TYPE-FOUNDING

TYPE-FOUNDING. In the treatise on PRINTING the reader will find that the invention of the art of type-founding was a very early consequence of the discovery of the rude art of taking impressions from laboriously excised letters of wood and metal; and that, after an investigation of the statements of various authors, the honour of the invention has been given to the illustrious partnership of Gutenberg, Fust, and Schæffer, the larger share being allowed to the latter, as having had practice in the design and proportioning of letters in his original employment of an illuminator; that the place of the invention was the city of Mentz, and that the time was about the year 1457. Nor, upon examination, will it appear that any other can dispute the honour with these worthies, inasmuch as they indisputably used cast-metal types before the secession of Gutenberg from his associates, and consequently before the dispersion of their workmen by the capture of Mentz in the year 1462; nor will the claims of Koster of Haarlem in any case interfere with these, the most sanguine of his supporters carrying his pretensions no farther than the art of taking impressions from excised characters of wood, of lead, and lastly of tin. The necessity of some improvement upon the original method of forming types, even on the very limited scale upon which the first efforts of typography were conducted, must be obvious, and it appears to have advanced in a natural and rapid course. The first step seems to have been the striking of a letter of approved cut, answering in some degree to the modern punch, into soft clay or plaster, and the infusion of metal into the mould thus formed; the shaft or body, which by so rude and uncertain a method must necessarily have been rough and untrue, being dressed into correctness by manual labour. The art of casting and working metals, however, being at that time by no means defective, and Fust being by profession a worker in gold and silver, it is probable that a process not unlike the modern was soon invented; but of this we have no certain evidence, the whole art of printing being

carefully kept a "mystery" by the initiated until about half a century after the probable date of the invention.¹ That the mould was an early invention is shown by the device of Badius Ascensius, an eminent printer of Paris and Lyon in the beginning of the sixteenth century, and also by that of an English printer, Anthony Scoloker of Ippeswich, who modified and adopted the device of Ascensius, as indeed did many other printers of various countries. This curious design exhibits in one apartment the various processes of printing; the foreground presenting a press in full work, the background on the left the cases and the compositor, and on the right the foundry, in which a workman is casting types by means of a mould, bearing a precise resemblance to those at present in use. This introduces to observation the fact that the earlier printers generally combined all the various processes of their profession in their own offices; although it would appear, that as the art spread over Europe, and secrecy became less and less necessary, the most enterprising speedily began to furnish their distant brethren with types from their respective foundries. Thus it would appear that the first types of the English archtypographer Caxton were supplied by Ulric Zell, and that it was not until the establishment of his printing-house at Westminster that he began to cut letter in imitation of his own handwriting, and more agreeable to the fashion of writing at that time in use in England. Letton and Machlinia are supposed to have purchased their types from foreign foundries, perhaps from Lyon or Milan. But Wynkyn de Worde discarded that jealousy which had hitherto obstructed the progress of the art in England, and having cut many founts of considerable beauty, supplied his contemporary typographers. His black letter in especial was so much esteemed as to have been in use to a very late period, and it is said that remnants of his founts are to be found in some of the most ancient printing establishments; nay, it is even possible that some of his original punches or matrices might yet by a diligent antiquary be discovered—a valuable and interesting addition to our many curious relics of the art.

The first record of the separation of the art of type-founding from that of printing would appear to be a decree of the Star-Chamber in the reign of Charles I., dated 11th July 1637. This was probably one of the attempts to suppress the printing of seditious works by the rising Puritans, who, after establishing secret printing-offices in various parts of the kingdom, found it necessary for secrecy to cut their founts themselves. The decree seems to have been in some degree a revival of one of the same nature, 28 Elizabeth, limiting the number of printers to twenty. By the first-mentioned decree it was ordered,—

That there shall be four founders of letters for printing, and no more.

That the Archbishop of Canterbury, or the Bishop of London, with six other high commissioners, shall supply the places of those four as they shall become void.

That no master founder shall keep above two apprentices at one time.

That all journeymen founders be employed by the masters of the trade, and that idle journeymen be compelled to work, upon pain of imprisonment, and such other punishment as the court shall think fit.

That no master founder of letters shall employ any other person in any work belonging to the casting and founding of letters than freemen or apprentices to the trade, save only in pulling off the knots of metal hanging at the end of the letters when they are first cast, in which work every master founder may employ one boy only not bound to the trade.

The four founders appointed by this decree to serve the

whole kingdom were John Grismand, Thomas Wright, Arthur Nicholas, and Alexander Fifield.

This decree was revived 14th Charles II., renewed 16th Charles II., and again for seven years 1st James II., at which term it expired, and was never renewed.

The founts in use in English printing-offices may be divided into two kinds; those used for book, and those for job printing, that is, hand and posting bills, &c. Of book types there are twelve regular bodies—viz., Great Primer, English, Pica, Small Pica, Long Primer, Bourgeois, Brevier, Minion, Nonpareil, Ruby, Pearl, and Diamond. Besides these, Minion-Nonpareil is a good deal used; and some founders have introduced intermediate founts, as Emerald.

