Gaul on the south as well as one on the north of the Alps. Hence the Latin authors have left behind them in their writings sundry interesting notices with respect to the physical and mental qualities of the Celtic tribes. One of these, dashed off with a free pen, is by Ammianus Marcellinus, who flourished in the latter part of the fourth century, and whose observations with respect to Celtic peculiarities possess a special value from the fact that he was a Roman military officer, who, it is believed, spent a considerable period in Gaul.

"The Gauls," says Ammianus, "are almost all tall of stature, very fair, and red-haired, and horrible from the fierceness of their eyes; fond of strife, and haughtily insolent. A whole band of strangers would not endure one of them, aided in his brawl by his powerful and blue-eyed wife, especially when with swollen neck and gnashing teeth, poising her huge white arms, she begins, joining kicks to blows, to put forth her fists, like stones from the twisted strings of a catapult. Most of their voices are terrific and threatening, as well when they are quiet as when they are angry. All ages are thought fit for war, and an old man is led out to be armed with the same vigour of heart as the man in his prime, with limbs hardened by cold and continual labour, and a contempt of many even real dangers. None of them are known, like those who in Italy are called in joke Marci, to cut off their thumbs, through fear of serving in war. They are as a nation very fond of wine, and invent many drinks resembling it, and some of the poorer sort wander about with their senses quite blunted with continual intoxication.."

Other ancient authors concur with Ammianus in representing the Gallic Celts as having blue eyes and fair or red hair. The people of Britain, again, were said to be of a feebler physical type, and one tribe-the Silures-was reported to be swarthy in colour, and to have dark, curly hair. Here, then, we are met by a difficulty. The Celtic tribes are not to any large extent characterised at present by blue eyes and fair or red hair. A good many of them are dark; and if the observations made by Ammianus and others were trustworthy-as they appear to have been-then some change must have taken place among the Celts, as among the Germans, within the last two thousand years. Dr. Latham, following Retzius, considers the Celtic skull as one of remarkable length. He further describes the race as having prominent cheek-bones; while as to the colour of the hair and eyes, he institutes two divisions:-(1.) The Silurian type: Eyes and hair, black; complexion, dark with a ruddy tinge: chiefly found in South Wales. (2.) The Hibernian type: eyes, grey; hair, yellow, red, or sandy; complexion, light." The race, as proved by a study of the languages peculiar to it, should be divided into two sub-races: the one speaking dialects akin to the Welsh, and the other those allied to the Gaelic. There were at no remote date three dialects, falling under the former of these divisions: the Welsh proper, the Cornish, and the Armoric. Within the memory of the present generation, an old woman was reported to be living in Cornwall who could speak Cornish; then it was said that she had died, and the Cornish language had died with her. The Armoric is spoken in Brittany, in the north-west of France. The Gaelic is divided into three dialects: the Gaelic proper, current in the Highlands of Scotland; the Erse, in the wilder parts of Ireland; and the Manx, in the Isle of Man. The Celtic languages are becoming rooted in parts of Canada. In England, in France, and in other places, there is much Celtic blood in regions where Armoric has become extinct. With the exception of the Scottish Highlanders, nearly all the Celts are Roman Catholics. In war they are more dashing in assault than the cooler Teutons, but do not bear up so well against long-continued difficulties and disasters. Ancient authors charged them with fickleness, and it is remarkable that the same complaint is made by the Apostle Paul against the Church at Galatia, which, as the name of the town imports, was a Gallic one, though situated beyond the limits of Europe, in Asia Minor.

We come next to the Slavonic race. As residents in this country have less opportunity of becoming acquainted with the Slavonic race than with Teutons and Celts, we take from MilneEdwards of Paris, as quoted in Nott and Gliddon, the following careful summary of its physical characteristics:-" The contour of the head viewed in front approaches nearly to a square; the height surpasses a little the breadth, the summit is sensibly flattened, and the direction of the jaw is horizontal. The length of the nose is less than the distance from the base to the chin;

now speak Latinised languages have no close affinity to the old Romans. They are very mixed in blood. Most of the inhabitants of Roumania are probably of Slavonic, and some even of Gothic descent. The Etruscans, though resident in Italy, are not at all akin to the other inhabitants of that peninsula, and are very difficult to classify. The north and middle of France were originally Celtic; its southern portion was inhabited by the Basques or Iberians, who were not Aryans. Spain was partly Iberian and partly Celtic; Portugal was much the same.

