Nuremburg had any connection with Italy, notwithstanding the assertions of Büsch; at the commencement of the 14th century, it began to bring its spiceries from Italy; it was the same with the Ausbourgeois, who did not obtain leave until 1990 to carry on the transit trade by the Tyrol. The spice trade across the Alps was not established until the Venetians carried on a direct traffic with Egypt. Part of the merchandise which Ve. nice sent thither, consisted of the productions of Russia. No sooner were the Venetians interdicted from the Black Sea, in consequence of the counter-revolution, ellected by their rivals the Genoese at Constantinople, than Vienna profited by this circumstance to extend the direct trade which she as well as Ratisbon kept up with Rus. sia, and thus carry on an intermediate commerce with Venice. and So much for the trade by land, as to the maritime trade which has been supposed to have existed between italy and Belgium, it is only necessary here to observe that before the 14th century, there exists no example of the Italian navigators passing the streights of Gibraltar. What applies to the Germans is equally applicable to the Belgians, for it was only during the crusades that the fleets of the Italian republics be. came sufficiently powerful to strike terror into the Arabian corsairs. The examples of the Germans entering the Mediterranean, before the epoch al luded to, were not on the part of the merchantmen, but corsairs, and ships of war and transports. The navigators of the Low Countries, who at the commencement of the first crusade repaired to Tarsus, were pirates and adventurers.* According to historians the Bremois, or people of Bremen, not only participated in the first crusade, but sailed to Palestine; and daring the third, we find them and the Lubeckois at anchor before and during the siege of Acre. These were not merchants, however, but military ment and vas. sals of Count Adolphus of Holstein; *Albert. Aquem. Hist. Hierosol. 1, iii. c. 14. ap. Bongars, t. i. p. 219. + Henrici V. dipl. a. 1101. ap. Lünig. Reichse Arcbic, part. spec. cont. IV. p. 1. p. 219. "Non modicus populus armatus decivitate diocesi Bremensi dicitur inter fuisse." and as to the reports of Benjamin de Tudela concerning German and other traders being at Alexandria in 1175, they are accounted as doubtful and even as untrue. The first instance of a merchantman being equipped in Italy for the purpose of trading to the Low Countries, may be dated from the first quarter of the 14th century, when the Venetians, and soon after their rivals the Genoese, began to carry on a contra band trade with Egypt. The earliest instance of spices and silks arriving in the port of Antwerp on board of Venetian ships, according to an author of high reputation,* dates from 1318. Next year a merchantman was equip ped at Genoa for Flanders, and the Florentines at the same time expedited wool for the manufactories of Brabant, PERIOD III. Communications between Constantinople and the Countries to the North West. It was not until after the 12th and 13th centuries that the spirit of com. merce awoke and acquired vigour in Germany. Nature had assigned to the inhabitants of lower Germany, Belgium and Scandinavia,for the sphere of their commerce, while those of the upper, although placed in a worse situation, sooner acquired wealth and civilization on account of their direct communication with Constantinople, then the principal market for the merchandise of India. Ratisbon was long the place of chief intercourse, and indeed the Danube was navigated all the way from that city to the present Turkey during the 12th century. The Flemish manufactures soon became famous in the East, on one hand, while on the other the example of the debauched court of the Greek Emperors introduced the use of spices in cookery, and of silks in dress. "The neces sity of furnishing wherewithal to pay for their luxuries, which soon appeared to be indispensable, added to the additional demand for the productions of the West at Byzantium, gave a fill up to rural economy, and produced more zeal and care in the cultivation of the earth, augmented the ac tivity of the manufacturer, and spread wealth and prosperity all around." The Danube, the Oder, and the Vistula, Lud. Guiccardini, Belgii descrip. ROW now enriched the cities placed on their banks. OBJECTS OF COMMERCE. The merchandise exported from Constantinople during the crusades, thence to be distributed throughout Germany by the Hungarians, consisted of all the productions both of nature and art appertaining to Greece, as well as the commodities of the Levant. Among these are enumerated saffron, Jaurel leaves, nuts, oil, liquorice, raw silk, sacerdotal habits, purple robes, gold, stuffs, pomels of swords, pepper, ginger, &c. This