It is much to be regretted that no uniform standard has been adopted by letter-founders for their founts of the same-named letter; they vary not only from those of other founders, but even from their own, owing to which it seldom happens that any two founts stand together. This is the cause of much inconvenience, as in the instance of capitals and small capitals, accented letters, signs, and other sorts introduced into common matter; the printer being obliged to purchase a small quantity of each with every fount, whereas, were there any uniformity, he might have a considerable quantity to be used with any fount as occasion required.

Great Primer (Fr. Gros Romain; Ger. Tertia) is the largest type in use in book printing, being chiefly for large Bibles, on which account it is sometimes called Bible Text; but it is very seldom employed. There are about 51½ ms to a foot: it is double the body of Bourgeois.

English (Fr. St Augustin; Ger. Mittel) is much used for church Bibles, and for works in folio and quarto. The French name is probably derived from its being first used to print the works of St Augustin; the German from its being the middle of seven standard founts used by the early German printers. There are about 64 ms to a foot: its body is equal to two Minions.

Pica (Fr. and Ger. Cicero, from its having been first used for Cicero's Epistles) is the fount which is used as the general standard of measurement in casting leads, quotations, cutting rule, and regulating the price of press-work, &c. It is in very extensive use for works of a standard character, history, art, and other library works: it is sufficiently large for weak eyes, and not too great for moderately sized 8vo pages, being in fact the just medium. There are 71 ms to a foot, and it is equal to two Nonpareils.

Small Pica (Fr. Philosophie; Ger. Brevier) is perhaps the most extensively used of all the founts, being a very useful and well-proportioned letter. Novels are almost always printed in this body. 83 ms to a foot, equal to two Rubics.

Long Primer (Fr. Petit Romain; Ger. Corpus) is likewise much used, being very well adapted for works in 12mo, dictionaries, and other works in which much matter is to be got into a small space; it is the type of the Encyclopædia Britannica. 89 ms = 1 foot: two Pearls.

Bourgeois (Fr. Gaillard; the Germans have none to correspond) is much used for the same purposes as Long Primer, and in solid matter is difficult to distinguish by the eye from that body. 102 ms = 1 foot: two Diamonds.

Brevier (Fr. Petite Texte; Ger. Petit or Jungfer) is so called from its having been much used for printing breviaries. It is much employed for small works, and for notes. 112½ ms = 1 foot.

Minion (Fr. Mignonne; Ger. Colonel) is chiefly in use for newspaper advertisements; it is a very pretty fount, and

Type-Founding. well adapted for pocket editions, prayer-books, and Bibles: it is perhaps the smallest of readable sizes. 128 ms = 1 foot: half English.

Nonpareil (Fr. and Ger. Nonpareille), used for the same purposes as Minion. 143 ms = 1 foot: half Pica.

Ruby (no body to correspond in France or Germany), used for pocket dictionaries, prayer-books, &c.; but it is too small for any but the strongest sight. 163 ms = 1 foot: half Small Pica.

Pearl (Fr. Parisienne; Ger. Perl), used for the same purposes. 178 ms = 1 foot: half Long Primer.

Diamond (Fr. and Ger. Diamond) is the smallest body cut; it is distressingly small, and is used mostly for notes to works in Nonpareil and the descending bodies. The French have succeeded in cutting the face so small as to be illegible, and an annual lately sold in London in this letter was accompanied with a magnifying glass. 205 ms = 1 foot: half Bourgeois.

The principal apparatus in the casting of type are the punch, the matrix, and the mould. The punch (or puncheon) is a piece of steel bearing upon one end a single letter, which is formed by hammering, filing, and other processes, and differs in no other respect from ordinary punches than the unusual care and accuracy with which it is worked. It must be remembered, that as each letter is but one of a large number with which it is to harmonise, the height must be obtained with the greatest precision, the breadth both of the heavy and the fine strokes must be carefully proportioned, the turns graceful. This general harmony is not very difficult to attain in the coarser fancy type, there being in this, as in other arts, little merit in imitating the vulgar or the grotesque; but the elegant and symmetrical face of book type is as difficult to attain as the exquisite grace of the higher productions of the arts; and yet, to such perfection have modern artists attained, that the practised eye has little difficulty in assigning an individual letter to its proper fount, and even if the printer has turned his attention to the particulars of his art, to the foundry and the artist, the punch-cutter of a foundry of character having a professional reputation, like a painter or engraver. Mr Moxon, a mechanic of great ingenuity, in his Mechanical Exercises, has the credit of first assigning rules for the shaping of letters, laying down geometrical rules for the angles of inclination, the curves, and for adjusting the base from which the shoulders of the letter should rise to obtain the greatest strength. From this the modern artists have varied, obtaining great sharpness of appearance combined with strength and durability. Although beyond a doubt Mr Moxon's formulae have been of great advantage to subsequent punch-cutters, he was by no means a successful artist himself; his type, cut upon the most philosophical principles, being uglier than that of his contemporaries. The matrix is a small piece of copper into which the punch is struck. Much care is also requisite in doing this, although, provided it be struck sufficiently deep, the surface of the copper may be filed down so as to leave the impress of the exact depth. It has been explained in the treatise on PRINTING, that to obtain equality of impression, the face of the composed type must be in an exact plane, from which it will be easily understood that the just depth of the impression in the matrix is a matter of much importance. The copper must now be carefully dressed at the ends and sides, in order that, when adjusted in the mould, the character, when cast, may be so placed upon its body that it shall stand exactly even with its brother characters: the nicety required in this is surprising.

