42 REV. J. LESLIE PORTER, D.D. 
invented almost everything that is excellent in the shape of artistic and 
architectural productions ; whereas it really appears that they were among 
the most successful of borrowers. We have been accustomed to suppose 
that the alphabet associated with his name was the invention of Cadmus ; 
but we now learn that it was only an adaptation of the older Phcenician, 
Egyptian, and other forms, the Phoenicians being successful borrowers from 
Egypt. Whether their marvellous series of structures were, in the early 
forms of art, invented by the Egyptians, or whether they only borrowed 
them from others, is at present a mystery. Mr. Trelawny Saunders being 
present, may I ask him to open the discussion ? 
Mr. TRELAWNY SaunpERS.—I feel somewhat taken aback at being called 
upon to commence this discussion, as I think it would have been more 
becoming in me to have taken a humbler share in to-night’s proceedings. 
I am sure we must all deeply regret the absence of Dr. Porter on this occa- 
sion. The mere sight of that man would have been a matter of interest in 
itself. He is one who has contributed much to our knowledge, especially of 
the regions east of the Jordan, and of the Hauran and the Lebanon ; and he 
has also, from his profound knowledge of the Holy Land, been chosen as 
the latest editor of Murray’s Handbook of Palestine. We regret not only 
his absence to-night, but also the distressing political circumstances that 
prevent his being here. I naturally feel some diffidence in taking up a 
subject that has been opened—and only opened—by so able a master ; 
because I cannot doubt that, had more time been afforded him, he would 
probably have expanded his lecture in the direction in which it will probably 
be led during this discussion. The paper, upon the whole, leads us to look 
upon the Phcenicians as if they were almost the prime movers in the civilisa- 
tion of the world. Now, for my part,—although whatever I may think 
about the matter is of little importance,—I cannot help saying that this is 
not the view entertained by the greatest authorities among us. I may cite 
the opinion expressed in all sorts of ways by one whose name will certainly 
carry with it great, if not the greatest, weight,—I allude to Sir Henry 
Rawlinson, who says, in speaking of Babylonia, the Land of Shinar, that 
part of the earth’s surface to which our attention is first directed after the 
Flood, that it is to Babylonia we must look for the real cradle of early 
civilisation. Those who have gone most deeply into the question of Egypt, 
which was at one time regarded from this point of view, have come to the 
conclusion, or at all events are drifting in the direction of such a conclusion, 
that Egypt derived her theology and religion, and her forms and ceremonies, 
from Assyria ; and, if I were disposed to move in any direction away from 
Assyria in regard to this point, it would certainly not be either westward or 
southward, but eastward. We have had great light throwu on all this class 
of subjects of late years by the Sacred Books of the East being translated and 
made accessible to those who have unfortunately limited their studies to the 
English language, and in that volume of those sacred books which relates 
to the Zoroastrian writings—the Zend-Avesta—there is a remarkable list of 
