possessed, about the middle of the seventeenth century, 600 ships, some of
which were very large; and the commerce by which Hamburgh is still
distinguished, is in some measure the result of what it enjoyed as a member
of the Hanseatic League.

We shall now turn our attention to the Italian states: Venice and Amalfi
were the first which directed their labours to the arts of domestic
industry, the forerunners and causes of commercial prosperity. New wants
and desires being created, and a taste for elegance and luxury formed,
foreign countries were visited. Muratori mentions several circumstances
which indicate a revival of a commercial spirit; and, as Dr. Robertson
remarks, from the close of the seventh century, an attentive observer may
discern faint traces of its progress. Indeed, towards the beginning of the
sixth century, the Venetians had become so expert at sea, that Cassiodorus
addressed a letter to the maritime tribunes of Venice, (which is still
extant,) in which he requests them to undertake the transporting of the
public stores of wine and oil from Istria to Ravenna. In this letter, a
curious but rather poetical account is given of the state of the city and
its inhabitants: all the houses were alike: all the citizens lived on the
same food, viz. fish: the manufacture to which they chiefly applied
themselves was salt; an article, he says, more indispensable to them than
gold. He adds, that they tie their boats to their walls, as people tie
their cows and horses in other places.

In the middle of the eighth century, the Venetians no longer confined their
navigation to the Adriatic, but ventured to double the southern promontory
of Greece, and to trade to Constantinople itself. The principal merchandize
with which they freighted their ships, on their return-voyage, consisted of
silk, the rich produce of the East, the drapery of Tyre, and furs; about a
century afterwards, they ventured to trade to Alexandria. Amalfi, Genoa,
and Pisa followed their example; but their trade never became very
considerable till the period of the crusades, when the treasures of the
West were in fact placed in their hands, and thus fresh vigour was given to
their carrying trade, manufactures, and commerce.

There are a few notices, however, respecting the commerce of Venice, and
the other states of Italy, prior to the crusades, which it may be necessary
very briefly to give. About the year 969, Venice and Amalfi are
represented, by co