The mould is a very simple but very ingenious apparatus, consisting of two parts, so contrived that, being properly placed together (viz. a 2 in a 1, b 1 in b 2, c 2 on c 1, and d 1 on d 2), they form in the centre a space which is geometrically described as a parallelopiped, being,

in fact, the mould in which the type is formed; the matrix f is placed at the bottom; the metal is poured in at the

orifice formed by the closing of the upper parts. It will be seen that the two parts which form the mould slide upon each other, and that the extent to which they close is regulated by the width of the matrix; and that, therefore, all types of one fount, whether the broad 4-em quadrat or the narrow i or l, may be cast in the same mould. The spring at the bottom of figure 2 retains the matrix in its place, and without removing it the new letter cannot be disengaged; the hooks at the top are used to remove the letter from the mould. f is an enlarged drawing of the matrix.

The caster, with this apparatus, stations himself by the side of a furnace containing the melting-pot and the fluid metal, of which he takes a portion with a very small ladle, and having poured in a sufficient quantity, jerks the mould into the air with his left hand (a very singular movement), which has the effect of expelling the air and forcing the metal into the finest strokes of the matrix. He then with one finger releases the spring, separates the mould, and hooks out the letter with one of the pieces of bent wire represented at the top of the mould; and so proceeds with considerable rapidity, casting about 500 letters in the hour, of ordinary sized type, although the smaller and the larger sizes require much more time, the first on account of the care requisite, and the latter to allow of the setting of the metal.

The types are now removed from the caster's table by a boy, who strikes off the knob at the bottom, caused by the superfluous metal at the orifice of the mould. A workman next rubs the sides of each letter upon a slab of very gritty stone (his fingers being guarded by a piece of leather), which removes any small knobs or globules attached to the sides or edges. This is done with great rapidity, from 1500 to 2000 letters being dressed in an hour. The letters are then set up in a long stick, and again dressed, and the bottom grooved, by which exact height is insured; and the fount being then proportioned, is tied up and is ready for the printer. A fount of type consists of five alphabets, A, a, B, b, C, c, D, d, E, e, with points, spaces, &c., about 200 characters. A small fount of pica, containing its due proportion of all sorts, weighs about 800 lb.

The matrix for very large type is differently prepared, the nicety of the punch-cutter's art not being required. The letter having been accurately shaped out by rule and

Type-Founding. compass upon a piece of copper or brass, the part so marked out is cut away, care being taken to cut the back somewhat wider than the front, the sloping edge forming the shoulder of the future type. The piece of brass now very much resembles the plates used for stencilling the large headings of legal forms: it is next riveted upon a smooth surface of brass, which forms the face of the letter.

Such was the method of casting type invented by the earliest typographers, and continued to the present day by modern type-founders. But the large fonts and frequent renewals required by the modern system of literary enterprise have produced many ingenious plans for superseding hand-casting by machinery. The invention which has come into use, and is adopted in most large foundries, is of American origin, but was patented by Mr E. Newton in 1850. It may be described as the primitive mould worked by machinery. The mould-blocks are opened, closed, and adjusted by means of a crank-pin, which works in a slot, formed in an arm connected with the standard of the mould-blocks. The matrix is presented to and withdrawn from the mould-blocks by means of levers. The matrix being in its place, and the mould-blocks adjusted, a jet of molten type-metal is forced through a nipple into the mould by a plunger working in a piston-box inserted in the fusing-pot. The injective force drives the metal into the matrix, so as to form a cast of great sharpness and accuracy, and the metal sets instantaneously. The machinery now opens the mould-blocks and withdraws the matrix; and in the movement the new type, which is made to adhere to one side of the mould-block by a slight projection, is brought under the point of a rod, which picks it from its place. The whole apparatus is set in motion by a small hand fly-wheel. The types are cast with a rapidity varying with the size. The large 3-line and 4-line letters require a slight pause at each stroke of the pump to allow the metal to set; but the smaller types, such as pica, small pica, and long primer, are cast with a continuous motion, at the rate of from 80 to 120 a minute: 10,000 may be easily cast in a day. Quadrats and spaces are thrown down with wonderful rapidity. The types cast by the machine require precisely the same dressing as those cast by hand. Machine-cast types are of somewhat less specific gravity.