The Illyrian race is now represented by the Albanians, who speak a language not closely akin to others, but which has at length been declared Indo-European.

The Hellenic race comprehends the Greeks, once so renowned throughout the world, but now so greatly fallen.

Of the three Aryan races of Northern and Central Europe, the Celts seem to have been the first to come from the primitive settlement in Persia. The Teutons, perhaps, followed next, and then the Slavonians. The Lithuanian language, one belonging to the Slavonian family, approaches most nearly of all the European tongues to Sanscrit.

There are other than Aryan peoples in the great continent to which this paper has been devoted, but of these we shall speak subsequently, when treating of the Turanian race.

LESSONS IN ITALIAN.-XXXVII. IRREGULAR VERBS OF THE SECOND CONJUGATION

(continued).

II. IRREGULAR VERBS ENDING IN ere SHORT.
11. Verbs ending in ORRE.

The irregular verb pórre, to put, is thus conjugated INF. Pres. Pórre, to put.-Pres. Gerund. Ponéndo, putting.-Past Part. Pósto, put. -Compound Tenses.-Past. Avére pósto, to have put.-Past Gerund. Avendo pósto, having put. IND. Pres. Pongo, póni, póne; poniámo, ponéte, pongono.-Imp. Ponéva or ponéa; ponévi; ponéva, ponéa, or ponía. Ponevámo; poneváte; ponévano or ponéano.-Ind. Pret. Pósi, ponésti, póse; ponémmo, ponéste, pósero.-Fut. Porrò, porrái, porrà; porrémo, porréte, porránno. -Cond. Pres. Porréi or porría, porrésti, porrébbe or porría; porrémmo, porréste, porrébbero.

IMP. Póni, pónga; poniámo, ponéte, pongano.

SUB. Pres. Che pónga or pógna, che pónga or pógni,, che pónga or pógna; che poniámo, che poniáte, che póngano.-Imp. Che ponéssi, che ponéssi, che ponésse; che ponéssimo, che ponéste, che ponéssero. After this example conjugate the following :

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(4.) The irregular verb vivere, to live, is thus conjugated :INF. Simple Tenses.-Pres. Vivere, to live.-Pres. Gerund. Vivendo, living.-Past Part. Vivúto or vissúto, lived.- -Compound Tenses.-Past. Avéro vivúto, to have lived.-Past Gerund. Avéndo vivúto, having lived, IND. Pres. Vivo, vívi, víve; viviámo, vivéte, vívono.—Imp. Vivéva or vivéa, vivévi, vivéva or vivéa; vivevámo, viveváte, vivévano or vivéano. -Ind. Pret. Víssi, vivésti, visse; vivémmo, vivéste, víssero.-Fut. Viverò or vivrò, viverái, viverà; viverémo, viveréte, viverárno.-Cond. Pres. Viveréi, vivréi, or vivería; viverésti; viverébbe or vivería. Viverémmo, viveréste, viverébbero.

IMP. Vívi, víva; viviámo, vivéte, vívano.

SUB. Pres. Che víva, che viva or vívi, che víva; che viviámo, che viviáte, che vivano.-Imp. Che vivéssi, che vivéssi, che vivésse; che vivéssimo, che vivéste, che vivéssero.

After this example conjugate the following:
Convivere, to live together.
Benevivere, to live well.

Rivivere, to revive.

:

Sorvivere, to survive. Sopravivere, to survive.

1. The irregular verb finire, to finish, is thus conjugated :— INF. Simple Tenses.-Pres. Finíre, to finish.-Pres. Gerund. Finéndo, finishing.-Past Participle. Finito, finished.- -Compound Tenses.-Past. Avére finito, to have finished.-Past Gerund. Avendo finíto, having finished.

IND. Pres. Finísco, finísci, finísce; finiámo, finíte, finíscono.-Imp. Finíva, finívi, finíva; finivámo, finiváte, finívano.-Ind. Pret. Finíi, finísti, finì; finímmo, finíste, finirono.-Fut. Finirò, finirái, finirà; finirémo, finiréte, finiránno.-Cond. Pres. Finiréi, finirésti, finirébbe; finirémmo, finiréste, finirébbero.

IMP. Finísci, finísca; finiámo, finíte, finíscano.

SUB. Pres. Che finísca, che finisca, che finísca; che finiámo, che finiáte, che finíscano.--Imp. Che finíssi, che finíssi, che finísse; che finíssimo, che finíste, che finíssero.

