1800.) The Britiſp Merchant. Tg

to be found in theas yet uncleared, and therefore un fertile terri tory of Greece. The piratical expeditions of the people of the Iſles, and". of the coaſt of Greece, were, hence, continually directed againſt the coaſts of Aſia. A bold Aſiatic chieftain would, ſometimes, repair to carry of female ſlaves, ánd what< ever elſe might he found of value, from the coaſt of Greece. A grand expedition of the Greeks,(not unlike‘to thoſe in Which the Norſemen of the eighth and ninth cénturies were Wont to ravage the middle coaſts of Europe,’) invaded Afa; ſacked the famous city of Troy; and made preparation for the gradual eſtabliſhment of various communities of colonial Greeks in the territory of Aſia Minor. After theſe events, the Greeks of Aſia Minor and of the Iſles, became, gradually, by the influ- ence of the wealth which they conquered, by agriculture, by commerce, by political inſtitution, a conſiderably poliſhed people from whom civilization was to be diffuſed into the parent-country of Greece, and to the coaſts of Italy,* CARTHAGE, in the mean time, aroſe, towards the weſtern extremity óf the ſouthern coaſt of the Mediterranean ſea. It Was, at firſt, but an occaſional landing-place, where the Pbeæni- cians uſed to go on ſhore, to gather ſome natural produdions of that neighbourhood, or to purchaſe ſuch produdtions from the ſavage natives for manufaGured commodities which the traderé might offer them in exchange. When the Phœnicians extended their voyages to the coaſts of Sicily, Italy, Spain, and Britain, they began to think it neceflary to fix a poſt on the ſite of Carthage, that ſhould be a hafe place of depolition for their ſtores,—a ſcene of refuge and refreſhment in che midſt of their lengthened voyages, ſuch as our Eaſt India fleets now find in ôt. Helena and at the Cape of Good Hope. Its importance increaíed, and became, continually, more conſpicious. It was occupied as a permanent, colonial ſettlement. Tyranny, bank- TUptcy, and other accidents, from time to time, drove new coloniſts to abandon Tyre for Carthage. Many were allured by the proſpect of the rapid acquiſition of opulence from the Weſtern Trade. Many fed from thoſe misfortunes which the arms of Nebuchadnezzar, of Cyrus, and afterwards of Alexander, inflied on their native city. The Spaniſh filver- mines, the tin mines of the Scilly Iſles and of Britain, the other valuable commodities which were to be obtained from the coaſts of Ttaly and Africa, produced a mighty influx of wealth intò Carthage. The Carthaginians fupplied Tyre, and. the other great marts of the Aſiatic coaſts, with the metals, and other raw

STh1s-1s-a ſummary of the genuine hiſtory of Grecian commerce and civility în the times prior to thoſe with which the hiſtory of Herodotus cymmences. Homer, Hefod, Pauſanias, Diodorus Siculus, with hints from Erodotus, furniſh the aythorities on which it is founded.