Such base ingratitude as this alloys
My triumph's glory, and my bosom's joys."
V. T.
Tunbridge Wells.
EARLY USE OF TIN.
Mr. Layard, in his work upon Nineveh and Babylon, in reference to the articles of bronze from Assyria now in the British Museum, states, that the tin used in the composition was probably obtained from Phœnicia; and, consequently, that that used in the Assyrian bronze may actually have been exported nearly three thousand years ago from the British Isles.
The Assyrians appear to have made an extensive use of this metal; and the degree of perfection which the making of bronze had then reached, clearly shows that they must have been long experienced in the use of it. They appear to have received what they used from the Phœnicians. When and by whom was tin first discovered in our island? Were the Celtic tribes acquainted with it previously to the arrival of the Phœnicians upon our shores?
It is said that the Phœnicians were indebted to the Tyrian Hercules for their trade in tin; and that this island owed them its name of Baratanac, or Britain, the land of tin. Was the Tyrian Hercules, or, as he was afterwards known and worshipped, as the Melkart of Tyre, and the Moloch of the Bible, was he the merchant-leader of the first band of Phœnicians who visited this island? When did he live?