2. The irregular verb cucire, to sew, is thus conjugated :INF. Simple Tenses.-Pres. Cucire, to sew.-Pres. Gerund. Cuoéndo, sewing.-Past Part. Cucíto, sewed.- -Compound Tenses.-Past. Avére

cucito, to have sewed.-Past Gerund. Avéndo cucito, having serred.

IND. Pres. Cúcio, cúci, cúce; cuciámo, cucíte, cúciono.-Imp. Cucíva er cucía, cucívi, cucíva or cucia; cucivámo, cuciváte, cucívano or cucíano.-Ind. Pret. Cucíi, cucísti, cucì; cucímmo, cucíste, cucírono.

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INDUSTRIAL AND POLITICAL HISTORY OF COMMERCE.

CHAPTER IX. - EGYPT BEFORE THE ERA OF ALEXANDER.

THE ancient commercial history of Egypt is divided by strongly marked features into two epochs-that before and that after the time of Alexander. How far back the first period extended we know not. We see through the haze of time a nation apart and exclusive, its civilisation arrested and passive for years, emerging at length into fellowship with the outer world, chiefly through the persistence of Phoenician and Greek merchants, and much in the same manner as the peculiar nations of China and Japan are, in our own day, gradually being opened to Western commerce. There is reason to believe that Egypt was a settled nation long before the foundation of Nineveh and Babylon, and that these states derived their civilisation from Egypt; but Egypt did not enter into free intercourse with the rest of the world till after the time of Alexander. Two sea boundaries gave it an extensive line of coast. It is united to Asia by the isthmus of Suez, and lies open to the interior of Africa, the Nile forming a grand channel of communication with the south. The country, as now, was flooded three months in every year by the overflow of its river, and was likewise artificially irrigated by a network of canals, as well as from Lake Moëris, constructed by the king whose name it bears as a reservoir for the superabundant waters at the time of inundation. Inland boats and barges made of boards of papyrus were in general use on the Nile and on the canals as the common means of communication between the towns. A sailor caste is spoken of, and boats occupied a conspicuous place in the religious festivals.

Later in history Egypt owned a fleet of 400 vessels, used in the coasting trade, and even venturing as far as India. The wood, copper, and iron necessary for their construction were obtained from the Phoenicians. The Egyptians reached, perhaps, the highest development possible to a people excluding themselves from association with all others. Their system of castes confined trades and professions to certain families, and made productive skill in the various arts and handicrafts descend as an heirloom from parent to child. Resulting from this practice, a superior degree of excellence was manifested in their works of metal and wood. Their harps excelled those of modern make in beauty of form, and their chairs and couches were of chaste designs. Even in wicker-work they showed artistic skill. For many purposes of art and utility they used a compound metal of a green colour, the method of alloying which is now lost. Their cutlery and weapons of war were also made of a compound metal, a kind of brass or bronze. Elegance was specially aimed at in their pottery; the examples now in our museums are made of fine clay, and are very beautiful. Excellent cotton cloths and muslins, together with woollen fabrics and embroidered work or tapestry, were among the products of their industry. Buying and selling fell to the lot of the women. Household duties were attended to by the men. In accordance with this custom, it was the daughter, not the son, on whom devolved the duty of supporting a helpless parent. The laws promoted self-dependence. Securities for loans were contrived, usury was forbidden, and the rights of creditors were limited to the property of their debtors. They were a grave and unsociable people, of quiet, temperate habits, and submissive under control.

Every patch of the country that water could reach was cultivated, and good roads were formed. The Egyptians consumed more of vegetable than of animal food. The rich brown deposit of the Nile yielded grain, garlic, the lotus, and gourds in exuberance. The crops succeeded each other at intervals of six or eight weeks, and the whole soil was literally, as well as metaphorically, the "gift of the Nile."

Higher up the river valley were quarried the massive syenite slabs used in the erection of the temples, and the obelisks or needles, which, at a later date, took Cleopatra's name. East

produced marble and the only metals found in Egypt. Camels were numerous; and the celebrated horses of the Delta were, from the flatness of the district, of great utility for chariots and warlike purposes. Long before Egypt owned vessels fit to navigate the sea, caravans traversed the country in all directions. Frankincense, spices, and wines were thus obtained from Arabia and Syria. Gold, ivory, feathers, skins, and slaves came through Ethiopia from Central Africa, and fine salt was also imported.

