36 REFERRED BY SOME ARCHAEOLOGISTS TO 



The reason seems to me to be pbvious. Bridlington is in 

 a chalk country, and flint is therefore abundant, while near 

 Leeds none occurs in situ. But if we are to refer not only 

 the bronze implements, but also those of stone, to the Roman 

 period, what implements, we may ask, does Mr. Wright sup- 

 pose were used by the ancient Britons before the arrival of 

 Caesar ? It would be more reasonable to deny the existence 

 of ancient Britons at once, than thus to deprive them, as 

 it were, of all means of obtaining subsistence ; nor can we 

 forget that these so-called barbarians manufactured chariots, 

 coined money, and offered a not unsuccessful opposition, even 

 to the forces of Rome, and the genius of Caesar. 



Their weapons, however, were made of iron, not of bronze ; 

 and, on the whole, it may, I think, be concluded that the use 

 of this alloy was neither discovered in Northern Europe, nor 

 introduced by the Romans ; we may pass on, therefore, to 

 consider the views of those who attribute the Bronze age 

 civilisation to the influence of Phoenician commerce. This 

 theory has recently been maintained, with great ability, by 

 Professor Nilsson ;* Sir George Cornewall Lewis f on the 

 other hand, while admitting that Cornwall was the great 

 source of tin in ancient times, has endeavoured to prove that 

 this metal found its way " to the nations in the east of the 

 Mediterranean by the overland route across Gaul, and that 

 the Phoenician ships brought it from the mouth of the 

 Rhone, without sailing as far as Britain." 



He regards, therefore, the accounts of ancient voyages as 

 being in many cases either mythical, or at least exaggerated, 

 but he does not make sufficient allowance for the fact that 

 our knowledge of them is often derived from unfriendly 

 critics or poetical allusions ; nor need we go farther than Sir 



* Skandinaviska Nordens Ur-inva- nomy of the Ancients. By the Right 

 nare. Af. S. Nilsson, Stockholm, 1862. Hon. Sir George Cornewall Lewis, 1862. 

 f An Historical Survey of the Astro- 



