319 
jectural date, as some of them resemble the most ancient 
coins of the Mediterranean. When we consider that copper 
is usually found in a state requiring little smelting, so that 
it could be readily formed into weapons, and tools, to replace 
those of stone, we must conclude that it preceded the use of 
iron in England, if not in every country. Iron on the con- 
trary, seldom, in its mineral state, bears any resemblance to 
a metal, and it is smelted slowly, and with difficulty, under a 
great heat. 
The weapons and tools of the Assyrians, as seen in the 
Nineveh paintings, seem to be made of some yellow metal. The 
Egyptian paintings also shew the sculptors and stone cutters 
working with yellow tools ; while a variety of bronze weapons 
found in their sepulchres, attest their early use of that com- 
pound metal, We know that bronze cannot be made without 
tin or zinc ; and that tin is invariably the alloy in ancient 
bronze. Where, then, did the Assyrians and Egyptians get 
their tin for this purpose ? There is every reason to suppose 
that it came from Cornwall, through France and Spain, to the 
Mediterranean and Red Sea ; and that this earliest commerce 
with England was carried on principally by Phoenician mer- 
chants. Herodotus, as you all know, calls these islands the 
" Cassiterides," or Tin Islands ; and that distinguished 
mineralogist, Berzelius, asserts that from the isolated geo- 
graphical distribution of this metal, England must have been 
the only source from whence the most anciently civilised 
nations of the world could have procured this necessary 
material for the fabrication of their bronze tools and weapons. 
How difficult, then, must it be to make even an approximate 
calculation, as to the extremely remote period when bronze 
superseded stone in these islands. Indeed, it seems to me 
to be very doubtful whether the metallic arts were not 
introduced into the British Islands, even before the Romans 
themselves became acquainted with them. Coins of the 
AA 