The jealousy of the Egyptians regarding the intrusion of foreigners by sea was the effect of fear. Possessing no timber for shipbuilding, and having a distaste for navigation, they were ill prepared to resist invasion; and as the first sailors were as much pirates as traders, no vessels, for a long period, were allowed to anchor in the Nile. Caravan traders only, not being formidable, were tolerated, with a kind of contempt.

Psammetichus, who ruled over Egypt в.с. 671-617, was the first king that dared to break in upon ancient prescription. He not only opened the country to Phoenician and Greek vessels, but employed Greek mercenaries in his army. These measures brought wealth to the state, but gave offence to the warrior caste, the whole of whom, in a body of about a quarter of a million of men, emigrated into Ethiopia, where they had a district assigned to them as a habitation.

Amasis, the foreigner's friend, the heir of Psammetichus, allowed the Greeks to erect temples and warehouses, and in the last year of his reign, 526 B.C., he removed all previous restrictions upon vessels by declaring the mouths of the river free to navigation. Many Greek merchants, therefore, settled in Egypt, introducing the manners and customs of their own country. Egyptian youths were placed with these families in order to learn the Greek language, and thus to facilitate trade. In this way there gradually arose a class of interpreters who became imbued with Greek habits and modes of thought, which they communicated to their own families. The Persians conquered the country, 525 в.с. Cambyses committed unheard-of atrocities, but the fate of his expedition against Ammonium and Ethiopia put an end to the commotions of war, and the gentler government of Darius Hystaspes left the Egyptians free to do as they pleased, so long as they did not fail in the payment of their yearly quota of a tribute of 700 talents, equal to £125,000, which was raised partly in Libya, Barca, and Cyrene, as well as in Egypt. Besides this, the country had to provide with corn a Persian garrison of 120,000 men, stationed at Memphis. The fishing in Lake Moëris was likewise monopolised by the conquerors. Under these comparatively easy conditions, commerce resumed its prosperous career. The Persian supremacy lasted from 525 в.с. till 332 B.C., when Alexander the Great conquered the country. During these two centuries trade and manufactures became much extended, but it is difficult to distinguish the wealth of the Greeks and Phoenicians from that of the natives. The paintings and sculptures in the tombs depict weavers and dyers using ornamented distaffs and looms. Linen and cotton fabrics, and silk from the byssus of the pinna, were worked and dyed of various tints, unmixed white, red, yellow, blue, green, or black. These stuffs were renowned for their quality and costliness in every country which Egyptian produce reached.

At this period the population of Egypt was very much larger than it is now. Greek writers affirm that 30,000 cities existed, and many millions of people. This was the era of the erection of those huge monuments whose ruins astonish the modern world. Kings fought hard against oblivion. Lifetimes were devoted to render imperishable the records of great rulers whose names are now forgotten, whose conquests are deemed fabulous, and whose embalmed bodies are indistinguishable amongst millions of other mummies. Lake Moëris, on the other hand, and the canals of Sesostris remain, as evidences of wisdom and skill applied to domestic improvement, and to the development of natural resources.

CHAPTER X.-EGYPT (continued) AFTER THE ERA OF
ALEXANDER-ALEXANDRIA.

ALEXANDER's ambition urged him to leave behind him permanent monuments of his fame. He destroyed some cities, but built greater. After the destruction of Tyre, Egypt submitted to the conqueror without an effort in self-defence, His keen eye, seeing the capabilities of the country, and the commanding position of the Delta, fixed upon a part of the coast opposite the island of Pharos as a site for a metropolis. Democrates, carring out the instructions of his master, connected Pharos with the mainland by a jetty or mole, and thus divided the channel into two harbours, facing the new city. Alexandria was built upon a grand plan, having, including the suburbs, a circuit of fifteen miles; while two noble roads, 100 feet broad, and adorned with temples, colonnades, and palaces, crossed it at right angles. These formed at their intersection a noble open place or square, whence could be viewed vessels sailing in from the sea to either harbour. One of the quarters thus marked out was wholly devoted to the palaces and gardens of royalty; and here, a few years afterwards, in the chief of the royal temples, was deposited the body of the great founder, in a coffin of gold.

The successors of Alexander in Egypt were the Ptolemies, who raised the city to the summit of its opulence and greatness. Ptolemy Philadelphus reared a lighthouse of white marble, on the island of Pharos, to the height of 400 feet, adorned with columns, and described as one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. Fires on its summit at night guided vessels safely into port. A modern lighthouse now stands on the same spot. Lake Marëotis, on the south of the eity, was formed into a third harbour, by a canal communicating with that on the east. The western harbour was so spacious and deep, that vessels too large for any other port could there find anchorage, and load and discharge their freights. Such a ship, sent by Hiero, King of Sicily, as a present to one of the Ptolemies, is said to have had on board small gardens, with water-courses for their irrigation, an apparatus for slinging stones, and eight lofty towers, and to have taxed the utmost powers of Archimedes to make it manageable. Caravans unloaded at Lake Marëotis, whence their treasures were conveyed by canal to the adjoining harbour.

