MANY PHENICIAN REMAINS IN CORNWALL AND DEVON ONLY. itself. Only let me here observe, that in the west and south parts of England, even where the British language prevails not, we find many places begin with Pen; namely, such as are of a high situation; which, without dispute, is an argument that Pen, a hill, in the British language, came from the Phenician Pinnah, signifying the same thing; because we find it used most in those parts of England the Phenicians frequented most: nay, through all this island, we shall scarce meet with any northward; when on the west and south coasts, we cannot go six or eight miles, but we find them. To this may be added, that infinite number of towns beginning with Tre, of which those very same parts can have no other account given, if they proceed not from the Phenician Tira; and by contraction, Tra signifying a castle, so that the name might have been primarily applied to forts built by them to secure their trade."* Scanty as these remains of the Phenicians are, and even in many instances dubious in their nature, they are nearly as much as we have any just reason to expect, although they may not correspond with our wishes. And when we reflect on the ages which have elapsed, on the changes which have taken place in the world, and on that natural tendency to decay, which is inseparable from all the works of art, we have but little reason to expect that the surviving vestiges would retain many distinguishing characteristics. On this scarcity of Phenician remains, and the doubtfulness of those which we sometimes denominated such, the following observations of Dr. Borlase appear to be both rational and appropriate : "As the records of the Phenician history are very few, and scarce any thing more than a few fragments preserved in the Greek and Roman writers, and as the ages in which they flourished here are very remote, it is not to be expected that a great many monuments of their erecting should be now extant. If they built any cities, the common custom of the Tyrians, as the shores of Spain and Africa testify, or settled colonies, or erected temples, as is not unlikely, yet the desolations of age and war, as well as sea, near which they always built, may well be supposed to have obliterated every thing of this kind, unless the names of those things, sometimes less subject to ruin than the things themselves, may chance to have escaped. But some few monuments, as I said before, there are, which from their great simplicity may be well judged as ancient as the Phenician times, and from the Phenicians being used to have such in their own country, as appears from ancient authors, may be very rationally supposed of Phenician original.Ӡ * Sammes, pp. 59, 60, cited by Mr. Polwhele, in his Historical Views of Devon, p. 172. UNCERTAINTY OF MANY ANTIQUITIES BEING BRITISH OR PHENICIAN. Whether the Phenician traders established any colonies, either in the Scilly Islands, or in the western parts of Cornwall, seems to be rather uncertain. Each side of the supposition has had its advocates and opposers; and, like all other dubious questions of a similar nature, it is left undecided. Reasoning from analogy, we should be led to conclude in the affirmative, since it was the prevailing custom of the Phenicians in all other parts. And as their trade in these islands was exclusively their own for many ages, and was lucrative and extensive, we can hardly suppose, that in this instance they would deviate from their prevailing national customs. But when on the contrary we appeal to fact, and of those buildings which accompany the establishment of a colony, find scarcely a single memorial, we reflect on our former conclusion with hesitation, and begin to suspect that we have been more precipitate in our decision than the dictates of sober judgment will allow. On the whole, we cannot but think that it is highly probable, that the Phenicians actually established some colonies in these western parts; and perhaps they might have had some towns suited to the magnitude of them. But while we admit this on the ground of analogy, we must suppose that these towns or villages being erected on the margins of the land, must have suffered in the common catastrophe of the disappearing shores. In these views, analogy and fact will no longer be hostile to each other. Mr. Whitaker, speaking of a town now sunk for ever in the remorseless deep, says "The fish now form their beds in the houses certainly, in a town probably, of the old inhabitants, that is said by an eminent antiquary of Cornwall, to have been denominated the City of Lions."* In this city of Lions the Phenicians might in all probability have had some buildings; if so, they must have been immerged in the ocean, and have perished with the other habitations in one common grave. The Phenician town which Mr. Polwhele has supposed to have stood near Hartland Point, seems rather to have been erected in his pages, on the presumed similitude of a name, than on any historical notices, vestiges, or traditions. The name, it must be confessed is imposing; but in other respects we can scarcely conceive what could induce them to fix a colony in such a situation. To facilitate the tin trade, we can hardly suppose that it ever was adapted; and as trade was their primary object, we can only suppose that this colony was designed to collect furs from the natives. This being admitted, the habitations of factors may be * Whitaker's Supplement to Polwhele's History of Cornwall, p. 19. UNCERTAINTY OF MANY ANTIQUITIES BEING BRITISH OR PHENICIAN. considered