catalogue is extracted from two tarifs or regulations for the custom-house of the town of Stain on the Danube, in Lower Austria, where a toll was taken on the great road leading from Constantinople to Germany. The merchandise imported, consisted of slaves, arms, sadlery, woollen cloth, linen, certain wooden manufactures; and finally gold, silver, copper, tin, lead and mercury. All these productions actually existed in Germany and Hungary, and were transported through Lower Austria along the Danube to Constantinople, whence part was carried to the East. The slaves, consisted chiefly of the Vendes and Slavi, who were transmitted from Bohemia and Mortavia to Greece, and many of them were employed in hard labour, of which blowing the bellows of the organs at Constantinople is specified as forming a part. Liege, where iron and other metals had been disco-, vered so early as the 10th century, was famous for the manufacture of Flanders furnished the sadlery, the Low Countries the woolen goods; Franconia and Thuringia linens; many of the metals came from Transylvania, and as to the gold it was obtained from the Danube near Papau, as well as from the Rhine, while mines of the precious metals were at the same time worked both in Hungary and Transylvania. arms. COMMERCE OF THE Хокти, Byzantium is very advantageously situate for commerce with the inha. bitants bordering on the Black Sea, and accordingly it first became the grand entrepot to this trade. A great intercourse was kept up with the - Greek colonies in the Taurida; and so early as the sixth century abundance of cattle was brought from the Bosphorus. Constantinople kept up a constant communication with the Chazares, the Patzinaques and the Cumanes, all Turkish tribes, who in the 12th century were dispossessed of part of their country by the Venetians. The Patzinaques ought to be comprehended among the Tauro-Scythians, with whom the Greeks of the capital entered into a bloody contest in 1043, whence resulted a long and disastrous war, in which the Russians were implicated, they taking part with the enemies of Byzantium. With these last, the Greeks had long and frequent connections, for many of them, under the name of Farjans and Varins, entered into the service of the emperors. A great commerce also was carried on with Russia, and a particular quarter was assigned to the travellers from that country, in the suburb of St. Mamant. In the tenth century, their merchants were main. tained at Constantinople at the expence of the public. No sooner, however, did they begin to traffic directly with other nations, such as the Venetians, the Genoese, and the Germans, than the Greeks became jealous, and would not permit them to remain during the winter at Constantinople, nay, they prohibited them from staying during the same period at the mouth of the Dnieper. Ou this the Germans and other nations repaired for the purpose of traffic to Kiow. Furs and slaves formed two great ar ticles of trade. But the Greek merchants in consequence of the despotism of their government, and the luxury that reigned in the effeminate courts of their emperors, soon lost their foreign trade, from indolence, inattention, and the nature of their political institutions. Towards the end of the crusades the Italians and Germans began to interchange their commodities, partly by means of the roads across the Alps, and partly through the streights of Gib raltar. From that moment too, the balance of trade began to lean against the inhabitants of Constantinople,as the importation of spiceries and metals from the east was greater in point of value than their own indigenous productions exported by them. The annual deficit was, however, concealed, if not covered by the large sums expended by a bril liant court, and the internal trade which was still carried on with such vigour, as to render Constantinople the most rich and luxurious capital during the middle age. Commerce by commission, we are told, was then unknown; there were neither post-offices to facilitate correspondence, nor brokers, nor factors every merchant either accompanied his own goods, or sent a supercargo along with them. Bills of exchange were unknown, and metal alone was the sole measure of value in the eastern empire. "Observations Historiqueset Critiques sur, &c." Historical and criticalRemarks relative to a Passage of Cæsar concerning the Religion of the Gauls. By the late Mr. Charles Boullernier, of Dijon, librarian and keeper of the medals, &c. of that city. Cæsar observes in the sixth book of his Commentaries, that the Gauls, in consequence of a tradition received from the Druids pretended to draw their origin from Dis: Gulli se omnes à dite patre prognatos præ dicant. It is here inquired, what god is this same Dis? Is he the Pluto of the