Page:History of Manchester (1771), Volume 1, by John Whitaker.djvu/424

 Ghap. XI. O F. •' M A N C H ESTE R. $8* 1 In' this ftate of tHe Britifh commerce, the articles imported Into the ifland were earthen-ware, fait, and brafs both wrought and in bullion"* In this ftate of the Bririfh commerce, tin Was not^ as it had been originally, th6 only export of the ifland* It ftill remained the principal article of our foreign trade * But with it were exported gold, filver, iron, and lead, hides, cattle; corn, (laves, and dogs, gems and mufcle-pearls ** f polifhcd horfc* bits of bone, horfe-collars, amber toys, and glafs veflels * 5 . Such was the nature of our foreign commerce when, the Ro- mans fettled among us* And it inftantly received a considera- ble improvement from the Romans. This appears fufficiently from that very remarkable particular in the interior hiftory of the ifland, the fudden rife and thq commercial importance of London within a few years after their firft fettlement in the ifland **. But the trade was no longer carried oa by the two- great roads to the fouthera fhore, and the ftaple was no longer fettled in the Hie of Wight, The principal trade flill appears to have been confined to the fouth in general and to the regions of Middlefex Kent Suflex and Hampfhire in particular. But the- commerce waa diffufed oyer the whole extent of the Romap • eopquefts,, and was carried on dire&ly from the weftern and the caftera (hoses as well as from the fbuthern. Thus new ports were opened on every fide. of the ifland, moft jndeed about the . ibuthneaft era angle of it, but fome along; the caftern and the .weftern., coafts. Thu9 Middlefex had the port of London,. Kent the ports .*>f .Rhutupae Dubrisand Lemafli^ Suflex^ h^d the porta- Adurnum. Anderida and Novus, and Hanipfhire had the port Magnus 27 .. And thus Yorkfhire had its port Felix on one fidc r awl Lancafhire had its port Siftuntian on the other* 3 . Thefe were evidently the commercial ports of the Roman Britons^ -Had", they been merely the ufeful harbours upon the coafts, as they muft certainly have been much more coniiderable in number, as they muft certainly have been mentioned upon evxry part of pur coafts, fo muft they have been equally noticed upon the coafts Caledonia, and the fhores of Ireland. They were all of them harbours