the intercourse
that had been opened up between the Britons and the nations of the
continent; nor is it the impulse to civilization brought about by the
use of iron in the manufacture of a multitude of articles of general
convenience. Such influences and agencies were potent in society,
working the transformation that found its expression, among other
ways, in the lifting of woman to the plane of civilization that was
introduced by the Romans; but, undoubtedly, the greatest contributing
factor to the life of the age, and so the most important one in fixing
the status of woman, was the trade relations that were developed
with Britain by the peoples of the South and the remote East: the
Assyrians, the Egyptians, the Etruscans, the Greeks, and, later, the
Romans. To the Phoenicians, that nation of traders, must be given the
credit of the introduction into Britain of the higher products of many
of those peoples whose civilizations were of an advanced type. It
was the fleets of this enterprising people that brought into Britain
quantities of finely wrought implements of various sorts: useful
articles that greatly increased the comfort of life, as well as those
of ornament and of dress. Among such imports were the jade beads and
ornaments which the British women held in especial esteem; beads of
glass, delicately marked and colored; ornaments of gold, sometimes
inlaid with enamel in pleasing designs and colors; fine fabrics of
different sorts; rings, brooches, necklaces, armlets, leg bands, and
wares of many kinds. Such things not only added to the comfort and
the sense of luxury of the women, but, as object lessons of art and
elegance, they were in the highest degree educative. They stimulated
woman's imagination and piqued her interest in regard to the women of
those far distant lands, with whom such articles were in ordinary use.
We hear of travellers' tales, carried back by the early voyagers to
Britain, which, by their incredible coloring, awakened the wonder of
the Greeks; but probably as much amazement and interest were aroused
among the Britons by the marvellous tales, told by the Phoenicians and
other traders, concerning the nations among which were manufactured
the articles brought by them to barter for the metals, furs, woods,
and other products of Britain. In this way, a distorted knowledge
of the outside world and of the accomplishments of highly civilized
peoples came to be widely diffused among the more advanced