The ordinary ingredients of type-metal are lead, antimony, and a small proportion of tin. Each foundry has its own secret, either as to the proportions of these articles, or as to other materials added. Some are known to add arsenic, others copper, in small proportions. Much of the durability of type is also known to depend upon the degree of heat applied, and to the rapidity with which crystallization takes place. A very hard type-metal has been patented, composed of 75 per cent. of tin and 25 per cent. of antimony; or if any lead be added, it must be in very small proportion. Type of this composition is more expensive than that of common metal, but it is specifically lighter, and is said to be durable. Another metal patented by an experienced firm is composed of zinc, nickel, and copper, to which, when fused, a small quantity of lead is added. This mixture is then combined with a fusion of lead and antimony, and the whole subjected to a very high heat.

There have been some so-called improvements in type, which not having proved practically useful, are mentioned only as matters of curiosity. Such is the process of coating the face of type with copper by electro-deposition. Type so treated is of course much more expensive than type plain; but although perhaps electro-faced type may be more enduring of friction, it has proved unable to withstand planing-down and other practical treatment, or the alternations of temperature; and the facing is apt to scale off. If a small portion of the font becomes thus affected, the whole becomes useless.

Type has been formed of cold metal by pressing the ends of square shanks into dies (aprototype). This, as regards type-metal, is a more expensive and less perfect process than casting; and as to copper, its greater durability is more than counterbalanced by the great value of the material, the rapid destruction of the dies, and the temptation to the workmen.

Although in the treatise on TYPE-FOUNDING the names of the different sizes of type used in the printing of books have been given, yet it has been deemed advisable to append here a specimen of the fonts which are more commonly in use, with their names affixed, in order that authors may be enabled more readily to point out the type on which they wish any work or part of a work to be printed.

"Every printing-house is, by the custom of time out of mind, called a CHAPICA.

pel, and all the workmen that belong to it are members of the Chapel; and the oldest free-

man is father of the Chapel. I suppose the style was originally conferred upon it by the courtesie of

some great church-man, or men (doubtless when chapels were in more veneration than of late years they have been

here in England), who, for the books of divinity that proceeded from a printing-house, gave it the reverend title of Chapel.

"There have been formerly customs and bye-laws made and intended for the well and good government of the Chapel, and for the more civil and orderly deportment of all its members

while in the Chapel, and the penalty for the breach of any of these laws and customs is, in printers' language, called a Solace.

"And the judges of these solaces, and other controversies relating to

the Chapel, or any of its members, were plurality of votes in the Chapel; it being asserted as a maxim, that 'the Chapel cannot err.' But when any controversy is thus decided, it always ends in the good of the Chapel.

A solace is generally purchased by the Master-printer; as well because it hinders the workmen's work, as because it betters and spoils the quadrats: For the manner how they play with them is thus: They take five or seven more em quadrats generally of the

English body, and holding their hand below the surface of the correcting plane, shake them in their hand, and toss them upon the stone, and then count how many nickes upwards each man throws in three times, or any other number of times agreed on; and he that throws

most when the lot of all the rest, and stands out free, till the rest have lost who throws least nickes upwards in so many throws; for all the rest are free, and he pays the lot. Any of the workmen may purchase a solace for any trivial matter, if the rest of the Chapel consent to it. As if any of the workmen sing in the Chapel,
(T. C. H.)

TYRE is situated on a low peninsula, which is connected by a sandy isthmus with the plain of Phœnicia. The ancient Itineraries accurately place it 24 Roman miles S. of Sidon, and 32 N. of Ptolemais (Vet. Rom. Itin. ed. Wess. 149, 514; Tab. Peut.). It lay within the territory of the Israelites, and was allotted to the tribe of Asher (Josh. xix. 29). It stands in Lat. 33. 16. N., and Long. 35. 12. E. from Greenwich.

The Hebrew name of Tyre is Tsur (טִּיִּר), which signifies "a rock," but is also used in Scripture to denote "strength" (Is. xxx. 29; Ps. xviii. 2). As applied to the

city, it may perhaps have indicated rather the "strength" of its fortifications than the character of its site; for old Tyre was not built upon "a rock," and yet it is called emphatically צִיּוֹר צִיּוֹר, "the strongly fortified Tyre" (2 Sam. xxiv. 7). The domestic name צִיּוֹר is found on the coins struck at Tyre in the time of the Seleucidae (Mionnet, Deser. des Med. v. 23), and also in several passages of the Old Testament (2 Sam. v. 11, &c.). The Aramaic form was טִירָא, Tura; hence came the Greek Τύρος, and the Latin Tyrus. In one passage of Scripture (Is. xxiii. 12), Tyre seems to be called a "daughter of Zidon," though the reference is doubtful. If Tyre be referred to, the passage is remarkable as contrasted with an inscription on one of her own coins לְצִיּוֹר אֵם צִיּוֹר, "of Tyre, mother of the Sidonians" (Gesen. Monum. Phoen. i. 262). The former may denote the origin of Tyre, as founded by a Sidonian colony; the latter, its subsequent advancement to be the capital of Phoenicia.