Alexandria retained its rank as a great commercial city for a thousand years. At one period it contained three-quarters of a million of inhabitants, half of whom probably were slaves. While Egypt was a Roman province its commerce declined; yet Alexandria must still have been a magnificent place when taken by the Arabs, A.D. 651, for Amrou, the victorions general, in writing to the Caliph Omar, said it was impossible to describe its beauty and the variety of its riches.

The convenience of Alexandria as a mart for trade between the East and the West, attracted merchants from every commercial country. Its inhabitants thus became quite cosmopolitan, blending the thoughts and manners of all regions. The Ptolemies, especially the first four princes of that name, fostered the development of the city. Ptolemy Lagus, or Soter, encouraged foreigners to reside there, by granting them districts to live in. As many as 100,000 Jews were at one time inhabitants of the city. Although this prince was almost constantly at war, he still made commerce his care. He owned, besides a powerful navy, a fine fleet of merchant ships, promoted expeditions to establish trade, and signed treaties of commerce with other states. His son, Ptolemy Philadelphus, who inherited the same spirit, dug a canal for ships from the Nile to the Red Sea, and, to increase the inland traffic, lined the caravan routes with wells and caravanserais. Arsinoe, Berenice, and Myos Hormos, arose on the banks of the new canal, whence commodities transferred from ship to caravan were conveyed to Coptis and Thebes. It was a boast in his reign that "no citizen was idle in Alexandria." Even the blind and lame were taught to labour. Glass-blowing, the weaving of linen, paper-making from the papyrus, and the arts connected with the shipping trade, employed the people; while the most fruitful country known to mankind provided them with abundant food.

Ptolemy Euergetes (Ptolemy III.) succeeding to the rich inheritance of his fathers, determined to make his capital the most learned, as well as the most commercial city of the time. He founded a school for teaching the sciences connected with commerce, and invited philosophers of every country to make Alexandria their home. Eratosthenes, who suggested the means of measuring the earth by methods similar to our own, was among those who responded to his call. The basis of commerrial prosperity thus laid was broad enough to bear, without us peril, the devastations of the civil wars caused by the and incapacities of some of the succeeding Ptolemies.

Ptolemy IV. possessed a fleet of more than 400 ships. The crew of one is said to have consisted of 7,400 sailors and mariners, and the size, as described, is almost incredible. That his fleet was numerous we may be sure, for there are proofs that the Egyptian trade had extended to the Euxine; and his influence must have been great, inasmuch as he sought and obtained the abolition of the tolls at the Bosphorus. Cleopatra, the last of this celebrated dynasty, added 400 vessels to the fleet of Mark Antony; and when the great battle of Actium was lost, she was prevented from retreating to India, by the Arabs having burnt another fleet belonging to her in the Red Sea.

By the destruction of Carthage, в.с. 146, the great trade of that city was diverted to Alexandria, which thus received a great impulse to its prosperity. Possessing universal commerce, its commodities necessarily comprised almost everything marketable that could link nations together. Primarily, Alexandria drew its stores from Egypt, of which it was for the time being the capital.

Under the Ptolemies, Coptos, below Thebes, was the starting point for the caravans of Arabia and India, as Kopt, its modern representative, is now for the pilgrimages to Mecca.

Asia and India dispatched their treasures to Alexandria for further distribution; and Europe, from its remotest islands, sent to the same mart her surplus produce. From the south and west came the merchandise of Soudan. We do not trace to Alexandria any inventions that have modified commerce. There are extant coins of the Ptolemies, showing an acquaintance with money; but these, though an advance beyond the primitive silver rings and ingots of Egypt, were merely adopted from the Greeks, and are inscribed with Greek characters.

The city was long noted for the fostering care it bestowed upon art and science; and even while its trade languished under the military rule of the Romans, the library contained, it is affirmed, a volume for every inhabitant a larger number of books than were ever collected elsewhere, before the invention of printing. The whole are, however, lost to us; the Arabs having, it is said, destroyed the entire collection when they captured the city, A.D. 640.

From this period Alexandria gradually declined.