286 TIN TRADE BETWEEN BRITAIN AND ALEXANDRIA, 



Among the names of theological celebrity in the 7th Century 

 of the Christian era, I find that of John, commonly called " the 

 Almoner." He was, as I have said, the patriarch of Alex- 

 andria in or about the first sixteen years of that century, the 

 date of his death being supposed to have been the year 616, or 

 620. His life was the subject of a memoir by a Greek bishop of 

 Cyprus, Leontius, who was nearly his contemporary. It is doubtful 

 whether any copy of his manuscript biography is now to be found ; 

 but there are translations of it by a Byzantine Logotheta, a dignified 

 officer of the Emperor Constantino Porphyrogeneta in the 10th 

 Century, usually called Simeon Metaphrastes ; and also by Anas- 

 tasius, commonly called "The Librarian," a writer of the 9th 

 Century. 



We may safely accept these names as having belonged to 

 genuine historical persons. As to John, the Patriarch, the scep- 

 tical tendencies of Gibbon himself have suggested no doubt con- 

 cerning his existence and character.* With regard to Leontius, 

 his was so familiar a name that it is more difficult to identify 

 him ; but the voices of the best authorities concur in treating him 

 as at least a very early writer, of a date not very difi'erent from 

 that of John the Patriarch himself. Those who wish to investi- 

 gate this matter will find information collected in the Bibliotheca 

 Ghxeca of Fabricius, 8th Vol. of the last edition (1811), pages 309, 

 329, &c. 



Now I will shortly state ia what manner I propose to utilize 

 the life of this patriarch for ordinary secular purposes. I "wdsh so 

 to use him as to help us to supply proof of intercourse between 

 Alexandria and the British Islands in the traffic in tin in the 7th 

 Century. 



If the statement of Leontius be a true one so far as regards 

 this intercourse, merchants of Alexandria must have been ac- 

 quainted with Britain as a country in which tin might be pro- 

 cured. It would also seem that the voyage by sea was at that 

 time a continuous one. Whether this sea voyage of 20 days 

 direct from Alexandria would have been accepted as a historical 

 fact by the late very learned author of the Historical Survey of the 



* Gihhon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Ch. 46, 47. 