Tyre was a double city. One part of it originally stood on the mainland, the other on an island. The former has entirely disappeared, and the latter is represented by a miserable village. The island is now a peninsula, Alexander the Great having joined it by a mole to the shore. It was at first a ledge of bare rock, about 1200 yards long by 600 broad; separated from the coast by a channel nearly 1200 yards in width, its greatest depth being three fathoms. The rock was low and flat, not being more than from 15 to 20 feet above the sea-level; but the accumulation of stones and rubbish has made it uneven, and has given it in some places a much greater elevation. The mole, when first made, was only 200 feet broad; but the united action of wind and wave on the loose sand of the coast, aided perhaps by deposits of mud carried up from the mouths of the Nile, has gradually increased it to the width of from 600 to 800 yards. The isthmus joins the peninsula about the middle, and thus leaves promontories on the north and south, which stretch out like the arms of a cross, and from a distance appear to be still farther lengthened by ledges of low insulated rocks. Along the western side of the peninsula is a strip of land cultivated in gardens, and the whole southern section is covered with heaps of rubbish, with deep pits between them, from which building-stones have been taken for the houses of Beyrouth and Acre.

The modern village is situated on the north-east side of the peninsula, where the isthmus joins it. It contains about 3500 inhabitants, one-half being Metawileh, and the other Christians. Most of the inhabited houses are mere hovels, and the streets are narrow, crooked, and filthy; while the walls, and few buildings of a better class, are so shattered by repeated shocks of earthquakes, that one is almost afraid to approach them. There is but one gate; and the numerous breaches in the wall render others unnecessary. The only piece of antiquity worthy of notice is the church. Fragments of the eastern and western ends of it still stand. The intervening space is crowded with wretched cabins, some of which cling like swallows' nests to the massive buttresses. Three huge columns of red granite lie within the ruins; one of them is double, and measures 26 feet in length. These are, doubtless, the remains of the cathedral erected by Paulinus, bishop of Tyre, in the beginning of the fourth century; for which Eusebius the historian wrote a consecration sermon. It was in the same building the historian of the crusades, William, archbishop of Tyre, presided for ten years. Within it the Emperor Frederic Barbarossa was buried; and probably the body of Origen, who died in Tyre, was consigned to the earth in the same spot.

Tyre has been often desolated. Ruins on the top of ruins cover the whole peninsula, and are strewn beneath

the waves round it. There was a Phœnician Tyre, a Roman Tyre, and a mediæval Tyre; and now there is a modern Tyre standing over them all. This serves to explain the strange and motley aspect of the site. Along the eastern side of the peninsula the line of the ancient ramparts can still be traced, rising here and there in broken masses above the drift-sand. On the south are some huge fragments of the sea-wall, but manifestly of mediæval architecture; for the foundation consists of granite and marble columns. Along the whole western coast runs a ridge of ragged rocks from 10 to 15 feet high; and the whole shore beneath them, along the edge of the water and in the water, is thickly strewn with beautiful shafts of red and gray granite. At the north-west angle the writer saw more than fifty thrown together in one spot. Many of them are imbedded in the rock; and we find also fragments of pottery, building-stones, and even bones, all cemented together in one solid mass beneath the waves. They have laid Tyre's "stones and dust in the midst of the water" (Ezek. xxvi. 12).

Tyre had two harbours, one on the north-east, and the other on the south of the peninsula. The former, called the Sidonian port, was in part formed by a little bay in the old island. On the north it was enclosed by two massive piers running parallel, 100 feet distant from each other. On the east side was a heavy wall founded on ridges of rock, having an opening in the centre 140 feet wide, which formed the entrance. It was defended by a boom and two heavy towers. This harbour originally measured about 900 feet by 700. It is now almost filled up with sand; yet fragments of its piers and towers still remain. Without it was an open roadstead, sheltered on the west by ridges of rocks.

The south harbour, called the Egyptian, extended along the whole breadth of the peninsula; but its greatest width scarcely measured 300 feet. It was enclosed by walls, the foundations of which can still be seen beneath the water. Without it was a roadstead, which, according to M. Bertou, was sheltered by a stupendous breakwater, extending from the side of the harbour nearly two miles towards the south-west. The writer can affirm, however, that not a vestige of this can now be seen above the water. It appears that the two harbours were once connected by a canal running through the centre of the city. The diminutive size of these harbours strikes one forcibly, as compared with the ancient commercial celebrity of the city. Tyre was the London of antiquity. For several centuries it stood unrivalled as a seaport. It must be remembered, however, that there was an infancy of commerce, just as of man; and we might as well try to put a man back into his cradle as to put the fleets of modern days into the ports of antiquity. Tyre was the cradle of commerce; and now that commerce has grown into such gigantic proportions, the cradle is entirely useless, and must for ever remain so—"Tyre shall be built no more."

