers the navigation of the Tyrians 

 to Britain as "problematical." (Vol. ii. p. 641.) 

 The following passage respecting the tin trade 

 of antiquity occurs in Niebuhr's Lectures on 

 Ancient Ethnography and Geograiphy : — 



" Britain was known in the most remote times ; but its 

 name does not occur until the Macedonian period ; it was 

 previously designated by the name of Cassiterides Insula;. 

 The tin trade can be traced to a very early period ; for 

 the first attempts to smelt copper were made by mixing 

 it with tin. The brass of the ancients, the real x«^fo«. 

 consisted for the most part of tin, and all the ancient 

 Roman ases consist of copper and tin. 'OpeCxaKxoi, from 

 opctr?, a mule, is something different (Messing) ; and the 

 spuriousness of the mixture is indicated even by its 

 name. A plentiful supply of tin is not found in any 

 part of Europe, except Cornwall, whence it is quite cer- 

 tain that the name Cassiterides refers to Britain. The 

 trade in it was carried on from Gades ; but the Massilians 

 had no doubt their share in it, as we may infer from the 

 voyages of Pytheas." (Vol. ii. p. 320., ed. Schmitz.) 



It does not appear what Niebuhr means when 

 he says that the name of Britain occurs in the 

 Macedonian period: perhaps he refers to the 

 mention of Albion and lerne in the spurious 

 Treatise de Mundo. Can it be proved that the 

 first attempts to smelt copper were made by 

 mixing it with tin? Is it a fact that the ancient 

 brass consists for the most part of tin, and that 

 all the ancient Roman asses contain tin as well 

 as copper ? The derivation of the word opei'xo^Koy, 

 from bptvs, a mule, is not the received origin of the 

 word ; and is, to say the least, highly doubtful. 

 The share of the Massilians in the tin trade pro- 

 bably arose from their city being an emporium 

 to which this metal was brought by land-carriage 

 Across Gaul, and then shipped to Italy and Greece. 

 Every thing connected with the voyage of Pytheas 

 in the northern seas is uncertain and obscure, and 

 there is not a shadow of proof that it had any 

 reference to the tin trade. 



Gosselin, in his Recherches sur la Geographic 

 des Anciens (4 vols. Paris, 1813), after a careful 

 analysis of the siipposed facts reported by Py- 

 theas, comes indeed to the conclusion that Pytheas 

 had never been near the Cassiterides; that he 

 collected either at Gades, or at some other port 

 "requented by the Carthaginians, some vague no- 

 tions on the northern seas and regions of Europe, 

 and that he passed them off upon his countrymen 

 for his own discoveries, using his astronomical 

 knowledge for the purpose of giving them currency. 

 (Vol. iv. p. 178.) U 



PLATONIC liOVE. 

 (2"'i S. V. 88.) 



If Henrt Riley or any other of your correspon- 

 dents equally familiarly acquainted with Plato do 

 not reply to the Query of E. H. L., will you allow 

 me to refer the latter especially to the " Republic " 

 of the broad-shouldered philosopher of Athens ? 

 It is to be regretted that all young men are not 

 more intimately acquainted with the teaching of 

 the first man who asserted the immortality of the 

 soul on solid arguments, resting on truth and ex- 

 perience. Plato taught that all human felicity 

 would find abundant increase, if men cultivated 

 the god-like intellectual faculties, rather than pur- 

 sued material and sensual pleasures. He held that 

 there was a divine spark in every man, which was 

 always cherished by the divine power, and which 

 would not be extinguished in the soul, if man 

 himself would but protect it from the blasts of a 

 sensual and passion-driven world. The subjec- 

 tion of the irascible and concupiscible passions, 

 and the cultivation of the rational and moral 

 powers, were the' two supports of a system which 

 is more fully developed in the "Republic." When 

 Byron rhymed about the " confounded fantasies " 

 of Plato, the poet knew nothing of the great son 

 of Ariston, nor of his system. It is these same 

 " confounded fantasies " that Cowper has woven 

 into a briefer, but not a better system, than that of 

 Plato. Indeed it is Plato's system condensed. 

 " Pleasure, admitted in undue degree, 

 Enslaves the will, nor leaves the judgment free; 

 'Tis not alone the grape's enticing juice 

 Unnerves the moral powers, and mars their use: 

 Ambition, avarice, and the lust of fame. 

 And woman, lovely woman, does the same. 

 The heart suri-endered to the ruling power 

 Of some ungoverned passion, ev'ry hour, 

 Finds by degrees the truths that once bore sway 

 And all their deep impressions wear away ; 

 So coin grows smooth, in trafHc current passed, 

 'Till Ceesar's image is effaced, at last." 

 Cowper knew, as we all know, that there came 

 a Teacher with whom the ablest in the schools 

 may not be compared ; but the English poet had 

 better appreciation of Greek and Roman philoso- 

 phers than Byron ever had. Cowper did not ac- 

 cuse any of them of " confounded fantasies," when 

 he said — 



" How oft, when Paul has served us with a text, 

 Has Epictetus, Plato, Tully preached ! 

 Men that, if now alive, would sit content 

 And humble learners of a Saviour's worth. 

 Preach it who might. Such was their love of truth, 

 Their thirst of knowledge, and their candour too!" 



J. DORAN. 



PUKITT OF THE THAMES. 

 (2°'l S. V. 41.) 



In " N". & Q." of January you drew attention to 

 the purity of the Thames in 1656. Perhaps its 



