place in the Semitic group, to their own special characteristics, we
shall find ourselves upon surer ground, though even here there are
certain points which are debateable. The following is the account of
their general character given by a very high authority, and by one who,
on the whole, may be regarded as an admirer:--

"The Phoenicians form, in some respects, the most important fraction
of the whole group of antique nations, notwithstanding that they sprang
from the most obscure and insignificant families. This fraction, when
settled, was constantly exposed to inroad by new tribes, was utterly
conquered and subjected by utter strangers when it had taken a great
place among the nations, and yet by industry, by perseverance, by
acuteness of intellect, by unscrupulousness and wait of faith, by
adaptability and pliability when necessary, and dogged defiance at other
times, by total disregard of the rights of the weaker, they obtained
the foremost place in the history of their times, and the highest
reputation, not only for the things that they did, but for many that
they did not. They were the first systematic traders, the first miners
and metallurgists, the greatest inventors (if we apply such a term to
those who kept an ever-watchful lookout for the inventions of others,
and immediately applied them to themselves with some grand improvements
on the original idea); they were the boldest mariners, the greatest
colonisers, who at one time held not only the gorgeous East, but the
whole of the then half-civilised West in fee--who could boast of a form
of government approaching to constitutionalism, who of all nations of
the time stood highest in practical arts and sciences, and into whose
laps there flowed an unceasing stream of the world's entire riches,
until the day came when they began to care for nothing else, and the
enjoyment of material comforts and luxuries took the place of the thirst
for and search after knowledge. Their piratical prowess and daring was