oyed, and the thought naturally arises, that Britain,
which, at the time of the splendour of the _maritime Tyrians_, was an
obscure island, is now at the summit of maritime renown; while TYRE is a
place where only "the fisherman dries his net." This leads to an
EULOGIUM ON ENGLAND; and the book concludes with the triumphs of her
fleets and armies on that very shore, on which science, and art, and
commerce, and MARITIME RENOWN, first arose.
This digression, introducing the siege of Acre, appeared to the author
not only natural, but in some measure necessary to break the uniformity
of the subject.
BOOK THE THIRD
Commences with the feelings excited by the conclusion of the last, by a
warm wish that England may for ages retain her present elevated rank.
This leads to the consideration of her NAVAL OPULENCE, which carries us
back to the subject we had left--THE FATE OF TYRE.
The history of the empires succeeding Tyre is touched on: the fall of
her destroyer, Babylon; the succession of Cyrus; the character of Cyrus,
and his want of enlarged policy, having so many means of encouraging
commerce; and his ill-fated expedition to the East Indies.
ALEXANDER THE GREAT first conceives the idea of establishing a vast
MARITIME EMPIRE: in his march of conquest, he proceeds to the last river
of the Punjab, the Hyphasis, which descends into the Indus, the sources
of which are near the mountains of CAUCASUS, WHERE THE ARK RESTED.
The Indian account of the Deluge, it is well known, resembles most
wonderfully the history of Moses. When Alexander can proceed no further,
poetical fiction introduces the person of a Brahmin, who relates the
history of the Deluge: viz., that _one sacred man was_, in this part of
the world, _miraculously preserved by an ark_; the further march of the
conqueror towards the holy spot is deprecated: his best glory shall be
derived from the sea, and from uniting either world in commerce.
Alexander is animated with the idea; and his fleet, under Nearchus,
proceeds down the Indus to the sea. This forms a middle, connected with
the account of the Deluge, book first.
BOOK THE FOURTH.
Nearchus' voyage being accomplished, and Alexandria now complete,
Commerce is represented as standing on the Pharos, and calling to all
nations. The tide of commerce would have flowed still in the track
pointed out by the sagacity of Alexander, but that a wider scene, beyond
THE ANCIENT WORLD, opens to the VIEW OF DISCOVE
|