rather as temporary sheds, than permanent habitations, built probably with materials that could not endure the ravages of time for so long a period, as from when they left it to the present time. It therefore finally appears, that of the buildings of the Phenicians the remains are very dubious; and the rock idols leave us rather in uncertainty, whether they were British or Phenician. The only permanent remains that can unequivocally be denominated such, must be sought in the names which many places still continue to bear. In these several appear visible; but all besides appear to be either covered with the ocean, or overwhelmed with the gathering billows of time. CHAP. VI. Cornwall visited by the Greeks. SECTION I. Circumstances connected with the Grecian Expedition to the Cornish shores. THE Phenicians having been so fortunate in their maritime enterprises, as to discover the Scilly Islands, and to establish with the natives an advantageous commerce, immediately found that their interest in this trade depended upon their concealment of the mines, and of the territories in which they were situated, from all the rival nations. To concealment and trade their views were therefore directed; and in both, for a long period, they were alike successful. Dr. Henry asserts that "the Phenicians enjoyed a profitable and exclusive trade to these islands, for about three hundred years." But this fact seems to be involved in much uncertainty, since the exact period of their first arrival is not known with precision. The Greeks had watched the movements of the Phenician mariners with jealous envy for a series of years; but being ignorant of geography, and fearful to venture on the waves of the Atlantic, to encounter storms and dangers, of which they had heard such terrible reports, they remained at home to indulge their idle wishes, and to make preparations for voyages, which none among them was daring enough to undertake. Accident, however, sometimes accomplishes what neither courage nor avarice has the power to inspire; and in its effects finally calls forth those energies of the mind, which, but for such an unexpected circumstance, would have perpetually remained in a state of unprofitable torpor. It was to such an accident that the Greeks were indebted for the early extension of their maritime knowledge. About 900 years after the Phenician Hercules, 600 after the Trojan war, and 550 before Christ, the people of Samos attempting to send a colony into Egypt, were driven by contrary winds down through the Mediterranean; and not being able to find a harbour, they were carried beyond the Straits of Gibraltar into the Atlantic Ocean, where none of their countrymen had ever presumed to venture before. THE GREEKS PLANT A COLONY AT MARSEILLES 540 YEARS BEFORE CHRIST. Here they formed some settlements; and without attempting to proceed farther, here it is probable they remained for several ages. This may be inferred from the declarations of Herodotus, and from the doubts which Strabo throws on the southern voyages of the Phenicians. It has been noticed in the preceding chapter, that the Phenicians had sailed from the Red Sea, had visited the Cape of Good Hope, and had returned through the Atlantic, and entered the Mediterranean. In their reports of this voyage, which occupied three years, they declared, that they had perceived the sun on their right hand, as they sailed round the coast of Lybia. This fact Herodotus treats as an actual falsehood, and attempts from this circumstance to discredit the whole account. Strabo joins with him in the denial of it, and Polybius doubts whether the land on the south of Africa has any sea surrounding it. Of the Phenician testimony, modern discoveries will not permit us to doubt; and therefore it may be fairly inferred, that if the Greeks had made any considerable improvements in their navigation, or had extended their voyages before the days of these historians, they would not have treated as fabulous, a fact so simple and obvious as that which they attempt to discredit. Nor can we suppose that this ignorance of the Greeks was confined to the coasts of Africa on the Atlantic shores. On the shores of Europe they had made no discoveries. They knew that the Phenician merchants traded to the north; but from what distance they brought their tin, or in what direction those islands lay which produced it, their wisest men were unable to determine. Herodotus declared himself ignorant of their situation; and when Scipio endeavoured to learn from whence the tin was brought, the only answer he could obtain from the Greeks was, that their situation was wholly unknown to them. In this reply, it is however possible, that they might have acted with duplicity, in order to conceal from the Romans a secret which they and the Phenicians alone possessed. But whatever might have been the knowledge of the Greeks with respect to the Scilly Islands in the days of Scipio, it is an indisputable fact that they had then made a great proficiency in ship-building, and consequently in the management of their vessels. Their voyages however were of no considerable extent; but their knowledge answered all their early purposes, that of planting colonies in various parts, as the Phenicians had done before them, and that of trading in the produce of them all. Among these colonies which the Greeks had contrived to plant, there was one of some considerable extent, which the natives of Phocea had settled at Marseilles, about 540 years before Christ. This at a very early period was in a flourishing |