The very ruins of Palætyrus have disappeared. Its exact site is even a matter of doubt. Strabo says it was 30 stadia, or about 3½ miles, south of the island city; but it would appear from the words of Pliny that the two were united. "The circumference of the city," he writes, "including Palætyrus, was 19 miles." It is probable that the main body, or nucleus of the "old city," lay at the distance given by Strabo; while the suburbs and villas of the merchants extended along the shore as far as the island. Anyone who has seen the modern city of Beyrouth will be able to account for the apparent contradiction. About 3 miles south of the peninsula, and a quarter of a mile from the shore, are four of the most remarkable fountains and reservoirs in Syria; and round these, doubtless, once clustered the city of Palætyrus. They stand in a fertile plain, in the centre of rank vegetation. The water gushes up with

Tyre. great force from the bottom of artificial reservoirs, constructed at some remote period in order to raise it to a sufficient height to be carried to a distance. The largest reservoir is octagonal in form, 66 feet in diameter, and 25 feet high. The walls are of enormous strength; 8 feet thick at the top, and with such an easy slope that one might ride up them. The volume of water flowing from it is very great. A Roman aqueduct formerly connected it with two other smaller reservoirs, and then ran across the plain northwards to a mound with ruins upon it, whence it turned west in the direction of Tyre. The long line of its broken arches and shattered piers has still an imposing look. The fourth cistern is small, and has an aqueduct of its own of a modern date. The age of these reservoirs cannot be determined. They were doubtless designed to convey a supply of pure water to the island city; and it was in all probability by cutting off this supply that Shalmaneser thought to reduce Tyre.

If we adopt a tradition preserved by Herodotus, we must look upon Tyre as far more ancient than any other city of Phœnicia. Having come to Tyre to visit a celebrated temple of Hercules, he inquired of the priests how long it had been built. They replied that it was built when the city was founded, 2300 years before (II. 44). According to this, Tyre was founded in the year 2750 B.C., or 400 years before the Flood! This must be regarded as a myth, quite characteristic of its authors. Tyre is not once mentioned by Homer, though he frequently speaks of Sidon and the Phœnicians; nor is it referred to in Scripture before the time of Joshua. Ancient writers generally represent it as having been founded by a colony from Sidon. Josephus says that Tyre was founded 240 years before the building of Solomon's temple (Ant. viii. 3, 1). The temple was begun in B.C. 1011, and consequently Tyre was built in B.C. 1250. Justin states that the Sidonians, many years after the building of their city, were defeated by the King of Ascalon, and fled in their ships to Tyre, which they founded, one year before the capture of Troy (xviii. 3). This agrees with the date of Josephus, and both the accounts evidently refer to the same event; but there is evidence to show that Tyre existed as a "strong city" more than two centuries before that time (Josh. xix. 29). The historians may either refer to the time when the island city was built, or, more probably, only to an event which raised Tyre suddenly to such a pitch of power as gave it the ascendancy over all Phœnicia. We have some ground for believing that, though the principal part of the ancient city stood at first on the mainland, yet the island was, from the very earliest period of its history, used as a sanctuary in time of danger—as a naval station—and as the great seat of the worship of the national deities.

From the time of the Sidonian immigration till the reign of Hiram, we have no annals of Tyre. The city seems to have increased rapidly in population, in commercial enterprise, and in power. Hiram succeeded his father, Abital, during the reign of David in Israel. The island being now too small for the increasing population, he reclaimed ground from the sea on the eastern side; and by embankments he joined a small island, on which the great temple of Hercules stood, to the large one (Joseph. c. App. I. 17 and 18). He also built splendid temples, and enriched them with costly ornaments, such as pillars of gold and glass. Hiram was the friend and ally of King David. When the latter built his palace, Tyrian workmen were chiefly employed; and when Solomon began the erection of the temple, the carpenters and masons were taken from Tyre. The elaborate internal ornaments and costly furniture were also executed or designed by a Tyrian artist, who was "skilful to work in gold and in silver, in brass, in iron, in stone, and in timber, in purple and blue, and in fine linen; also to grave any manner of graving" (2 Chron. ii. 14). At this period the Tyrians must have attained to great skill in navigation, for they made regular voyages not only to the coasts of Spain and Britain, but to eastern Africa and India.

The descendants of Hiram ruled Tyre for nearly half a century. The last of the royal line was murdered by Eithaal, priest of Ashtaroth, whose infamous daughter, Jezebel, is well known in Bible history. The fourth in descent and succession from Eithaal was Pygmalion, whose sister Elisa, or Dido, founded Carthage (Joseph. c. App. I. 18) about B.C. 850. During the internal dissensions in the Jewish kingdoms, the Tyrians seem to have grievously oppressed the Israelites, and to have sold many of them into slavery. Hence the origin of most of their own calamities, and of the final destruction of their city, as predicted by the prophets (Joel iii. 4, sq.; Amos. i. 9, &c.).