Greeks and Romans? or some other divinity unknown to both? and what did Cæsar himself mean by it? adds the author. In his opinion, Cæsar has supposed the Dis of the Gauls to be the God of Hell, and the Pluto of other nations for the Romans who considered themselves alone as enlightened, and looked on all other nations as barbarous, connected every thing which they saw, or heard, with their own manners and usages. The worship of Pluto under the name of Dis being familiar to them, and a fundamental dogma of their theology, it is but little surprising that the Celtic word Dé, Di, or Dir, should have produced the idea of the same divinity worshipped by others under an appellation nearly similar. Deceived accordingly by the sound, and still more perhaps, by the cruel custom prevalent among the Gauls, of sacrificing human victims, Cæsar did not hesitate, we are told, to believe that the power to whom they ascribed their origin was the divinity who reigned in the infernal regions. He therefore identified the Celtic with the Roman god, and his prejudices accordingly made him find in Esus, Taranis, Teutates, Belenus, Camulus, 2nd Belisana, a close and intimate resemblance with Jupiter, Mercury, Apello, Mars, and Minerva. That occurred to him," it is added, "which daily happen to mo. dern travellers, who when they per ceive men falling down at the feet of monstrous and misshapen idols, never fail to tell us, that these worship the devil, and for no better reason, than that in our own religion we represent that malignant spirit under the most hideous forms." The authority of the Roman general has contributed not a little to perpetuate this error: for not only all the translators have rendered the word Dis, Pluto, but the learned also have in general subscribed to the same idea. M. Simon (Mem. de l'Acad. des Ins tom. 4. p. 264.) after having observed that it is a principle common to all religions to recognise a sovereign being, to whom the nation is indebted for its existence, and for whom their lives were to he offered up, if he should redemand them,adds "that the ancient inhabitants of Palestine, who were imitated by the Hebrews, cousecrated their children to Moloch, by means of fire; that the Carthaginians sacrificed in the same manner to Saturn; and that the ancient Gauls burnt men alive, in honour of Dis, or Pluto." M. Mandel also (Ibid. tom. 9, p. 142.) in his "Explanations of some Inscriptions found at Langres during the two last centuries," mentions one composed only of the five following initial letters: D. M. S. Q. D. These, he adds, "a.c usually explained by these words: Diis Manibus Sacrumque Diti; and remarks that they confirm what Cæsar remarks about the veneration which the Gauls had for Pluto, whence they believed themselves to draw their origin, in allusion to which they counted by nights, and not by days, like other nations." In reply to this, our author maintains that the inscription in question proves nothing, unless it had been engraven before the arrival of the Romans in Gaul, for anterior to that period, the gods of Greece and Rome were necessarily unknown to them, according to the Dialogues ofLucian*. Three authors, M. Bullet, P. Pezron, and D. Martin, however, have searched the Celtic language for the true signification of the word Dis. If we are to give credit to the first of these (Mem. sur la Lang. Cell. p. 8.) the Dis of Cæsar is not a divinity, but the earth, which is termed Dit or Tit in the Celtic language: according to this explanation then, the Gauls pretended to have been born, or to have sprung out of the earth. The second Jupit, Traged. 13. asserts that Japhet was the father of all the eminent nations, particularly of the Gauls, who took the name of Gomerians from his son, which they afterwards changed for that of Sacques, and Normades, who, dividing them selves into two bands, one of these passed into Armenia and Cappadocia, and thence into Phrygia under Acmon, where they assumed the appellation of Titans. This Acmon was father of Uram, who by his wife Titia, had Saturn, father of Jupiter and Dis: Jupiter began his reign a little time after the time of Abraham, and as his dominions were very extensive, he gave the more southern portion, such as Spain, Gaul, and perhaps Great Britain, to his brother Dis, whence the Gauls, termed by Callemach as the descendants of the Titans, glory in tracing their origin. M. Martin, the third author alluded to above, conjectures that the Romans having considered Pluto as a term correspondent to father, were tempted to believe that the Di of the Gauls, whence they pretended to be descended, and the Dis Puter of Rome were exactly the same. It is his own opinion, however, "that it was Mercury from whom the Gauls pretended to be sprung: this theory is founded on