ed by oars on the ocean; roads
intersecting the country covered with travellers and containing carriages
moved by men or horses. The Genius now said, "You see the early state of
civilisation of man; the cottages of the last race you beheld have become
improved into stately dwellings, palaces, and temples, in which use is
combined with ornament. The few men to whom, as I said before, the
foundations of these improvements were owing, have had divine honours
paid to their memory. But look at the instruments belonging to this
generation, and you will find that they are only of brass. You see men
who are talking to crowds around them, and others who are apparently
amusing listening groups by a kind of song or recitation; these are the
earliest bards and orators; but all their signs of thought are oral, for
written language does not yet exist." The next scene which appeared was
one of varied business and imagery. I saw a man, who bore in his hands
the same instruments as our modern smiths, presenting a vase, which
appeared to be made of iron, amidst the acclamations of an assembled
multitude engaged in triumphal procession before the altars dignified by
the name of Apollo at Delphi; and I saw in the same place men who carried
rolls of papyrus in their hands and wrote upon them with reeds containing
ink made from the soot of wood mixed with a solution of glue. "See," the
Genius said, "an immense change produced in the condition of society by
the two arts of which you here see the origin; the one, that of rendering
iron malleable, which is owing to a single individual, an obscure Greek;
the other, that of making thought permanent in written characters, an art
which has gradually arisen from the hieroglyphics which you may observe
on yonder pyramids. You will now see human life more replete with power
and activity." Again, another scene broke upon my vision. I saw the
bronze instruments, which had belonged to the former state of society,
thrown away; malleable iron converted into hard steel, this steel applied
to a thousand purposes of civilised life; I saw bands of men who made use
of it for defensive armour and for offensive weapons; I saw these iron-
clad men, in small numbers subduing thousands of savages, and
establishing amongst them their arts and institutions; I saw a few men on
the eastern shores of Europe, resisting, with the same materials, the
united forces of Asia; I saw a chosen band die in defence of their