The next remarkable event in the history of Tyre was its siege

by Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, in the year B.C. 720. Having overrun all Phœnicia and captured Palætyrus, he attempted to reduce the island city by cutting off the supplies of water. During five years he guarded the fountains, but the inhabitants found sufficient in their cisterns, and he was at length obliged to retire (Joseph. Ant. ix. 14). About 130 years later, Tyre stood another siege. Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, while engaged in the war with the Jews, sat down before it, and established a strict blockade on the land side. Strange to say, history is silent both as to the incidents of the siege and its results. Josephus merely notices the fact, and says the siege lasted thirteen years (Ant. x. 11, 1). The prophecy of Isaiah regarding Tyre, uttered 125 years previously, evidently refers primarily to this event, as he states that the predicted destruction would be accomplished by the Chaldeans (Isa. xxvi. 13). When Isaiah wrote, the Assyrians were the rulers of Western Asia; but in this prophecy the conquest of Phœnicia is ascribed to a people then scarcely known, and who did not attain to power for a century later. The words of the prophet plainly imply that the city was to be taken, and so also do those of Jeremiah (xxvii. 3-6), and Ezekiel (xxvi.). It seems probable, however, that Palætyrus alone was sacked and destroyed, and that the island city capitulated on favourable terms; for Ezekiel, writing at the period, describes the attack upon the city as not having been either so successful, or so fruitful in spoil as had been anticipated (ch. xxix. 18). Apparently referring also to a time subsequent to the siege, he gives a most graphic account of the splendour of the city, and predicts a yet more terrible, and final overthrow. In fact, it is evident that both Isaiah and Ezekiel connect the immediate consequences of the events which they specially refer to with remoter and more gradual desolations. Their prophetic vision saw a succession of terrible calamities in the long perspective of the city's history. "Thus saith the Lord God: 'Behold, I am against thee, O Tyre, and will cause many nations to come up against thee, as the sea causeth his waves to come up;'" that is, in succession (Ezek. xxvi. 3). The prophets give a panoramic picture of Tyre's overthrow, from the beginning to the end of the destroying process—complete, and strictly accurate as a grand whole, but unintelligible, and even contradictory, if we attempt to confine the references to any one particular epoch or event (see Hengstenberg, de Rebus Tyr.).

Ezekiel's gorgeous description of the wealth, beauty, influence, and far-reaching commerce of Tyre, deserves the attention of every scholar. For graphic power, high poetic imagery, and historic accuracy of detail, the passage is unequalled in the whole compass of literature. Appropriately he represents the sea-girt city—whose celebrity, whose very existence depended on its commerce—as a noble ship, built of the choicest wood—"fir trees from Senir," and "cedars from Lebanon;" propelled by the strongest oars—"splints from the oaks of Bashan;" seated with the costliest benches—"ivory out of the isles of Chittim;" rigged with the finest sails—"fine linen with broided work from Egypt;" manned by the best sailors—"of Sidon and Arvad;" steered by the most skilful pilots—her own "wise men;" defended by the most valiant soldiers from Persia and Lud; laden with the richest products of every country under heaven (Ezek. xxvii. 3-25).

The siege and capture of the city by Alexander the Great was the next and most remarkable episode in Tyre's history. After the battle of Issus, while the conqueror was marching along the coast, a deputation from Tyre met him, offering submission. Alexander would only be satisfied with possession of the city and fleet. The Tyrians refused, and prepared to defend their stronghold. Their fleet had complete command of the sea. Their city was separated from the shore by a wide and deep channel, and defended besides by walls 150 feet high. To any man but Alexander the place would have seemed impregnable. He, however, resolved to capture it. In the year B.C. 332 he encamped on the plain opposite the island, and immediately commenced a scheme of military engineering, which for magnitude and skill is unequalled in the annals of ancient warfare. He determined to construct a solid embankment from the shore to the island. The extensive remains of Palætyrus, which had probably lain desolate from the time of Nebuchadnezzar, afforded ample materials; the forests of Lebanon supplied timber, and the inhabitants of the surrounding country were pressed as labourers. The work was easy at first where the water was shallow; but as the mole lengthened the water became deeper, the current more rapid, the waves more destructive, and the assaults of the Tyrian war-vessels more formidable. Alexander now, by immense labour, collected a fleet which served to keep the Tyrians in check.

The mole was at length completed. The Tyrians, now seeing that long resistance was hopeless, began to transport their children and women to Carthage. After seven months of increasing toil, the wall was breached, and the city taken by storm. Of the inhabitants, 8000 were killed, 2000 were crucified in revenge for the murder of some Greek prisoners, and 30,000 sold as slaves. The king and

chief magistrates took refuge in the temple of Hercules, and were spared. Alexander replaced the population by a colony of Greeks or Carians (Quin. Curt. iv.; Arrin. ii.; Diad. Sic. xvii.) With this memorable siege terminated the glory of Phœnician Tyre; and by it were strikingly fulfilled some of the predictions of the Hebrew prophets (Ezek. xxvi. 3-12).

Tyre appears to have speedily revived; for only eighteen years after its capture by Alexander, it stood a siege of fifteen months against a combined army and fleet under the command of Antigonus. From this time till the Roman conquest the city frequently changed masters; but its commerce prospered alike under the sway of the Ptolemies and the Seleucids. The only serious check its traffic sustained was when Ptolemy Philadelphus established the port of Bernice on the Red Sea, and opened the canal uniting the Gulf of Suez with the Nile; and thus drew the commerce of the Indian Ocean, formerly in the hands of the Phœnicians, through Egypt.