Teutates, the name of that divinity, which in the Celtic signifies the father of a people. Teutates or Theulates, was then the chief whence they believed themselves to be descended, and in whom they found at once the stem of their genealogical tree, and the source of that blood which circulated in their veins." M. Boullemier, on his part, is inclined to think, that the Celtic term De, Di, Dis, is a primitive and radical expression, and that nearly all nations have adopted it in the same signification. "It is the Ti of the Chinese, the Dios or Theos of the Greeks, the Deus of the Latins. I am much mistaken, observes Bochart, if the Dis Pater of Cæsar, is not the Diespiter or Jupiter of the Romans, which is proved from the Greek Dios, or the Hebrew Diou';* and I myself allow, that Di might have served in Gaul as a general term for the Supreme Being. The worship of the Gauls," (adds he) "sprung from a pure source, and the * Geogr. Sacr. tradition of their real origin from Japhet the son of Noah, may have been preserved by the Druids, who alone possessed the key to the mysteries of religion, while Caesar merely expressed himself in conformity to popular notions. Although the multitude were insensibly led by the example of their neighbours to adore a plurality of gods, yet the Druids constantly taught a more noble faith: that of one only creator of the Universe. "It is in consequence of their origin also, that our ancestors counted by nights and not by days: such was the custom of the Hebrews, and all other ancient nations, with the exception of the Babylonians, who only reckoned by lunar months. The Romans themselves commenced their days at midnight; the ancient Germans and the first Anglo Saxons reckoned in the same manner as the Gauls, which is followed by the Arabians at the pre sent moment. "Cæsar therefore is mistaken, when he asserts that the reckoning by nights was a compliment to Pluto, and he is equally in the wrong, to have considered Di in any other light than that of a SUPREME BEING. "Notice sur quelques Manuscrits,"&c. Notice relative to some Historical Manuscripts of Jean Benard concerning the English, French, Flemings, &c. by the Abbé Mercier de Saint Leger. We are informed by the learned Abbé Mercier de St. Leger, that the manuscripts in question were written on paper in 1572, and that they consisted of a folio of 576 pages: the following is the title, "Sommaires Recueils des Querelles & Pretentions anciennes des Anglois contre les Francois, des Alliances générales & particulieres d'entre les Anglois & les Hanouyers, Flamans, Bourguignons et autres contre les Francois, &c." Par Jean Benard. This is a work at once scarce and curious, being only mentioned in the new editions of the "Bibliotheque Historique de la France." The fathers L'Abbé and Montfaucon take no notice of it at all in their library of manuscripts. The execution is admirable, and the ornaments consist both of gold and colours. On the back of the binding we find the cypher L. B. and it has every appearance of being an original. 1. The title is surrounded by a frame in which both flowers and animals are depicted. 2. We have the list of authors, both French and English, from whom Benard collected his materials. 3. A repertory of the principal subjects, with the chapters of the work. 4. The Epistle Dedicatory of the author to Villeroy, the secretary of - state. And 5. The preface, containing a page and a half. Here follow the authorities alluded to above. 1. FRENCH WORKS. what appertains to this subject during the last 300 years, from which period is dated the rivalship of England, and how the king of France, by the last conquest of Calais, and the county of Oye, has resumed and re-aunexed to his domain all that the English there occupied, so far as the river L'Escluse, which in ancient times appertained to France, before Calais was detained by the English." The work is divided into eleven chapters, the titles of which evince their respective importance. Chap. I. "How the wars between the French and English assumed that bitterness 1. Les Annales et Chroniques de which they afterwards displayed, and France. ton. 8. Les Œuvres de Fox. 10. Polichronicon dit Caxton. 12. Les Ordonnances appellées Magna Charta. 13. Exposition des Lois d'Angleterre. To the epistle dedicatory, is attached a broad border of flowers, with the arms of Villeroy, and we behold a large tree planted amidst rocks, with a banneroll fastened to the stem, on which is written the words "Per ardua Sur go," and beneath, the following disfich in letters of gold. Surgo per excelsi sinuosa cacumina Me neque sol urit nec sera turbat hyems.' The preface alludes to the ancient pretensions of England to France, and the author proposes to "relate briefly from what motives the English founded |