Phconicians, but the fact is that Malta has never had
any history except at rare intervals, and then but for a short time. It comes into the light for a while during the visit of St. Paul, if, indeed, Melita be Malta, and not Melida, on the Illyrian coast. We are inclined to think that it was, though the viper is a difficulty ; he is not a probable ani- mal in Malta, and the supposition that he came on shore in a bundle of sticks is outrageously absurd. Then comes the great siege, when John de In Valletta beat back the forces of Solyman ; then a glimmer of light for some years while the Turks still threatened Christendom ; then darkness ; then the siege of Valletta, when the island passed under British rule ; and since then darkness, or, what might as well be hidden in it, endless local squabbles. If Mr. Seddall had given us a book of about one-third the size of the present one, passed with a very quick step over the intermediate periods, passing from the " Melita " contro- versy to the first siege in about six pages, and from the first siege to the second in about twice as many more, he would have clone better. The chapters on the present condition of the island are as interesting as any part of the volume, and the appendices contain some valuable informa- tion. One in particular gives a pleasant description of the Malta fauna, flora, &c.
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