Under the Romans, we learn from Strabo that Tyre was a large and strong city, with safe and capacious harbours, and a flourishing trade. Its inhabitants were famous as manufacturers, and not a few of them had made great advances in science and literature. Marinus of Tyre, who lived in the early part of the second century, was the first who constructed maps according to latitude and longitude. Another native of Tyre, Paulinus the rhetorician, was honourably received at the court of the Emperor Hadrian (Kenrick's Phœnicia, p. 440). In the fourth century the city had again attained much of its ancient renown; Jerome speaks of it as the noblest city of Phœnicia, trading with all the world. But it is its connection with the history of the Crusades that gives Tyre its chief interest in more modern times. Its strength and splendour are minutely described by its archbishop, Williams. Towards the sea was a double wall; on the north a walled harbour, with an entrance between massive towers; on the east, where Alexander's mole joined the island, was a triple wall of great height and strength. On the 11th of February 1124 the Christian army encamped before it, and on the 15th of the following June it fell into their hands. The strength of its fortifications, the splendour of its houses, and the excellence of its harbours, excited their admiration. For more than a century and a half it remained in their possession. The entrance of the harbour was shut every night by a chain. The city was then celebrated for its manufactures of glass and sugar. Its commerce was mainly in the hands of the Venetians. On the evening of the day on which Acre was taken by the Mohammedans (May 19, 1291), Tyre was abandoned by the Crusaders, and the Saracens entered it the following morning. Under the withering influence of Islamism its commerce rapidly declined, and the sources of its wealth and power were dried up. From the fourteenth till the beginning of the seventeenth century it was entirely desolate. At the latter period a Druze chief called Fakhr-ed-Din attempted to restore it; but the houses he erected soon fell to ruin. When Maundrell visited it in 1697, there was not one house left entire; and its sole occupants were a few poor wretches who harboured themselves in vaults. In the year 1768 it was occupied by Metawilch, a fanatical sect of Shites from Lebanon, who built a wall round it. Some Christian families joined them, and a little trade was carried on in the export of grain, cotton, and tobacco. It is now again on the decline; and as its commerce is irretrievably gone, it will probably ere long be abandoned.

In surveying the ruins of Tyre, the writer was especially struck with the larceness of the site. He could not help wondering, as he looked over that bleak peninsula and sandy isthmus, what had become of Tyre's double and triple walls, her lofty towers, her spacious temples, and her splendid palaces. Not only have they been completely overthrown, but the very materials of them have, in a great measure, disappeared. For a century and more the ruins of Tyre have been used as a quarry for the new buildings of Beyrouth and Acre. The columns of porphyry, marble, and granite, which were too heavy for removal, now lie in confused heaps round the shores, "in the midst of the waters;" the sites once occupied by her temples and palaces are now covered with heaps of rubbish, or are "bare as the top of a rock;" fishermen "spread their nets" on the fallen ruins of her ramparts; her harbours are filled up with drift-sand; her commerce and her wealth have long deserted her. "What city is like Tyre, like the destroyed in the midst of the sea!"

The most important product of Phœnicia, and that which has given immortal fame to the manufactures of Tyre, was the purple dye. The dye was obtained from two little shell-fish, the Buccinum and Murex, which are only found in perfection along the rocky coast of Phœnicia. The unanimous voice of antiquity assigns to Tyre the discovery of the mode of obtaining two most beautiful tints of purple from these animals, and of employing it in dyeing wool. "The mollusks which inhabit these shells have a receptacle or sac behind the head, in which a very minute portion of a colour-

less creamy fluid is contained, which has a strong smell of garlic. If it be carefully extracted by a hook, or a pointed pencil, and applied to wool, linen, or cotton, which is then exposed to a strong light, it successively becomes green, blue, red, deep purple-red, and, by washing in soap and water, a bright crimson, which is permanent. The Buccinum is found on rocks near the shore; the Purpura or Murex inhabits deeper water." (Kenrick's Phœnicia, p. 239). Pilny gives an account both of the modes of taking the fish, and preparing the dye (Hist. Nat. ix. 61, sq.). The best season for taking them was early spring. Immediately after their capture the liquor was extracted from the Murex; but the Buccinum being small was crushed with the shell, and the dye obtained by boiling down. Robes dyed in this preparation were worn by princes and nobles in every land. Although they were made in other places, yet those of Tyre were so highly esteemed that their manufacture formed a principal source of its wealth, and contributed much to preserve its prosperity, long after its political power had gone. Tyre had the advantage of an inexhaustible supply of fish, and probably its merchants also possessed some chemical secret, by which the colour was made more brilliant. In order to produce the true Tyrian purple, the liquor of both animals was used—the Murex first to give depth and fastness, and then the Buccinum to enliven by its lighter reddish tint. The most costly fabrics were twice dyed. The colour of the imperial Tyrian purple was not less durable than beautiful; and in the days of Roman luxury robes of it were eagerly sought after, and bought at prices that would now seem fabulous. (J. L. P.)