ere flowed into Greece the science of numbers and of
navigation, and the art of alphabetical writing from Phoenicia. Along
with the fine wheat, and embroidered linen, and riches of the farther
Indias which came from Egypt, there came, also, into Greece some
knowledge of the sciences of astronomy and geometry, of architecture and
mechanics, of medicine and chemistry; together with the mystic wisdom of
the distant Orient. The scattered rays of light which gleamed in the
eastern skies were thus converged in Greece, as on a focal point, to be
rendered more brilliant by contact with the powerful Grecian intellect,
and then diffused throughout the western world. Thus intercourse with
surrounding nations, by commerce and travel, contact therewith by
immigrations and colonizations, even collisions and invasions also,
became, in the hands of a presiding Providence, the means of diffusing
knowledge, of quickening and enlarging the active powers of man, and
thus, ultimately, of a higher civilization.

[Footnote 15: Humboldt's "Cosmos," vol. ii. p. 143.]

[Footnote 16: Cousin, vol. i. pp. 169, 170.]

[Footnote 17: The advantageous situation of Britain for commerce, and
the nature of the climate have powerfully contributed to the perfection
of industry among her population. Had she occupied a central, internal
station, like that of Switzerland, the facilities of her people for
dealing with others being so much the less, their progress would have
been comparatively slow, and, instead of being highly improved, their
manufactures would have been still in infancy. But being surrounded on
all sides by the sea, that "great highway of nations," they have been
able to maintain an intercourse with the most remote as well as the
nearest countries, to supply them on the easiest terms with their
manufactures, and to profit by the peculiar products and capacities of
production possessed by other nations. To the geographical position and
climate of Great Britain, her people are mainly indebted for their
position as the first commercial nation on earth.--See art.
"Manufactrues," p. 277, _Encyc. Brit_.]

Then further, the peculiar configuration of Greece, the wonderful
complexity of its coast-line, its peninsular forms, the number of its
islands, and the singular distribution of its mountains, all seem to
mark it as the theatre of activity, of movement, of individuality, and
of freedom. An extensive continent, unbroken by lakes and inland seas,